Formula Fixed Kicks off with Eastern Qualifiers
This past weekend, racers from across the northeast megalopolis and beyond descended upon the DMV to tackle the Formula Fixed Eastern Qualifiers. With around sixty racers total across categories, it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t the biggest success in above-ground fixed gear racing on this side of the country since Red Hook’s untimely demise.
Director James Grady— the brains behind Mission Crit and Red Bull Bay Climb— is undoubtedly ambitious. In a few short years he has built out the Formula Fixed brand, scaling it from a one-off west coast event to a nation-wide, multi-stage series which promises $18,000 purses for each category. Grady views Formula Fixed as not just a race, but as “a cultural shift” meant to draw American markets into the sport of cycling.
It makes intuitive sense; those who glue themselves to the screen for five-hour stages in three-week Grand Tours are outliers in the arena of media consumption. As an armchair anthropologist, I’ll point out that short-form video, streaming services, and social media algorithms have completely reshaped the landscape of entertainment, sports included. The MLB’s additions of extra-inning ghost runners and a pitch clock serve little purpose other than to speed the game up and keep a contemporary American audience engaged while their next 30-second dopamine hit is being carefully curated in a far-off data center. How can cycling similarly adapt?
Photo by Alex (@vanstek.jpg).
Formula Fixed posits that the answer lies in a year-long season of short track and criterium racing on fixed gear bikes. The Eastern Qualifiers were the first stop for the 2025/2026 Formula Fixed season, and CURB.WORLD was there to race, document, and take a pulse on this exciting new format. Here’s how it played out, along with some unsolicited comments about what was cool and what can be improved.
Things kicked off on Sunday, where the Formula Fixed Criterium Qualifier was an add-on category at the Chocolate City Criterium in Washington, DC. When the race was announced, both the DEFINED and the EXPANSIVE fields (these are Formula Fixed’s gender categories, with eligibility requirements carefully outlined here) were time slotted for their own twenty-minute races. According to Grady, Chocolate City Criterium could only budget 40 minutes total for fixed gear racing, and rather than having both fields race at the same time, two separate (albeit very short) races seemed more appropriate. I applaud Formula Fixed for this decision, but regardless, somehow the promoters found 20 more minutes to play with and both fields got 30 minutes to race anyway, much to the 5k runners' dismay.
The DEFINED field went first, and there was some notable depth from New York City in the field. Brittany O’Neal had a reign of terror in the 2024 fixed gear season, winning the Tour of Newport News omnium with three stage wins, and taking a clean sweep at Summit Point in West Virginia. Amelia Iaia, winner of Monster Track XXV, was hot off a victory at Bedford Burning. Karen Walker, who took wins this year at Coney Island and Riverside Criterium, was also lined up. Spectators could not count out names like Harmony Seaburg and Lana Pochiro, both of whom had earned a podium position this season. As advertised in the organizers’ thorough PR materials, there was a solid mix of street racer savvy and criterium experience in the field which left the fast course with variably technical turns up to racers’ interpretation.
The field split in the first two laps, with all five favorites making the selection. The group cooperated nicely for much of the race, lapping several riders and solidifying their standing in the omnium. It would come to an all-out sprint, with Walker besting O’Neal and Seaburg respectively to round out the podium.
The EXPANSIVE field brought similarly diverse talents, but to a stock of 42 registrants. Dan Uhranowsky, a hardened crit racer who also happens to be my teammate, expressed that the most important thing would be to avoid early chaos by making the race difficult from the start, so that’s what we decided to do. On lap one Uhranowsky went solo, and I selfishly (but successfully) tried to jump across. Before long we were joined by a group of six, including Outriders David Ramirez and Conor Kennedy, cyclocrosser Haru Watts, Philly’s Noah Cason, fixed crit veteran Matthew Robinson, and Aaron Hardin, who made the cross-country trip from Tucson because of a conflict with the upcoming Western Qualifier.
Photo by Alex (@vanstek.jpg).
It was clear that there had been some carnage based on the broken barriers and sidelined riders, but we pressed on, mutually making digs. The group shed Cason, Watts, and Kennedy, giving Visit Pittsburgh a leg-up with just a couple laps to go. When the bell rang, I sent a flyer knowing I could not compete in a 5-up sprint. I was chased down, but Uhranowsky sealed the deal on the finish and took the win, closely followed by Ramirez and then Robinson.
That night we swapped gear ratios and pedals, confused and daunted by what the next day would look like. It seemed like a good jump off the line and easy acceleration would be crucial, so we opted for mountain bike pedals and low, low gear ratios. At the track the next day, it was awesome to see the camaraderie between riders loaning tools, cogs, and chainrings to one another.
Even after the communique from the directors, there was a good bit of confusion over how exactly the tournament structure would work, but once things actually kicked off everything went pretty seamlessly. Each rider would participate in three heats in a maximum field of eight. Qualified riders would then advance to a semi-final. Based on semi-final performance, riders would either advance outright to the final, navigate a last-chance redemption round, or be eliminated. Really, it’s pretty straightforward.
