Almost a year in

Ride Fatbikes

The first post on RideFatbikes.com was almost a year ago – March 18, 2011.  The original goal in developing this site was to get the word out about how much fun it can be to ride fatbikes (hence the name “Ride Fatbikes”).  Since then, we’ve grown to a dramatically larger readership (over 7300 visitors last month compared to an average of 60 visitors/month in the first few months), we’ve developed/hosted/promoted the Fatbike Frozen Forty (triple F), we’ve launched the Fatbike Gallery, the Fatbike Library, and a Gear and Reviews section.  We’ve had guests posts, reader-contributed stories, and event/race recaps from readers, racers, and riders from all over the country, and we’ve tried to keep the content fresh.

That said, by no means do we have it all figured out.  Instead, as we approach the one-year anniversary of RideFatbikes.com, we’d like to try modifying (and hopefully improving) the format of this site.  Some of our most popular posts and stories have been those submitted by readers and guest contributors, so we’d like to do more of that.  We’ve found that while people like to know about races, rides, and adventures that are happening in their area, they also like to share stories about their own personal experiences at a race/ride or even their own solo fatbike adventure story.  Good stories and good adventures make for good reading.

The community of people who ride fatbikes has grown exponentially in recent years, and we hope it will continue to grow exponentially more in years to come.  We want RideFatbikes.com to serve that community by offering a place to share your fatbike stories, adventures, and more.  As our format changes, so may our site.  In the meantime, please feel free to comment on new pages or posts you see developing, check out and comment on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ride-Fatbikes/236605043077212), follow us on Twitter (@RideFatbikes), submit your photo for the Fatbike Gallery, or simply Contact Us and share a post or story you’d like to see included here.

It’s a lot of fun to ride fatbikes, and it’s a lot of fun to see what other fatbike riders have to say about their adventures.  Please feel free to make this site your forum for sharing the stories about how, where, and why you ride fatbikes.

Submit your race reports for guest posts on RideFatbikes.com

Photo credit: RideFatbikes.com

It’s awesome to see the amazing races and fatbike-focused winter events occurring throughout Minnesota and around the country.  We’ve spent so much time and energy focused on building and reporting the success of last weekend’s Fatbike Frozen Forty (a first year event organized by Ride Enterprises / Brad Boyd and sponsored supported by headline sponsor Twenty2 Cycles), that it’s been hard to find time to report on the many other fabulous races.

For those of you who regularly follow RideFatbikes.com, and who attend some of these races in Minnesota or in your own state, we’d appreciate having your race reports submitted to us for guest posts!  Would you like to see your name connected with a great race report that’s visible to over 5000 visitors a month?   After you attend or participate in a great fatbike race, write up a race report (with photos from the event of course) and submit it to us for review and possible posting at RideFatbikes.com.

We’d love to circulate more fatbike news, fatbike race reports and reader write-ups, Contact Us with your ideas.

Grand Targheee Resort Fatbike Video & Recap

The press release and information below were sent to us by RideFatbikes.com reader, Andy Williams.  Grand Tarhee held a fatbike event recently on the ski trails.  Hopefully this is the first of many stories of cooperation between fatbikes and ski resorts, parks and other recreation areas.  While XC skiiers deserve trails to themselves, it’s also fair to expect that as the fatbike community grows, we should be able to respectfully develop cooperative relationships for shared or alternate use of trails (using selected trails with permission only, on days/times designated by trial managers).  RideFatbikes.com would like to thank Grand Targhee for exploring this world of options, and Andy Williams for sharing this information with us!  While the press release below uses the term snowbikes throughout, we at RideFatbikes.com obviously prefer the term fatbikes!  🙂

Grand Targhee Resort Snow Video

One recent Saturday the Grand Targhee’s lower parking lot was packed with skiers, boarders and bikers.  Twenty or so guests were getting ready to enjoy Grand Targhee’s Nordic Trail System, not on skis, but on snow bikes.   Grand Targhee is the first ski resort in the United States to embrace and endorse snow biking on its undulating and twisty 15 kilometer Nordic trail system.

