Pro Rider Winter Training

In winter all stunt riders ride in hangars so as not to lose shape and to keep their riding school running, if they have one. Alexander Andreev found a great hangar near Kantemirovskaya metro station. During the day, when there are no students, Alexander trains. We visited a session and filmed a few tricks. The asphalt is cold and doesn't warm up. Doing hard stoppies and wide power circles is dangerous because of poor grip, but possible! The temperature isn't uncomfortable, but after a training session it's better to warm up somewhere warm.

Alexander trains in sets of 10–15 minutes, enough to get tired and make a couple dozen attempts. Overall, a pro rider's training is a rather boring affair. Lots of identical repetitions with the aim of landing or polishing a trick. Learning new tricks is always hard and at pro level always involves the risk of crashing because of the extreme difficulty. Even a perfectly prepared motorcycle doesn't always withstand the loads. Alexander's cage came loose, so the session had to end earlier than usual.