Saturday, February 7, 2015

Fat Tire Bike Event in Homer

After a couple days in Anchorage for a conference with howling winds I was looking forward to a beachwalk in Homer. A friend called me up and she took me to a "secret" beach access point I'd heard about but never checked out before.  A short walk over a frozen boggy area got us to the top of the bluff where we were amazed to be greeted by the sight of dozens and dozens of fat tire bikers streaming by, the line stretching off in both directions. What the heck?

Yep, those are bikers down there!

We clambered down the bluff and immediately came across a man we knew who filled us in. Apparently it was the annual Fat Bike Festival in Homer. Each year they have a different ride or events, and this year's was to start at Miller's Landing off of Kachemak Drive and ride to McNeil Canyon where they would have food and a fire and then bike back, a ride of about 8 miles each way. Apparently the first couple miles were really rough. Where we'd come down it was ice alternating with slush and not ideal walking by any means. It didn't look ideal for the bikers either. They didn't particularly look like they were having fun, and not long after we got down to the beach it started snowing so pretty soon there was no beautiful view that you see in these pictures and was just gray snow coming down.


There was a stream crossing right where we came down the bluff and some folks were nervous about that. A number of bikers congregated but eventually they all crossed.

By time we started heading back some of the bikers had turned around and headed back too, opting to have the wind (and snow!) on their backs and get home. As one man told us, you can't choose pain but you can choose whether you suffer!



Congregating by a stream crossing

A dog with a camera mounted on his back!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Missing your posts, hope your just super busy!

Michelle Waclawski said...

Missing writing posts! Yes, super busy! 0:

Anonymous said...

Hi Michelle, I met you through Mary Jarvis when you visited her at Wausau West. My husband, Doug, and I are planning our July 2016 Kenai Peninsula trip and hoping to do a fishing charter out of Homer. Do you have any personal knowledge of an outfitter that you would be willing to recommend to us? We would be looking for lodging and at this time think we will be up there for two weeks. Once we hook up with a charter we'll decide if we should stick with a single base of operation or move around. Thanks for any insight you can provide. Amy Christophersen

Michelle Waclawski said...

Hi Amy,
I was wondering if you'd ever planned a trip. So good to hear you'll be up this way finally!

The one outfitter I know is Jeff with Good Time Halibut Charters (also does salmon). His website is goodtimehalibutcharters.com. His number is 235-8579. He is out of Homer

Email me at waclawskim@gmail.com about lodging possibilities. It would depend on whether you are renting a camper for your time up here, want the B&B experience or a hotel.

Happy planning!

Unknown said...

How is your garden growing?

Unknown said...

How is your garden growing?

Michelle Waclawski said...

Ryan,
Check out my new blog post about my garden!