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)

Fat Biking - A New Winter Adventure

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing."  Helen Keller

How do you live your life?  Me - my life is all about the adventure.  And adventure for me typically means I've walked out the door and am on my way to do something in the great outdoors.

Seasonality doesn't stop me.  I do many of the same adventures year round.  Summer / Winter Backpacking, Rock and Ice Climbing (I need to more of these), Bicycling, Hiking, Snowshoeing and on and on.  I'm always open to trying new sports and activities and this winter is no different.  Over the last couple of years I've seen the occasional Fat Bike riding around in the winter and have always been intrigued by them.  Being a cyclist both road and mountain bike, this seemed to be a natural progression.  Well this was the year.

Fat Bike Leap

This was the year I made the leap.  After renting a Surly Pugsley for an afternoon I was hooked.  I knew I had to have one.  Two weeks of researching, talking to people who have them and expanding my knowledge of the Fat Bike world I found exactly what I wanted.  A Fyxation Blackhawk.  And lucky for me - Fyxation was in the process of moving their headquarters into my neighborhood.  I was able to walk down and get it set up for me.

Fyxation Blackhawk

Fyxation Blackhawk - John Muir Mountain Bike Trails (Blue)

My new winter adventure.

After a couple of days of waiting patiently it was built and ready to come home.  Waiting for that first weekend to ride was hard.  But once it arrived - I jumped on and never looked back.  I was hooked!  My bike, my FAT bike. I was riding a bike, in winter, in snow.  What could be better?

Fat Bike Adventures

To quote Dr. Seuss:

"Oh the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all"

That's kind of how I felt (except substitute bike for ball).  Adventure awaited.

• I rode in my first ever bike race and took 2nd place.  Then I immediately rode in my second race.  And I was hooked on the thrill of racing.  
• I rode on the John Muir Mountain Bike Trails.  In Winter. On Snow.  How incredibly fun.
• I took a road trip chasing the last of the snow to Michigan and rode at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and on the NTN Trails in Marquette.  

And I've met some of the nicest people along the way.  The Fat Biking community is incredible.  

The snow may be gone (or do I go in search of more snow?), but the Fyxation Blackhawk will not be going into hibernation.  I'm sure there may be a summer adventure along the way where I'll want to ride a fat bike.  

"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt."  John Muir

Or in this case snow.  But whatever you do - get outside and find your own adventure.

Related Posts:

• Autobiography Title - In Search of Snow
• Never Giving Up - Adventure on the Trails