January 15, 2017: Wake Up Sleepyhead! The Season Ain’t Over Yet!

The US National Cyclocross Championship is generally the end of my long season of cycling. There’s not really a cycling off-season for me but cyclocross racing absolutely consumes me, body and soul, from late August until early January. I ride year round mostly because I just like to ride and don’t really feel like my body needs an extended break. I’ll mix in other activities such as snowshoeing or XC skiing but these last two winters I usually opted to take out my fat bike on the snowmobile trails behind my house when we had decent snow cover.

The US National Fat Bike Championship (yes, such a thing really exists) is in two weeks. I’ve entertained the idea of going the last two years when it was in Utah (these were the first two years it was held) but the logistics coupled with my susceptibility to getting pneumonia a week or two after ‘cross Nationals has kept me from doing it. This year, the race is in Michigan, relatively close by, meaning I can drive there in one long day. A day or two after my Nationals race was over, I asked some of my friends if they had any interest in going out there to race with me. This is where Tim Leonard comes in since he was foolish enough to say yes.

I’ve only raced on my fat bike once, in fact, as of yesterday, I’ve probably only been on my bike 20 times and logged only 30 or 40 hours. My fat bike weighs a little more than 2 of my cyclocross bikes so it takes a significant amount of force to get it moving and turning in order to overcome it’s inherent inertia. However, I think racing on a fat bike is probably like racing on a cyclocross bike only easier. There aren’t any barriers, there aren’t a lot of hairy, off-camber turns, there aren’t any run-ups, there is little to no running, and with freakishly large clown tires run at ridiculously low pressure, the grip on snowmobile groomed snow (more than likely the surface we’ll be racing on) is pretty amazing. Throw in temperatures in the single numbers and what’s not to love about it?

Why am I so drawn to a sport that is raced primarily in the nastiest weather of the year? Why couldn’t I have taken up surfing or beach volleyball or competitive tanning or, god forbid, golf? Why couldn’t I have taken up a sport that is played or practiced when the weather is pleasant and therefore a lot more enjoyable? I guess the existential answer is that cyclocross and fat biking must have chosen me. So it’s time to wake up, get out there in the miserably cold and slippery conditions and continue to have even more fun.