The First Tracklocross Race

I have talked in my history of tracklocross article that the first cyclocross races were actually tracklocross races, as most people would not have had access to bikes with derailleurs and freewheels were not always legal for racers. It was in 1907 that freewheels were allowed in the Tour de France.

The above paper as you can hopefully see is dated December 1901 and it is about the joy of a cyclocross race. It is the origin story for alleycats, cyclocross, and possibly for gravel races. Daniel Gousseau is selling his idea for a new sport, cross cyclo-pédèstre, cycling mixed with running.

To keep people military fit he wants to create a 100km race, where the only fixed points are the start and finish and people can design their own route. They can cross fields, jump hedges, and ford streams and ditches. If he was alive now, he would be the person behind things like Tough Mudders.

How do we know the cyclocross was tracklocross

The picture above is from much later, it is from the Criterium International. The event was first run in 1924 and as you can see if you look at the image, the bike has no brakes. I can’t find an event date for this photo but it was after 1924 and as 1901 was 23 years before then you can suppose that the early version also had people riding fixed, and all the races that led to the creation of an unofficial world champs.

It is also believed that derailleurs were not commonly used by racers until 1938 when Simplex introduced their cable-activated model. We also know that freewheels were not allowed at le Tour de France until 1907, and were seen as cheating by the creator of the race.

It is likely then there was a bias towards fixed gear riding, and that is why I believe the early cyclocross races were really tracklocross races.