The second leg of my recent trip to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan took me to the east side and the tiny hamlet of Moran, home of Bearclaw Bikes. Moran is near the gateway to the Eastern UP not too far from Mackinac Island Ferry but far enough away to fly completely under the radar […]
After being out and about on the bike last weekend I spotted a track about 3 miles away on a hillside and thought “I’ve gotta give that a try”. There’s a track in the distance going between them two hills So 7 days later I headed out to southern Snowdonia in Wales for a bit […]
I’ve had a plan to get up to the UP to ride for at least a couple of years. Ever since Jason at Bearclaw Bikes announced their drop-bar fatty called the TOWMAK I dreamt about returning to the vast Huron National Forest and its hundreds of miles of rustic roads, trails, and beaches. So when […]
We all love making plans of future bikepacking trips, don’t we? Back in October 2019, I set off with a plan of heading up to the Assynt which is in the far north of Scotland for a few days bikepacking. However, after 5 hours of driving, an engine warning light decided to throw those plans […]
Dunes State Park is a great place for fat bikes!
Dan Fedewa sent in this shot, which piqued my curiosity, so I asked him if he could tell us a little bit more about his photo. This is what Dan shared. Sure….crossing the “ice bridge” from St. Ignace Michigan to Mackinac island (British Landing) on February 5th 2022. We rode around the island. The picture […]
As our sun-starved pallid bodies become reintroduced to the bright warm stranger in the sky, I’m compelled to recall a recent last bit o winter biking frolic. During my typical mid-February cabin fever-induced blues I came across a quaint blurb from a bike-minded Gnomish friend talking of turning cranks across a local frozen swamp. Needless […]
For the last dozen, or so, years, my wife, Bethany, and I, have been blessed to live with Bodhi, Cecil & Cowboy. Bodhi and Cecil are both gone now but Cowboy is still around. All three of our boys are what they call Bernese Mountain Dogs. They’re like little bears and they have a thick […]
We’re proud to welcome Nick Tryon to our staff of cycling adventurers. Nick is a former Royal Marine and lives on the West coast of Scotland. Nick loves all things outdoors and is one hell of a great photographer.
Last winter I made a great winter bivvy spot at an old slate mine in one of my favorite spots here in Snowdonia, North Wales. By rigging a tarp over the remnants of an old slate workers’ hut, I had managed to have a great retreat during the colder nights. It helped having a fireplace/chimney […]
Better Late than Never Earlier in April 2021 I got the call up from Uncle Gomez about a ride/race called the Fat Fish Forty, billed as a Fat Tire multi-terrain course I read some of the features of this ride and it sounded challenging as well as scenic, so immediately signed up as I was […]
Back in September, Greg Madison contacted us with some photos that he’d taken at Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park in Idaho. Greg’s a retired teacher and lives in Boise. Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park is a little over an hour away from Boise, so Greg takes his fatty out there when conditions are favorable. Greg […]
One of our Grand Rapids amigos, Thom Goodyke gave me the thumbs up, when I asked him about beach riding conditions on the Michigan side of the Great Lake with the same name. That set my imagination on fire with fat-bike-beach images from the past. I cut my teeth riding mountain bikes in the Wolverine […]
We left St. Paul, Minnesota in the blistering heat of Friday rush hour. Rows of cars stacked on top of each other crawled across ribbons of concrete. My phone pinged with texts from my friends offering advice and well-wishes–reminding me that in seven hours I will be chasing the stars, blinking tail lights, and the […]
I decided that it was high time to get out and ride the Full Monty at Kettle. The Full Monty is a colloquialism for riding the Blue Loop at the John Muir Trail system to the Connector Trail to the Green Loop at the Emma Carlin Trail system. Then back to the connector and home […]
So it was 9 years ago that I toed the line for my first Wausau 24, I was running the 12 hour 2 man Fat Bike class, it was the first year that Wausau had a Fat Bike class and since I had just gotten my first Fat Bike a couple of months earlier I […]
Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to rough it to get your bike-fun merit badge. I’m here to tell you that it’s ok to go glamping or (gasp!) stay in a nice hotel and soak in the hot tub after a day in the saddle. I see a lot of press about riders […]
With things getting back to normal(ish) as far as getting together with friends to ride, I hatched a plan to get together with our resident singlespeed expert, Spinner Ryerson and REEB super-fan JP Syverud so they could ride the Hopptie that we have on loan from Tim at REEB. These cats are both seasoned product […]
Todd Poquette is at it again. He loves creating super hard races in the most secluded spots in the UP of Michigan, changing the course every year. This year he outdid himself. His goal, for participants of the 40-mile event, was to experience Mosquito Gulch. Mosquito Gulch is a long stretch of nasty boulders. There […]
After a couple of seasons of consideration and planning (along with the open calendar created by the covid pandemic ), I convinced two of my friends to join me on a bike pack adventure. Ever since buying my 2015 Norco Bigfoot I have been researching how to go about doing a bike pack trip. I […]
More Poor Choices: The Chequamegon 100 MTB Race – by Greg Gentle My documented life of risk-taking and foolery on the bike knows few boundaries. To keep my streak of poor choices and bad decision-making running strong I decided to race the Cheq 100 mountain bike race in Cable, Wisconsin last weekend. Technically the Cheq […]
I decided to take a ride the other morning with the purpose of comparing a Framed Montana full-suspension fat bike and the Wyatt maverick front suspension fat bike. I basically wanted to see which one was faster. I have a local loop that I like to call the Bandido that consists of chip and seal […]
