A Tough Day at the Fat Pursuit. Hopefully, I learned a Couple of Things.



photo credit Trent Bora/Fat Pursuit

Jay Petervary’s cycling events are second to none-organization, volunteers, participants, aid stations, gift bag, and raffle are all first rate. But as Jay himself reminded us today, not even he can control the weather.

We had good participation at the Fat Pursuit today from locals and near locals (Zac, Lance Parker, Zac and Lance’s friend Nate, MIke Schjeldahl, and Gabe who always keeps the fast guys honest). Tony was there as well to provide logistical and moral support.

The original 60 K route (to the top of Chick Creek Road, north on the Fish Creek Road, looping back on the Chick Creek Flat Road) should have been pretty rideable in 4 hours with decent conditions, significantly faster for the top guys. But there were some complications. The snowmobile grooming can’t start until there is two feet of snow at the base. There is about four feet of snow at the top of Chick Creek, but well under two feet in the valley even though Island Park received a fairly heavy snowfall overnight last night. The connector road along the pole line from the Island Park Ranger Station to the Chick Creek Road was covered by new snow over a minimally tracked base. The west end of the Chick Creek Road featured fresh snow over icy ruts. It was reportedly unrideable with deep untracked snow above the aid station at about mile nine.

Jay P’s plan B was a double out-and-back to the aid station. I started with tires a little over inflated, but by the time I was in the middle portion of the Chick Creek Road, I had lowered the pressure to what I judged to be a minimal sustainable level based on feel. When Tony checked my pressure at the finish was just over 2 psi, front and rear. I was making good progress on the lower part of Chick Creek, but by the middle, the snow got softer and deeper, and it became a real battle to continue moving forward at any speed.

I arrived at the turn around at about 1:50, still planning on the double and hoping to make up time on the return, hoping for better conditions, Instead of improving, the snow got softer and the track got deeper. My return trip took twenty minutes longer than my outbound trip. It stopped being anything even remotely related to racing and became a matter of pure survival long before it was over. Of the sixty something participants only about half even attempted the second lap. I was absolutely destroyed by the end of the first lap. The second lap would have taken me days.

Here is something to put my day in perspective. The top eight guys finished two laps faster than I finished one. What did these guys have in common besides being younger than me and having a significantly higher level of talent? Every one of them was on five inch tires. I rode my stock 3.8 inch tires which are great on hard pack, but were a disaster today. Better tires would not have put me anywhere the leaders, but they may have ameliorated a significant amount of misery.

I like to believe I have a fairly wide range of skills on a bike, nothing really exceptional, but a minimal level of competence. Today I realized that my very worst skill is riding in a deep narrow rut. By the end of the day, I was willing to ride in some pretty soft snow to avoid the misery of riding in the single tire track.

If you need one more reality check, think of the 200K and 200 mile versions of the Fat Pursuit that will be taking place in January. Even with good conditions, it is difficult for me to wrap my head around that. In bad conditions, those distances become unimaginable.