On Sunday 6th December I was lucky enough to be able to ride all day. The only reason I was able to do this was that Amanda agreed to look after Fiona and let me go and play.
A friend (Clint) who is trying to get some long miles in as training for a big event was planning a big day out and I joined him, along with a few other friends.
We started as a group of 5 at Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop I highly recommend this as a starting point for around town loops, not only are they close to the trails but the baked goods provide some great sustenance for riding all day. Over coffee, cakes and scones a route around town was quickly hashed together.
One of the huge advantages of being this far north in the winter is the ability to get out on a ride before sunrise and still not actually have to get up that early.
Another advantage is the golden hour light which pretty much lasts all day, you will see this in the photos later on.
Shortly after some sketchy unbonded snow we joined up with another friend Ryan who guided us around the rest of the beach to our exit point at Campbell Creek.
After a fuel stop at a local supermarket our route took us across some lakes and swamps before heading back across town on one of the local green belts to Campbell Tract and Bicentennial Park for more swamp riding and a little singletrack.
All in all a grand day out with a good variety of everything that fat biking can offer. If you live in Anchorage and the tides and weather play in your favour I highly recommend going for a ride amongst the icebergs it was a lot of fun.
A friend (Clint) who is trying to get some long miles in as training for a big event was planning a big day out and I joined him, along with a few other friends.
We started as a group of 5 at Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop I highly recommend this as a starting point for around town loops, not only are they close to the trails but the baked goods provide some great sustenance for riding all day. Over coffee, cakes and scones a route around town was quickly hashed together.
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| Getting ready to leave (Laura, Nico, Chuck, Tony and Clint) Tony didn't join us this time as he had his own ride planned. |
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| This was taken a little after 10:20am |
Our route took us along the coastal trail to Point Woronzof where the 100stone project is placed.
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| 100 Stone Project |
We joined the beach for around 10 miles of riding. The "beach" is a mixture of coastal mud flats, frozen sand, rocks and icebergs.
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| The start of the beach, lots of icebergs |
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| Playing around on the icebergs |
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| Selfie/watching out for icebergs, its a lot harder doing these off road. |
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| Big Iceberg - Photo credit Laura Fox |
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| Me riding some frozen mud flats - Photo credit Laura Fox |
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| Confirming that the snow hasn't bonded to the ice, I think we all crashed once. |
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| More iceberg fun - photo credit Ryan Greeff |
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| Another golden hour light photo opportunity |
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| Looking out over Campbell Creek tidal section - Photo credit Ryan Greeff |
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| Supermarket refuel |
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| Riding on frozen lakes |
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| Swamp riding |
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| Swamp riding selfie |
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| Bridge on green belt |
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| New blue dot trail |
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| discussing route options |
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| Riding the last section of swamps before we all headed home - Photo Credit Ryan Greeff |
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| Sunset |
All in all a grand day out with a good variety of everything that fat biking can offer. If you live in Anchorage and the tides and weather play in your favour I highly recommend going for a ride amongst the icebergs it was a lot of fun.
Excellent write-up Nick, and an even better day! Thanks for having me along for the ride.
ReplyDeleteChuck
Thanks for joining us. It really was an excellent ride with excellent company.
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