Fat Tire Bike Series gearing up for the winter

Rolling fatties

Fat Bikes are starting to blow up, so a local contingent of Fat Bike enthusiasts, the Gunnison-Crested Butte Fat Bikers, have decided to feed the need and start a fat bike race series.
A Fat Bike, or Snow Bike, runs tires that are around 3.7 to 5 inches wide and have from 3 to 10 PSI of air in them, depending on conditions.
Locals have been riding Fat Bikes for the past couple of years on their own and last year the first Fat Bike race was held as part of the Alley Loop.
This year, Neil Beltchenko and others have organized the Gunnison-Crested Butte Fat Bikers Club, complete with a Facebook page. He’s been getting calls from all over the state.
“We’ve had a huge response from all over Colorado of people who want to come here to ride their Fat Bike,” says Beltchenko.
Currently, Fat Bikers have been hitting the local roads and heading up the valleys on packed snow.
“I’ve been going up everywhere to test it all out and as long as there is at least some sort of snowmobile track packed down, it’s pretty good,” says Beltchenko. “We have some of the best access in Colorado—Kebler, Slate, Snodgrass, Gothic, CBMR, Brush Creek, Spring Creek, and Taylor.”
Beltchenko reminds all Fat Bike enthusiasts to “Please respect private land and do not enter any groomed Nordic track, as they do not allow Fat Bikes.”
According to Beltchenko, riders in the north end of the valley have taken their bikes up on the ski area alongside the uphill skiers in the mornings and evenings.
“It’s great,” says Ben Preston, who’s been riding his Fat Bike for four years. “The mountain’s been really cooperative about it. The groomed terrain where the snowcats have gone is the best traction.”
Preston touts the training aspect of it as well.
“Definitely a ridiculous heart rate,” says Preston. “Gets up to 170 beat per minute and my lungs are coming out of my chest. It’s good.”
Right now there are four races slated for the upcoming winter. It all starts with a 20-kilometer race Sunday, December 15 at 2 p.m. starting at the Gronk outside of Crested Butte.
The next “sanctioned” race will be the weekend of the Alley Loop, followed by a potential race outside of Gunnison on February 23 and then a St. Patty’s Night Extravaganza on March 15 on the Bench. All races are $20 per person.
The races are limited to Fat Bikes only and if you don’t have one, Fat Bikes will be available to rent through Crested Butte Sports, Big Al’s and CBfatbikerental.com. Along with those resources, Gunnison-Crested Butte Fat Bikers will be bringing in Reeb Cycles, Twenty2 Cycles, and Borealis Cycles for some select races.
Or, you can get Steve Lawlor to build you a frame and cure it in a pizza oven—like Brick Oven Pizzeria owner Dan Loftus did.
“It needed to get cooked,” says Loftus. “We looked online and saw that it needed to be cured for eight hours at a certain temperature. We had to take some of the bricks out of the oven to fit the frame in.”
To stoke the Fat Bike fires now, head to Hartman Rocks on Saturday, December 7 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for Global Fat Bike Day. There will be free demos available for anyone looking to try it out.
For more information about upcoming races, Global Fat Bike Day or to check out the latest rage in winter two-wheeled travel for the first time, go to the Gunnison-Crested Butte Fat Bikers Facebook page.