By Dave Schlabowske
My buddy Andy “Bike Farmer” Quandt and I both have strong opinions, and neither of us are shy about sharing them. We often don’t agree, and fat-bikes have been a point of contention in the past. Andy has called them stupid, slow, pointless, and would not own one until pigs can fly. Well, look at that Charlotte, Wilbur has wings!
Andy turned to the fat side on a recent trip to Bath, Maine to visit a mutual friend of ours, Mark Sirek. Mark is a Midwest Expat, reformed former Salsa employee and OG fat-bike rider who now works for Hyperlite Mountain Gear in Maine. Given his location, it was inevitable that Mark would fall in with the crew from the Carver Bikes/Bath Cycle & Ski/Bikeman Holy Tinity.
When the Bike Farmer went to visit, they super glued his butt to a Titanium Carver Omega Beast Fatbike and dragged him bikepacking on a 60 mile C.H.U.D. tour of local two track, gravel, railroad tracks, bridge abutments and dining options at gas station convenience stores. You can watch their adventures and Maine Tour on his video below:
https://youtu.be/oGdlFcau8U4?si=AHA8_SUwKE1O0ijZ
Surprisingly, Andy fell in love with the Ti Carver O’ Beast on that adventure ride. He managed to get the same bike shipped back to him in Wisconsin, and soon after reached out to me to ask where he could take it bikepacking in the Forward state that would leverage the fat tires without any snow on the ground yet. Well, that is exactly what I created the Valhalla Beach Party bikepacking route to do.
Andy was down with a trip to Valhalla, and after I shined the Fat-Bike Signal on the clouds that night, my pal Corey Krosner saw it light up the night sky from his family place not too far south of the Bayfield pine barrens. He immediately slipped on his sandals, loaded up his Salsa Blackborow with a hot tent and wood stove (because why not with all that storage) to join our posse.
While the Valhalla Beach Party route does include a lot of sugar sand near the start/finish, it was also designed as a summer route that includes stops at lakes big and small for swimming. It was too cold for us to swim, but the Herbster campground on the south shore of Lake Superior rewarded us with a spectacular sunset.
Corey was our stunt fat-bike pilot, even game for riding up the ledges at Siskiwit Falls! It helps that he rides in sandals even when it is chilly outside. Suffice it to say we had a great time, toured waterfalls, beaches, ate great local food and Andy remains a fat-bike fan.
You can come along on our adventure in the Bike Farmer video below.
Keep fat-bike.com going
This newsletter, the Micro Dose podcast, the Fat-bike Lab, and 15 years of fat-bike.com content are all independent and community-supported. A few ways to help:
Forward this email to one person who rides fat. Subscriber growth is the single biggest thing that keeps this going.
Join the Fat-bike Lab at fat-bike.com/community - free, no algorithm, just riders helping riders.
Buy me a beer at ko-fi.com/fatbike if you want to throw a few bucks directly at the cause.
Start something of your own. This newsletter runs on Beehiiv, and I genuinely think it's the best platform out there if you've been kicking around the idea of starting a newsletter for your club, shop, or riding crew. Free trial, 20% off your first 3 months if you upgrade. Check it out at beehiiv.com?via=GregSmith1
Some gear links in this newsletter are affiliate links. Clicking costs you nothing extra and helps keep the lights on.