Mine’s Bigger: Racers vie for fat-bike glory at the Winter Teva Mountain Games in Vail last winter. Photo courtesy of Connor Walberg
Alaska’s fat-bike phenomenon finds a home in Colorado.
Last winter, when the Teva Mountain Games debuted the On-Snow Bike Crit in Vail, few Coloradoans had heard of the sport of snow bike racing, let alone seen a fatbike. Thirty people showed up to race the seven laps around the base of the Golden Peak, their burly four-inch tires attached to lightweight frames like clown’s feet. “It was one of the most fun races I’ve ever done,” says Carbondale resident Ian Anderson, 38. “It’s just so goofy. People were laughing and crashing, which hurts way less on snow.”
Snow bike racing, also called fatbiking, originated in Alaska a decade ago as a form of adventure racing on the snow-packed Iditarod Trail. Competitors in the 350-mile Iditabike, and the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational soon figured out that their mountain bikes would float better on the snow with extra-wide tires. At first, fatbikes were custom made, but some mainstream manufacturers have recently gotten in on the game. Surly introduced the Pugsly, a steel frame which handles 3.7-inch tires, and Salsa made the Mukluk, in either titanium or aluminum, supporting 4-inch tires. Both companies report that sales doubled in 2011 compared to the previous year. Last season, Surly took it a step further with the new Moonlander, sporting a whopping 4.7-inches of rubber.
Darin Binion, owner of The Gear Exchange, a bike and consignment shop in Glenwood Springs, built his first fatbike, a Pugsly, when a frame and fork landed in his shop about four years ago. Soon thereafter, he and his buddy Cody started taking their fatbikes to Sunlight Mountain in the winter after the shop closed for the day. They had so much fun riding in the snow that they inspired several friends to get fatbikes of their own, and soon an informal weekly ride formed. Binion now hosts rides on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in the winter, drawing 10 to 15 participants, and sells, demos and services fatbikes at his shop.
He says fatbiking is a perfect compliment to other on-mountain sports in the winter because it requires opposite weather conditions. Unlike skiing and snowboarding, fatbikes don’t do well in powder, but are great on hardpacked groomers. “Our rule is about four inches of powder,” says Binion. “Anything under that, we grab the bikes, any more than that, it’s time for the splitboards and skis.”
Last season’s scant snowfall may be the reason Colorado’s fatbike race series, put on by the Cloud City Wheelers based in Leadville, saw record numbers. “Something like 200 people showed up at the Copper race last year,” says Anderson. “It was incredible.” But both Anderson and Binion say the growth is based on the sport’s fun factor. “It’s addictive,” says Binion. “On green groomers, skiers don’t stand a chance keeping up. You let go of the brakes and the bike accelerates like a Porsche. The drifting and sliding are similar to making turns on skis—it’s such an amazing feeling.”
The Leadville Fatbike Winter Race Series
January 15th
Copper en Fuego, Copper Mountain
February 4th
Tennessee Pass Night Jam, Ski Cooper
March 3rd
Mineral Belt Mayhem, Leadville
April 7th
East Side Epic, Leadville
more: cloudcitywheelers.com/events-rides
—Jayme Moye
