Road Bike Racing - using track bike in a road race?

I was talking to a guy who trains with a group of track/road cyclists and he was saying that the coach was making the a graders use their track bikes in road races, they put brakes on them and that it. This sounds a bit strange, has anyone else ever heard of this before. If so why would you do it, the reason the guy I was talking to said was to stop the cyclists freewheeling/stop pedalling.

Anyone able to explain why anyone would do this?

That used to be quite common. I'm not sure about the reasoning. It may have to do with developing smooth spinning. It may also be that fixed gear bikes force you to rely on your muscles and not the gearing to get you over those hills.

well i'm guessing it would only be used on relatively flat courses, because of the huge difference in speeds during the course of a hilly race...

the tricky part of this would be picking the best gearing for each rider.....

keeping the legs moving instead of freewheeling helps keep the muscles supple....

I'd have to assume that these guys would only use a fixed gear bike for low priority (C) races where a hard workout is more important than finishing position. Limiting yourself like that during a higher priority race (A or B) wouldn't make any sense.

I've never seen it done but I don't pay that close of attention to what others riding.

Originally posted by Laggard
It may have to do with developing smooth spinning.

Exactly. They do this to help with spinning, as well as working on leg speed.

I know that some coaches have their riders use fixed gear bikes for early season training. I've never heard of fixed gear bikes used for road races.

Also, I just thought of it: Mike Creed rode a fixed gear to a win in the Nat. Espoir Time Trial this year. It's been done!

I use a fixed gear during training somethimes. This improve peddling tecnique and makes peddling alot more smoother. I don't think you would use this for a majour race but i could be wrong. I used a fixed gear in my time trial champs in the weekend.

Thanks for these replies, I suspected much the same as what everyone else has said, so thanks everyone

Is just silly. In a sprint, you are looking at some 35 mph + speed. Sure, you setup your gearing for that on your fixies. The problem is that most crits or RR have hills and inclines. Try to climb those with your 53 x 12 gear. :D