Reasons You Should Start Riding a Fat Bike This Winter

I recently read a blog post on 10 Reasons You Should Start Snowshoeing This Winter by Tubbs Snowshoes.  It made me think.  As a long time snowshoer and as someone who started riding a fat bike this last January I started to think about why you should also start riding a fat bike.  While many of the reasons are the same as why you should start snowshoeing, here's my take on reasons to start riding a fat bike this winter (or really any time of the year).

Reasons You Should Start Riding a Fat Bike This Winter

Riding the Noquemanon Trail
Network - Marquette, MI

1.  You like to ride your bike. 
While many people continue to ride their road and mountain bikes through the winter, many people may not be comfortable doing this.  A bike with big tires, typically 4 inch or 5 inch really provides stability in snow and you'll just float when you ride on packed snow.

2.  Exercise
And who doesn't need to exercise.  Riding a fat bike just gives you another reason to go outside this winter.  Bundle up in your layers, grab a group of friends and head out on the trails or through your city.  Pound out a few winter miles.  Your body will appreciate it.  And you'll have a smile on your face the whole time you're doing it.

3.  New Friends
The Fat Bike community of riders out there are out there to have fun.  Each ride I've taken other people on fat bikes always want to have a conversation about fat bikes.  People who are not on fat bikes are curious about them.  Each event / race I've done people are supportive of each other and help each other out.  And eventually you get to know these people and they become fast and true friends.  I've probably made more friends in the last year than I have in the last 5 years combined.  And if you ever need advice... Just ask.  There's even a great Facebook Group, Fat Bikes, just for Fat Bikers to share information, share rides, and ask questions to.   You might even make a few new friends to ride with.

Making new fat biking friends.  Group ride out of Fyxation.
Photo Courtesy of Nick Ginster (Fyxation)

4.  See the Magic of Winter
Riding a fat bike into the woods on packed trails (usually done by snowshoers or groomers) gets you out to explore nature with a whole new view.  The forest is magical in winter.  Bare trees, animal tracks to view, snow on the ground, the sun bringing it all to a sparkle.  You'll get to see the trails you ride all summer in a whole new way.

5.  Feeling Happy
With that smile on your face as you ride through the snow - there's no other feeling like it.  Maybe winter will become your favorite time of the year?  Bring friends along and the smiles turn into laughs.  Have fun in the winter.

Smiles come naturally when riding my
Fyxation Blackhawk fat bike.

6.  Winter - Your New Favorite Season
I've always been a winter person but riding a fat bike made me love it even more.  Therefore, yes, this just might happen to you too.  Winter, that one season of cold and snow just might become your favorite.  Riding a fat bike on snow is not like anything you've ever ever done before.  As soon as the leaves start changing colors, you'll be dreaming of the white stuff falling from the sky.  And as soon as it does, you'll be out the door riding your bike with a smile on your face.

7.  You Might Want Snowshoes Too

Snowshoes are a great way to pack
down trails to ride.

As I mentioned I'm a long time snowshoer and snowshoes are a perfect way to help with your riding.  Packed trails don't just happen by themselves, it takes something to pack them down.  And from experience when there's fresh snow, sometimes it is a type that needs to be packed first before riding.  I know there were days I'd wake up, grab my snowshoes, go for hike and then jump on my fat bike and ride the trails I just packed.  Bonus:  you'll get a double workout on these days.

Once you get on a fat bike you'll be asking yourself "Why didn't I do this sooner?"  I know I did.  The experience, the culture and the friends I made were all worth the investment into buying a fat bike.

And riding in snow is just magical...

"This first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.  You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"  J.B. Priestley

Related Information:

• Fat Biking - A New Winter Adventure
• Fyxation Blackhawk (what I ride)