fat biking ⁽¹⁵⁾

My fat-bike season already started on November 28th with a ride in Prés d'Orvin. When the snow reached the lowlands at the beginning of December, I was able to start my snow rides right from our doorstep for two weekends. The Montagne de Romont and Plagne were my destinations on each of those weekends. Except for Sunday, December 12th, the weather wasn't the best. Fog, wind, and snowfall never bother me. On the contrary, it's much more an achievement to stand under the Chasseral antenna with 100kph winds and heavy snowfall than getting there on a pleasant, sunny winter day.

After the two previous weekends, I thought that my fat-bike season had come to an early end. Years past, it wasn't uncommon to fat-bike into May. Last week, however, winter returned in full force, dropping over a foot of snow on the Swiss Alps and 8-10 inches in the Jura. Brown pastures and trees were suddenly white again. I had already washed and packed away my Bike Jacket, so I got it back out again because my studded fat-bike can't be placed inside our car without.

February has been a disappointing cycling month so far. Temperatures shot through the roof and it rained a lot. The wonderful snow disappeared at lower elevations and suffered greatly up higher. Thankfully, the mercury dropped last Friday to make Saturday the coldest day of the winter, yet. For the first time this winter I pulled my warm Smith Vantage helmet out of the armoire and strapped on my ski/fat-bike goggles. Thicker gloves were pulled out of the drawer and I put on a thicker long sleeve jersey under my winter jacket. Despite riding at temperatures of around -16°C, I felt very comfortable on Saturday's 4 1/2 hour fat-bike ride.

Ever since I began fat-biking in March of 2013, I've been roaming across the area between Biel and the Chasseral. When the snow cover didn't reach town, I used to drive to Les Prés d'Orvin or Nods. Now that I live in Grenchen, that area is out of reach. Since Christmas, snow has remained at the foot of the mountains, making the drive to higher elevations unnecessary. Instead of driving to my old fat-bike playground, I've been exploring the mountain chain north of our house, and it's pretty spectacular.

Right in time for the Global Fat-Bike Day 2020, a low-pressure system brought lots of humidity from the south and turned our mountains into a gorgeous winter wonderland. Five, six years ago, when fat-biking saw a boom, we managed to get a half dozen people together for the occasion. I had honestly not paid attention to GFBD this year as I've not been able to devote as much time to cycling as I would have liked. It was only after instagramming my ride on Saturday that I realized that it coincided with GFBD2020. My Instagram post was tagged appropriately to mark the occasion.