berlin | Rad Race
We are 12 friends and we started RAD RACE in 2013 because we wanted our own races, our own cycling apparel and we just wanted to start our own thing because we had a big dream together: starting your own cycling brand.
Who created Rad Race series? How did it start?
RADRACE: Ingo called up all his best friends and told them he’s gonna start a race series and guess what: everyone he called said: FUCK YES I’M IN. And so we really just all met and everyone said what the idea could be and how much everyone could invest. It was crystal clear from the very beginning that there wouldn’t be any third party investors, that the money was coming 100% from us. 12 friends with an idea. 12 friends that can decide anything. We didn’t want to ask someone if this or that would be allowed. We wanted to do our own thing. And we just did.
What was the first race organized?
It was the '14 RAD RACE Last Man Standing in Berlin. It was in the official program of Fixed Days and BerlinerFahrrad Schau. We were so relieved and happy and so happy that we actually made it. That a tiny first part of our big dream came true.
A RoadBike editor told me in 2015 after the RAD RACE Last Man Standing that we just restarted the Berlin Sixdays. We wouldn’t go so far but we can only recommend to each and everyone to experience this race on an indoor kart track. It’s really an amazing atmosphere...
Berlin Last Man Standing Photo by Björn Lexius
RAD RACE Last Man Standing Berlin Photo by Burkhard Müller
There are several racing format on the Rad Race series, which one is the most interesting to organize?
T-H-E most interesting race to organize is definitely the RAD RACE Last Man Standing in Berlin. That was the first race ever we did and it’s still the most exciting for everyone. It lasts 7 hours in total and we are building up EVERYTHING on our own. Everything that’s in that indoor kart track comes from us. „Us“ means 12 RAD PACK members and all our friends that are setting this whole event up for free. We wanna spare you with the details but it’s a 24hrs job. And the race itself is also a challenge. Our ambition is to make bike racing more visible, more interesting, more understandable, more exciting for spectators. And we are trying to achieve this by keeping the whole race format simple (Last Man Standing wins) but until we get there it’s a supercomplicated challenge. The best is to experience first hand. So move your asses over to Berlin and check it out. You’re invited!!
Different race format bring different kind or riders, what are the two most different races and riders you have on the Series?
We created the RAD RACE SERIES and put 4 formats in there so riders can enjoy four completely different races. The RAD RACE Last Man Standing is very technical, the RAD RACE Crit takes very strong legs, the RAD RACE Battle is requesting sprint power and the RAD RACE Bergfest is a crazy 11k uphill time trial. In contrast to the Red Hook Crit that was „only“ created for fixed gear and „only“ has a Crit format we were trying to attract more riders and also wanna be more safe and more appealing for first time racers AND all RAD RACE SERIES events are open for road bikes, too… There is always an „open“ category and a „Fixed Gear“ category...
RAD RACE CRIT Photo by Nils Laengner
RAD RACE Fixed42 World Championship Photo by Drew Kaplan
What plan would you like to see happening that yet you have manage to make?
All our fixed gear races will be sold out this season and the scene will even grow more in 2017. BUT what we need is way more riders in the „OPEN“ category. We need cool road bike racers that just wanna experience more than their typical road bike mass races. AND: we need to sell more apparel from our own cycling collection. Because in the end this is what supports us and what helps us to build this company. Every cent we earn gets back into this company. We are trying to create a sustainable little company that lasts more than 3 years. In a few years time we wanna still be here. We are dreaming of an own bikes races series with smaller and bigger events and our own cycling collection and a great team that everyone loves - the RAD PACK...
Website rad-race.com
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