Location: Moscow, Russia
Author: Yaroslav Milyukov
On the whole, the roads are wide and fast, but mostly flat. The surface quality is nice around the city centre but this is not the case out in the suburbs, where you’re likely to find numerous pot holes and cracked roads.
In my opinion, the absence of unnecessary bike lanes makes riding joyful and entertaining. Everything is great about biking in Moscow, except for our unpassionate and inconsiderate drivers. Sadly, our mentality is still a long way off the cycling culture that you can find in other European cultures, and subsequently drivers are still learning to respect bike riders.
The best thing about riding a bike in Moscow is the constant high speed that can be maintained because of how wide and fast our roads are in comparison to European cities. There’s definitely a downside to that, however. In my experience, you are continuously getting passed by fast cars that are rushing through every possible lane of the road. Despite the dangers associated with riding in Moscow, I think that it is a price worth paying for the freedom that cycling gives you.
Moscow is also great in terms of street racing. We have annual ‘alleycats’, parking lot crits and crazy lightning-fast SKVOZ’ drag races, which made their way to the Russian capital thanks to the bike racing scene in Saint-Petersburg. And if you ever get tired of city riding, you can always head out to the suburbs where gravel roads are commonplace.
- Base bar (Bike friendly bar that throws alleycats from time to time and shows bike races/ bike related movies).
- Mosgorbike (Great bike shop that actively brings the cycling culture to people)
- Losinostrovskiy park (Endless playground for riding your gravel bike for hours)