Andy Williams, Grand Targhee’s Special Events/ Summer Trails and long time snow biker, was pivotal in paving the way for Grand Targhee to encourage snow biking on the Nordic trails.

“After enjoying the mountain bike trails in Rick’s Basin during the summer, I couldn’t help but think that the winter riding would be amazing,” Williams stated.

“Snow biking provides another recreational opportunity for guests to enjoy nature in the Tetons,” Williams says.

The local, and growing, snow bike community agrees.

Dave Byers, a local snow bike race organizer and cyclist, recently blogged “I applaud Grand Targhee Resort for their forward thinking and willingness to try something new. As long as snow bikers follow the rules and respect the trails when conditions are soft, I feel as if snow bikers and the Nordic skiers can coexist peacefully on the trails.”

The snow bike was created to go where standard mountain bikes flounder because the riding surface is too soft.   Similar in look to a hard-tail mountain bike but with fat balloon tires, a snow bike has much wider clearances in the front fork and rear triangle to accommodate tires up to 4” wide.  These large-volume, low-pressure tires provide floatation on soft surfaces such as snow and sand that would make the terrain otherwise unrideable.    Snow biking is increasing in popularity in winter climes as cyclists look to extend their outdoor riding season year round.

Snow bikes are permitted on Grand Targhee’s Nordic Trails as long as riders purchase a Nordic ticket for $10 per day or a Nordic season pass for $115.  Grand Targhee Resort will also host its first snow bike race on January 15, 2012 in conjunction with Teton Valley, Idaho’s Winter Festival.   Grand Targhee’s snow bike race offers three distances, 15K, 30K or 45K in men’s and women’s categories.   Event registration is available online until January 14, 2011 at www.athlete360.com or the day of the race from 8:00 am to 9:15 am.  Online registration is $30 for the 45K race and $20 for the 30K and 15K races.  Day of registration is $40 for the 45K race, $25 for the 30K and $25 for the 15k race.

Snow bike rentals are available at Grand Targhee at Teton Mountain Outfitters or in downtown Driggs, Idaho at Habitat.  Habitat also sells the Surly Pugsley and Moonlander snow bikes.

Snow Bike etiquette for Nordic Trails.

• Ride groomed ski trails only if they are open to snow bikes.
• Ride only snow bikes with high floatation, fat tires.  Adjust your tire pressure to avoid leaving ruts.
• Ride when the snow is firm enough to support you and your bike.   If you leave a rut more than a 1” deep or have trouble ascending or descending, then conditions are too soft and you should not ride your bike.  If you must walk a hill or other section, walk to the side of the trail so that footprints are not in the main skate lane.
• Yield to skiers.  Give skate skiers plenty of room.
• Do not ride in the classic ski tracks.
• Let recently groomed tracks set up several hours before riding.  For example, wait until after 10 am on a morning which the track is groomed at 7 am.
• Purchase trail passes or make donations to those organizations which groom the trails.

• Snow Biking Video Link:  http://youtu.be/A0RyK0Y5RY8

Great weekend for fatbike events this weekend!

Minnesota finally has a bit of snow cover, and it’s cold.  It’s almost like winter around here, just in time for some great fatbike events.  I’m aware of at least three fatbike / winter bike races this weekend.  In the event you can’t make it to all three, you should try to check out at least one.  They include:

• Penn Cycle’s Get Fat with Pat event – Penn Cycle in Eagan, MN; Saturday January 28th; 12pm start; details here

• Freewheel Frozen Frolic at Murphy Hanrehan January 29th – Three-race series + Lake Minnetonka Ice Race, hosted by Freewheel Bike (another great local shop, with a strong fatbike selection and knowledge).  The Murphy races will be mass start events that will include the normal Murphy loop plus a half mile roll out for the start. Studded tires are allowed and encouraged when frequent freeze-thaw temps proceed race day.  Men’s / Women’s open class race.  Registration opens at 10am; Race starts at 11am. Info here.

