Reader’s Ride(s) – BigAD’s Colorado 9:Zero:7

bigAD out of Denver Metro is rollin’ a Phat 9:Zero:7 and sent us these words when he discovered our stickers-for-stories post. Dig what bigAD has to say:

“When life gives you lemons, YOU PAINT THAT SH*T GOLD” is a personal mantra I’ve taken from the title of Minnesota Contemporary Rabbits* Atmosphere’s fifth studio album.

Like a lot of folks, around 60 of my waking hours are dedicated to work and a silly-long commute. Match that with the needs of a three and a five year old and that doesn’t leave a lot of hours left to pursue personal interests. Before this summer I had never really considered riding at night, but with the discovery of fat-biking, my need to get out and pedal was nearing obsessive compulsive levels. If I was going to scratch that itch I needed to create more hours in the day. To beat traffic across Denver I had already gotten into the habit of getting up at obnoxiously early hours so I decided that if I got up a bit earlier and worked through lunch I could make a stop at some of the trails that skirt the west edge of the metro area and get some riding in.

Getting up that early still sucks (lemons), but with an extra coffee and a borrowed bike light, I am able to ride my fatty a lot more often (pure gold, son!). Sure I have to slow myself down to avoid taking soil samples, but as a pale male with a history of skin cancer, the darkness provides a welcome relief from the gobs of sunscreen I typically have to apply.

So, enough about the fat boy, you all want to hear about the fat-bike? My Green 9:Zero:7, “Fatzilla”, is still pretty stock. I’ve replaced the stock 44T aluminum bash ring for a smoothy-smooth composite MRP S4 and I’ve lightened the rolling stock with Nate front and HuDu rear tires. A spectacular crash at the onset of summer necessitated a parts-bin cockpit remodel including SLX shift pods and some ancient Avid mechanical brake levers. Oh yeah, I also added a sweet brass bell as a bit of karma on the trail. Apparently my velveteen baritone voice frightens fellow trail users. Especially when the need arises to elevate voice levels to exceed those of competing ear buds.

Hope you enjoyed my tale. Now get out there and roll a fatty!

– bigAD

* hip-hoppers

Do you have a fat-bike, and/or related ride experiences that you are passionate about, makes your life better and that you think our readers would dig hearing about? Shoot me a note to greg@fat-bike.com and we will check it out.