Finally Fat Tire Biking

As you know, my family spent the weekend at Crystal Mountain Resort. And as you also know (if you read my blog which you do because you are reading this) that I'm not much of a downhill skier. Even so, I have been looking forward to this weekend since I scribbled it on my calendar months ago. And not just because I was going to get to eat double peanut butter pancakes.

Crystal Mountain has acquired a fleet of fat tire bikes.

Here's a quick tutorial on fat bikes to catch you up to speed:

What is a fat bike?
It is a mountain (or off-road) bike that has enormous, wide, 'fat' tires.

Why does it have fat tires?
The benefit of 'fat' tires is to allow for greater flotation over soft surfaces (think beach sand or snow) and provide greater traction (larger surface area = more connection to the ground = more traction). This combination allows bikes to roll on terrain that a traditional mountain bike could not.

It wouldn't be all that far of a comparison to say fat tires are a bit like snow shoes. They provide greater surface area and allow for you to "float" better over snow (or sand) where skinnier tires would likely sink.

Fat tire bikes are growing in popularity and all the cool kids have one.

I've spent my winter pouting over my keyboard while reading status updates and blog posts of glorious fat tire snow bike rides! And fat tire rides on the beach of Lake Michigan! And racing in the Great Lakes Fat Bike Series!

(insert juvenile tantrum here)


But on Saturday I finally got to see what all the craze is about.

And it was awesome! Chad, my brother and myself each rented a bike. It didn't take long for us to warm up on a fast cruise down the road in search of the "fat tire trail" which the clerk told us was clearly labeled and yet 3 college educated fully functioning adults could not find it . . . We eventually came to a snowmobile trail through the woods and hopped on!

As long as we could manage a narrow line following the packed trail the bike handled with ease. One slip to the left or right and the tire would sink and slip in the deep wet snow. It was so much fun whizzing and zipping through the trees along a marshmallow packed trail. Crashing into white blustery snowballs was perhaps the most fun. 

For those of us with negative budgets and who are too cheap to pay $30 a month for a dataplan in order to have a smart phone that can take actual photos of said adventures to accompany widely-read and highly-acclaimed blogs posts (as opposed to my 3-minute scribbles) and therefore cannot afford another bike, being able to rent one for the afternoon was a great option to partake in the fat tire experience.

Rentals are $10 an hour or $15 for two hours. If you plan on renting from Crystal Mountain, be warned that they have only 2 'mountain bike' style fat tire bikes (one large and one mall) and at least 6 'cruiser' single speeds with coaster brakes.