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KEEP ON<br />
ROLLING<br />
NEW FAT BIKE<br />
EVENTS KEEP<br />
CYCLISTS PEDALING<br />
THROUGHOUT THE<br />
WINTER<br />
By Evan Johnson<br />
EAST BURKE — Tim Tierney, executive director of<br />
Kingdom Trails, is used to seeing the cross-country skiers,<br />
snowshoers and lately fat bikers ducking in and out<br />
of the woods.<br />
It’s the fat biking crowd that’s new to the scene, Tierney<br />
said, and it’s a growing part of the winter community.<br />
“I just passed my 17th fat bike on the trails and it’s<br />
only a Tuesday,” he said in a recent phone interview,<br />
adding that <strong>Vermont</strong>’s biking culture has plenty of<br />
room for this new addition to the trails, and that fat<br />
bike events are popping up throughout the state.<br />
On Dec. 7, the Catamount Outdoor Family Center in<br />
Williston hosted the first annual Global Fat Bike Day,<br />
kicking off a six-event series that spans the Quebec-<br />
<strong>Vermont</strong> border. “Le Grand Fat Tour,” as the series<br />
has been titled, continues from now until March with<br />
events in East Burke, Vt. and Coaticook, Bromont, and<br />
Oka in Quebec. Fat bike enthusiasts enjoyed demos,<br />
races and a scavenger hunt.<br />
“Fat Biking has been exploding in the Northeast,”<br />
says Ryan Thibault, founder and co-owner of Mountain<br />
Bike <strong>Vermont</strong>, an online resource for all things<br />
mountain-biking related in <strong>Vermont</strong>. “After our Winterbike<br />
event drew over 300 participants last year,<br />
many of whom are Canadian, we decided to partner<br />
with our Quebecois friends and create a series that<br />
spans the border.”<br />
The goal of these events, Thibault says, is to promote<br />
areas and trail networks that would like to see more<br />
bikers, provide opportunities to demo fat bikes through<br />
Mike Mader, above, rides the woods at Kingdom Trails. At right, Orion Campbell-Wolk, catches a ray of sunshine<br />
on the same trail system, and, opposite page, catches air off a jump.<br />
Photos by Herb Swanson<br />
6 VTSPORTS.COM JANUARY 2015