Photo by Alex (@vanstek.jpg).
This was not my forte. I got third in each of my qualifying heats, which interestingly pitted me against Aaron Hardin (who is really fucking good) each time. At risk of sounding like I’m coping, I’m not sure what the odds are of randomly getting pulled to race the same person all three times. Regardless, I made it to the semi-final, during which I raced Hardin a fourth time, promptly crashed out, then turned into a fully-fledged spectator. There were some great battles in both the EXPANSIVE and the DEFINED field. Terry B went live at the start of the semi-finals, so go watch them on his channel, but some notable performances include underdog Dio Tollinchi-Castro in the EXPANSIVE field and Amelia Iaia in the DEFINED field, both of whom made some aggressive passes throughout the night that got the crowd stoked.
Photo by Alex (@vanstek.jpg).
The DEFINED final came down to Kelli Vasser, Carrie Nixon, Harmony Seaburg, Lana Pochiro, Madison West, Amelia Iaia, Karen Walker and Brittany O’Neal. In turn one, O’Neal got the all-important holeshot, but was closely followed by Walker and Iaia. The trio quickly made some distance, but no passes were made until Iaia got around Walker late in the race. The risky move seemed to put Iaia on a bad line, however, causing her to crash and allowing Walker to recover second position while O’Neal won convincingly.
Photo by Alex (@vanstek.jpg).
Photo by Alex (@vanstek.jpg).
Interestingly, this led to a tie between O’Neal and Walker on the two-day omnium, yet O’Neal was declared winner of the omnium despite there being no rule about the short track being an omnium tie-breaker. Remember, now, I have my spectator hat on, and I’m not even saying this to dunk on O’Neal or stick out my neck for Walker specifically. As a hypothetical huge fan and frequent spectator of Formula Fixed events, this would have been an awesome opportunity for a 1v1, winner-takes-all short track race between Walker and O’Neal, right? I mean, there’s no reason not to! The laps take approximately 30 seconds, and with just two racers, a tie-breaking elimination race could be as short as one lap, and would be a great way to build a narrative for an exciting new sport.
In the EXPANSIVE final, Aaron Hardin, Dan Uhranowsky, Dio Tollinchi-Castro, Daniel Spellman, Noah Cason, Franco Garrido, Haru Watts, and Matthew Robinson toed the line. Both Hardin and Uhranowsky had won every heat they started that day, but had not yet faced one another. Dan comfortably got the holeshot, followed by Hardin and Dio, but Dio made a ballsy pass in turn one to push Hardin out of second position which unfortunately caused him to slide out. This landed Cason in third position, but Spellman would soon make a pass to protect third place. In the front, Hardin made several attempts to pass Uhranowksy on the back straight, but the rider out of Pittsburgh repeatedly shut the door on the Arizonan to protect the win. This meant that every race Uhranowsky started this weekend resulted in a win, putting Pittsburgh on the map for fixed gear racing.
Photo by Alex (@vanstek.jpg).
Based on the rules, eight riders from each category should advance to the Pro Series. Preliminary results point to Brittany O’Neal, Karen Walker, Amelia Iaia, Harmony Seaburg, Lana Pochiro, Madison West, Laura Munoz, and Rosalyn Dunkley making the cut for the DEFINED field. In the EXPANSIVE field, Dan Uhranowsky, Aaron Hardin, Matthew Robinson, Noah Cason, David Ramirez, Daniel Spellman, Haru Watts, and Conor Kennedy should advance.
My spectatorial impressions, you ask? It’s certainly a great atmosphere. There is little resemblance to bike racing as you or I know it, but maybe that’s precisely what’s cool about it. If I had a caveat, it would be that the entire tournament lasted five hours from start to finish, which I could see turning off some spectators, especially with a larger pool of racers. The organizers absolutely ran a tight ship through the heats, but the structure simply feels a little drawn out compared to, say, a basketball game.
Equally, the races almost felt too short. Under the current format, the last racer to cross the finish is eliminated every lap, starting on the very first lap. This means that in a race with a maximum of eight riders on a similar course with 30-second laps, the longest a race would ever be is four minutes. I love the action that such a tight, technical course provides, but a slightly longer course could heighten the drama. Similarly, moving elimination laps from every lap to random laps or every other lap could successfully throttle both spectators’ interest and racers’ desperation. Unfortunately you can’t extend the duration of the heats and shorten the entire event without cutting racers from the pool, however, so I’m not sure where exactly the perfect balance lies.
Regardless, Formula Fixed offers an intriguing format which demands some very specialized skills on the bike. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can very easily envision a world in which Formula Fixed gets a weeknight spot on ESPN2 or sells out bleacher spots at my local go-kart track. Most Americans would rather be sitting ringside with a beer and buffalo wings than chasing a GC rider up a mountain, so while it’s difficult to predict where the ceiling is for this type of racing, I’m sure it’s higher than this.