Récit: Global Fat Bike Day

We probably need to thank an Alaskan for the early date of Global Fat Bike Day. Up there it might be safe to plan a snow related event in early December but in North East it’s quite a gamble. Even though we’ve been blessed so far this year with exceptional early fat biking conditions, rain forced us to move the event from Saturday to Sunday.

This last minute change of plans paid off. It snowed at the Catamount Outdoor Center Saturday afternoon and colder weather Sunday morning made for perfect riding conditions.

It was quite cold with the wind but the fat village organised by the Fellowship of the wheel had dual fires going to keep everybody warm while folks prepared for the group rides.

A lot of people registered for the first event of the Grand Fat Tour. An estimated 80 riders came out to try demo bikes, sample the trails on group rides and compete in the Alley Cat Race.

Speaking of demoing bikes, we had may fat bikes to choose from thanks to Earl’s, Iride, SkiRack, Outdoor Gear Exchange and Old Spokes Home.

Participants, some on demo bikes and others on their own rigs, joined in the group ride led by our guide from the Catamount Outdoor center.

We got to sample some of the sweet singletracks of the  network.

The little amount of snow made all the difference, it was beautiful out there.

It was then time for the bike messenger influenced Alley Cat race organized by the  folks of the Old Spoke’s home. Given a map the participants had to find 6 stations spread throughout the network. Each station has stamps that you had to collect.

Some started fast following the guy in front of them as if he was some sort of guide. Others were more cleaver and actually looked at the map to find the best route possible to collect all the stamps. Everyone had a good time roaming the trails in search of those precious stamps while enjoying the great singletrack and the views.

A rider named Matt won the first place and Grand Fat Tour  organizer David Lauzon  got second. The first 10 racers collected points for the overall series. The overall Grand Fat Champion will be crowned at the series finale at Winterbike in burke and will be the owner of a custom 2015-16 Xprezzo Gros Big frame!

Throughout the afternoon people enjoyed the great mix of bonfire, demo rides, tasty chili, delicious Limbo IPA from Longtrail and good company.

It was a great kickoff event for the 6 stop Grand Fat Tour.

See you in Stowe on January 3rd for Überwintern!

For a slideshow of all the pics click here