To fully appreciate the significance of what Yuri Elizarov set himself up to accomplish with the Titan project, a short discourse into some history should be appropriate at this point. The Way Things Were The international amateur road cycling scene of the 1950s was unaccustomed to seeing outstanding performances from the Soviet racers of the time. This wasn’t surprising. There weren’t many … [Read more...]
Titan’s Tales: The Band of Brothers
Friday, 17 February, 2012 By 1 Comment
One day in June this year, a group of middle age men will simultaneously come to Kiev from different parts of Ukraine and Russia. By only looking at them, no one would ever guess they have anything in common except their age. Some of them will arrive in bulletproof Mercedes Benzes while others will ask someone else to give them a lift to where they’re going. One by one, they’ll roll in to one … [Read more...]
Is it worth living for? Part III (Go West)
Friday, 26 August, 2011 By 3 Comments
Part I - Part II What was so attractive in going West for a Soviet professional amateur? Money of course and very good money at that. How it was made? Read on... I’ll have to throw some numbers here because without them, you won’t be able to appreciate what kind of money I’m talking about. For example, it wouldn’t make much sense for me to make reference to Soviet roubles, you … [Read more...]
Is it worth living for? Part II
Thursday, 18 August, 2011 By 4 Comments
My last post was ended with a question – if neither ideology nor a prospect of a lucrative professional contract were the motivational factors behind Kapitonov’s sporting career (and by implication, thousands of other athletes like him in many different sports), what was it then? If you, dear reader, were waiting for a third alternative, I hate to disappoint you – there’s none. … [Read more...]
Is it worth living for?
Thursday, 11 August, 2011 By 5 Comments
Sporting legends… Who was yours when you were 12? When I got seriously hooked on cycling in 1978, one of the first cycling books I read was by one such legend, Viktor Kapitonov. At the time, he was the only Soviet rider ever to win an Olympic road race. The book was called “It’s worth living for” (Ради этого стоит жить). Almost 35 years later, looking at the title, I … [Read more...]
Fair play cycling in an authoritarian society
Friday, 8 April, 2011 By 3 Comments
It's worth saying right upfront - I do not believe bike equipment has a decisive influence on race results, within limits of course. Trying to win a road race on a mountain bike would not go far perhaps, but riding a US$9,200, Di2 equipped Pinarello Prince will get you exactly the same result in a road race as riding an AU$1,600 Giant Defy, psychology matters aside. Why then do we have so much … [Read more...]
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