Making the most of winter
Fat bike enthusiasts race in Summerside’s Rotary Park Rundown
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. – On Feb. 11, Grace Samson and Mike Robertson donned their warmest clothes, strapped their bikes to the back of their car, and drove from Stratford to Summerside for the Rotary Park Rundown.
Robertson has been fat biking for around six or seven years, Samson for two.
“There's not a lot else to do in the winters here besides a bit of skiing,” said Robertson. “So fat biking just made sense.”
Despite having some experience under their belts, until that day, neither had ever competed in a fat bike race.
Leading up to the event, though, Robertson was excited.
“It'll be fun,” he said. “I'm not going to break any course records. We're just here to have fun today.”
Samson agreed. For her, while fat biking itself is fun, the supportive community heightens her enjoyment.
“It's not about winning, really,” she said. “It's just (about) hanging out as a community and as a family and just riding bikes.”
Samson and Robertson were just two of the cyclists who showed up at Rotary Friendship Park on Saturday morning for the fourth annual fat bike race.
The event, said Trent Williams, the Summerside's parks and green spaces manager, began as a way to take advantage of both the available trails in Rotary Friendship Park and the increasing popularity of fat biking.
“We just thought, you know what, it's quiet in the wintertime, it'd be nice to have something additional, like an event,” said Williams.
Albert Flavell – a fat biker himself – has helped organize the event since its inception, including setting up and grooming the course.
For him, the race is a way to stay active and “embrace winter instead of hiding from it.”
A fat bike is like a standard bike, although one with wide tires to help cyclists float over terrain like snow, sand or mud – allowing for use yearround.
The loop in the race was four kilometres long. The number of laps taken by a competitor was dependent on their skill level.
Those competing in the expert category, explained Flavell, would take four laps, while those in the beginner level would race for two.
A skilled fat biker, he said, could take around 15 minutes to complete one lap.
There was no race last year, and, in the minutes leading up to the start of the event, Flavell was eager to get going once again.
“The weather we got yesterday put a big question mark on whether we were going to be able to have the course actually fit to ride on today,” said Flavell. “But yeah, everything turned out well and the course is in good shape. It's exciting to start seeing these events back to normal.”