Great Lakes Fat Bike Series: Winter Solstice Chase & Fat Chance!

This past winter I got to ride some of the best fat bike trails in the country.

Wow, what a series! Sitting here and writing this recap is really hard because I don’t want the Great Lakes Fat Bike Series to be over.  Realizing that it is over now makes me really sad. I’m going to miss those subzero temperatures and those 10+ hours in the car traveling to a race. Those nights driving in so much snow that knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. Counting how many bottles of water I’ve drank to make sure I’m hydrated enough before a race in case my water froze. Pre-riding new terrain, and setting my clothes out the night before a race only to wear something completely different the next morning. Seeing friends from other cities and states at different races and making new friends the whole series. Geesh, I’m getting so reminiscent it’s embarrassing. This is what the post-race blues must be. The funny thing is that I’ll be racing my fat bike at the BarryRoubaix next weekend and I’ll be seeing a lot of friends there! 

Martha Flynn, myself, Danielle Musto, Chelsea Strate, April Morgan

So the season started off in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.  Race #1 of the GLFBS was a wild card for me. It was my first race on my new Salsa Mukluk 2 and I was really nervous because I had already committed to racing most of the series with Danielle Musto. What if I didn’t like it? What if I was terrible at it? I had done mediocre at the Iceman this past November and had absolutely no race experience other than that. Really, I hadn’t done much fat biking in general before this race. I didn’t know what to really expect and when we showed up at Big Rock Creek Retreat to pre-ride the start of the race I was blown away. The race promoters were working hard at race prep and were super friendly. They wanted to know where we were from and what other fat bike races we had done; the Winter Solstice Chase was their first fat bike race and they were really happy to be a part of the Great Lakes series. They had groomed a 21k trail specifically for fat bikes; they had a place for a bonfire, a warming tent, and some incredibly adorable stumps for the podium. Danielle and I spun our legs for about a half hour before she had to persuade me to turn around—I was having such a fun time that I didn’t want to stop! After pre-riding we found The Vegetarian Indian restaurant in St. Croix falls and had the most delicious tamarind soup of my life. Race morning we saw some friends at the start and before I was ready we were off! The race course was already a little more churned up than it was for our pre-ride, and as the course rolled on the conditions began to get choppier and choppier. For a while I was racing neck and neck with Martha Flynn, pulling away on the climbs and not going fast enough on the descents. The climbs were pretty difficult and I could feel my legs cramping up. The race was two laps (42k) and I could already tell that I had gone out too hard at the start. The cramps got so bad that I couldn’t ride uphill any longer, and pushing my bike made another area of my legs cramp up and walking became even more unbearable than riding. At one point, April Morgan, who was racing the 21k, trudged past me pushing her bike uphill and groaned, “these hills are killer!” It was a little comforting to know that she was having as hard of a time as I was. I finished my first lap and headed out for my second nearly delirious and laughing to myself because I couldn’t believe what I had jumped in to. Fat bike racing? Of all things! The course continued to get sloppier and I started seeing less and less fat bikers. For a long time, I was riding out there by myself and started losing momentum because I had no more rabbits to ride after. Because of the conditions, a lot of people had dropped out of the race. I couldn’t even keep my bike upright on the flats and the slush was too deep and full of ruts to ride downhill. I take pride in my tenacity and at the end of the series I’ve realized that this is what makes a good fat bike racer. At one point a man on a snowmobile acting as a sweeper asked if I thought I was going to finish the race, and I was like, “duh!” For me there wasn’t any other option. I had started out on my fat bike and despite the intense and painful cramps in my legs, and the impossible slush, I wasn’t going to stop until crossing the finish line. I was the last person out on the trail and was the last person to finish the race. It didn’t stop me from grinning ear to ear as I rode across the finish line; I felt like a champion just for doing the whole thing. Hearing people cheering for me was incredible and although my legs were sore and I could hardly walk once I got off my bike, I could not wait for the next fat bike race! The challenge of difficult riding conditions is something that I love! Call me crazy, but the sloppier and the more miserable the course is the happier I am to cross the finish line. The Winter Solstice Chase was the perfect race for my Salsa Mukluk’s first race and such a good intro to the Great Lakes Fat Bike Series! Although I finished dead last, I was still the third woman to roll across the finish line. Sharing the podium with Danielle Musto and Martha Flynn was the icing on the cake for race #1 in the series.

Fatty Flynn, Fatty Musto, Fatty Martindale

The ride home, Danielle and I gabbed excitedly the whole time about the race and how hard but fun it was. Would you believe that every drive this season has been filled with us talking about racing, riding, how much fun the series is, and about how incredible Tom and everyone at the GrandRapids Bicycle Company is? Honestly, 99.9% of the time spent in the car has been radio-free. Who does that? Driving music is typically something that I absolutely need in order to stay awake and to keep my attention on the road, but there was just so much energy and excitement on the drive that we never needed it. A few times when we would turn the radio on, we would hear a song and instantly start brainstorming about how it could be turned in to a commercial for bikes, or for the humane society. Ohhhhh fat bike riding dorks to the highest degree.

