Early starts are a part of any day long backcountry mission. It was around 4:50am as my alarm roused me out of my minimal but adequate five hours of sleep. At that time I was very grateful for all the prep done before nodding off. Preperation is paramount to a successful day, and I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. March 11th marks the beginning of my 36th trip around our Sun, and on my birthday I kept one thing keenly in mind.

“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet” 

KNOCK, KNOCK…

“When opportunity knocks, answer the door”

This is advice often given by elder, more experienced folks. Who knows what you may miss out on if you let it slip by without inviting it in. The chance to ring in riding season during this early spring seemed a right of passage. To take our fat bikes up the Tonquin Valley Trail and in toward Amethyst Lake was our goal. The 60km round trip from the Edith Cavell parking lot and up the Astoria River is one few people have attempted by fat bike. The trail we would follow is used by the outfitters who run supplies by snow mobile up to the Tonquin Valley Back Country Lodge and Tonquin Valley Adventures‘ cabins.

It’s sort of amusing how similar to ski touring this whole winter fat biking truly is. Gear, preparation, lead times, and changing weather all play big roles. Our main objective was of course to just have a great day in the mountains. Our goal to reach the lake would depend on the condition of the trail, which if temps held around freezing, would be doable. The day would dictate though, and we were happy to accept the fate of it. We were well prepared, well stocked, stoked, and well aware of how backcountry goals sometimes do and must change, often like the wind. When you and your companions are all on the same page, you know you’re winning at least part of the back country “game”, and that can be of great comfort and enjoyment.

Photo Credit: Elaine Hutchings

Photo Credit: Elaine Hutchings

THE DECISION

Like ski touring, you slowly gather beta all the way in. Temps, trail conditions, forethought and prior experience all play important roles. Decisions, unless deemed obvious and immediately necessary (like an injury for example), are usually arrived at slowly while gathering as much info along the way as possible. All this is done in an effort to maximize gains, minimize risk and give the group a good chance to accomplish their goals.

Ultimately we all decided we weren’t going to make it to the lake. The mercury was rising and the trail deteriorating in places. It became obvious that if we started back too late we may well be walking and pushing the fat bikes out, instead of riding out. Postholing and punching through the trail due to the most aggressive spring in recent memory would have it’s own consequences, besides spoiling an other wise marvelous day. Mike knew we did’t want to be riding out after 1:00 pm, as it was almost a guarantee of a miserable push. We stopped at the lunch spot about 20km in and roughly 10km short of the lake. Here we sat on the narrow foot bridge over the Astoria River, donned our jackets to keep warm, and had our lunch of various Lärabars and fruit snacks. Elaine even brought a birthday cupcake in Tupperware for me, which was so damn sweet I can’t even begin to put it to words. Bring on the sugar rush!

Photo Credit: Elaine Hutchings

THE TRAIL, THE RIDING

There was a couple of times we were passed by snowmobiles running supplies out to the cabins. The smell of the two strokes always brings on a sweet reminiscence for Mike and I, this was however lost on Elaine who didn’t much care for it. Who can blame her, we were there for fresh air! What was not lost on any of us, however, was how much better the trail would ride after being freshly packed down by the two snowmobiles and their heavy sleds. We were grateful for this, especially on the climb back out of the valley toward the ACC hostel nestled off the top of the Cavell Road. It very well may have made all the difference actually. There was about a half dozen places on the way down into the valley which we had to negotiate by foot after breaking through the snow tread.

I’m not new to mountain biking, but I am new to winter fat biking this year. I’ve discovered there is a whole world of technique which is unique to these fat tire beasts. Here are just a couple of points I’ve learned.

1. Core Strength is your friend 
Slow riding techniques and micro balance play critical roles in all bike handling, but on a fat bike, on snow, they become quite crucial. Mike always loves to trumpet the effects this kind of riding has on you once you toss a leg over your trail bike come spring/summer: Better balance, more accurate bike handling, sharper focus just to name a few.

2. Power and torque management
Often it can be easy to break loose, even while running lower pressures. To avoid this it’s super important to crawl and manage your pedal strokes, keeping an even cadence and varying your pressure on the climbs. I find it really comes down to a ‘feel’. You could find yourself, as I did, coaching yourself to just crawl. You may also find yourself shifting gears a lot less and slowly, steadily, carefully powering through when you sense a loss in traction. This is very useful when the snow temps get warmer.

