Dustin’s Polar Roll race day!

Dustin Marsh made the trip from his home in Eau Claire, WI to Ishpeming/Marquette, MI for this year’s Polar Roll and posted a race report on Facebook about his race. I asked him if we could share his story on fat-bike.com and that is what you are reading here! Thanks Dustin!

Dustin’s Polar Roll Race Day

I can’t help but be drawn to the wild community that shows up for this unpredictable celebration of winter in Upper Michigan. Overnight, we got about six inches of greasy fluff on top of what had been perfectly groomed trails. I got to make fresh tracks on my way from camp to the start, where I positioned myself around 60th in the start chute based on my current fitness.

The climb up Hill Street had me trying to hold back, but I was still passing large groups. Once we got a few miles into the trails, I read the tracks ahead of me and kept seeing just a few sets of hiking tracks on the medium-tough climbs. I put in a little extra effort, and soon I was ahead of the few people who were making first boot tracks on hills they couldn’t climb. The riding improved dramatically!

My riding skills quickly put me in a pocket with very little traffic, as the chase groups were all a ways ahead, and those unwilling to dump air pressure for climbing traction were dropping back quickly.

Claudia Schwartz was hanging out at mile 18 with liquid water, and I had her leapfrog ahead another five miles to the legendary Hugs and Bacon aid station. My destiny was Fireball, but I rejected it for a Chicago Handshake—if I could share it with Claudia. A hot pierogi 🥟 hit the spot after a handful of bacon, and I watched a few riders pass up the wonderful aid in favor of a faster finish time.

Upon returning to the trail, I discovered that the riders who had just passed me were of the “get off and walk the climbs”variety. Once again, the moderate uphills had a few boot tracks, which made a huge difference in how my tires dug into the snow. I could tell that in only another 10–20 riders, the trails were going to be much more challenging.

My finish time was just under four hours, good for 30th place. I’m pretty happy with that, and I had sooo much fun out there!

After grilled cheese, soup, and snacks at the finish, we grabbed snowshoes and walked up to Jasper Knob, the world’s largest exposed gemstone. A big meal in town was followed by another snowshoe adventure from camp up to the top of “Deer Shit” trail.

We Need Your Help!

Do you have an event or race report you’d like to share with our fat-bike community? we’d really like to hear about your experiences! The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat and all that kind of stuff. Send us a report, pix and photogs credit to [email protected] and we will get your story posted

Lots of events still coming this year! If you want a fat-bike adventure to head to, check out our fat-bike.com Event Calendar to see what’s coming up!