First fat bike snow ride

Pampa

Pampa

Well-Known Member
Today I rode my fatty on the snow for the first time. I went to Deer Park and had a lot fun even though I couldn't ride that much. The flat stretches and slight inclines with XC ski tracks were OK but as soon as I hit real hills I'd lose traction. Also, it was very difficult to keep the front from washing out on sideway inclines, rocks and pretty much any obstacle. My wife and three boys came out too but on snow shoes, so after trying out trails on my own I rode their tracks and that was much easier.

I'm planning to go back tomorrow for more. Hoping that the rain firms up the snow a bit. Wouldn't mind a bit of ice either since I have studded tires.

BTW, I was expecting/hoping to run into other fat bikers today (I've seen fat bike tracks in DP before). Where were you today? Or better yet where will you be tomorrow? :)

A few pics of my fatty (work in progress but functional at least).
 

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In deep fresh snow, sometimes the 4 inch tires do better. Sometimes. Yesterday I didn't make it very far in fresh snow. Today I swapped my more aggressive tires on and was able to ride a lot more. Steeper climbs and snow up to the BB will always be hard though.

-Jim.
 
I was wondering exactly about that today (3.8-4" tires digging a bit more). I was running 2 & 2.5 psi on my tubeless Bud & Lou but the float didn't help since I couldn't control the bike.
 
It can be really tricky in deeper snow. You have to lean the bike to turn, but if you lean it slides out from under you. Some days you're cruising along, some days it's a grind. My first time in the snow was at deer park and conditions were ideal(which I didn't know at the time) and I thought I'd found The Answer. Next time out it was deeper and I got my butt kicked.

Gorgeous bike btw.
 
THATmanMANNY said:
snow bikes don't ride snow well :confused:

:wedgie:
Click to expand...

Fat bikes have their limitations too. To be fair though, yesterday I tried to ride regular single track, and I'm not good at bike handing even in the dry. If I would have gone to Columbia trail, I could have ride there without problems - but then that's not very fun.

---

In any case, I went back to Deer Park today it was a whole different story. Now this is how it's supposed to be! I started on White clockwise from the first parking lot and was able to do that climb without problems. The trail was pretty packed and a bit later I run into two friends and a buddy of them, all on XC skis.

When the Blue? trail starts to the right I continued on White and it was all virgin for a while. It's nice to break trail! The snow was different/better today and I was able to set into rhythm and made most of the climbs with a few dabs here and there.

Near the end I decided to explore a trail that I never do - Orange from the fire road next to the abandoned house. There some foot prints for a little bit but after that it was virgin. Saw some strange things there: a ladder setup in the middle of the trail and a tricycle on top of a big rock a bit later.

The ride: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/425386286.
 

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Tire pressure matched to terrain is key. I find if it's virgin, best to run a bit more pressure to get the tires to dig down. If it's got some tracks in it (but not fully packed down), like boot prints, then less pressure is better (helps minimize the wandering effect as your tires alternate between packed and fresh every 2 feet).

In reality though, you often get both on the same ride, so you have to play around to find the right compromise. I had a great ride on Patriots today. Other than a couple of short/steep 10-20 yard sections, the fattie handled it all.

Saw the tracks of another fatbike as I returned on my out-and-back ride, but never did see him/her. Looked like Larry tire tracks.
 
fidodie said:
maybe some geocaching thing going on?
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I was stopping quite a bit and snapping pics all around. I don't normally like to stop but this was such a different ride that I wanted to share when I came back home :)
 
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