Birthday cake, beautiful scenery, fantastic partners, fresh mountain air, rollin fatties (as I like to call it), and so much more made this the most memorable birthday I’ve ever had. Grateful for the outdoor life of sport, adventure and companionship. Despite not making it all the way to Amethyst Lake, we had a marvelous time. Sometimes that’s just how backcountry travel goes. Often enjoyable, seldomly regrettable, even when you have to change your goals.

FEBRUARY 21, 2015 – HINTON, ALBERTA, CANADA

Winter Magic was a day reserved far ahead of time in my calendar. I believe it was actually November when my friend Mike told me about it during our final ride of the season on our fat bikes’ skinnier tired brethren.

“You’ve gotta come out to my fat bike race bro, it’s gonna be sweet!”

That’s what he said… or something like that. I’m probably misquoting him, but the important thing is that it was going to be sweet, and who doesn’t want to support their friend’s event, right?

Fat bikes are the newest segment of the mountain bike market, yes. However, I am not here to argue their merits. Neither am I going to try and convince you that you need one (you do!). If you love to ride and you want to ride all year, fat bikes could be the answer, as they are for most of the riders in Hinton and Jasper, Alberta.

For you see, folks in these parts ride trail all year long, despite the snow, ice and chill of winter. A handful of the trails in the network get ridden over and over, groomed by tire, snowshoe, and general stubbornness. Like skiing and snowboarding, fat biking is very conditions dependent. We often get chinooks and big dumps, sometimes in the same month or even the same week. Luckily enough, last Friday Ullr blessed us with a fresh dump of wet, bondable snow to tame the icy trails just in time for this magical day of love on two fat tires.

SO, WHAT IS WINTER MAGIC?

The Hinton Mountain Bike Association (HMBA), like most other cycling associations, wanted to draw people out to the community and show them that:

1. Yes indeed, we do have winter trails!
2. Yes, we would love to show you!
3. Hey, let’s just all get together and have some fun, OK?

Enter Mike Mahoney; a Jasper Paramedic, and Hinton resident. Mike also happens to be the most passionate cyclist I have ever known. In terms of fat biking he and his co-worker, Rob Prinz (the other Jasper Paramedic), have logged thousands upon thousands of kilometers on their co-owned Surly Pugsley over the past four years.

“That bike literally gets ridden eight days a week.”

Rob told me this over beers after the successful day. Long story short, that Pug gets ridden every day they have off, and on shift change days it gets ridden twice. Mike had the idea of stepping up winter trail management to make the riding less dependent on the conditions, more consistent, safer, and a whole lot more fun. He and his neighbor, fellow super stoked cyclist and co-groomer Mike Langford, had bought an old snowmobile that they would use to pack the trails and get them railing.

However, trail grooming for winter fat biking is a “newish” and evolving art. With the dogged determination to do it right in mind, and faith it would all work out, Mahoney personally sought out and bought a custom 28” wide groomer to tow behind the sled.

This tow groomer, next to their remarkable unrelenting drive and hard work, would quite possibly be the most important reason Winter Magic and the winter trail project didn’t just happen, but succeeded so remarkably. Also, Praise Ullr!

At the beginning of fat bike season, or as I like to call it, ski season, Mahoney gave me the low down for the proposed event. The race/festival/demo day would take place on Maxwell Lake, home to the Beaver boardwalk. It is a series of elevated wooden walkways winding in and out of the forest, and around the marshy ring of the lake.

THE LOCATION

Maxwell Lake flanks most of the towns trails, and serves as a jump point for many local riders to hit the town’s large network of purpose built mountain bike trails. These trails are cared for and maintained by HMBA volunteers. Local businesses and industries who donate the capital, and Norco Factory pro rider Jay Hoots’ trail building company “HOOTS”, all play heavy hitter roles in the on-going maintenance, creation, and upgrading of the trail network. The town itself also plays a huge role, as they set aside the land and development access for all this to happen. But I digress, because all of that is really an entire post on its own.

This would be the first year for machine-assisted trail grooming in Hinton, and if it was done right, with few ruffled feathers perhaps, we could look forward to many more.  Mike really took that to heart. Now, it wouldn’t be fair to give him all the credit and he would be the first to say so. This was a great big community initiative, hosted by the HMBA, whose volunteer staff and members furiously planned, gathered sponsors and promoted the day months and weeks in advance.

