Fat Biking - A record

Since mid-December, Mike and I have ridden 16 days on our fat bikes, a new winter record for us. The rides have all been relatively short so far, a half hour to an hour long on three different local trails. We've ridden in temperatures down to 12 degrees F but no colder as of yet. The past three days have seen sub-zero temperatures with significant wind chills on a couple of days.

One of the trails we've been riding is essentially flat but quite narrow with some very tight turns, which make the route fun and somewhat challenging. Fat bike trail conditions in the area are excellent right now, fast and hard-packed due to a recent thaw/freeze and little new snow accumulation in the last few weeks. We have lots of trails to choose from as about 50 miles of trails in the Hayward/Cable area are being groomed for fat biking thanks to the efforts of the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA).

The Hollywood rack on the back of our truck has made it very easy to load the bikes and take off for a trailhead, making it more conducive to getting out almost every day. Anything that helps one get over inertia, especially on cold and overcast days, is a plus in my view. With this rack we have no excuse that it's too much effort to load up the bikes.

The rack has wheel holders that are easy to interchange and that are sized to fit the wide fat bike tires, pictured here, or narrower mountain bike tires. The velcro straps for the wheels and the rubber-covered frame clamps keep the bikes secure. Once it warms up a bit, we're looking forward to trying out some longer more challenging trails.

If you're planning to be in the Hayward/Cable area January 21-22, consider checking out the Fat Bike Workshop geared toward land managers and presented by IMBA and CAMBA and the Seeley Big Fat Race at 10 a.m. on January 22.