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Rad Race: Fixed40Two
One Gear, No Brakes, 700 Riders
The Fixed40Two is a 42.195km race from the south of Berlin to the heart of the German capital along closed Autobahn.
The fixed gear specific race was established in 2015 with just 300 riders as an unofficial addition to one of the biggest bike races in Europe. Today, the event has over 700 registered male and female athletes from all over the world - this time fully supported and legal! With one gear and no brakes, riders need fitness, bike handling skills and confidence to complete this race, let alone go for a spot on the podium.
We caught up with Jonas Fischer aka Jo who is part of the organising team and completed the race himself.
"My name is Jonas Fischer and since the end of 2015 I’ve been part of RAD RACE and also the racing team CANYON RAD PACK. After a few years we’ve finally made the Fixed40Two an official event, with full support from the authorities and closed roads. The organisation of this race is massive; finding time in between giving away 700 starter kits, organising cars, motorbikes, building the starting grid, broadcasting... the task list is endless! "
"We were all quite nervous as this was our biggest event to date, and have riders from over 30 different nations."
"In the morning of the race we all woke up at 5am to build up the starting grid at Ludwigsfelde, the start of the race. It’s great to see that RAD RACE is still a bunch of friends who do this, because they love it. Our injured team riders Max, Fritz and Ben were there as well to support the crew. "
"As soon as the first riders started to arrive, I realised that I wasn’t just here to organise things - I was also here to race! From the moment I got changed into my skinsuit, I was in full race mode and eager to get started. My aim: Winning the race! We’ll come to that later on... "
"Right from the very start, the pace was seriously fast. Last year, the race finished with an average speed of 45kmh, so I always tried to stay at the front and behind the bigger guys driving the pace. I took a turn on the very front at one point, but at 54kmh - the speed was just too high to sustain but worth it for the photo!"
"When we entered Berlin it was really important to stay at the front, because quite often weaker riders leave a gap and split up the whole peloton. Nico Hesslich, Stefan Schäfer and some other riders tried to get in a breakaway a few times, but the pace was too high and only roughly 50 riders formed the leading pack until the finishing straight. "
"My legs had gone so I wasn’t sure I could handle a full-on sprint on the final few hundred meters. I stayed at the end of the group and saw from the back how Martino Poccianti (Cykeln Division Corse) won the title in front of Davide Vigano (Cinelli Chrome) and David van Eerd (8bar). I finished in place 37 with an average speed of more than 47 kmh!"
"The women had a separate race 2 minutes after the start of the men. They were also much faster than last year. Many attacks and strong team work kept the pace high and the peloton together. In the final sprint Jasmine Dotti (RD Carrera Squadara Corse) defended her title from last year and Karla Sommer (Team Schindelhauer Gates) and Nikki Kovacs (8bar) came in on place two and three.
I’m still really stoked from the event! It’s really unique as it’s on the Autobahn, it’s more like a road race rather than the usual fixed gear crit.
