Inside the Trailer with Cyclocross Privateer Brannan Fix
Inside the Trailer with Cyclocross Privateer Brannan Fix
We sat down with Brannan Fix in his trailer to learn more about life on the road with his privateer cyclocross program
Brannan Fix has been a mainstay on the domestic cyclocross season for years as part of the Alpha Bicycle - Groove Silverthorne development team based out of Colorado, but now that he is a 24-year-old college graduate, it is time to move on from the devo program and “adult,” as it were.
Surveying the landscape of American cyclocross, Fix realized he would have to put together his own privateer program and do things on his own if he wanted to keep racing competitive cyclocross. Thanks in part to relationships maintained by Alpha Bicycle’s Adam Rachubinski, Fix was able to put together a program to race this season with Shimano, Laser, and Pratt Cycles as his primary sponsors.
“It's another thing that I'm getting to learn and experience this year that I wouldn't have got to experience on a different program where I didn't have to do that,” Fix said about putting together his program. “It's challenging and rewarding. More challenging than rewarding, to be honest.”
During the long block of racing that started at GO Cross and wrapped with Cincinnati, Fix was on the road in his trailer with his dad, partner Zoe, and their dog. I stopped in Fix’s trailer during the Charm City weekend to learn more about his program, the privateer life, and try to convince him to bring back his video podcast series Shred the Shit.
Interview: Brannan Fix and His Privateer Cyclocross Program
Zach Schuster: So we're in Brannan Fix's trailer here. This is a pretty sweet setup. So you're with Alpha for a good chunk of time. How many years were you with Alpha?
Brannan Fix: I was with Adam for five years total. So a long time from driving across the country in a van, to flying everywhere and doing it pro. So it ran the gambit of the experience with Adam.
Zach Schuster: We talked to Caleb about doing the privateer thing as well. Why did you decide you wanted to stick with this?
Brannan Fix: To be honest, there's nothing else. You look at the team setting right now, and there’s not much there. It's not like we're bouncing around teams. There are no deals and trades going on. Like, there's no team support.
And so if you want to keep doing it, you kind of have to put it together yourself. And I'm lucky that my dad has seen that vision and recognized it. And he's the one that put this trailer together and really helps me with the logistics piece of that. But, being with Adam for five years, he's still like a trusted advisor and gave us a lot of the tools we needed to succeed in putting it together. I think this trailer is very influenced by what Adam's trailer was like for those years.
And so that's been a big piece of doing my own thing. It's been, just taking influence from other places and just trying to make it work because that's the only option if I wanted to keep racing.
Zach Schuster: I guess my bigger question is why keep going for it? I mean, you're young, you've had some success, what motivates you? It's not easy; it'd be a lot easier I think to just stay at home, get a job, do whatever.
Brannan Fix: I think the biggest thing that motivates me is that I've had really good years. My last year as a U23 I had a really good year. I won a UCI race, podiumed in a couple others, second at Nationals. It's years like that that motivate me.
And I've always been kind of like the 'have a great year and then fall flat the next year type.' And last year I felt flat. And so between that and the pandemic, there was a soul-searching moment of like, "Do I really want to keep doing this?"
And then I set some goals for myself and motivated myself like, “Yeah, you know what? It's a new opportunity doing it with literally my family—it's Zoe, who I've been dating for five years, my dad, and our dog.” I've had so much fun the last three weeks. We've been on the road for three weeks, but it's been really a pleasure to do it. It hasn't felt like, “Oh, here we go again.” Maybe a little bit towards the end of this three-week block. But the new challenge of doing it by myself has been motivating too.
Zach Schuster: How did the program come together? Who did you have relationships with? How did you put this all together?
Brannan Fix: In all honesty, I've always been really poor at networking. And so I wasted a year on Adam's program that I should have used for networking and kind of putting together my own thing by being too inwardly focused and stressed out about results and all that crap. And so when it came time to start putting my own thing together, I really had to ask favors from Adam to help me connect with people and put things together that way.
So Shimano came on board, that's integral to my program, and I couldn't be more thankful. And that was a connection I made through Adam's program. It's great that Meredith [Miller] is now a part of that.
Zach Schuster: That helps!
