Cycling in Russia: Bikes and guns

They combine cycling with shooting sports in the Russian warm weather version of a biathlon.

Russia bike gun biathlon

Yesterday’s Russian Bike Party post led me to find Velo Samara, a bicycle club in Samara, Russia. Among their activities is a fun looking bike + gun biathlon event for children, teens and adults.

Russian girls shoot rifles in a biathlon competition

They call this event a Велобиатлон (“Velo Biathlon”). Participants ride mountain bikes on a dirt trail, dismount, run to the range, shoot from standing or prone position, and hop back on the bike to get to the next shooting location. They use pellet guns in this event.

Young girl shoots gun in biathlon event

Byron suggests a shooting range might be a fun addition to a CX race course. It’s immediately evident after watching this video that cyclocross dismount skills would be handy to know.



And then Ben surmises shooting sports in cycling might be a handy way to eliminate the competition.

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One Comment

  1. We do this every month at Soldier Hollow, Utah, the 2002 olympic XC ski venue. We use the air rifles from the paraolympic games, and do a short lap of 1-2 miles between shooting. It is AWESOME!

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