first time going fat

I've been interested in checking out a fat bike for a while, and this Friday the weather, family, and vacation schedules lined up to give it a try.  The Bike Mill has a handful of fat bikes available for rent, and they set me up with a Surly Pugsley.

The Pugsley.

The Loop Road from South Pass to Sinks Canyon was the route.  I've ridden this once before in the Fall on a bikepacking trip, no snow travel required.  This year I expected a mostly snow-covered route, packed only by snow machine traffic.  The weather was warm and sunny, though I brought some extra items, as I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this new mode of travel.

I headed out in the direction of the normal summer road, and within 5 minutes I was already playing hike-a-bike in deep soft snow.  I started considering an alternate plan for the day, when I realized the winter trail takes a slightly different way out of the parking lot.  Fat bike redeemed.  I was delighted to see a handful of snow machine tracks on the trail, as well as the distinct edge cut in the soft snow from the groomer!  I didn't expect that the road had been groomed yet, but seeing this made me think my chance of success was greatly improved.

Even with the somewhat-recent grooming and snow machine passes, the snow was inconsistent and frequently soft.  I was quickly into the low gears and frantically hunting for a good line of firm snow that I would try to stick with as long as possible.  The snow machine ski tracks proved to be the snow of choice, and I spent most of the ride to Fiddler's Lake steering to connect up ski track to ski track.  The conditions were marginal for efficient travel, though after getting a feel for traction and pedaling power, the Pugsley kept me on top and moving forward.  Dropping tire pressure made a big difference as well.  Hard to measure the low pressures but I suspect I was down around 5 psi.  I only walked about 200' in over 25 miles of snow travel.

Snow machine tracks made for inconsistent travel.

The route to Blue Ridge (about 15 miles in, and the highpoint) was about 99% snow covered.  I did not wear a warm hat or gloves up to this point - quite warm and pleasant!  Though the warm temps were not helping the snow pack stay firm.

First view of the Range and Louis Lake basin.

On the first significant descent towards Louis Lake, I was surprised with how stable the Pugsley was.  The criss-crossing snow machine ski tracks kept me on my toes, but the wide tires managed the grooves pretty well, and my confidence increased quickly.  The snow stayed dry for the whole ride, so the tires stayed clear and traction was predictable.  For these conditions, I think I would mount the rear tire "backwards" for maximum traction in the soft snow.

The Surly Nate 3.8" tire.

Arriving at Louis Lake was comforting - familiar spot, and over half way to Blue Ridge.  However, it is also the start of about 1,000' of climbing over the next six miles.  I had gotten better at picking out the good spots for traction, but I knew the steepest and highest sections of the route were coming up.  The Louis Lake Lodge sign said "open" - I think it was a pretty slow day at the little general store.  I only saw one person on the route for the day - a dog musher.

Pano from Louis Lake Lodge. 

In general the climb went pretty well - grind away, stay in the firm snow, keep moving, stay on the seat, drink water...  3.5-4.5 mph on average.  I did lose traction and step out a couple times, but was able to get going again quickly by picking a different line in the snow.  There was more soft snow as I got higher and approached Fiddler's Lake.  The last wind event was clearly blowing across the lake and depositing drifts across the road.  This was the only un-rideable (for me) section of the route, and I chose to walk a bit.

Soft drifts and walking at Fiddler's Lake.

As I neared the end of Fiddler's Lake, I could see that the fresh snow machine tracks turned towards the campground.  Straight ahead it was fresh snow, and I couldn't see any signs of grooming.  Crap.  I started to ponder what it would mean to turn around at this point as I ventured out onto fresh snow, expecting the ungroomed snow to swallow the Pugsley and force retreat.

Fresh tracks (fat bike and snowshoe hare).

The fresh untracked snow turned out to be a dusting on top of groomed snow with old, faint snow machine tracks.  This combination actually led to the best snow conditions of the trip - firm and much smoother, with minor grooves from the machine skis.  Excellent traction allowed me to up the pace and stand up for a couple stretches - felt great to stretch the legs in singlespeed style, and I promptly finished off the last mile and half to Blue Ridge.

High point of the route, almost all downhill from here.

Knowing downhill was next, I put on gloves, hat, arm warmers, and vest, and started the 4,300' descent home to the Lander Valley.  The change in snow depth on the north side of Blue Ridge was dramatic.  Soft, clean, complete snow cover gave way to patchy, gravelly, crusty snow.  Blue Ridge to the Worthen Meadows turn was very fast, and the Pugsley handled the speed well.  Dirt, slush, ice, wind crust - the Nate tires glided right over with no worries.  By the time I got to the pavement, the snow was minimal.  Just an inch or two, with dry space to ride on the side.

Near Frye Lake - dwindling snow.

Mostly off snow now, it was fast travel regardless of the surface.  Then long stretches without snow, I began to realize that the only way to complete this route under human power was on a fat bike.  Or walking.  And walking wouldn't have been much fun and wouldn't have been done in a day.  From Blue Ridge on, I probably could have made it through on my conventional 29er, but the rest of the route would definitely not have been possible on a standard issue rig.

Sinks Canyon - ready for more snow.

I added some pressure back to the tires now that I was on solid ground again.  The switchbacks and the canyon were mostly dry, just the bottom switchback in the shade was snowy.  Ripping down the canyon was surprisingly fun on the Pugsley.  The massive wheels are big gyroscopes - leading to fantastic stability at high speeds.  I tucked into the most aero position I could, and didn't quite hit 40 mph - ironic trying to eek speed out of the fat machine that was built for a different task.

My interest in the fat bike was mostly for the novelty - I didn't have much expectation of being hooked.  But I think I might be.  I traveled reasonably efficiently, across a wide spectrum of terrain and ground conditions.  Looking back at the ride data, I wasn't setting any speed records, but in better conditions, I think this route could be done in not much more time than on dry ground.  Looking forward to more fat bike travel this winter.