Fyxation Open Omnium - Race 2 Downer Classic

The dust has finally settled here at Fyxation from one of the longest but most exciting weekends in Fyxation history. We just wrapped up the first 2 legs of the Fyxaton Open Omnium and we are extremely humbled by the response from the city of Milwaukee and for the world class talent that showed up to compete in our event.

We've been hosting the Fyxation Open for the last few years as a 1 day event in Chicago through our partnership with the Intelligentsia Cup and the Chicago Criterium. This year we decided to expand the Fyxation Open into a 4 race series and our goal was to introduce the exciting sport of fixed gear Criterium racing to a much larger group. Boy did it work!

Here in Milwaukee we partnered up with the Tour of America's Dairyland (TOAD) which is one of the longest held and most popular Criterium series in the country. TOAD is a 10 day event where riders of all levels compete in a series of competitve races across the Milwaukee area. To say we were honored to be a part of the TOAD this year is a huge understatement. In order to get the best exposure for our race, the team at TOAD added the Fyxation Open to the Bay View Classic and the Downer Classic and made the Open a main event right up there with the Women's and Men's Pro races. These are venues that attract thousands of spectators and they were all properly introduced to fixed gear crit racing this weekend via the Fyxation Open.

We made a big investment in the Fyxation Open this year and our events had full access to the Jumbotron, event announcers, pace car and we were the first fixed gear Criterium race to be partnered and insured with USA Cycling.

We had riders show up from all over county and even Canada. In addition to a strong local contingent from Midwest, we had veterans of the Red Hook Crit and Wolfpack Hustle races show up to the event which added a level of excitement among the spectators and riders.

First up were the women. While the field was small the race was competitive and fun to watch. Many of the women that competed in our event were also in town to race for the TOAD series and weren't aware that we'd be hosting a fixed gear crit. We were able to loan out 5 Fyxation Eastsides to a number of interested riders so that they could compete in the event.

Racing was fast and the riders stayed together the entire race and in the end, it was Ash Duban coming in first for her second win of the weekend. Both of which were done on a borrowed Fyxation Eastside. As we like to say here at Fyxation, steel is real and talent is talent! Full race results here.

Next up were the men. We had over 30 riders competing in the event with some serious talent from the State Bicycle, Affinity Cycles and Mash teams represented. Most of the riders that competed were a part of the previous days race in Bay View but we did have a few new competitors show up to race.

At the very last minute prior to the men's race, Emile Abraham who rides for Team United Healtcare Georgia, came up to the booth to see if we had a bike for him to ride for the event. The only bike we had in his size happened to be a custom Eastside that we had just wrapped up for our friends at Zipcar. While it was never our intention to set this up as a race bike, we ran to the shop and picked up a few parts and in no time had converted the Zipcar bike into a race ready Eastside.

As the race got underway the riding was fast and a lead group started to separate from the rest of the pack. Among those 5 or so riders was Emile and his sporty green Zipcar bike. With a few laps left to go Emile made his move and slowly moved up to 3rd place. On the final lap the sprint was on and Emile narrowly edged out Josh Tyrell for the win. Full race results here.

After the racing was finished, both the men's and women's riders camped out at the Fyxation corner to watch the men's pro race and to soak in all that is the Downer Classic. Riders were stoked for how well attended and organized the event was and were already looking forward to the final 2 races in the series next month in Illinois.

We are beyond excited with how things went this year and we can't wait to bring back the Fyxation Open next year to Milwaukee. Stay tuned for more updates and for full race results and point series leaders, head over to www.fyxationopen.com.