Why Should I Ride Tracklocross?

Tracklocross is simply the greatest style of cycling. It is stripped-down nonsense, and that is why you should give it a shot. No brakes, no gears, just 100% thrills.

This is why the mainstream cycling media can’t get on with tracklocross. How can you market and sell things to people who have refuted the mainstream idea of cycling? It is far easier for them to ridicule the idea or make it seem dangerous, ignoring the fact that people have been riding tracklocross for over a century at this point.

People involved in tracklocross tend not to upgrade every year; they don’t need that new colourway, and they sure as hell don’t need a new groupset because someone popped an extra cog on and called it progress.

The freedom of tracklocross

Look at the bike, I’ve probably picked the wrong example as it has some modern touches, it just Skreams fun. It has everything I need and none of what I don’t need. Which means it is light, it is mean, and I go wherever I damn like.

Is it the best tool for the job? No. Do I need the best tool? No. Would a better tool be more fun? No.

On this bike, it is me and the bike; we propel ourselves forward and downhills, there is no fancy gadgetry, there is nothing to smooth the path, I am not tricked into a false belief that I control the trail. I need to read the trail, I need to use my body and the grip of the tyres and rely on my skills to stay upright. There is no suspension to save. There are no hydraulic brakes to safely stop me.

I can only rely on myself.

Then, a lovely pair of Schwalbe CX Pros.

The woods free me from the bustle of everyday life.

My bike doesn’t need to be a technological marvel, as then it is simply another part of the system, that is just reeling me back into a capitalist society that doesn’t care about me.

In the woods, I am an anarchist, burning down the mega corporations, neo-fuedalists, and the Big Bike sympathisers as I pedal and skid through the puddles, remembering the freedom of my childhood, and every pedal stroke is further liberating me from the confines of the system.

Pedal and be free, coast and be a slave.