The World's Greatest Fixie Rider, Unveiled: Ines Brunn! The PFN Interview

A couple of months ago, we discovered an amazing video of a woman doing mad tricks on a fixie. We instantly dubbed her the world's greatest fixie rider, and pledged to you, Constant Reader, that we would find out who she was, where she lived, and what type of beverage you could buy her if you ever met her in a bar.

Today, we can report back that we our mission was successful in every way. Her name is Ines Brunn, she lives in Beijing, China, and she may be the only German we've ever met who can't stand beer.

You have been called "the world's greatest 'fixie' bike rider." (Actually,
that was us who called you that!) How do you respond to that?

Very difficult to answer. As I am German (and Germans do not admit they are good, only when they really, really are the best in the world) and I have been living in China for almost 3 years (the country where modesty is highly valued. Nowadays if a Chinese says my English is good, I automatically answer: “No it is not, it is very bad”) I have problems answering that.

I do not have a track bike yet, so all my tricks are done on a fixed gear bike with a 1 to 1 gear ratio, that means I need my pedals to do a full turn so that the back wheel does a full turn. I think all the tricks I do on 1 wheel are more easy than trying to do them on a track bike style fixie.

I am now looking for a track style bike so that I can use it to ride around Beijing and do tricks on it. If I am able to master all my tricks on that style of bike, then I would accept to be called the worlds greatest “fixie’ bike rider.

How old are you now, and when did you start riding a bike?

Now I am 31. Not sure how I old I was when I started riding a bike, I was too small to remember. But I only started doing tricks on a bike at the age of 13.

What was your first bike?

I have no idea what my first bike was. My first trick bike (a fixed gear bike with gear ratio of 1 to 1, so nothing for riding fast) was made by a small company in Germany called Walter. My next two trick bikes were from a bigger German company called Langenberg. But all my frames were broken so often so (yes the frame braking at various points where the tubes meet) that I asked a guy I met to build an extra stable frame for me. His small company is called Norwid and that is my best trick bike.

How did you get started doing tricks?

I used to do gymnastics. At the age of 13 I stopped gymnastics and was looking for some new sport. A friend said I should come with her to a unicycling place. I was very reluctant, because from what she was telling about it sounded really boring. I did go and as expected they were only riding unicycles in circles (which is very boring). Then a lady came and started doing tricks on a bike. I immediately said “That is my new sport”. I started right away and love it till today.

And you probably got the moral: “Sometimes you have to just do things that you expect to be a waste of time to find the right thing.”

Were you an elite gymnast?


Well, I am not sure what you call an “elite gymnast.” But, yes I have been doing competitive gymnastics since around 6 or 7 years old. In Germany I was on the state team of Bavaria but only once qualified for a national level competition. At the age of 13 I decided to change to a different sport and by pure chance found the trick biking. I still continued gymnastics till the age of 28 on a voluntary level with small fun competitions now and then. In China I thought it would be easy to find a place to continue gymnastics, but I was proven wrong. Only places I found were for children, not for old women like me!

What kinds of competitions have you been in?

Artistic bicycling is a sport where you need to do tricks according to a book, you can choose up to 28 tricks and you have to show them within 6 minutes and do them exactly as they are described in the book. This is a German sport which also some other European nations do. I have not seen any Americans do it. In artistic bicycling I was competing up to National level up to the age of 28. I was a member of the German National team for about 10 years. I did a huge amount of competitions.

What brand of bike do you ride? Is it a custom bike? What type of wheels,
hubs, fork, handlebars, gearing, etc?

I now ride a Norwid bike. I had problems with the bikes before so I asked a guy to custom make one. He makes street race bikes and tandems, but never built a fixed gear bike before. I bought the wheels, the handlebar, the pedals and pedal hub and the chain from Langenberg, the saddle from Walter. I told Norwid to make the most stable frame so that it does not break at the points where the bars meet together. And I requested bigger bars for more stability. I cannot remember where he got the fork from, as I needed a straight-blade fork with no rake. The wheels are 24 inches and the front wheel can handlebar spin freely (well it is quite tight, but it can spin). The frame geometry is similar to my other trick bikes. That bike was built in 2000.
But with me in China, I have only my Langenberg bike. It was built in 1994 but I bought it second hand in 1998.

