It’s not every day you turn 43, so I decided to challenge myself on my birthday with a 43-mile fat bike snow training ride. Every year the awesome folks at Marty’s Reliable Cycle hold a “Fat Fifty” ride in January. It’s 50 miles of snow riding, mostly rail trail, with a few miles of steep single track in the middle a few miles of pavement to get to the trails. You can use whatever bike you want as long as the tires are at least 3″ wide. Mine are 5″, so I’m good to go. I’m signed up for the event in January and I need to start training for it so I jumped on a group ride.
There were about 20 or so people at the start, and we got rolling at 8:00 a.m. sharp. It was wicked cold, at around 19 degrees F (-7.2 C) when we rolled out, with some wind to boot. I kept the mutants at the front in sight for a while, but I felt I was pushing too hard for a training ride, so I settled back after a bit and found myself in a nice group with Greg, Denise, Lisa, Mark, and Barbara. Here are a few of us, all smiles. (All of these pictures are from Denise. My phone froze and wouldn’t work!)
We stopped at a store about 15 miles in and a woman looked at us and said “you’re crazy!” I laughed and responded with “Yes, but we’re HAPPY!” I get the “crazy” comment a lot, but I think people are completely turned around on that one. Getting to places under one’s own power isn’t crazy, it’s empowering and inspiring and deeply nurturing. What’s crazy is sitting in a car, then sitting at a desk, then sitting in a car, then sitting on a couch, then going to bed. THAT’S crazy in my mind.
But I digress. So we pedaled and pedaled. It looked a lot like this:
The snow wasn’t deep, but it still required a lot of work to ride. I’ve only had the fat bike about six months and I’ve used it exclusively for short, intense, gnarly single track. This was my first time doing a long, slow grind on rail trails and I found it very tiring. It’s sort of like a trainer workout, though much more dynamic and beautiful with the fresh air and lovely woods. Here’s a shot of Lisa at the top of the one steep climb:
After several hours we made it Calafon, a small town about 20 miles in. The rest of the crew decided to go the final five miles and then turn around and head home (the route is an out and back), but I needed to get going because I had family commitments, and frankly I was getting tired, so I rode home alone.
Although I love riding with friends and groups, I also love the solitude of being in the woods (or the desert or the mountains) by myself for long periods of time. The ride back was tough, but also transcendent. I was getting sore and tired, but I was also finding my purpose again after a rough few weeks emotionally. I was reminded that it’s the struggle that makes art and life and love and athletics worth it. The process, not the product. Getting my ass kicked on a fat bike in the woods when it’s cold and grey is a beautiful thing. I got up the next morning feeling inspired. I also felt ready to train hard for the Fat Fifty and to put in a good effort on the day. It’s not a race and I could care less if I’m the last one to finish, but I’d like to ride a bit faster than I did on my birthday.
Thanks to Greg, Denise, Lisa, Mark, and Barbara for being fabulous riding mates. And thanks to the great folks at Marty’s for putting together the Fat Fifty. If you’re thinking about riding it I highly recommend it. If you don’t have a fat bike just go down to Marty’s and they’ll help you out. You don’t need a suspension fork for this ride. I have one, but I kept it locked out the entire time. My tire pressure was at 6 psi, but I think that was actually too low for those conditions. It is icy in a few spots, so you’ve got to keep your wits about you, but otherwise it’s a safe and enjoyable ride. (One tip: if you’re using SPDs be sure to keep your multi-tool handy or bring a small screwdriver so you can dig the ice out of them if you need to stop and walk as they’ll get all caked up.)
Payton MacDonald 