Enter Fat Bike

This winter has seen a ridiculous amount of snow (for Indiana) and extremely cold temps. As a result, I have spent a lot of time staring at my water heater and furnace as I sit on my spin bike in the basement. In past winters I have always ridden outdoors whenever possible, whether for commuting, or for training/recreation. This winter has made that hard.  But in the past few weeks I began to think fatbike. I had dismissed these bikes as a gimmick and unnecessary for someplace like Indiana, and generally only useful in the snowy states like Michigan, Minnesota, or Vermont. However, with all the snow this winter, and my research suggesting that the bikes are fun on dirt as well, my attitude began to change and I began my search for a bike in earnest.

I initially thought I would buy a Surly Puglsey at a local shop. The Puglsey seems to be the old standby of fatbikes, and has quite a following.  However, in checking craigslist, I ran across a Surly Necromancer, a variation of the Pugsley, with the stock bikes coming with a different fork, upgraded components, and a neato all black color scheme. The bike was a few years old, but the price was much more reasonable than a new bike.

Knowing we had a snow storm coming in on Tuesday night, I quickly took a look at the bike and bought it Tuesday afternoon. The bike looked very cool, and had been upgraded from stock to an Origin 8 cockpit and crankset, XT and SLX derailleurs and Avid BB7 brakes. A set of clipless pedals from one of my other bikes rounded it out.

I did a short ride earlier in the week and Saturday, although I was stymied by deep snow (even with fat tires, deep snow can still be impassable).

Today I did 17 miles along the Central Canal Towpath and some snow covered neighborhood roads in the Rocky Ripple area of Indy. The Tow Path is usually plowed by the local water company, since it is used as a water source for a good chunk of downtown and access is needed in case maintenance has to be done. As a result there was a nice groomed base, with about an inch of new snow from early Sunday morning. (see photo above) 

The neighborhood roads had similar snow coverage. While not much elevation difference or technical challenges, the ride was a good work out. Peddling a 35 pound bike through snow cover is actually kind of hard and my legs were feeling it afterwards.

The Surly at my turnaround point at the southern
terminus of the Central Canal Towpath. Conditions were great
and the bike performed flawlessly.

Hopefully the snow levels on the local mountain bike trails will moderate (reports indicate very deep snow and lots of drifts) in the coming weeks, but for now I am really enjoying the riding I have been able to do and am actually looking forward to snow as winter winds down. On a downside, one of my current bikes is going up on the sale block in order to help pay for the Surly, and to make space in the garage. Remember the Motobecane I built up last winter? Well, since then I have ridden it exactly 100.9 miles. It rarely gets the nod, and I never got used to the smaller wheels and the full suspension. So, it is time for it to go. Just need to figure out a reasonable price for it.