On Sunday October 4th, the Division Bike Gallery team of Peter Lunoak and Brice Stivers decided it would be a good idea to race a Madson cargo bike in the world’s largest cyclocross race. Why did they think this was a good idea? I had to find out more, so I spoke with Peter about how it all came together.

Where did the idea come from?
The idea to race the Crusade at Alpenrose astride our Madsen Utility Bucket arose from the preparation process for a later race we plan on contesting. That and we also wanted to really see what the Madsen is capable of… One bike with well over 300 pounds of “cargo” bumping along a cross course seems to me the perfect sea trial.You know, if the bike can survive that kind of punishment, it says a lot about its ability to haul some kiddies to school, or a big load of groceries home from the store.

What kind of preperations did you make?
Preparation began the day before the race with some minor modifications to our otherwise stock bike. For example removing the big double kickstand, the adjustable stem and the fenders, fabricating a guide for the slack side of the chain and putting on some knobby tires. Other than that our “training” involved working out a technique for flying dismounts and remounts a few minutes before the start.

What was the race like?
I have never pedaled so hard to go so slow…

How did the crowd react?
There was all sorts of hootin and hollerin, rubber boots a-stompin’ and bells a-ringin’. I’m not sure if it was all for us, but nobody cursed us or spit on us. So I’d say they loved it!

High/low points in the race?
High point I’d have to say was surviving the whole three laps without a single crash! We had some close calls… In particular the last time we finished the run-up Brice must have botched his part of the remount. Maybe he went in head first — I don’t know. But he made some sort of indescribable “pain sound” and then the bike was tilting hard to the left and then the right. For a moment I was certain that we were about to slam into the concrete wall of the velodrome or otherwise topple off the high side of the slope. Miraculously we made it through that… Lowpoint? None really. This first decisive victory in the Cargo bike category erased all my memories of pain and suffering!

For more photos of this historic event, have a look at David Anderson’s flickr photoset.