This is what our bikes looked like for race #1 of the series...before Danielle got her really amazing 1upUSA rack.
(the 1upUSA rack was FAR superior to this system...)

We had two weeks before the next race of the series. I was obsessing over fat bike racing and didn’t want to wait that long for another race! Lucky for me, there has been an explosion of fat bike races in Michigan and there were some awesome races near home. The Winter Rush races in Grand Rapids were pretty short, lasting about 45 minutes to an hour, and you just have to do as many laps as you can in that amount of time. These races were usually slushy conditions, and I went out as hard as I could for these. These were really great for training, and they helped me to get comfortable with passing other riders and with being passed. Pando Winter Sports Park had also started doing Fat Tuesdays this winter, opening up their cross country ski trails for fat bikers. Brent at Fun Promotions LLC held races each Tuesday that were low-key and also very good for training. These races were on trails groomed with fat bikes in mind that flowed really well. Also lucky for me, is that the Grand Rapids Bicycle Company was one of the sponsors for Fat Tuesday, so I got to drive the van full of fat bike demos out to Pando nearly every week!

My Mukluk and our shop demos at Fat Tuesday

I tried to do as many Winter Rush and Fat Tuesday races as I could on weekends home during the Great Lakes Fat Bike Series so that I could gain more experience. In between the Winter Solstice Chase and race #2 of the series, Fat Chance!, I was able to hit up both a Winter Rush race and Fat Tuesday.

Danielle and I took the GRBC van on Saturday and drove up to Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville, Mi. I LOVE LOVE LOVE driving to races in the shop van! Arriving at the destination in a giant van painted with our shop logo on it makes me feel so official! We got to Crystal after dark and went straight to the Thistle Pub & Grille for some dinner. We ran in to the Jasons from Einstein Cycles, and again, I was blown away at how nice and awesome the race organizers were! We chatted about the race briefly before Danielle and I sat down for the most delicious Pad Thai I have ever had and for the tiniest beet salad in the entire world. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach, and it was actually the perfect amount of food that didn’t make me feel disgustingly full. (A quick shout out to the Thistle for having both vegan and gluten-free food! Being vegan and traveling with someone who eats gluten-free can be difficult, and I always get so excited finding a restaurant that offers both options without feeling like there’s something missing from the plate. Well done, Crystal Mountain!)

Race morning came quickly and I was excited for a 2-hour race. I felt less stressed because it was a shorter race and I knew there would be less of a chance of me burning out because of that. It was also nice that the sun was out and that the race started at noon. We had plenty of time to eat breakfast, drink coffee, chug a bunch of water, and to pre-ride the start of the course. The groomed trail was in perfect condition and the course wasn’t very hilly. It was going to be a hammer fest for me and after hike-a-biking so much between the Winter Rush, Fat Tuesday, and Winter Solstice Chase races, I was really looking forward to staying on my bike and to pushing it hard. After go-time, I quickly discovered that the trail was really in perfect conditions to start falling apart. Just like St. Croix falls, the course started to get mushy on the second lap. By time I came around for my third lap, the impossible-to-ride segment had nearly tripled in size! A female rider passed me through the mush and flawlessly rode through the soft portions. Gah! How was she doing that? I was starting to get really frustrated because I couldn’t catch up to her and I kept falling down. Another lap around, and I had finally grown patient enough to roll slower through the soft parts and to shift down so that my legs were spinning quickly. I was gaining through the single-track segment and was maintaining my distance through the choppy, messy parts. On my last lap, on a flat segment that was still pretty solid, I found a little bit of power that was still in my legs and I was able to muscle up to my rabbit and to push past her. “Good job,” she said to me as I passed. I kept pushing it until crossing the finish, and I couldn’t believe that I had come in second place! In the course of two weeks I had magically become a better fat bike rider than I had thought possible! When Chelsea Strate crossed the finish line just under a minute behind I couldn’t control myself and I ran up to her to give her a hug. Although this was my first time racing with her, I already felt like we were pretty good pals. 

Danielle, myself, Chelsea

My favorite part about racing the Great Lakes Fat Bike Series has been getting to know not just other fat bikers, but more specifically other women fat bikers. In a race where there might be over 100 men, a “big” women’s field is somewhere around 10 or 15. That’s crazy! What the women lack in numbers, they definitely don’t lack in heart or strength. There were 7 women who raced at Fat Chance! and every single one of them is an incredible rider and human being. I am beyond thrilled to have met so many of the ladies that I have this winter and cannot wait to see where everyone is at next year for the series. We were all on fat bikes this winter, but everyone has different plans for the summer. Whether it be on cross bikes, single speed mountain bikes, or at 24 hour races... these girls are going to be awesome at whatever they attempt! I just can't say enough how glad I was to have met everyone.