Brannan Fix: I've always looked up to her. She lived in Fort Collins for a while and she's just a fantastic lady. So that's been awesome. Laser came on board; I leveraged that relationship through Adam, which is yet another piece of that. And then Chris from Squid introduced me to Max Pratt, who's my frame builder out of Providence, Rhode Island.
That was one of those moments where it was like, “Okay, I can kind of branch out of relationships that other people have helped me make and establish my own and do that piece of it.” And so that was a big confidence booster, but really, between those three sponsors and my dad having a passion for it, I've kind of felt like a sitting duck at times, like I haven't done enough or found enough sponsors or money or anything. But I think everyone has kind of felt that way at one point.
It's another thing that I'm getting to learn and experience this year that I wouldn't have got to experience on a different program where I didn't have to do that. And so that's challenging and rewarding. More challenging than rewarding, to be honest.
Zach Schuster: So Pratt looks like it's a custom steel frame. What's their story, what do they do? What's their story? Because they're sponsoring a team too. They've got a couple of other racers.
Brannan Fix: Max is a really awesome guy. I called him up in May during the pandemic and told him my story and he's like, “Yeah, let's do something.” And so we put it together with those two bikes. They have a custom geometry loosely influenced by the Moots I raced when I was on Adam’s program. We did a couple little tweaks, and Max influenced them too. He runs his own racing team. He's a big transgender advocate. So he’s sponsoring Austin Killips this season. It's been really cool to have that team out at the race too.
But it’s been a really cool piece of it to have custom bikes for me. And the bikes are painted in the colors of the house that Zoe I met at while I was in college. There's a nice little personal connection in there.
Zach Schuster: There are a lot of strong dudes in the Men’s field. We keep talking, I think you go 1 through 20, a lot of strong dudes. How are you feeling about things? I mean, good results, good race at Rochester. How are you feeling about the first couple weeks of your season here?
Brannan Fix: I've been happy with it. But in racing, you're always looking for more. You can go and ask Vincent Baestaens about his race weekends and he'd want for more too, but that's okay. I think this year, the racing is tighter than ever. I think in years past the lead group's been a little way out in the lead. And I think this year, we saw it yesterday [Charm City Day 1]; the lead group was 15 riders.
Zach Schuster: Dude. There are so many strong dudes.
Brannan Fix: The top 20 really is a strong group. You could see anyone in the top 20 in the top 7 this year. So I felt pretty good about my results. Roanoke was a little bit of like a get the bikes out type race with the new program.
Rochester, I felt a lot better. And then here in Baltimore, I was hoping for a little more from the C1 and I just didn't have it. I think it's just a symptom of getting back to racing. I didn't race a lot during the pandemic. And so I think being on the road for three weeks and all that kind of adds up. But for having it be my own program and putting the pieces together, I think I'm right where I want to be. And I'm pretty happy about it. But it's just such a tight field this year that, a bad day isn't down two places, a bad day is like the difference between 5th and 20th.
I've had a lot of fun racing so far this year because it's just been so competitive and that's been really fun to be a part of for sure. I've really enjoyed that.
Zach Schuster: You're part of a really talented class of dudes, like Lance and Gage and you were part of that conversation and you guys are all adults now. So it seems like, you came up with a tough class of guys to race against throughout your career.
Brannan Fix: Well, it's funny because I went to Worlds as a second-year Junior with Gage, Lance, Gavin Haley, Cooper Willsey and I think Cameron Beard was there.
So a lot of them, Gavin, Cooper, and Cameron have kind of moved on, Spencer's racing a little more road, but that year we had three riders in the top 15 at Junior World. And it was and is still the best Junior men's result for the last 15 years.
Just in total, we didn't win like whoever came out of his basement and…
Zach Schuster: Matt Kelly.
Brannan Fix: Matt Kelly, but it was still a really strong year. And I think my age group is probably the strongest U23 and Junior group that's come in a while. And so it's been fun and also frustrating to see Lance and Gage at the front so much and be like so close to being there as well.
It’s still fun to be out racing with Lance and Gage. In some ways, it feels like we're kids again.
Zach Schuster: How old are you now?
Brannan Fix: 24.
Zach Schuster: Okay. So a young adult getting out there.
