“A cultural motion on wheels” is how organisers are describing Method Fastened, a brand new US-based bike racing sequence to be launched in early September 2025 with a pair of two-day qualifying occasions. The highest finishers will then compete in conference-structured competitions and a championship within the spring of 2026.
At first look it seems to resemble the casual and rowdy storage races which are well-liked in Arlington, Virginia throughout winter months in a parking deck, and even the Pink Hook Crit fixed-gear races held outside from 2008-2018. Nonetheless, a brand new format has been designed particularly for fixed-gear racing, utilizing an indoor venue to create a observe that “resembles a online game, avenue racing or snowboardcross”. They need a definite departure from a street race end with a avenue banner or the inflexibility of a velodrome.
Husband and spouse staff James and Clare Grady are the co-founders of Method Fastened, who had been behind the success of seven editions of the fixed-gear criterium in San Francisco, Mission Crit, final held in 2022. They’ve already examined the brand new brief observe sequence format with a ‘Showcase Occasion’ in October 2024 at an indoor K1 Pace go-kart race facility in California, and opponents gave them optimistic suggestions.
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“They’re onto one thing. I may see it working,” Lucas Bourgoyne, who took half within the Showcase Occasion final yr, instructed Cyclingnews. Bourgoyne raced for a number of years on the street in Europe and now’s a constant performer at USA CRITS and different US races for Workforce Cadence Cyclery p/b Encore Wire.
It is suggestions like that which the co-founders used to maneuver ahead with the launch of Method Fastened, which they are saying blends sports activities, gaming and leisure.
“It is a format that’s broadcast-friendly, spectator-first, and constructed to create viral moments by means of a aggressive setup that by no means stands nonetheless,” stated Clare Grady, who additionally serves as the overall supervisor of the Bay Breakers professional ladies’s rugby staff. “Whether or not you are in-venue, watching on-screen, or in your telephone, you are going to really feel the velocity, the vitality, and the emotion of each nook and crash.”
First, two qualifying tournaments are being scheduled for early September, one close to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania September 6-7 and one on the west coast within the San Francisco, California space for September 13-14. Indoor venues might be secured within the coming weeks, which organisers say permits for “low-cost setup and breakdown with out the hassles of allowing, authorities approval and the purple tape most outside avenue races face”.
Second, an indoor venue additionally offers a managed surroundings for paid admission, merchandising and safety, in addition to comfort for broadcast protection.
“Venue flexibility and never being caught in a collective field is on the coronary heart of the Method Fastened plan,” stated Clare Grady. “We’ve been in discussions with a number of areas about our Professional Collection Jap Convention, Western Convention and Championship occasions, with occasion plans that vary from the intimate to the flowery.”
As for the opponents, organisers are on the lookout for women and men from all backgrounds, street cyclists to city athletes, and even life-style influencers. Every weekend will embrace ‘Brief Observe and Stadium Crit’ races in addition to cargo bike races and youth races, in response to an organization press launch. Registration for Method Fastened begins on July 4, 2025.
“94% of individuals know easy methods to trip a motorcycle, however our capacity to transform them into followers or customers of biking as a sport is basically damaged,” stated co-founder James Grady. “We’re not right here to tweak the outdated mannequin. We’re right here to tear it down and rebuild it from scratch with tradition, inclusivity, and vitality on the core.”
No particulars have been revealed on convention competitions in February 2026, which might have a sequence of qualifying occasions on each US coasts to find out finalists in a nationwide championship, anticipated to be held in March 2026.
The final biking league which promised to alter the world of sports activities was the Nationwide Biking League, which lasted one full season in 2023 with three league-owned co-ed groups and US occasions. In 2024 the league folded, abruptly “pausing” operations and ending all athlete contracts; the NCL has not resurfaced.
“Like a Pink Hook model occasion, I believe they’re making an attempt to key in off that, however with a wiser mannequin. From criterium racing all the best way as much as WorldTour racing, the factor that is plagued biking is they do not have a stadium, a spot to cost followers on the door and a spot for followers to congregate.
“So I might say that I really imagine that they do have an opportunity. It is made me and Luke [Fetzer, a teammate] assume twice. Like, ‘oh shit, we’d must discover ways to trip a fixed-gear bike’.
“I want them the most effective. James and Claire have what appears to be an excellent thoughts for these items. They’re placing numerous media push behind it. They’re getting the fitting individuals concerned. I consider all of the individuals who have been making an attempt to start out leagues and this and that, Fastened Method may even have the most effective likelihood as a result of their mannequin is completely different, of their strategy to rider choice and media manufacturing.”