Do you do other types of cycling -- road-biking, BMX, mountain biking?

Here in Beijing I use a "normal“ bike to get to work every day, except for the seldom times when I use in-line skates. I have a secondhand bike I bought for about US$10. It is falling apart, but the repair in China costs about 20 cents (US) so no need to buy a new bike. I never possessed a mountain bike, but in Germany I did do a few mountain bike rides with friends, me using my normal bike. I also rode 8 days through the alps (also on my normal bike). I definitely am a bike enthusiast, but not a nerd (yet). I am looking forward to having a track bike.

We hear you enjoy wine. What are your favorite varietal grapes, vintages, vintners, and wine regions? Do you like a full-bodied red, say, or a citrusy white? You seem like maybe a Prosecco kind of person!

Yes, I enjoy wine a lot. My taste of wine changes over time. I used to love the full-bodied red with strong barrique taste. Then I started to fall for the wines from Piemonte (a region in Northern Italy). They have great Barolo and Barbaresco wines that I think are outstanding. Lately I suddenly prefer to drink a white wine. E.g. a good Riesling from Germany (yes there are some really good ones) or an Arneis from Piemonte. Sure in a bar it maybe best to go for a standard Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon.

Unfortunately, wine in China is not so easy. They do import foreign wines, but you have to pay for it. And the bottle might have not been treated well on the journey. China is doing better and acquiring knowledge of how to make good wines. But still till you get the bottle in your restaurant in Beijing it might have been kept in a standing position (which makes the cork dry out and then let air in which then makes the wine turn bad), or it might just have been transported in a truck across china with no cooling (so same: dry cork = even the best wine turns bad).

Do you like beer at all?

No. There are two things I cannot drink: Beer and bubbly mineral water with gas. Both of them are what a typical Germans drink the whole day.

They still drink beer all day? Awesome! How much training do you do today, and how much did you do when you were learning? Do you regularly develop new tricks?

Well nowadays due to lack of an appropriate place and less time, I hardly find time. Especially with rain as that prevents me from being able to train outdoors. When I was really doing this intensely, I used to train about three times from Monday to Friday about two hours each and then almost every weekend did some intense training or went to competitions. Now with all my business travel it is much harder to keep on training. I do not really learn many more amazing tricks nowadays.
But I want to have a track bike and transfer all my tricks to that bike and learn the skidding, that seems to be very cool.

What's the worst crash you've ever had?

That is hard to say. There are different levels of “worst.” From the handstand it is never nice to fall, as you always fall head first and have no mechanism to try to get away from the bike. I crashed from my handstand once on a German Championship which made me only get 10th place. I also fell off stages, the worst was doing a headstand. I fortunately did not break anything. I had a bad crash while trying a full front handlebar spin with me standing on top. After that I never was able to manage the full turn, only 180 degrees. The last crash was this May, just 8 days before I was to fly to New York City for the Bicycle Film Festival. I broke my big toe because I fell into the spokes while trying my saddle stand on grass. But thank god I am in China. I went to my Chinese therapist and said I have to be able to walk and do tricks on a bike by next week and he massaged my toe. And I was able to perform in NYC.

Do people ever say you should wear a helmet, to set a good example to
children? What do you say to them?

In Germany I did not do much in the streets. Here in China nobody has a helmet and they would also wonder why you are wearing such a strange thing if I were to wear one.



You live in Hamburg. Do you eat hamburgers or wear a Homburg hat? (Ha ha,
that's a joke.)
I used to live in Hamburg. That was when I was working for the particle accelerator doing physics research. Now I live in Beijing, China. That is one of the best places to be right now. The Olympics are coming up and everybody is excited. I am a candidate for carrying the Olympics torch. If you want to support me, please vote for me at this website.


