Harvey Melvin Richards
Observer
In late January, 2013, after several days of furiously scouring the Fat Bike forum, and lots of time with this thread, I pulled the trigger and found a bike shop that had an XL Moonlander that they would ship me. I threw it together and took it on its maiden voyage, Prospector Trail in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.
We bonded instantly and intensely. It was true love, with no regrets. We went everywhere together (along with the funny looking children).
Slowly the bike began to evolve. Thudbuster, Revelate frame bag, bar, stem, Bud n Lou, hydraulic discs, Dual Control, Phat Sherpa, and the last real change, tubeless. Throughout the changes we rode.
We rode snow.
We rode slickrock.
We rode sand.
Forest trails
We even rode my version of a beach.
So we fast forward to December 28, 2013. The ride was at 9500' elevation on a groomed ski trail.
One day later a trail at 5800' that consisted of frozen snow, thawed snow, frozen sand and soupy sand.
I went to work on December 30th, looking forward to getting the 1st off when I got some disturbing news. I also got the 31st off. I guess that it's time to go for a ride.
I have been scouring Google Earth, looking for sandy washes to ride. I found a wash in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, the first place I took the Moonlander.
Off we went, and it was fabulous. It was firm and delightful sand, not to mention the stunning red rocks.
This looks like a good place to turn around.
I found some faint tracks of the elusive Fatus Bikeus.
I also found a track left by someone that I'm glad I didn't run into, although that would have been awesome.
All in all, it was the end of a totally fat year; no other bikes were ridden by me this year. And in spite of all the naysayers, while other bikes might have been faster, none would have been more fun.
We bonded instantly and intensely. It was true love, with no regrets. We went everywhere together (along with the funny looking children).
Slowly the bike began to evolve. Thudbuster, Revelate frame bag, bar, stem, Bud n Lou, hydraulic discs, Dual Control, Phat Sherpa, and the last real change, tubeless. Throughout the changes we rode.
We rode snow.
We rode slickrock.
We rode sand.
Forest trails
We even rode my version of a beach.
So we fast forward to December 28, 2013. The ride was at 9500' elevation on a groomed ski trail.
One day later a trail at 5800' that consisted of frozen snow, thawed snow, frozen sand and soupy sand.
I went to work on December 30th, looking forward to getting the 1st off when I got some disturbing news. I also got the 31st off. I guess that it's time to go for a ride.
I have been scouring Google Earth, looking for sandy washes to ride. I found a wash in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, the first place I took the Moonlander.
Off we went, and it was fabulous. It was firm and delightful sand, not to mention the stunning red rocks.
This looks like a good place to turn around.
I found some faint tracks of the elusive Fatus Bikeus.
I also found a track left by someone that I'm glad I didn't run into, although that would have been awesome.
All in all, it was the end of a totally fat year; no other bikes were ridden by me this year. And in spite of all the naysayers, while other bikes might have been faster, none would have been more fun.
