Fat tire bikes were created to coast over northern snowfields, but an event in Wrightsville Beach Saturday, March 14 proved the four-inch-wide tires take just as easily to sand.
Thirty competitors astride fat bikes gathered under an inflatable Red Bull arch to mark the starting line of the first U.S. Open Beach Fat Bike Championships. Race director Shawn Spencer whistled to send the first wave of bikers, the expert division, racing down the course.
Expert competitors Ben Brown, Taylor Milleson, Ed Kulbis and Michael Vandenheuvel peddled through the soft sand, pacing themselves through the first of 24 laps around the 1-mile loop. Red tape marked the course, which started at the Blockade Runner Beach Resort and stretched one-half mile south, weaving through soft and hard sand.
In addition to navigating the natural incline of the beach strand, competitors had to contend with obstacles in their paths. They flew over speed bumps created from wooden logs and peddled up and down piles of sand sculpted into ramps.
Brown, who is member of a mountain bike team based in Greensboro, obtained an early lead and never relinquished it, winning with a final time of 1:33:53.
Brown’s teammate, Bill Sessoms, completed 18 laps in 1:12:56 to win the sport division. Sessoms said he had never entered a bike race on the beach before.
“It’s awesome, it’s very similar to cycle cross racing which has really taken off across the country,” he said. “But it’s in a beautiful place, so I thought it was phenomenal. I think it’s going to grow to be really big.”
The short course was designed to prevent the competitors from getting overly spread out, Spencer said, making the race more exciting for both spectators and participants. Onlookers gathered around the perimeter of the course, shaking cowbells and cheering as the racers biked past.
“You get to see the riders as you go around, which is fun,” Sessoms said. “There’s a lot more interaction.”
Even the 8-mile beginner course was challenging, said Robin Dale, who traveled from Myrtle Beach to race alongside his 11-year-old son Tanner Dale.
Father and son Dales are mountain bikers, but they purchased fat bikes a few years ago and discovered the enjoyment of cruising down the beach strand. Those pleasure rides didn’t quite prepare him for the 8-mile race, he said.
“That was hard, it was really hard,” he said after the race. “When you stop it takes you forever to get started again.”
Despite the challenging nature of the race, he said if the event returns next year he will be back to give it another attempt.
“I’ve just got a lot of work to do between now and next year,” he said.
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