Wasilla's next 100 winters

WASILLA — One day after it was announced that, for the second time in three years, the restart of the Iditarod would be moved from Willow to Fairbanks because of a lack of snow, dozens turned out at the Lucille Creek Trailhead to commemorate Wasilla’s Centennial by taking part in a relatively new sport that could become synonymous with the Valley if weather patterns keep up this way.

With temperatures barely, if at all, above zero degrees, the cyclists shoved their arms in their pogies and climbed aboard their fat bikes to ride through miles of crunchy snow to frozen Lake Lucille, and then across it before coming ashore at the Best Western and riding the Parks Highway back to the start/finish line next to the Menard Center.

Moments before they departed, Lyn Carden, deputy administrator for the City of Wasilla, and acting mayor for the day, read a proclamation designating Saturday’s fat bike ride in conjunction with the Valley Mountain Bikers and Hikers, to be the official Wasilla Centennial event for the month of February.

“The fat tire bike community is a large one in the Mat-Su and it was a good time to partner up and host an event on our side of the Valley,” Carden said. “We were a little disappointed (about the Iditarod reroute) but life changes and we move on… We’ve got to start annual events somewhere and we’re hoping for a 10, 15, 20-year event cycle with this, and more events to come.”

Though mild snowfall winters are untenable for dog mushing, they prove ideal for fat biking, especially once the snow packs in and single track trails can be groomed.

Richard Clayton, owner of Alaska Bicycle Center in Wasilla, was among those to brave the Saturday cold that had no interest in budging in spite of sunny skies.

“Since things have changed so much — you’ve got to keep in mind that back in the day we used to have tons of snow, so skiing was easy. But as the winters have changed (fat biking) is a great alternative to skiing if you have a bad snow year,” Clayton said. “It’s quiet, and you can go places you can’t go. The rivers and lakes freeze and you can go over them, and you don’t have to deal with mosquitoes and there’s not too many bears chasing you down trails.”

It’s not just the wide tires that makes fat tire bikes uniquely effective in snow. The holes in the tire frames create give, allowing the tires to be deflated to better grip muddy, craggy trails, and — hyperbole has it — its passengers to ‘float atop the snow.’

“It’s gotta be the right conditions — it’s not like snowshoes where you’re going to be going through deep powder,” said Matt Swalling. “But it surprises you. You’ll be cruising along and it works pretty impressively. It’s like walking in sand that wouldn’t even be fun to walk on, but you can just pedal along.”

Saturday’s event was by every standard a ride and not a race, but even if it were the latter, sprinting to the head of the pack wouldn’t be the desire of Margie Lytle and Liane Ryan, the last two out of the gates.

“It’s a beautiful day to be out riding,” Lytle said. “We’re usually just the fun crew.”

Ryan described the duo as ‘adventure buddies,’ who also get their kicks skiing, hiking, kayaking, and in the latest sport they’ve invented — canoe jousting.

“This brings out the little kid in us — I love it,” said Ryan, who isn’t sure whether she’s ever ‘floated above the snow’. “We’re too busy laughing to notice.”

Next month’s Wasilla Centennial event that hopes to become as regular as the fat bike ride is sure to, is the Wasilla Woof Pet Contest on March 11 at the Museum Townsite.

“This was mostly a dog sled community, but there’s a lot of younger kids doing different activities and older people who’ve moved to the area from the Lower 48 who are used to these things — a lot more than there were just five years ago,” Clayton said. “It really is something kind of fun. It’s like a dune buggy. You go over roots and stumps and it’s just a fun ride.”