It has been a rough start to "winter" fat bike season here in Woolly Land. Even if we didn't have snow, one would like to hope the ground would be nice and frozen so we could ride Woolly single track. Sadly this year it has been exceptionally warm keeping the ground from freezing and then layer in a good amount of precipitation and riding the Woolly Trails for Global Fat Bike Day 2016 was just not going to happen.
Fortunately in Woolly Land we have a great set of alternatives to consider. While a ride on the Gandy or Stower trail would have worked, you can do that all summer. Instead Jason put together a totally awesome fat bike ADVENTURE in the playground that is Sterling Barrens State Nature area. Equestrian trails, ATV trails, fire roads, and gravel roads all lush with lots of sand makes for the perfect terrain for a fat bike.
The ride started out of the Wolf Creek Bar. That is a bit more of a haul than the Woolly trailhead for most so I wasn't sure what I would see when I pulled into the parking lot just before 9 on Saturday morning. What I found was a lot of people excited to ride fat bikes! We never quite completed a head count, but we had right around 25 riders.
I'm really glad we had Jason as our tour guide. There are many roads and trails going all over in the wilderness. There actually is a little cell service so you might be able to get a map up, but getting the guided tour is much better.
We frequently stopped to regroup and grab a quick drink.
For me, the equestrian trail was the highlight of the ride. You definitely appreciated the fat tires and the ground that was freezing up. The trails were "handle bars deep" in a few places. The view from the ridge over the Trade River was pretty awesome.
After rolling a short stretch of pavement we were back into the woods only to duck out into this huge sand pit. We all had fun trying to ride around the big pit. A few more watts may have been required to do real donuts in the center depression, but that didn't stop us from trying.
After nearly 3 hours we started rolling back to Wolf Creek Bar for some refreshment and rehydration.
Thanks for the adventure Jason!
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