With this year’s GFBD coming up this Saturday and so many new folks riding plus and fat-bikes, we thought it might be nice to look back to eyewitness accounts of the very first GFBD celebrations, back in 2012. We pulled this post written by Greg Smith, from the archives, complete with reports and photos from all over the world!

Global Fat Bike Day – December 1st, 2012

Here in SE Wisconsin, we had a turnout of about 60 fat-bikers at the John Muir and Emma Carlin trail systems near Palmyra, WI. Temps in the 50’s kept snow at bay but, to be truthful, we really haven’t had much in the way of early December snow for many years. Still, the sandy terrain in parts of the Kettles and the general overall fun of riding a fat-bike made it a great day. Barbecue, fire and Derby activities completed the day.

Lonely Stef from Gaspe, Quebec sent in a shot from Forillon National Park.

Mark from SLC sent in several and said “We had a fantastic day. I was completely confident that there would be at least 1 in attendance. There were a total of 8 & I got to meet 6 New friends with fat bikes. I would say it went great!”

Trains and fat-bike from the town of Bewdley in England.

Lance joined 4 friends in Dubuque.

Dan soloed in Peoria, IL.

Cody Einstein Cycles in Traverse City, MI went on a Lunar-like ride on the Old Mission Peninsula.

The Iowa City Crew rode and commiserated! Pix from a couple of different riders.

Luca sent in a photo from the Door County Peninsula in Wisconsin.

From The Netherlands:

More than twenty fatbikers took to the Drünen dunescape trails in The Netherlands on Global Fatbike Day : Dutch homeboys and Flemish-Belgian visitors. Near-freezing temperatures, but it was dry until the finish. Beautiful trails, great fun!

A handful of Surleys, two Pugleys, a Moonie, even a handbuilt fully got a slightly more than even match from a whole herd of Sandman models : Hoggar, Gobi, Atacama and even an Outback tandem skippered by Rovaniemi 150 winner Elias Van Hoeydonck and his dad.

Here’s the Sandman die-hards that went for an second on the 25 Km tobogan trail. The picture was taken by a Surly companion – I think his name is Tom – when a bleak sun peered through the clouds. Thanks mate !

I’m the big fatty with the Nutcase helmet on the left behind my Sandman Hoggar Ti XL on Surly Nates – a wee bit of overkill on this compacted sand 😉

Ben from Denver sent is this report:

Pedal of Littleton, Colorado led a ride out of the shop on Global Fatbike Day. The group started out as 8 and ended as 5 almost four hours later. They rode the shoreline of Chatfield Reservoir, a large reservoir just south of  Denver. The group enjoyed a high temperature around 65, calm winds, blue skies, and no crowds! The ride hit up everything a fatbiker could ask for – packed sand, mud, water, rocks, old sunken paved trail, bog-like grass, deep sand, singletrack, bike path, and some bushwacking.

Walt from San Diego, CA joined in the fun and sent in a couple of pix.

Dan took a ride along the southwest edge of Saylorville Lake in Des Moines,IA, heading northwest along the river up to the High Trestle Trail Bridge, then east to Madrid, IA with about 20 fat-bike friends.

Al took a ride at the Fakahatchee Swamp near Big Cypress National Preserve, He says:

This is a old Tram used for logging years ago, there is swamp/water on both sides. It leads into the prairie which goes on for a while and then back into the interior of the swamp. My favorite loop in Fakahatchee of which there are many miles of Fatbike heaven.

Jim sent in the shot from Washington!

Check back here, several folks were shooting pix and we will add to this gallery as the photos come in.

If you had a gathering in your area and would like for us to add your photos to a Gallery for your event here on the site shoot us a note to gallery@fat-bike.com.

Click on any image to see a full-sized, uncropped image!

Other readers sent us links to photo sets on other sites. Have a look!

Walter from Leipzig – http://www.facebook.com/events/382197638535275/

From Sapporo, Japan – http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsbike/sets/72157632145615522/

We hope you have a great GFBD 2017!