The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Fat tires, free beer, free brats, free burgers, free branding
by Than Acuff
Yo momma’s so fat, when you tell her to haul ass, it takes her two trips.
The hits just keep coming.
We’re here, we’re fat, get used to it!
Grab your pogies, your booties and saddle up, the Borealis Fat Bike World Championships presented by Upslope Brewing Co. opens on Thursday, January 26 with races on the North Village course, demos and casual riding on Friday, the Borealis Fat Bike Worlds on Saturday and some lift-served fat bike downhilling under the Gold Link lift on Sunday, January 29, concluding the event.
Accept it and roll with it, fat biking is on the rise and thanks to the diligent work of Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association director Dave Ochs and Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce director Eliza Cress, Crested Butte is home to the Fat Bike World Championships. Sure, there’s another supposed fat bike worlds in Alaska but ours blows theirs out of the water.
About the only thing that might hold back the fatness in all of its glory is, ironically, the snow. Sure, the fat, low-psi tires are designed for over-the-snow travel but not through feet of snow. Fortunately, with Ochs at the helm of a fat bike-specific groomer, trails should be primed for the racing, and casual riding, experience.
“Right now it’s freakin’ horrendous—80 mph winds are not conducive to good fat bike track,” says Ochs. “We’re gonna be sledneckin’ like mad the next two days.”
Ochs’ plan is to have the trail to Gothic groomed, and the courses at the North Village, town ranch and the downhill course on Gold Link groomed for the races. If all goes well, he hopes to get the trail out Brush Creek ready for the fat bike masses as well.
“The courses and Gothic are the first priority,” says Ochs. “But, if we have the time and the sleds hold up and the groomer holds up, we’ll get out Brush Creek.”
The weather forecast looks promising for the Fat Bike Worlds event weekend and with Ochs and crew out working this week and Ochs joining Alyosha Paden from Crested Butte Mountain Resort to work on the downhill course as well.
“If we can control what we got, things should be outstanding,” says Ochs. “Cold nights and cold days are looking good.”
The event is sold out and both reigning fat bike world champions are returning, along with 248 other fat bike racers. For a complete schedule and information go to cbchamber.com.