What's your day job, and how do you make it work with your cycling?

I work for an American company called JDSU as the Business Development manager for Asia-Pacific. We are a leading company providing test equipment for the telecommunication industry. I am based out of Beijing so that I am closer to our customers. For business, I have to travel to all countries in Asia and also to Australia and New Zealand. My business travel has become slightly less, in 2005 and 2006 I was on the road about three quarters of my time. Therefore it is hard to keep up with a sport where I need equipment, like a bike.

Bicycling seems to be growing hugely in Europe and the USA. Cyclists
everywhere are saying it's good for the planet and good for the person. What
do you think about that?

I am a convinced bicyclist. I used bikes as much as possible in Germany. The only car I ever bought in my whole life was a Ford camping van that I used for 3.5 years until I left to go to China. Here I do not have a car and do not want a car. I am much faster on bike.

If you think of Beijing as the capitol of bikes, unfortunately that is a myth. Today Beijing has cars over cars. (Since 2004 the official number of daily new cars on the roads of Beijing is 1000, that is 1 million new cars on the roads in 3 years!) Rush hour is like 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours long in the evening. A complete catastrophe. And: The Chinese love it! They think I am the one who is crazy. Me being a western foreigner having enough money to buy something other than a bicycle is cycling around the city every day. They all do not understand why I do not buy a car. They spend a lot of time in traffic jams. After over two years of me trying to explain to the Chinese why I love my bike they finally accept that I rather ride on a bike for 25 min than stand in traffic jams for 45 min just to get to the office. But they think it still makes no sense that I have a regular bike, they all say I must have enough money to at least buy an electric bike where I would not have to pedal.

The concept of "environmentally friendly" and just "enjoying riding" is too far away for them. They just want to taste luxury. I hope in the next 10 years they will start to understand.

What do you tell children who tell you they want to be just like you? Talent
or hard work?

I tell them they have to work out and have endurance to keep on doing it over long time. You cannot learn tricks from one day to the next, or at least not the difficult ones.

All photos (C) copyright Ines Brunn, used with kind permission.

Great reruns from our youth: The PFN Interview with the Fat Man

We would be remiss if we neglected to tell you that this weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival, one of the grandaddy superevents of mountain biking that we've had the pleasure of experiencing for more than a decade. (We had to do a bit of extra credit this year to get into the notoriously popular 40 mile race.)

Anyway, we wanted to take this opportunity to redirect your attention to our interview with the Fat Man himself, the estimable Mr. Gary Crandall, member of the Mountain Biking Hall of Fame, and race chief extraordinaire. (We prudently caught his ear earlier this summer, before he was drowning in race details.)

And watch for yet another "Local Intelligence" race report next week.

Compared to what? A conversation with Surly's Dave Gray

The first time we met Dave Gray, it was after a marathon mountain bike race in 90 degree heat. He was wearing one of the ugliest wool jerseys we'd ever seen -- a color something like blueberry yogurt -- and he was riding some sort of mysterious prototype singlespeed with vicious welds in weird places. It was a Frankenstein-looking thing. We chatted for a while — we, in our ignorance, clueless that we were yakking with one of the bike industry's most companionable fellows. He was much too modest then to put us firmly in our place, so we finally got around to giving him another opportunity.

Give us a little background on Surly, how did the brand get launched and why?

Wakeman Massie was hired by Quality Bicycle Products, our parent company and US distributor, to design proprietary products and start up several proprietary brands. He started Surly, originally called 1x1, in 1998 with the introduction of the Singleator. The desire for well-designed, reasonably-priced single-speed components was the seed for the brand. Hurl and I were hired on a couple years later. Hurl was responsible for marketing, I concentrated on design and qc, and Wakeman played the role of GM and product designer. We all handled customer service and day-to-day duties. When Wakeman and Hurl left Surly, I took over as GM and hired Nick and Andy. Eric was brought in a couple years later. Peter was hired as GM when I got sick of the role. Emily, Alix, and Jim are the latest crew members.

