East Idaho has endless miles of mountain bike terrain. The only hitch is that for five months out of 12, we're lucky to get our treads on the trails. The weather turns on a dime at higher elevations, rendering much of the season a risky endeavor. Many shoulder-season excursions would be better suited to nordic skis and snowshoes. And if you're a diehard mountain biker, well, that stinks.
But no longer.
Thanks to some ingenious engineering, bicycling's titans of tech have perfected a new type of product that can not only stretch the sport well into early spring and late fall, but also into the heart of winter. Yes, we're talking ski season.
On the forefront of this new era in pedal power, Specialized Bicycles is launching its "Fatboy" all-terrain, all-weather, all-season bikes to the masses this spring. Just talk to Bill's Bike & Run store manager Brandon Fell, and you'll hear a first-hand account of just how cool these rides really are. Fell recently teamed up with the Specialized R&D team to test out the new bikes at Kelly Canyon Ski Resort in late February.
According to Specialized senior design engineer Jason Chamberlain, the verdict is nothing short of certain: you can ride the slopes on these bikes. No joke.
"It took me a number of years to find a resort that was willing and forward-thinking enough to let us do that," he said. "So two years ago, we came up here to Kelly Canyon on a secret mission. We didn't know if it was going to fail on the first run or be a success, but it turned out we could ride all the terrain -- from Greens to Blacks to moguls to everything on these bikes."
According to Fell, the Kelly Canyon experience has put an exclamation point on just how far-ranging the applications can be.
"The fun thing about this bike is the versatility of it," he said. "That cross-country guy who's just itching to get out the door and go ride, or that person who just wants to ride around town with more stability without slipping on the ice… they can ride this."
Pricing on the new bikes runs from $2100 to $2800.
For tech specs and product details, contact Bill's Bike & Run (billsbikeandrun.com) and Specialized Bicycles (specialized.com). Also be sure to check out the upcoming May/June edition of Idaho Falls magazine as well as the forthcoming premier issue of East Idaho Outdoors.