Photo Journal: Fat Bike Worlds

This past weekend, Fat Bike Worlds took over the bike friendly town of Crested Butte, Colorado. The weekend was filled with fat bike races, a regional summit, and even a downhill portion that nearly got snowed out after receiving a foot of fresh snow. It was a great weekend of fat bike fun, with smiles, some hard earned miles, and plenty of beer to go around. Below is a photo journal over the four days of fat biking. For a gallery of all events searchable by rider number, please visit Aaron Johnson’s website. Day One – North Village Kick-off Race: The first day was held at North Village, a fat bike specific riding area just north of the ski area. There was a race in the morning followed by an expo where a number of companies including Defiant packs were present.

Day Two – Fat Bike Summit and Demo:

Day two was all about getting the word out. Fat bikes are a rather new user group, and with that comes some difficulty, especially in gaining access to certain terrain whether it be private land, nordic trails or public lands. There were a number of different public land agencies present including the local National Forest Service and BLM. Crested Butte has also been in conversation over the last two years to gain access to nordic trails, so the Crested Butte Nordic Center’s Director and board members were also present. Gary from Quality Bicycle Products hosted the summit and chatted about success stories, how others are gaining access, and grooming techniques. There was also an open forum where government officials, public land officials, nordic directors and tourism association folks took questions from the audience.

After sitting inside nearly all day, we were relieved to enjoy the last bits of sun for the weekend at north village, where some of the above mentioned rode fat bikes for their first times. Many people enjoyed Borealis, Specialized, Scott and KTM’s demo fleets. . It was a great cap to a very informative day.

Day Three – Fat Bike World Championships: The stoke level was high for the main event on day three. What we affectionately dubbed as “Fat Bike Town” was bumping with people beginning at 9:00am. Over 250 riders prepared to ride the six mile loop either three or five times depending on elite or open race classes. We volunteered at one of the mid-way trail intersections and played mariachi music to keep the riders smiling while a major rocky mountain snow storm loomed in the distance. The day ended with burgers, brats and plenty of libations at Town Ranch with the sounds of the all female Led Zeppelin cover band, Lez Zeppelin. Race director Dave Ochs had arguably the best 20 minutes of his life towards the end of the day when he branded a consenting racer with the Fat Bike Worlds logo right on the ass, and shortly after was on stage with Lez Zeppelin playing guitar in front of the crowd.