How many bikes are being shipped each year now?

We sell more framesets than complete bikes. I estimate we'll sell 4000 - 5000 frames and 2000 complete bikes in 2007.

Do you get a lot of requests from dirtbag cyclists looking for free stuff, sponsorships, events?

Sure. And some of those dirtbags turn out to be the best ambassadors for the brand. But we turn down lots of requests. A person or group has to be doing something special to get our attention and goods. We have a pretty small sponsorship budget, so we spend our pennies wisely.

You're way into utility biking, commuting, and bike camping. Why?

There are so many reasons: I like the health benefits (mental, physical, spiritual) that cycling provides. I'd rather buy good food, good drink, or toys than pay for gasoline and all the other automotive-related operating costs. Cars make the planet dirty and ugly, and cars make people sick. I like the challenge of transporting things by bike. Sitting in traffic sucks ass. And leading by example is the best way to turn people on to alternative forms of transportaion.

If we remember correctly, you frequently win the "most bike days commuting"
award at QBP. True? If so, what's your record?

I'm not sure. It was between 240 and 250 days. I don't get the award for frequency anymore, because I travel quite a bit. But I still win the "total distance" award...5888 miles last year.

You're also well known as the creator of vast quantities of "grog" for events like the Homie Fall Fest. Your recipe, please.

I usually freestyle it a bit. But it goes something like this.

Heat the contents of a cheap box 'o wine in a kettle or stock pot, but don't boil it. When it’s close to boiling, reduce the heat, and add the following:

Whole cloves, Whole Allspice, and Cinnamon sticks wrapped in cheesecloth.. Orange and lemon slices. Lemon juice. Sugar (optional…depends on the sweetness of the wine).

Let is simmer for 15-30 minutes.

Add cheap vodka or rum for extra cheer.

Serve hot in the company of good friends.

Besides Pinch Flat News, of course, what are some of your favorite bike publications and websites?

I regularly read Velovision, the Rivendell Reader, Bicycle Quarterly, A to B, and Dirt Rag. I don’t have much love for the mainstream glossy U.S. bike mags. I typically don’t use the products they are pushing.

The bicycle-related websites I surf usually contain information about unique human-powered vehicles or framebuilding techniques.

"Bikes are the new punk rock"-- your reaction?

I disagree. I don't think most bikes are ridden as an anti-establishment statement.

"Fixies Are for Pussies and Poseurs" is the name of a band here in Minneapolis. Do you like 'em?[...he asked, provocatively.]

I haven't heard them [... he answered, diplomatically.]

You had a horrific and freakish accident a few weeks ago. How did it happen?

A few of us were derbying behind One On One, and I fell over on a not-so-smooth section of pavement while clipped into my pedals. My hip took the majority of the impact, spiral-fracturing my femur. My surgeon put me back together with a long steel plate and a dozen screws.

Any great new products you need to leak to "the press" right now?

No. We usually let the Surly cats out of their bags at the Interbike tradeshow late in September. Sorry.

Why is the Jethro Tool so goddam expensive?

Compared to what?

Do you guys make that bottle opener that screws into a standard bottle cage mount? Where can I get one of those?

No. Pedros sold those for a while. I don't know if they are still available. They don't work very well unless you turn your bike upside-down.


What's your day-to-day gig at Surly like? Yammering into the blower a lot, or drinking beer?

There's some yammering and some beer drinking at times. But I spend most of my time answering e-mail from our customers, manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and our agent in Taiwan. The rest of the day is spent on research and developement...sourcing materials and manufacturers, testing sample parts, designing parts on paper and in the computer, and tracking costs of product developement.

The Fat Man Speaks: A conversation with Gary Crandall, Part 2

You will recall that we were talking with Gary Crandall, race chief of Wisconsin's legendary Fat Tire 40 mountain bike race. Let's get back to it, shall we?


A couple years ago, you were nominated and accepted into the MTBing Hall of Fame. How did that happen, and were you surprised?

