Today, Ian and I went for a fat bike ride in the snow. It started with an email last week from Mark, the president of the Bow Cyclist Club (and Parts Manager at Bow Cycle):
Hey Bow Cyclists,
This is kinda last minute but I am planning a Fat bike ride this Sunday (Nov 29) morning over to C.O.P Eastlands. We have a number of Demo Fatbikes to use including a 24” Specialized Fatboy and a 20” Fatboy (if anyone has kids they would like to bring).
I mentioned it to Tammy, and she thought I should go for it. I emailed back and forth with Mark, making sure that it would be okay if Ian came.
So by 10:00 on Sunday, we were there, and getting to demo-ride a couple of Specialized fat bikes. Mark was saying that Bow Cycle had signed up with Specialized to do these demo rides. They have to run them at least once per month, so today was the first of a series.
The group split up, with Mark leading out the grown ups, and Kurt riding with Ian and me.
We had fun. Ian worked really hard and did a great job. He only had a couple of low-speed “whoopsies”. I managed to stay upright. Considering the total ride length was only 7 km, it was a lot of work! 🙂
Afterwards, Kurt extended the offer that we could borrow the bikes if we wanted to try it again. I’m going to let Ian rest up before I suggest it. Miranda might want to do it, but then again she might not.
I was talking to Kurt about 2016 bikes after the ride. Tammy and I have talked for a while about me getting a better bike, and I had a short list that I wanted to run by Kurt:
We talked about the bikes for a bit, and then he extended an offer. It’s not official, but he and Mark were thinking that they would like to ask me to take a position at Bow Cycle, for the specific purpose of helping out with the Bow Cyclists rides. Either being a leader, or a trail rider (making sure no one is left behind). It’s a bit of responsibility, but no more than I was doing previously. There would be a matter of scheduling rides so that I could be there if Mark, Kurt or Chris weren’t. The remuneration would be the opportunity to get one of those bikes at cost + 10%, which would be a considerable savings. Tammy, when told of this, suggested that I would get a chance to try out bikes and other equipment when they come in as well. That’s certainly possible, not that Bow Cycle has been reluctant to let me do that in the past.
I think it’s a compliment, and assuming that they extend the invitation, I’ll likely take it. It’s not like I wasn’t going to be signing up for the club next year anyways.
Are the big tires for traction or balance in snow? Dad
Yes, they were originally designed to work on sand or snow. They are very low pressure: 5 to 10 PSI. I was amazed at how much traction they have. On a paved road, they feel like a flat tire, and bounce in a funny way.