Design
Portland's New Velodrome a Big Win for Cyclists, Hematomas
A night of competitive cycling on "brakeless" single-speed cycles offers a veritable highlight reel of face planting and smashing into walls.
San Francisco messenger-bag goliath Chrome Industries recently staged a night of competitive flat-track cycling at its Portland outlet, and the results were just brutal.
After constructing a circular track from plywood, the company invited participants to chuck in $5 for the winner-take-all event, featuring "brakeless" single-speed cycles. What followed was a veritable highlight reel of face planting, elbow skinning, and smashing into walls with enough force to scrape off a tattoo. Basically, it was bikers behaving like billiard balls in a spinning laundry dryer.