Photos: North Star bicycle festival starts in fixed gear
The North Star Bicycle Festival kicked off this weekend with two days of track cycling races at the National Sports Center Velodrome in Blaine, where speed comes in only one gear, and the bikes have no brakes.
The Fixed Gear Classic is an event for both professional and elite amateur track cyclists — men and women — with both sprint and endurance races.
There were team events like a madison — where one partner propels another like a slingshot — and individual events like a chariot — a short blast around the track — and a match sprint, which is a strategy race.
Photographer Caroline Yang recorded the action.
Later this week the Grand Prix begins, with road races through Minneapolis, St. Paul, Stillwater, Cannon Falls and North Mankato.
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