Fat Bike Fun

I had a moment yesterday.

 

I was laying in the snow, somewhere along the Slate River road above Pittsburg, laughing uncontrollably as I had just gone sailing off my bike into a pile of snow.  There was no one around and I picked myself up and brushed the snow off. 'I'd probably look crazy if anyone saw me right now,' I thought to myself.  I picked the ditched bike up from the snow and shook it.  The -20 degree sleeping bag I had strapped to my bars didn't move, the seat bag was as solid as ever. Is this really as good as it looks?  Do I actually have 98% of my Arrowhead gear (I forgot a lighter, handwarmers, and hadn't figured out my sleeping pad situation yet, but I was carrying around an extra jar of almond butter as my 'last minute gear' weight) on my bike and strapped down solidly enough that I can abandon ship at a fairly high speed and everything stays put? 

For the first time, I started thinking that this Arrowhead business had the potential of not being a complete disaster.  

I'd been lacking my sparkers in my recent rides.  90 minutes of tempo was seeming like an eternity.  I was sick of climbing the road up to the mountain for 'training', the utter lack of snow and 90% of the people around here being in a bad mood around here was starting to wear on me.  I thought several times, 'This is stupid.  I should bail.'  Then I did what any rational person would do when in this situation: I bought my ticket to Minnesota.

That weekend, a big box showed up on the front stoop.  Out came the Fatback, i.e. The Purple Monster.  For the first ride, I went up and down Cement Creek road before work.  Ok, fun, but I could have done that on my mountain bike.  The next day, with no work on the horizon, I decided to test some limits so up Walrod I went.  Sure, up was impressive and all as I was able to crunch through fairly deep snow on fairly steep inclines, but it was the down that blew me away.  Warmsprings is one of my go-to summer rides.  It's a steep, loose trail with some little drops, steep switchbacks, and some good Team Vertigo off camber sections.  Covered in snow, I was skeptical.  

I haven't had that much fun on a bike since JEM trail during 25-hours of Frog Hollow.

The next day I took the bike out on Caves, which was 80% dirt.  I now understand the appeal of racing a 24-hour race on one of these beasts.  They're stupid fun.  

The day after I went exploring.  I had a master plan of hooking up the Slate D'Huez with Washington Gulch but the lazy snowmobilers hadn't packed the trail far enough.  Or, they had packed it straight up the hill instead of taking the road, and as much as I love pushing my bike (NOT), I had other drainages to explore.

I looked at my watch part way up Kebler Pass and started doing the math.  A six hour ride was on the docket and being two weeks out from Arrowhead, I was trying to be a good, coachable athlete.  5 hours in, I reasoned: It generally takes 40 minutes to get home from town, but I'll have a tailwind, so maybe that'll be 30.  I neglected to take into account 4-inch wide tires.  I have plenty of food and energy.  I neglected to take into account that I was out of water.  If I want to sneak in at 6 hours, I should probably turn around now.  But there's no way I'm going to miss the view from up there.

I'm terrible.  But it was totally worth it and by actually pedaling home, instead of letting the tailwind take me like I normally would, I made it home in under 7 hours.   This bike expands horizons, and actually makes me hate snowmobiles a little bit less.  Stooopid-fun.

Comments

[Jill Hueckman]

Nice FatBack. A far cry from my frankenFatBike...Count me in as one of the many who will be cheering you on from behind a computer screen while you are on the Arrowhead. You are as real as it gets and you continue to inspire.

[aaron w]

looks super fun!