For the second year in a row, American Mike Gaertner finished with the fastest time at the Fat Duro.
Last year, Gaertner, who is from Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, finished the race with a time of 21:46.32. On Sunday, with the course laid out differently, the 47-year-old finished in 17:02, placing first in the 2017 Fat Duro.
Gaertner also pointed out that Cully Todd, who placed third for the men, is 51 years old.
“So it’s definitely not an age-necessary sport,” he said.
Gaertner has been mountain biking since 1987 and was an early adopter of fat biking, starting in 2004. He explained that the changes made to fat bikes over the years have made the sport “way more fun.”
“When they first started they were basically touring bikes with fat tires, and probably three or four years ago, they shifted from being touring bikes to being mountain bikes, so much tighter, quicker, more fun riding bikes,” he said. “So they’ve gotten just a lot more nimble, and a lot more fun and playful. So it totally changed the sport; that’s why you see events like this.”
But experience alone didn’t win the day. The biker who took first place for the women had only been fat biking for about a week.
It was Katie Spittlehouse’s first time out at Fat Duro, and the 25-year-old took first with a final overall time of 23:43, beating out Emilie Verot, who placed second, with a time of 26:22.
“Mountain biking: I’ve been competing for quite a few years now. But fat biking is obviously … pretty new, and I thought I’d try it out a little bit,” said Spittlehouse, who’s still so new to fat biking that she rode a rental during the Fat Duro.
She said she’s enjoying the sport and plans to continue with it.
“It’s awesome. It’s totally a different skill. I think it really helps with your riding in wet conditions when you’re actual mountain biking,” she said.
As fat biking continues to attract more riders, younger athletes are getting in on the action. The number of youth under 16 who participated at this year’s Fat Duro was up to two from one last year. Ryder Eagleton, who participated last year, came in first with a final time of 39:37, and Kieran Long placed second with a final time of 1:04:03.
The Fat Duro is a two-stage enduro race where the riders ride to get to each stage, untimed, mostly ascending, and then are timed on the stages, which are mostly descending. This year the course was approximately 14 kilometers, and the timed stages were on Techno Grind and lower KC for the first stage, and the lower portion of Redtop for the second stage.
Racers reported that conditions out on the course deteriorated throughout the day.
“The snow was soft and we kind of figured it was going to deteriorate, so the first climb up was a little bit of race to make sure you got good tracks this year,” said Gaertner. “So for the first few guys, the trails were pretty good, but I think it deteriorated quickly with riders and wrecks.”
“It was soft and the conditions held up well if you were early in the pack, which I happened to be,” said Spittlehouse.
A total of 41 riders participated.
“A few more than last year, just about the same as the first year, so pretty static as far as numbers go,” said Tyler Merringer, owner of Revolution Cycle and organizer for the event.
For the full results of the 2017 Fat Duro, visit revolutioncycles.ca/service/fatduro-17.