I’m thinking about entering some of the local XC races like the Gorrick ones during the autumn and winter to keep myself entertained, would racing them on my fatbike rather than my normal 29er HT make me fitter and faster when it comes to getting back on the 29er again?

Ah, that old chestnut again. Will riding a heavy/crap bike somehow magically make me faster when I ride a light/good bike. “No” would be my considered opinion.

maybe is the only definitive answer.

raced against a purple puglsey in a gorrick a few years ago – he was keeping up annoyingly well!

Ah, that old chestnut again. Will riding a heavy/crap bike somehow magically make me faster when I ride a light/good bike. “No” would be my considered opinion.

On the flipside, I have to disagree..

I ride my 9Zero7 all the time, but do find one hell of a difference when riding my Cove.

It does seem a lot easier back on a “normaal” hardtail..

May just be psycho semantic tho… 😐

I’m thinking of entering some running races in my wellys.

Someone’s bought a fatbike and struggling to work out what to do with it…..

Enter! Il join you on my garden shredder 🙂

If you want to get faster and fitter, train.

quite simple really, anything else is b*******

LOL @ EN

Someone’s bought a fatbike and struggling to work out what to do with it…..

No problems figuring out what to do with it, it’s getting plenty of use on the trails at the moment and has been great fun!

The only reason I ask is that I’ve got the Fatty and a rigid singlespeed to use during the winter and was wondering if there’d be any benefit from racing the Fatty rather than the SS. Whichever I use there’s one thing for sure, I won’t be winning anything or even coming close 😀

In that case, which will you have the most fun on?

I thought there was some benefit in the “train heavy, race light” approach?

I thought there was some benefit in the “train heavy, race light” approach?

That’s why all the pros either train on Halfords Apollos or just stuff a few bricks in the back pocket of their jerseys.

ENTER MARGHAM MADNESS OR THE BRISTOL OKTOBERFEST

(or both).

both now have a fat bike category. fatbike racing is ACE. As long as there are other fatbikes to race against.
details here http://40psi.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/more-fatbike-racing/

All that matters is you enjoy it. Everything else is irrelevant! Being fastest doesn’t equate to having the best time.

:wink:I’d do Dusk till Dawn solo if I was you

All that matters is you enjoy it. Everything else is irrelevant!

If you’ve tried a fatbike you’ll know that it’s pretty much impossible to ride one and not enjoy yourself!
It would be nice to race it and not come last though 😀

As for the endurance races, it’s tempting but I’m not sure if I can get time off work for any of them.

It will give something for the wheezing chubbers to laugh at when they overtake you.

😉

All that matters is you enjoy it. Everything else is irrelevant!

If your racing surly the idea is to go as fast as you can, the satisfaction comes from being the best you can be. I’m sure a fat bike is great fun and race it if that’s all you have, but to deliberately handicap yourself when you have a more suitable bike just seems to be taking the Michael to me.

In a word no. Training or racing to your limit or functional threshold is what will make you fitter/faster. So generally speaking, unless you push yourself you will expend the same effort on either bike but just travel faster/slower on one. Slower on the fatty unless the ground is very soft in my experience.

No denying its fun but like someone said if you want to get fitter, you need to ride harder. If you do the same times on the fatty then you will be getting fitter…

We’ve got 2 guys racing fatties in our state series and they don’t come last. Of course they’d probably do much better or could ride a higher class otherwise. One of them is riding a Moonlander(?) which appears to be extra fat.