Fortune demo madness!

Well, if there are any doubt that fatbikes are trending, December 21st should put those doubts to rest.

        We showed up at Camp Fortune ski hill just before noon to set up the tents and get the bikes out. There were already folks hovering around. I left the setup to the Tall Tree/OMBA folks and went up the hill to mark out the demo trails we had packed the night before. The trails were a bit soft, but ridable for the most part, especially downhill. The main climb up, which is an access road, was packed smooth. It was a welcome change from last year, when we had 8 inches dump on us the night before the demo.

        I came back after 40 minutes, and the place was a mob. Alek, who admits that is he a bit of a logistics weenie, had taken over getting people on bikes and organizing the wait list, which at one point was 32 people! Thanks to him, and his tasking everyone at the tent with chores, I was left to do the whole meet-and-greet thing, and set up the dual slalom course.

Demo in full effect. Thanks to Christian and Sandra for their pics.

Flounder fixes a bike. A crowd forms, then ignores Flounder for the most part. Jerks.

Waiting patiently for demos. people were in good spirits despite the backlog even with 11 bikes on demo!

    The course was packed the night before, in the dark. I wouldn't exactly call it parallel slalom,  more like  two courses that started and ended in the same place, with the occasional convergence in the middle. Whatever; it's fatbiking.

The Cowan family, helping to set up the course. Thanks!

      About 24 folks started the race. There were men, women, juniors,  a unicyclist (yay Jacob!) and two Santas in the mix. Antoine won for the men,  Rebecca for the women, and Nick won the best wipeout, which occurred right at the finish line; fatbiking is a cruel lover, sometimes. The racing was fast and furious and all undertaken in the spirit of fun. The crowd was numerous and happy to drink and critique, as the racers came down the hill. 

The racers amass!

Santa goes down. Serves him right after I got those socks last year...

Jacob chows down on some beaver(guard).

     Was a good time had? I think so. A lot of people got to try fatbikes, and a lot of fatbikers got to meet new folks. Many thanks to Christian from Beaver Guard for the prizes and pics.

I'd also like to thank all the Tall Tree staff and ambassadors who helped out with making the demo and the race run so smoothly; it would've been impossible without y'all. Alek, Brad, Chris, Greg, Katy, Lauren, Lily, Martin, Mike, Noah, Sandra, Sean, Thom and Watson: you're saints. 

And thanks to everyone who came out and played. Happy holidays, and we'll see you in January!