Great Lakes Fat Bike Series: Fat Tire Loppet & the Frozen 40

The drive home from the Noquemanon World Championships was pretty stressful. A whole bunch of snow was being dumped down on the expressway; which was down to one lane and really scary to drive on! Danielle and Scott had left for home together, leaving Danielle’s little Fiesta to B and I. Driving on icy roads is scary enough.. but when you’re driving a friend’s car it’s even scarier! B was nice and calm and drove us home safely, taking a few pit-stops on the way home to explore the great UP.

Obligatory secret overpass stop.

Lookin' good, Lake Michigan!

If I thought the drive home from Marquette was rough, I really didn’t know what was ahead of us on the way to race #5 of the Great Lakes Fat Bike Series: the Penn Cycle Fat Tire Loppet. This race is the only time of the year that fat bikers can ride on the Loppet ski trail, a beautiful groomed trail through the city of lakes (AKA Minneapolis!) Driving out to Minneapolis for the race was ridiculous. It took us nearly 5 hours to get to Chicago. Most of the drive’s conversation went like this:

Danielle, “Should we just turn around?”
Me, “Maybe the worst is behind us?”

-- a half hour would pass in silence--

Me, “Should we turn around?”
Danielle, “Maybe the weather will get better?”

This is a major highway in Mi.

We must have called the Grand Rapids Bicycle Company five hundred times to see if my coworkers thought we should keep driving or turn around. Mason, manager at the Ada shop, said we were probably through the worst of it. Once we did make it past Chicago, the roads did clear up a little bit. We made it to our friend Brent’s house (after first unsuccessfully stopping at the creepiestself-serve car wash to try to clean our bikes) and were so exhausted we went to bed pretty soon thereafter. The plan was to let our bikes thaw out in the basement before cleaning them before the race in the morning—thank goodness for late starts!

There were some set-backs in the morning when we woke up and I was incredibly impressed by the way Danielle was able to keep her calm—she wasn’t going to give up easily, and she was going to find a way to race at the Loppet. I’ll say it again—thank goodness for late starts! We were able to find a solution just in time to cram some cold pizza down our throats and head to the race. Lucky for us, we were able to get our number plates strapped to our bikes and to line up at the start… with just a few minutes to spare! Briefly had time to shout hello to Martha Flynn and Chelsea Strate before we were off! The Loppet trail was AMAZING! Next year I definitely want to come to the festival for more than just the fat bike race. The trail was beautifully groomed, zig-zaggy so you couldn’t tell if someone was racing ahead of you or behind you, and filled with spectators nearly the entire way! There were people cheering everywhere, people tending bonfires, people walking their dogs, and people flying kites on the middle of more frozen lakes (Frozen lakes! My favorite!) The City of Lakes Loppet foundation really knows how to put on a race! I rode past ice pillars, more people cheering, and across more lakes. I really enjoyed this race, and being on my fat bike riding the Loppet trail made the crappy drive and stressful morning worth it. Maybe it didn’t make it 100% worth it to Danielle, but it was worth it to me!

April Morgan (1st place), Danielle Musto (2nd place), myself (5th place)

Shortly after the race, Danielle and I hopped back on our bikes to ride from the end of the race to the start. It wasn’t a long distance, but by this time the sun had set and it was getting COLD. 

Danielle's post-race ponytail

We had decided to drive as far as we could after the race so that we were closer to home in the morning, and by time we were getting to the car all I wanted was a beer and a hot shower. We drove until shortly after 9pm and stopped for gas. Thinking we wouldn’t stop again until finding a hotel (our goal was to find a room for under $50 on Hotwire) we wanted to buy some booze. If you haven’t been in Wisconsin after 10pm on a Sunday, you wouldn’t know that they stop selling beer at that time either. Surprisingly enough, the gas station we stopped at had a 6 pack of Angry Orchard cider. Yesss! An hour later and we were snug and warm inside of a not-so-bad $50 hotel room watching cheesy TV, drinking cider and making plans for our next trip to Minneapolis—for the Frozen 40, Great Lakes Fat Bike Series' race #6.

Buuuuut before the Frozen 40 we needed to get some training in at the King VASA...

Driving to the Frozen 40 wasn’t nearly as action-packed as the Loppet. The roads were clear, the weather was nice, and before we knew it we were in Minneapolis at Brent and Nicole’s house! We arrived on a Thursday night and were really happy that we had until Saturday for the race. Having Friday to “get ready for the race” meant we got to go to the Angry Catfish for coffee, to get lunch at Modern Times Café, to go for a shopping spree at Twin Six, and to finally pre-ride a lap at Elm Creek before the sun happened to go down. Riding on single track was very different from riding groomed fat bike trails all winter! The trail was hard packed, curvy, with just a few climbs tossed in—and absolutely gorgeous. The blue sky, snow-covered trees, and white snow kept a huge smile on my face. We finished the 10-mile lap near sundown and as we got in to the car I was shivering both from the cold and from the anticipation that I would be riding the same loop 4 times in the morning. Eeeep!

