What it’s like to fat bike with a chainsaw?
Canadians speak about their experiences taking on cycling-related challenges
as told to Tara Nolan
Ever wonder what it’s like to ride thousands of kilometres, start a bike brand or nail a new technical mountain biking skill? Here are a handful of bike enthusiasts who have accomplished large, and some not so large, goals related to the sport. Their great tales may inspire you to take on new bike-related challenges.
What’s it like to start a bike company?
What’s it like to compete in a self-supported, cross-continent bike race?
Greg Van Tighem, Jasper, Alta.
I’m the one and only trail co-ordinator for the Johnson MS Mountain Bike tour. The 19-year-old race takes place north of Hinton on Crown land. It’s about 90 km, all backcountry. There is a lot of singletrack with some sketchy old logging roads and seismic lines (slash lines through the trees that oil companies put in). These turn into bike trails. Every year, I get a permit from the government forestry department. I can only cut out deadfall as it exists on the trail – I can’t build new trails.
The event is always the second week of September. I take about a week off work and tackle it section by section. I ride the trail and if anything is down, I remove and clean it up. I have to install a couple of temporary bridges and I do all the flagging and signage. It’s a fairly in-depth process. It takes about two weeks to get race-ready. I got the fat bike about six years ago. Before that I used a squishy bike. It was more awkward – I had to carry the saw in my hand and did a lot more on foot.
I have a Kona fat bike with front and back pannier racks. These hold gasoline, oil and tools, and one of two chainsaws. I usually bring the bigger one, just in case. With all the tools and everything, I’m probably packing an extra 50 lb.
This is the first in a seven-part series that first appeared in Dec. 2017/Jan. 2018 issue of Canadian Cycling Magazine.
