As the world of Phat starts to open itself to me, I realize that there are many many layers of Phat-ness. Prior to having completed the build on the Kermit is Green with Envy phattie, the mind started to crank through the options of where to ride.
As it turns out, the crew down in Jackson and Victor have built up a great Phat community and I plan on leaning on them to try to flatten out the learning curve. They have been on the fore-front of embracing this weird whacked out genre of biking...so much so that they have even recently been able to get the Grand Targhee resort to open up their trails to the Phatties! Talk about progressive thinking and great strides! Article for reference :http://xxcmag.com/archives/4318
The Jackson/Victor crew are also at the tip of the proverbial tipping point when it comes to events. They currently have a couple of events scheduled that promote Phattieness!
Dave Byers will be hosting the 5th (yes, 5th!!!) annual Togwotee Winter Classic. I have signed up and am not sure whether I will be doing the 25 mile or 35 mile flavor of phatness, but I wanna' play!
There is also going to be a Gran Fondo style event called West N Back. This is either a 50 mile flavor or a 100 mile flavor. The hundie is probably way bigger of a bite than I can chew right now - heck, it is off-season and the legs are nowhere close to crunching away on snow for 100 miles. The fiddy might be an option but I need to log some snow miles first to see how to dial in the staying warm aspect. The hundie is completely daunting considering it will be slower than a regular mountain bike hundie - and given the shortie daylight hrs in January, my thoughts are that it will be COLD, COLD, or really COLD! I am also assuming there will be some night riding considering how many daylight hrs are available at that time of yr.
If you are truly not right in the head and are looking for a serious order of pain and suffering then look toward the grand-daddy of them all the Itidabike. Think Itidirod but on either foot or bike - human powered craziness at its best! There is a 350 mile option or the 1000 mile option...This is definitely way way way over my ability to even comprehend the extent of suffering on something like this, but big big BIG props to those who undertake something so inspiring.
There is plenty of food for thought to conceptually masticate, so time to start working the jaws!
What is amazing to me is that the TWC is on its 5th yr! I thought I was an early adopter of this little niche market in the mountain biking world and I am starting to feel like that quote about how when I find out about a fad, it is about over....sorta' like stocks - by the time I hear it is a buy, people are selling! Me thinks that me phattie is the first in the area but who knows?
I don't think phatt is a fad though - There is a strong and growing market for these bikes and given all the recent advancements in the land of Phat, it is barely scraping the surface of what these bikes and riders will be capable of.
As it turns out, the crew down in Jackson and Victor have built up a great Phat community and I plan on leaning on them to try to flatten out the learning curve. They have been on the fore-front of embracing this weird whacked out genre of biking...so much so that they have even recently been able to get the Grand Targhee resort to open up their trails to the Phatties! Talk about progressive thinking and great strides! Article for reference :http://xxcmag.com/archives/4318
The Jackson/Victor crew are also at the tip of the proverbial tipping point when it comes to events. They currently have a couple of events scheduled that promote Phattieness!
Dave Byers will be hosting the 5th (yes, 5th!!!) annual Togwotee Winter Classic. I have signed up and am not sure whether I will be doing the 25 mile or 35 mile flavor of phatness, but I wanna' play!
There is also going to be a Gran Fondo style event called West N Back. This is either a 50 mile flavor or a 100 mile flavor. The hundie is probably way bigger of a bite than I can chew right now - heck, it is off-season and the legs are nowhere close to crunching away on snow for 100 miles. The fiddy might be an option but I need to log some snow miles first to see how to dial in the staying warm aspect. The hundie is completely daunting considering it will be slower than a regular mountain bike hundie - and given the shortie daylight hrs in January, my thoughts are that it will be COLD, COLD, or really COLD! I am also assuming there will be some night riding considering how many daylight hrs are available at that time of yr.
If you are truly not right in the head and are looking for a serious order of pain and suffering then look toward the grand-daddy of them all the Itidabike. Think Itidirod but on either foot or bike - human powered craziness at its best! There is a 350 mile option or the 1000 mile option...This is definitely way way way over my ability to even comprehend the extent of suffering on something like this, but big big BIG props to those who undertake something so inspiring.
There is plenty of food for thought to conceptually masticate, so time to start working the jaws!
What is amazing to me is that the TWC is on its 5th yr! I thought I was an early adopter of this little niche market in the mountain biking world and I am starting to feel like that quote about how when I find out about a fad, it is about over....sorta' like stocks - by the time I hear it is a buy, people are selling! Me thinks that me phattie is the first in the area but who knows?
I don't think phatt is a fad though - There is a strong and growing market for these bikes and given all the recent advancements in the land of Phat, it is barely scraping the surface of what these bikes and riders will be capable of.
No comments:
Post a Comment