Great single track in Elm Creek, MN

We awoke in the morning and surprise! No mechanicals! We woke up with enough time to eat breakfast, do some stretching, and get a rock star parking spot near the warming tent and the race start/finish! This race was put on by some really awesome promoters who really went all out for the event: frozen 40 socks, a warming tent, live photos streaming from the race, tons of sweet swag, and breakfast burritos! Even though I was happy to be getting ready to race my bike, I couldn’t wait until after the race just so that I could hang out with everyone! After a call up to the front of the pack for those who have placed top 5 in any of the Great Lakes Fat Bike Series races, we were off! By race #6 of the series, I could spot out a bunch of familiar faces both racing with me and standing on the sides cheering. Once again, my favorite part of racing the whole series was all of the people I met and all of the fun I had cheering my friends on! Another favorite part of fat bike racing? The racing! It’s hilarious to me that an average mph on a fat bike is still under (for the most part) 15mph. The first half hour of the frozen 40 was tough because there were some riders wanting to pass me through the single track and I came upon some riders that I wanted to pass. This is one thing I wanted to work on this winter. Being new to racing, passing people still makes me nervous. The frozen 40 was definitely good practice! Lucky for me, fat bike racers are probably the nicest people to ride with in the world, and no one got too grumpy if they had to wait for me to find a good spot to pull over.  The trail was in really good shape for lap #1 and I was really excited when I rolled to the end and headed back out for lap#2—the first lap had gone quicker than I thought! This race was going to be over before I knew it!

Whoops. I shouldn’t have felt so confident. The second lap was a little more rugged than the first lap. I still felt like I was doing well, but I could tell there had been some carnage from other riders. Choppy conditions on the climbs were a sure sign some people were feeling it. I saw someone up ahead kneeling on the side of the trail to take photos of people riding and once I realized who it was I lost my balance and fell right in front of him! “Hey Mike!” I laughed as I dusted myself off and hopped back on my bike. Smooth move, Jill… but who really has time to feel embarrassed when you’re on a fat bike?

Photo cred: Mike Riemer

It was near the end of lap two when I started to feel like I had to go pee really bad. Rounding the final bend of the loop and seeing everyone cheering along the turn where you’re supposed to head out for another lap was rough. Should I ride to the porta-potty and go? Should I keep going and find a spot along the trail to go? I grinned at everyone as I rolled through, opting to grab another bottle from Tom Morgan (thanks for the hand-ups!) and to take my chances out on the trail. I kept thinking that I could easily roll off the trail and pee behind a tree, until I got passed by another woman fat biker! A blonde girl wearing a T6 Metal kit passed me near the start of the lap and I didn’t want her to stay ahead of me! Little did I know she was actually racing the duo category, which would explain why I hadn’t seen her at the start of the race. Sometimes, a mental rabbit can be just as effective as a physical rabbit. Despite the deteriorating trail conditions, I kept pushing myself through the rest of lap three and the start of lap #4. I kept trying to distract myself from my throbbing bladder by pretending like I only had 2 more miles left to go. It wasn't working very well and I didn’t believe myself, but I kept trying. The trail was getting so mushy that for a little while I felt like I was doing the Farmer’s Fat Bike Race all over again. Except this trail was narrower, and when you fell over you sunk into deep snow. There were a couple of times when I landed in the snow that I thought, “I could just pee my pants. Right here, right now. It would be okay.” (Don’t worry, I didn't. As much as I wanted to, the thought of a wet and freezing chamois was a better deterrent than pretending like the race was nearly over.) Just as I felt I couldn’t control it anymore… I saw the finish line! Huge grins as I finished and rolled over to Tom to give him a high five. Aside from a full bladder, a frozen water bottle, and fatigued hands from gripping so tightly on some of the more technical sections, I think I looked pretty good after finishing the frozen 40! If I lived near Elm Creek I would love to just ride laps every day. Huge thanks to Mountain Bike Radio, to the people who volunteered and helped, and to all of the sponsors of this race!

Bill Fartindale, April Morgan, Danielle Musto

After the race, Danielle and I went back to Brent and Nicole’s house where we were greeted with lots of bottles of wine. Let’s just say the ride back to Michigan was filled with about five coffee stops and that there wasn’t enough water in the world to keep me hydrated. Remember how my hands were fatigued from spending such a long amount of time with a death-grip on my handlebars? My hands were still so messed up the next day that I couldn’t even grip the steering wheel. A million thanks to Danielle for driving the whole way home! 

Can you spot all the wine bottles?