Fat Bike Friday: First Snow

November 13, 2026

Woke up this morning to a pleasant surprise: it snowed overnight!

After breakfast, I kitted up with a few extra layers, warmer gloves, and my Lake 303s. The fat bike ride over to Pine Hill Park was definitely chilly, and I was glad I threw on a fleece vest for the trip. Still, riding over was totally worth it just to avoid driving. (Once the real snow hits and the trails are groomed, I’ll switch to my studded tires and start driving to the trailhead, though.)

Around town, the snow was mostly sticking to cars, roofs, and grass, leaving the roads and the river trail clear. Once I arrived at the park, I fired up Trailforks on my watch and started climbing up Escalator.

It didn't take long to warm up. At the first intersection, I shed the vest, took off my neck gaiter, and unzipped my shirt—my thermal base layer was doing plenty of heavy lifting on its own. Since I had climbed Furlough the other day, I opted for Svelte Tiger instead. At this elevation, there wasn't much snow on the ground yet, and the fallen oak leaves were doing a great job protecting the tread.

From there, I turned onto Sisyphus, and I have to say, it might officially be my new favorite trail. I love how it contours right along the side of the hill, never climbing or descending too steeply. It has such a great flow to it, and I am definitely going to work it into more of my future rides.

The higher I climbed, the thicker the snow became. Up top, it was clinging to the tree branches and everything was blanketed in white. Riding through the slushy stuff did reveal one gear adjustment I need to make for next time: my tires were kicking up a lot of slush that hit my legs and slid right down into my boots. A pair of boot gaiters will fix that right up.

As I started heading back on Droopy Muffin, I realized I was about to commit my ultimate riding cardinal sin—overlapping trails by riding back out the same way I came in on Svelte Tiger. Luckily, when I hit the intersection, I remembered I could jump onto Watkins Wood Rd instead. 

I found Make America KIND button in the leaves that I attached to my shirt and then headed down the trail.

Then, on a whim, I dropped into Evergreen Falls. I had never ridden down it before, and what an absolute blast of a descent!

Back at the parking lot, there was a pile of snow and ice near the rink. I wasn't sure if someone had actually plowed the lot or if it was just scrapings from the Zamboni, but either way, it was a fun little obstacle to roll over on the fat tires to wrap up the ride.