Our local bike shops Freewheel Cycle, Vicious Cycle, and Source for Sports brought out a heaping fleet of demo fat bikes. There was every variety from Ice Cream Trucks to a few carbon Beargreases, as well as a whole lot of booty. Boston Pizza was dolling out 15% discounts to anyone who “Rolled a fatty and had the munchies”, as our epic race announcer Chris informed us. Tim Horton’s brought out the hot chocolate to keep us fueled and keep the groms stoked. The entire event was free to enter, and run by our passionate and loving HMBA members.

RACE TIME

It went down like this: We had ten riders who would be randomly paired into teams. Then, do as many laps in relay fashion as your team could muster in a 30 minute period. The race course, planned and designed by Mike Langford, was a 1.5 km loop around the lake. It weaved into the town trails and the forest a few times, over the boardwalk, had a climb about two thirds of the way through, and ended with a blitz downhill to the finish, keeping you interested as you tagged your partner off.

It was a very smoothly run event and obviously not everyone’s first rodeo. Corinna Mahoney handled the timing, keeping everything buttoned down and fair. Our announcer Chris did a fantastic job keeping everybody smiling, laughing, and totally stoked. We had photographers, demo bikes, door prizes, draw prizes, a trophy, and one helluva great time! This event truly showed me just what a strong community can accomplish in the spirit of advocacy, fun, and the value of sport.

Perhaps the only thing better than the race was the après ride up ‘The J’ to the view point and down ‘Just Giver’ with the boys. Plus, our massive carb loading dinner at Boston Pizza. Being fat bike drunk does come with a hang over though. Nothing another beer, another ride, and the pure stoke of friendship by bike couldn’t fix.

When I first came to Brule, Alberta, I was profoundly excited at all the mountain biking potential it so quietly held.  I imagined there was a world of trails waiting, wanting to be discovered. Sitting in the yard, I would look at the mountain for hours. It was a strange combination of hoping and knowing there was an epic trail on her, waiting to see the love of a mountain bike.

Slowly, bit by bit, I am familiarizing myself with this place. Talking with locals and neighbors to get every little bit of information on what exists out here. However, with so much high quality riding in Hinton, Jasper and just outside of Brule, it has taken me a few years to find the riding right here in town. Knowing that if it didn’t already exist, this place was ripe, and perfect for building it… or maybe just restoring it. Brule sits right on the Jasper National Park boundary, and the area is full of nearly 100 year old mining roads, old prospect trails, and ruins.

Yesterday was a throwback. I ventured out and up to the Brule graveyard. A final resting place for many of the Groat family, among others, who helped make this region, and this province what it is today. I only meant to ride up there to see it, as I had not previously taken the opportunity.  Too busy riding the well known trails around our community pasture, nordic centre and Hinton, I began falling into the belief that nothing lay on that mountain but bramble and bear shit. I longed for single track.

I wasn’t prepared for a big ride. There was a half litre of water in my pack, 15% battery in my phone, and I had no idea what I was about to find. No camera, no tracking the ride, a raglan t-shit, no knowledge of what lay in front of me. I only knew these three things.

1. There were trails leading off the road.
2. When the mountain was on my right, I was headed toward Ogre canyon,  and when on the left back towards Brule.
3. All my hopes were about to be confirmed. The best feeling ever!

The bugs were bad. There was bear shit on the trail. It was over grown in many places. I ran out of water and filled up at the creek. I have no idea how far I went, or how much vertical I covered.  I kept riding this old single track as it wandered up and down and back up along the hillside below the mountain. Flowing S turns took me from a climb into a descent,  switching back into a climb. Every time I thought it petered out, I would come across an intersection.

This was the throwback. It was like falling in love with this sport all over again.

I couldn’t ride every trail I saw. I never rode the same trail twice, and I was able to do a complete loop back to the graveyard road (which is 52 st. oddly enough, in a town with only three streets!). This region has so much hidden potential to be a world class destination for our beloved sport. In many ways it already is. But I can’t help feeling there is a piece of that puzzle, waiting to be dusted off and joined with the rest.

I was in full pursuit of a dream, atop a bicycle, our noblest invention (thank you Stance films for “Life Cycles”).

It felt like a quest, a noble cause.

This summer, pursue your dreams and fly by the seat of your pants once in a while. Seek out the adventurer within.

Spread stoke, go far, and BE in the Mountains.