Fat Bike Summit

Fresh Snow for Fat Bike Summit Race Day

I’ve spent the last week getting ready for the Fat Bike Summit in Island Park. That means writing lists of things we need to bring, coordinating with caterers, checking the registrant list, meeting with Jay P and Fitzy. Well, yesterday I loaded the car and headed north to the Sawtelle Resort in Island Park. I got there in time to pick up lunch and make sure we go extra lunches for all the extra people and get set up. The Summit day of the weekend was a big success: 15 more folks than we expected, a warm reception to the idea of fat biking and great take aways for both land managers and advocates alike.

And with the land managers peeling out and the festival/riders headed in, we were busy getting folks registered, selling raffle tickets (I have to say this is one of the biggest swag tables I have ever seen), organizing both the indoor and outdoor kitchens, and getting the food & beer set up for folks. The Ponds, just down the road from the Sawtelle Resort (where we are based) provided us with Pizza for dinner and Snake River Brewing ponied up several kegs for the beer.

Jay and Tracey Petervary's Iditabike Slide Show

Once every one got their fill of food, Jay and Tracey gave their slide show of their Iditabike Trips. I have seen this slide show at least twice, but each time I learn something new (this time was that Tracey got frostbitten eyes - yikes!) and find inspiration in Jay and Tracey’s stoke for adventure.

The question of the evening was clearly “Should I ride the 60K?” With warm temps and falling snow it was a good question.

The Kitchen

I woke up at Oh-dark-thirty to get breakfast ready and found 3″ of new snow and relatively warm temps. I must say a huge thank you to John at The Ponds for providing the breakfast burritos and to Bill Boney for lending us his ovens and lobster cookers. With Brandon’s help we got coffee made, burritos in the oven and breakfast on the table from the back of a pickup truck kitchen in time for all the racers.

Jay P leading the Racer Meeting

Because of the conditions, Jay P pulled the plug on the 60K so all racers rolled out together for the 25k. All 37 Racers! Sweet! And in just 1 hour and 40 minutes the first racers are back and ready to get cleaned up for more riding this afternoon.

37 Fat Bike Racers

More Fat Bike Summit blogging to come!