• Carver Lake Cold Catfish Cup in Woodbury – This should be a terrific race, put together by the fine folks at Angry Catfish (which is an awesome local bike shop) and the City of Woodbury.  Reed Smidt is the organizer, and information can be found at their facebook page, here.  Here are some details:
  • Location = Carver Lake Park (3175 Century Ave. S., Woodbury, MN 55125); Course = mix of single track and frozen lake (multiple lap options depending on class); Dates = January 29, February 5, and February 19, Classes include men & women, advanced & recreational; Awards for 1st – 3rd place & series champ
  • Online Registration:
    https://secure.ci.woodbury.mn.us/cgi-bin/webtrac.sh/wbsearch.html?xxmod=AR&wbsi=ac9c3d03-1d43-5ea2-e111-c41a8cda8968&xxtype=BIKE
    Day-of registration will also be available.
  • Please direct all questions to Reed Smidt @ 651-714-3588 or rsmidt@ci.woodbury.mn.us

A good word for the Triple D and Hillside Cold Bear Challenge

Photo submitted by Andy W (RideFatbikes.com reader)

Fatbike events are fairly easy to find this year, if you live in or near Minnesota, Iowa, or Wisconsin particularly.  The best fatbike calendar out there (in my opinion) is the fatbike event calendar from Twenty2 Cycles, found here.

Outside of the Fatbike Frozen 40 (brought to you by RideFatbikes.com with lots of help from our primary sponsor and collaborator Twenty2 Cycles) there are two great events that deserve extra attention – Triple D (in Dubuque, IA) and the Hillside Cold Bear Challenge (Elk River, Minnesota).

Cold Bear Challenge – Elk River, MN

First, the Cold Bear Challenge racing series is in its sixth year, so this is one of the most established long-standing events around.  This year’s Cold Bear Challenge is a three-race series, with the first race in the series on January 8, 2012.  You can get more details at the MORC site, here, or at the Twenty2 Cycles event calendar, here.  Although I haven’t been to these races before, I’d like to make it happen this year.  With a 7.5 mile loop on groomed trail, this should be an awesome time.  Make sure to put one or all of the races in this series on your calendar and support local MN fatbike events!

Triple D – Dubuque/Dyersville, IA

Second, the Triple D (in Iowa) is one of the first fatbike events I’d heard of, other than the incredibly well respected and somewhat daunting Arrowhead 135.  The Triple D proves that Iowa knows how to make fatbikes feel welcome.  Lance Andre, the Triple D event organizer, is one of the nicest and most helpful folks I’ve run into in the fatbike community (and that is in a group of a ton of helpful and friendly folks).   The event date (January 15th) and a quick summary can be found at the Twenty2 Cycles calendar, here.  For the full story, check out the Triple D website.

A quick visit to the Triple D website (http://tripledrace.blogspot.com/) will show you this event has its act together.  They have lodging options, ideas for family fun for those who aren’t riding in the event, photos, race information, links and more).

Triple D is a very established event as well, drawing approximately 100 racers a year (in biking, running and skiing disciplines) with a following from all over the country.  This is not a race for the casual or unmotivated rider – it’s a 65-mile self-supported ultra endurance race in frigid tundra in January.  If you’re up for a challenging and well-organized fatbike race to test your endurance (and don’t want the 135 miles of the Arrowhead 135) – this might be the race for you.  It’s coming up in a few short weeks (January 15, 2012) so get it on your calendar now!

Bottom line

The organizers of both of these events (Cold Bear Challenge and Triple D) have been extremely helpful and supportive of the Fatbike Frozen 40.  Whether or not you’ll be riding the Fatbike Frozen 40, please be sure to give some thought to signing up for the Cold Bear Challenge and the Triple D.