I had been nominated by Gary Sjoquist at Quality Bicycle Products - and he along with some other industry associates at Trek really went out and beat the bushes to encourage people to join the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in Crested Butte and to get their votes in for the annual induction into the hall.

Imagine my great surprise when the email came in saying that I had been selected for induction into the hall. It was a most satisfying experience to have what some would consider my life's work (or at least many years of it) recognized by a sports hall of fame. I definitely got more than my 15 minutes of fame out of that one.

My induction at the Interbike Show in Las Vegas that year was a real treat - never been to Vegas, never been to the big bike show and of course I hadn't met most of the industry luminaries that attended the induction ceremony. What a team to be on - check out the url of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, I'm included with some pretty major company.



The Fat Tire 40 is famous for being friendly to roadies... With lots of fire roads and doubletrack. The dirt bikers all wish there were more technical singletrack. How do you balance the two competing interests?

Every race course is different - the size of our race field, the rolling glacial terrain and the available trail network lends itself to a power course rather than a technical course.

If I ran a race with a couple hundred elite riders I could put together a great single track - technical trail - but with 1700 in the 40 and 800 in the Short & Fat the responsible choice for trail selection dictates that we stay off the narrow technical sections - too many people in too cramped of an area.

If you look at [other races in the area, like] the Cable Area Off Road Classic in May or the Seeley Lions PreFat race in August you'll find smaller races with much more technically demanding courses. The trails are out there but the type and size of race will determine the course that is offered in each case.

Both the Chequamegon point to point races are a challenge to any type of rider - if a racer is looking for a more technical challenge then perhaps the Chequamegon 40 is not the right choice - if a racer is looking for a great aerobic effort physical challenge in a mass start point to point format then there is nothing finer than the Chequamegon 40.

You've said before that all you need for an event like this is the three P's -- pasta, porta-potties, and parking. After 25 years, is that all you've learned?

Actually, I've added a few more P's in my event management menu - phones, promotion, prizes, personnel, power and the list goes on. I have always told people who ask about events that large or small in size event managers have to address the same issues - just on different scales. In my many years I have written quite a few job descriptions, operational outlines and put together many spreadsheets as an aid in event management.

One main thing I have learned is no matter how much time you spend putting together and executing the plan - you always have to be ready for the quirks of fate that impact your event weekend - say a huge wind storm that comes in and drops a couple hundred trees on your race course a week before the event, or the torrential rainstorm that causes a last minute course change. After 25 years we have it pretty dialed in as far as how the event is to run - the excitement comes when the unexpected happens and we get to problem solve the unpredictable in a short amount of time and continue the event without missing a beat - its very satisfying to tweak the
operations to the point of being smoother than smooth - hats off to my long time low turn over race staff for that.

Aside from the insane strides in technology, what other changes have you noticed in the past three decades of mountain biking?

The big thing is not the advances in technology it's the fact that individuals that I have known for many years, get married, have kids and then their kids are riding the children's events and eventually find themselves up on the podium. The consistency of the family fun aspect of mountain biking in general the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in particular has survived through all the advances in technology, training, nutrition, clothing and the like. Through it all the over riding motivation is the
adventure and thrill of riding through the woods under your own power.

What's the goofiest thing you ever saw happen during the race? For a few years there, bandits were a big problem. Then it was public urination at the start line. What's the big challenge for the next few years?

Goofiest thing ever in the race? Well after 25 years it's tough to narrow it down to the most outrageous but there are many great memories that would make the highlights list - for instance the time Greg LeMond showed up in the peak of his career to race and ride in the Chequamegon 40 or the year that Bill and Suzie got married at the finish line to make good on the pledge they made in the 50 Ways to Ride the Chequamegon essay contest, or the torrential down pour years of 1990 and 1991 that challenged our ability to be flexible and survive some of the worst weather imaginable or of course my induction into the Mountain Biking Hall of Fame. The list goes on - making memories is what it is all about for the participants, sponsors,
staff, volunteers and community.

