Discussion: Ditch the mtn bike

I'd like to see some log entries from the seat of your fixie bike. I'd also like to see a big pointy mustache -- they're more aero.

Another good article:

https://www.bicycling.com/racing/a20025642/gravel-...

To me the idea of circling around a mowed grass path on a fixed gear bike seems odd...maybe fun..mostly strange, bumpy, and hot.

"It’s easier when the track is smooth and you don’t have to worry about running into a cow!" Hahaha!

I can say from experience that single speed cyclocross is a lot of fun. That said, I don’t know why one would used a fixed gear; it gives you no advantage and makes it impossible to do a proper dismount. Then again, I understand that many hipsters are also using manual typewriters, so this is clearly a crowd that delights in inconvenience.

I don't believe this is cyclocross. They hold mostly typical velodrome=track events just on a grass loop instead of a constructed and banked track.

That said, there are a lot of events where it seems like a large part of the participant's fun is how much they suffer simply due to inconvenience and annoyance, both introduced by design. I'm not starting that list though.

Yeah, I don't like events which are contrived to be harder than they have to be. It's like orienteering in thorns. Sure, you can do it, but why would you want to? Track racing on grass seems more than a little silly to me in that no new skills are introduced. Gravel racing and CX both require specific skills that make them interesting. Track racing on a slow surface with no bank seems just dull and hard.

There is nothing about gravel racing that sounds interesting to me, and I don't even know what it is. Maybe it's like chip seal racing, which doesn't interest me at all. But regular seal racing could be quite interesting. Next time I am down in Texas maybe Tom the Rower will take me to the seal races and we can eat Mtn. Dew flavored snow cones while betting insignificant sums of money on the more likely looking seals. It might not be a trip to Cabelas, but probably still fun.

I did a criterium on a chip seal course once. The folks who crashed hates their lives for quite some time.