At Tuesday I rode to bicycles cross-country competitions Formula 255 in Upper Ufaley, got up at 5:30 a.m. o’clock, wished to go earlier, but while awoke completely, prepared and made part of home businesses – from Polevskoy northern part I rode only at 7:30 – 7:40 a.m. o’clock. There was strong frontal cold wind, so on the heights and open areas this was felt quite strong, especially above large fields near Poldnevaya village; after it I entered forest on the way to Kladovka village and it became much easier to rotate pedals, to village itself good asphalt road leads on, after it on the way to Cheremshanka village – quite good ground-stony-sand road, which is much better, than road to Large Lavrovka village after asphalt, and in warm weather, than potholes nightmare on 20 – 30 km near Itkul Lake in the direction to Upper Ufaley. It is much faster to ride on it and it is 2 – 3 times shorter, than detour through Itkul, by 12 o’clock I arrived to Upper Ufaley, then at 12:20 to ski base, registered myself, small breath-taking and food and without much rest in the fight again, lets start begin …
“Isn’t girl-sportsmen laying there somewhere?” – ( “As Natalia on Grand Rock competitions” ) – “No, I haven’t seen her,” – “When you’ll ride, will you look?” – “Ok, I’ll look for her. :-) ” … “The main thing – is to not give up,” – “Yes, that’s for sure.” First 2 laps after 60 km ride without rest it was hard to move on in competitions tempo, by 3rd I switched on, on 4th one I drank some tea and it became much easier : “Let it be not so fast, but I’ll ride these 4 – 5 laps – for how many I’ll have a time before finish closing – not to go away from distance I rode here, I’ll not stop.” I completed 4 laps, I would rode 5th one too, but finish was already closed. Made a mark in referees protocol, then walked to eat, to rest and to prepare camera, after rides forgot to reduce diaphragm, so part of photos from awards giving are soaped. First awards was given to children, then to juniors, then to men-fitness, then to women-sportsmen, then to veterans, then to men-sportsmen 19+ and by the final to bicycles families + thank you giving to partners of event and award giving to the most young participant. All in all competitions were great : lots of positive and good impressions, as well as cheerfulness charge for a whole May holidays and subsequent work-days, thank you to competitions organizers – Ural Cycling Project and partners of event.
After awards-giving I ate small amount of food, prepared and moved into way back home. Just one view of quarry near Cheremshanka is worth all this way. Uphills and downhills from them near quarries away from heavy technics – is a good place to train and form development, they are very similar to ones on Grand Rock competitions. Then downhills from northern slope, on which I rode at morning, and I set my wheels on ground-stony-sand road with not so steep hills. Quite fast I managed to Kladovka, there is asphalt in it, on it I rode very fast to Poldnevaya village, removing tiredness on the way from my legs.
On the way to competitions on the hills with wind in face it was slightly undermined me : “This year I’ll ride less to competitions and will make more businesses …” – but after competitions : “No way, I’ll ride and travel this year and receive impressions so much, that I’ll have no any wish to ride somewhere at Winter in the frosts.” 30 – 40 minutes before sunset I arrived to Poldnevaya, it was still warm above the ground. Closer to Polevskoy with high cadence on asphalt all tiredness after competitions came out from my legs and I was not tired at all, clipless pedals is a great thing. 20 – 30 minutes after sunset I entered into Polevskoy, in some forest areas near it it was quite cold already and on the speed with wind hands froze a little and wind blew the clothes, but in city itself it was +9 degrees on Celsius and very warm. Approximately at 9:40 – 10 p.m. o’clock I arrived to home, viewed myself and clothes on the wood ticks presence : there was no them ( thank you goes to aerosol protection of the clothes and I did not walked much in the forests ), then I ate small amount of food, made some home businesses and went to sleep. Next time for competitions I’ll invent something better, than to ride 60 km against wind into hills before actual competitions, there is ability to go to Upper Ufaley by train or at least to ride to Poldnevaya village or to Kladovka itself by bus – it is much easier to ride 25 – 15 km, than 60 ones.
It was a great preparation for Kirgishany competitions : 140 km, 80 of them are on good asphalt with high speed and good hills, around 40 are ground-stony-sand roads with good covering for cross-country training and around 20 km of forest ground roads in competitions tempo. This road is much better for preparations to competitions and much more effective for trainings, then to knead clay on the feet for 40 km on the way to Shunuth mountain : there are good asphalt areas, where high speed can be developed, and lots of hills, where I can exercise myself, especially with the wind in a face; there are ground-stony-sands areas with very good covering and very good hills for trainings; distance itself is marathon + half – whole distance of reserve – this is the best for trainings. Also, I ride whole way on the bicycle and do not go off from it : this way it is much better to prepare for competitions, then to walk on feet for 40 km; there is a small amount of cars on it, this is a good, and at the same time they ride sometimes nearby and people in them can help in the emergency case. Also this road leads through civilization – it is much more interesting to ride on it, then to ride alone into the wilderness for tens of km and go mad – will train myself for competitions on this road to Upper Ufaley and will choose mountains for substantive rides not so far from civilization. See you on the next bicycles adventures!
You can see additional photos here : Formula 255 bicycles cross-country competitions in Upper Ufaley.