Our legacy for the sport and in the local community is that we put forth a great professional effort to see that everyone enjoys themselves, that everyone feels they got their moneys worth, that everyone wants to come back and do it again next time and that everyone looks at the Chequamegon as a prime example of doing the right thing in the right place in the right way.

Next time we see you at the Sawmill Saloon, we're buying... What'll you have?

I'm liking those local brews like a Fat Squirrel or Spotted Cow, then again the Blue Moon is a tasty malted beverage too.

The Fat Man Speaks: A conversation with Gary Crandall (Part 1)

Gary Crandall is a fixture of Midwest mountain biking -- every September for 24 years he has staged the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in northwestern Wisconsin. Four years ago, he was inducted into the US Mountain Biking Hall of Fame in Colorado--not bad for a flatlander race chief!

As the "Fat Man," he oversees one of the world's largest mass-start citizen races--one of the benchmark races that hairy legs and shavers alike start training for each Spring from Minneapolis to Chicago, Winnipeg to Kansas City. (And, by the way: He's not fat at all, he's quite svelte. Let's just say he's built like a race boss.)


This year is the 25th anniversary of the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival. How does that feel?

Actually if it was 1983 and I was looking forward 25 years I'd think man that's a long time away - but in 2007 looking back it's more the feeling that the time just flew by.


As I understand it, you rode in the first race, 25 years ago-- and that was the only one... Because you became the race chief the following year. Do I have the history right?

Indeed I did ride in the first Chequamegon 40 in 1983 on an old early 1980's blue Stumpjumper. There certainly wasn't the electric excitement of the mass start as we see today since only 27 riders traversed that first 40 miles - but we were definitely off on an adventure. After that, as a self-employed person with low season down time on my hands I offered to help out with the organization of the event. What started out as a volunteer offer turned into my full time profession as the event grew.


What do you do with yourself the other 364 days of the year? Do you get much of a chance to ride trails yourself?

Well the event may be only a couple of days in September but the planning of it is a year around job. Not full time all the time in the winter months but there aren't many days I don't work on Chequamegon business whether it relates to sponsorships, staff, operations, purchasing,accounting, marketing and the like. Yes I do get time to ride - not as much as I want to but I'm on the road and the trails whenever I can get on my bike - I also enjoy snowshoeing and cross country skiing or just hiking in our beautiful woods. The all season trails in the Cable area are a true paradise for anyone who enjoys getting out in the woods. I also spend a great deal of time as an assistant to my wife Sara's artistic pursuits working in her studio at our home. So all in all I stay pretty busy in the northwoods.

The Fat Tire 40 is famous for being accessible to anyone who wants to try a MTB marathon event. Has anyone ever died riding the race?

With over 50,000 passes in 25 years on our event courses we have been fortunate to not have had a fatality. Mountain biking like any active endeavor has its risks and certainly injury is one of those risks. We have had our share of physical trauma over the years but it has been well handled by our extensive emergency medical response system we set up. The logistics of covering 56 miles of linear trail in two point to point cross country events is somewhat mind boggling - but we do cover it with stationary and roaming medical personnel at aid stations, the finish line, on ATVs and of course with the members of the National Mtn Bike Patrol. We couldn't hold the event without the extensive system we put together each year.


At one time, the race was considered the largest mass-start MTB race in the country. But you instituted a field limit in about 1994 or so, and then a lottery system. Why?

Our limit of 2500 really came out of our experience in our two wettest years, 1990 and 1991 (which Greg LeMond won by the way both times). Both years were different types of deluges but suffice to say it was a wet muddy mess out there. We realized that in a worst case weather scenario our ability to handle the health and safety of the participants and our responsibility to insure the integrity of the trail in a sustainable manner were greatly taxed. Our event philosophy dictates that safety of the riders and sustainability of the trails is foremost in our operational procedures. The limit was set to help maintain those goals - and the goal of organizational sanity - I want my staff and volunteers to have as much fun as the participants - with a limit they are charged with making it better not making it bigger.

COMING IN PART 2: Public urination! The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame! Romance at the Finish Line! And Much More!