Over the past year and a half, I’ve been dreaming about bike shenanigans, waiting for a time that we can start to gather together for a good bike party. With the new CDC recommendations for vaccinated people to be able to gather together, Adam Blake and I put together a little get-together with some close […]
I’ve had a busy few weeks getting some fine riding in and a few bivvies to make up for what I’ve missed doing the past few months. One of those bivvies was in my favourite place of Cwm Eigiau. Back in late March I posted a video https://fat-bike.com/2021/03/85-days/ of me checking out future over night […]
Balmy sunny days in the UK With parts of the US experiencing some cold times of late, the UK saw some near record temperatures at the end of March. So with ‘warm’ weather coupled with the start of 2 weeks off work, this was the perfect time to get one of my bivvies in again […]
After a belly full of beer from the night before I somehow got up early and left the house just after 5am. Just over an hour later I was waiting on a hillside for the sun to rise and start the last Sunday of March. I waited for around 45 minutes and soon got cold. […]
GFBD UK Covid Edition The C word has put a downer on many things this year and sadly has caused pain and heartache to many. So this years Global Fat Bike Day ride was going to be a little different for many. You could say it went back to how it was in the early […]
Normally we feature the bike of one of our readers in a Reader’s Ride(s) column, but today we’re taking a look at a ride that Mark “Jake the Snake” Jacobson took last month that is visually stunning. We had featured Jake on Wallpaper Wednesday, and today he’s taking us for a ride in the High […]
A few weeks back I set off to do this bikepacking trip but bailed as I wasn’t in the ‘zone’. I was pretty gutted as the weather was perfect, no wind, no cloud and the chance of a great sunrise. Fast forward 4 weeks and I wasn’t going to let it go as I again […]
3 weeks after filming my SLATE video I made a return to the area as a friend of mine, Allen, really wanted to see the slate sights. So we quickly picked our date and was joined by John Climber. The 3 of us set off on a very humid Sunday afternoon which had plenty of […]
With restrictions being lifted here its great to be able to get out and do what I’ve missed doing for the past few months. So I’ve got some catching up to do! For this bikepacking overnighter I went to a local area that rich in slate history, the Cwmorthin & Rhosydd slate mines. The mines […]
Shortly after launching the #fattestdayride celebration, I started to think about what I should do to celebrate the Solstice. I thought that a pagan weekend of bike chicanery at Levis sounded like a good plan for what mi amigo, Erv Spanks reminded me is the third fat-bike holiday on the calendar. I somehow managed to […]
On a recent trip to Alaska, I was fortunate enough to score a guided day trip with Alaska Bike Adventures out to Knik Glacier. Alaska Bike Adventures is owned and guided by Christina Grande and Dusty Eroh. I met Grande on one of my previous visits to Anchorage and I know Dusty from his role […]
Late last week, I embarked upon my third visit to Alaska since I followed the pathway to becoming a fat-bike evangelist. Alaska is where fat-bikes were born and March in Alaska is prime-time for a fat-biking pilgrimage. The first event that I put on my itinerary in Alaska was the Talkeetna Trio World Championships. Talkeetna […]
2020 Saratoga Fat Bike Rally Feb 8, 2020, Saratoga Spa State Park, The Warming Hut Since 2015, humans of the Fat Bike tribe have descended upon a small state park in Saratoga every February for the mandatory fun and camaraderie known as the Saratoga Fat Bike Rally. The 6th version of the Rally saw more […]
Last weekend we co-hosted the third in a series of events that fly under the Flag of FUN aka the Grand Funduro Beach Ride & Ball or El Funduro Grande en españiol. I suppose that you would have to have been hiding under a rock if you hadn’t seen anything about GFBRAB, because we’ve been […]
John ‘Climber’, one of Fat-bike,com’s friends decided it would be a great idea to get people who are packraft curious together in North Wales, UK. Luckily for me the venue was just a 1 hour drive away which was on the shores of Bala lake. However the attraction of trying out packrafts attracted people from […]
I recently embarked on a journey down the rabbit hole of GPS bicycle computer technology. I was born at the very tail end of what’s considered the baby boomer generation so I recently started to qualify for senior citizen discounts. I was curious to see if this old dog could learn to use one of […]
We’ve all got that idea in our minds prior to going on an overnight camp whether it’s your first time or if you’re a seasoned veteran camper. You know when you want the perfect weather window, no wind, dry not too wrm/cold, great views and basically an overnight trip that will stay in your memory […]
Alain Lagace is a private floatplane pilot and was the owner of a lodge in the Torngats region for 28 years before he sold his lodge two years ago. Glacier rounded mountains tops Alain wanted to share a new destination for the Fat Bikers who want to experience something unique. It looks like exploring the […]
3 years ago I walked this area with one of my sons as a reccy for a fat bike ride. It soon become clear that this was no place to try to ride a bike as it would have involved a fair bit of pushing. Fast forward a couple of years and in May of […]
Horrible Idea: Crusher Gravel Race Report For the past two summers, I’ve trained and mentally prepped myself for the 906 Adventure Team’s Marji Gesick mountain bike race in Marquette, MI. It’s a killer. Known for pushing you out of your comfort zone, the Marji director Todd Poquette has another event called The Crusher Gravel Race […]
June 21st and the summer solstice luckily fell on a Friday, and luckily for me I finish work early on a Friday! YEAH!! The sun was shining, the forecast was good so a quick plan hatched to bivvy out for the night. I’ve had my eye on this sheltered spot facing east for some time […]
A micro-adventure film exploring Scotland’s Glen Affric. The Highland Trail 550 bike race included it as part of their route it is that good. The competitors some of whom we bumped into will remember this if nothing else. Scotland’s weather is unpredictable! The weather forecast is a mere guideline then moves. So, through the art […]
