Lars, age 13.

An article by the Professor

Bullet and I demoed a couple fat bikes from Mad Dog Cycles and took our boys out for a fat bike ride. I originally intended to take my 17 year old son, but he started feeling ill last night and was in no shape to ride this morning. Lars, my 13 year old son, was anxious to ride in his older brother’s stead. Bullet brought his 17 year old son Harrison, who races mountain bikes on his high school team. He had been on fat bikes in the snow once before. This was the first time for Lars.

Harrison

We went back up to Tibble Fork and rode the same trail as we did last Saturday on our group ride. Conditions today were softer. Lars did very well, though he had to walk some of the steeper parts. He lacks both the strength and balance to ride steeper loose snow. He was on a 2013 Mukluk 2, size small, with the seat lowered. He had a great time, especially on the downhill part. It was windy which made it feel quite a bit colder, especially on the downhill.

Riding up the beautiful canyon.

Riding up though wore him out.

A tired boy.

Christmas socks!

I would love to get another fat bike for the boys to ride, but I’ll have to find a very good deal on a used one for that to happen. I feel very strongly about the importance of taking our kids into the wilderness on a regular basis. It doesn’t matter if you are biking, climbing ,hiking, kayaking, fishing, or whatever. The important thing is to get them out. I wrote about that in another blog post that you can find here:

http://intotheoutdoors.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/kids-in-the-wild/