One Old Wrider: Fat Bike Workout

It was still -20 when I got to the Centennial Park parking lot with the Salsa Mukluk 3 hanging from the rack on the back of our Subaru. The temperature proved to be the biggest challenge of the day, but not because I was too cold.

I started off with 2 layers under my light winter jacket, jeans and Under Armour pants, 2 pair of socks, Banff Ridge boots, a fleece neck tube, my free Mark's gloves and lined hat. 50 feet from the car and I knew the hat was not going to work because of the neckline so I traded it for my warmest toque.

My first impression of the feel of the bike was 'man this is slow going'. The entire hour and a half of riding was mostly the same. I averaged about 6.5kph. I went along the wide and well packed trail next to the frozen Current River, crossed the bridge into Trowbridge and then tried some narrow single track [about 18" wide] for another km. It was twisty and overhanging branches kept me ducking. If the bike strayed from the packed snow trail it was a sudden stop and then a major effort to get rolling again because width of the packed snow wasn't enough to let me stand beside to do a rolling mount.

After 45 minutes and only 5km I headed for the car and was completely soaked. I undid my jacket and stuffed the neck tube in my pack. I didn't want to cool down too much but any wetter and I'd chill and be done for the day.

At the car I took off all my upper layers except the base, had a couple sandwiches and coffee for lunch while frosting every window in the Subaru. I put on my wool sweater, a wind breaker, a lighter pair of gloves, merino neck tube and went out again.

I started with the same trail along the river but then carried on past the bridge on less travelled trail and climbed a very long steep hill. When I first looked at the bike I wondered why the crankset sprockets [22/36] were so small. Halfway up I was wishing they had made them smaller. To keep the front wheel on the ground you have to keep your nose over the handle bars. To maintain traction your butt has to stay back so there is weight on the back tire. Standing does not work at all. Coming down the hill on my return was the only real sense of speed I felt all day but that came with a very chilling self made breeze.

All in all it was a fun way to spend a day off and a great workout. Once I was used to the slow pace and warmed up I enjoyed just getting outside for a ride. The rhythmic cadence that lets my thoughts wander a bit while riding on the road is just not possible on the Mukluk at least not with varying terrain. From spinning wildly in the tiniest gears to go up and then overspinning down a slight slope I was constantly changing gears to try and maintain some kind of even cadence but never seemed comfortable for long.

In the battle of what kind of bike I'd rather be riding the fat bike loses to the fast bike. I can imagine riding 350 miles as they do in the Iditarod where these bikes first came into prominence, but not at this speed. Add in the gear they have to carry and the additional layers of clothing to handle Alaska in the winter, umm no thanks. I'll stick to feeling like a sausage in my skin tight bike shorts and jerseys.

Thanks to Farzam and Nathan at Petrie's for loaning me the Mukluk and for some guidance on where to pedal the beast.