The recent snows are melting away in the Black Hills, and the white is quickly giving way to green. It’s a sight that would make any mountain biker’s heart flutter.
And next month hundreds of mountain bikers will converge in Rapid City for the Second Annual Fat Tire Festival, a celebration of all things on two knobby wheels.
This year’s Fat Tire Festival runs from Friday to Monday, May 23-26. Events include a mountain bike film festival and a Super D downhill race as well as rides, races, raffles and a picnic.
Among the rides is a leisurely trek on the Mickelson Trail, which runs through the middle of the Black Hills. Among the races is the grueling Cowboy Hill Sprint Climb — a 527-foot vertical rise in less than a mile. There will also be group rides on single-track trails through Black Hills backcountry.
I, for one, won’t be there. I’m holding out until someone puts on a Fat Bicyclist Festival.
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Hahaha! Isn’t that the Sturgis Rally? No wait, I’m confused. Sturgis is the Fat Motorcyclist Festival.
There are plenty of fat bikers, but not may fat bicyclists, so I might have to get a Harley (a Fat Boy, perhaps?) to find an event where I can fit in.