Brannan Fix: But I've finished school, and I'm doing moderately adult things, shirtless in my trailer at a bike race excluded. But it's been super fun to be a part of that little tight-knit community. We talk every day, and we're a close group of friends and that's super fun. Yeah, that's another piece of the thing that keeps me coming back, it's that community, you never want to lose that.
Zach Schuster: I was just talking to Gosse van der Meer and he was shocked at how friendly everyone is. And I was like, that's why we keep doing stupid shit like this right? Living out of a trailer. There are better things we could be doing?
But then getting to go race against each other and stuff like that is really cool. And it comes across, from us covering you, just the good vibes between everyone I think makes us want to be a part of it.
Brannan Fix: I wish there was a little more Cross beef, but that's okay.
Zach Schuster: It won't happen. Everyone's friends.
Brannan Fix: I know that's the problem. They're so friendly to each other.
Zach Schuster: Everyone's doing social media and stuff, is Shred the Shit coming back?
Brannan Fix: No Shred the Shit isn't going to come back.
Zach Schuster: Awww.
Brannan Fix: It was really the right place, the right time. It was just Gage and I having fun and that was a year that we both rode really well and so it came naturally. I don't think we could ever recreate it if we tried.
Zoe and I are doing a video series this year that's a little more of an in-depth look at what the weekend was like and trying to bring people into the race more than a two-line Instagram caption would. And more than anything, it's just kind of to keep people up to date with what's happening with me. I don't really have any broad ambitions for it. I just want to make sure that I'm sharing what it's like to be at these races. Because I know it's an undoubtedly privileged position to be in and it's a fun thing to be a part of.
And I want to bring that across in a year that American ‘cross seems like it's trying to make a comeback to the USGP style days of making people care about race-to-race results rather than just, “Oh cool, someone did well at Nationals.” And so we're trying to capture a little bit of that and it's a new adventure just like the whole program is.
Zach Schuster: I think there's only so much we can do. And I think that's been our mantra that it's kind of up to you guys to tell your story and I think it's the perfect time. Kerry's breakdowns have been amazing, for example.
And you've got a good personality, man. I've always appreciated like Shred the Shit, and your personality. So it seems like you're well suited to do that kind of content. So to not capitalize on that would be a mistake.
Brannan Fix: It's a little hard, I'm a little more introverted when it comes to strangers. I'm really extroverted when it's my friends when I can relax, but I'm very in awe of Kerry's ability to ride up to little kids and hand them the GoPro and be like “Here, have fun.”
That's another thing that I get to work on this year. Between making relationships and kind of just being accessible for the sport. Because I think that's so important. We grew up watching Jeremy Powers and watching Behind the Barriers, you almost feel like you know Jeremy even though you don't really know Jeremy.
I hope we can harken back to a little bit of that between the coverage that Crosshairs is doing and doing the live stream on GCN and the World Cups coming up here soon is another really good opportunity to bring people a little closer again. And so I'm excited for that going into the rest of the year.
Zach Schuster: One last thing I wanted to ask, I kind of love the black kit approach. I don't know, it just has that kind of no-frills, I don't give a crap vibe. Was that what you were going for?
Brannan Fix: I don't have a kit sponsor, to be honest so if anyone is interested you can hit me up on Instagram.
[Ed. Note: Since our chat, Fix has added Velocio Apparel as his kit sponsor]
Zach Schuster: Ah, okay. Why'd you go all black. Is that like a statement?
Brannan Fix: It's a little bit of a Ricky Bobby, like having the Cougar on the front of the car where it just says me. I'd love to actually have some kits that are reflective of my sponsors. And I think between that and the bike colors, I think I'm really into that muted subtle, two eye-popping colors approach. And so hopefully I'd love to tie that into some kits at some point, but we'll see what opportunities come on.
Zach Schuster: It's just like, you're not flexing. You're just kind of showing up and then especially if you're good, you're wearing black and just in there in Rochester and it's just like, “Yeah, that's Brannan Fix doing his thing.”
Brannan Fix: The amount of people I heard yesterday be like, “Who's that guy?”
Zach Schuster: Oh, wow. I guess that’s a problem.
Brannan Fix: I’d like to stick with that motif and kind of just give some accent colors to match the bike. Because I think that'd be a really rad look. So we'll see what happens.
Zach Schuster: All right. We'll try to sneak that in the story for you.
Brannan Fix: Haha, thanks, I appreciate it.