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Vologda-Onega-Ladoga 2008 - 1200 km
FAQ

  1. How do I qualify?
    Participant must have 200k brevet in the last year before event.

  2. How much is entry fee?
    2000 RUR (60 Euro), late join after 1st of May is 2500 RUR (75 Euro)

  3. What does it cover?
    Route description pack, hot food and sleeping facilities at checkpoints, bus transfer to Saint-Petersburg from finish, event memorabilia - badge and T-shirt

  4. How to reach the starting point?
    Event starts in Vologda from the Kremlyovska ploschad' (Kremlin square) located 2 km from the train station. The easiest way to reach Vologda is the train. In Russia transport rules allow to carry bikes in train but some sort of bag must be provided and you must keep in mind that you'll have to place it on the shelf along with luggage - there are no special bike areas in the train, the most common way to do it is to travel second class which has more appropriate coupe, in this case train cost is around 700 RUR and there will be somebody from our club traveling along to help you out. If you want to travel first class (cost is around 1500 RUR) then the bike could be a problem because there is much less space. If you travel from Saint-Petersburg we can carry your bike to Vologda in our support car, this service costs 10 Euro. Travel times are: Saint-Petersburg-Vologda 10 hours, Moscow-Vologda 8 hours 30 minutes, all trains have sleeping carriages. It's worth to order ticket in advance, you may specify it on registration, in this case you must add on ticket price to registration fee.

  5. Is that possible to stay in Vologda the night before start?
    Some sort of cheap hostel can be found, but it must be ordered in advance.

  6. Can I have some of my stuff carried on support vehicle to checkpoints and finish?
    We will carry your bags to the finish, not sure as yet about possibility of bag drops at checkpoints, this information will be sent later.

  7. How many checkpoints with sleeping facilities?
    11 of 16, some of them is a tent camp, blanket or sleeping bag will be provided

  8. What sort of food will be available?
    All checkpoints will have meals and drinks served, some of them hot food. Ride instructions will include notes on shops and cafes along the route with open times if possible.

  9. Is the ride hilly?
    It's pretty flat, few hilly sections, around ... m of climbing in total

  10. What is the road surface like?
    To our knowledge it's the smoothest of the long brevets in Russia, a lot of the recently build modern sections. As well there are about 4k of dirt road included to feel the difference.

  11. What about mobile phone service?
    Almost all route is covered by russian mobile operators, we would recommend to get a SIM card from Megafon. Contact numbers of organisers and volunteers will be included in your information pack.

  12. What sort of lightning system will I need?
    The brevet will take place at white nights time, so it's gonna be pretty light, so it should be enough to have a one rear red and one front light.

  13. How should I be equipped?
    Helmets are compulsory at all times, in the night time 11pm-6am one rear red and one front light must be on.

  14. Is that possible to communicate with locals without knowledge of russian?
    There will be english speaking volunteers at each checkpoint, also some german speaking. In local towns basically there is a very small chance to find a person which knows some english, information pack will include a small phrase book to help in most common situations.

  15. How will I follow the route and not get lost without knowing cyrillics?
    Ride instructions will include all names in latin and cyrillic as well to be able to follow road signs.


All questions to be addressed to :
  • (Russian, English) the Baltic Star president
    Mikhail Kametsev: (BRM-responsible person)
    E-mail: mkam@balticstar.spb.ru
  • (Dutch, English) Helena
    E-mail: helena_cher@mail.ru
  • (French, German, English) Tatiana
    E-mail: tanma@mail.ru

    WWW: http://balticstar.spb.ru/index_en.htm