The fat front is finally done and needed testing. So I conned F into coming (never hard) and S came on XC Skis, and we headed up to Grand Mesa….

They say when the skiing is bad, the snow biking is good…. well, today the skiing was good…… thankfully I brought them. One of these days I’ll get up there in good snow bike conditions, but for now I’m glad to have had a little taste of real winter weather.

Thanks to a few great deals I got this fat front setup rolling for about half off retail. This Surly hub last saw hard labor in Alaska, so I got a killer deal on it – with half dead seized bearings – from Mike Curiak.

The rim is a 44mm Echo Trials rim from Webcyclery. Sure its a touch narrow for fat tires, but it is light AND cheap, plus a tougher, narrower rim will be better for rock riding with it. Works for me.

While out skiing today a realization hit me – an idea so incredible for bikepacking bag development I might just have to try it. Classification: Top Secret for now. Prototypes need to be designed and tested.

Back to the books. This is gonna be a fun semester.