Grass Track Racing: Fixies on grass, skinny jeans optional
I was thinking about the now famous xtranormal short “Hipsters Discussing Cyclocross” and how the two characters wondered if fixed gear bikes could be used for cyclocross.
Well, at least in the MFG and Seattle Cyclocross series, fixed gear bikes are specifically excluded. I can’t really see how fixies could be anything other than a liability to a rider and those around him on the courses that I raced, but there is a tradition of fixed gear racing on flat grass tracks in the UK. All you need is a big, relatively smooth grass field and brakeless fixies, then voila! You get the lovechild of cyclcross and track racing. This could be a rad idea. For equipment I’d specify brakeless fixies with a strict max tire width of 32mm or maybe even 30mm. Though that would exclude converted MTB fixes, it would lure hoards of street fixies with the idea of a fairly level playing field.
I could see Pabst sponsoring the grass track Madison races, where partners take a handsling with a Tallboy.