Fatties on the Bottoms: a no-drop, fat bike group ride along the MN River Bottoms

I’ve been seeing the Fatties on the Bottoms threads in the Group Rides section of the MORC forums for a year now and decided to see what the fuss/fun was all about today. Ride leader Jonathan Bistodeau posted this in the forum:

This week, we will be starting at the usual location (Bloomington Ferry) and plan on riding to Cedar Bridge and back. As of now there appears to be a 50% chance of rain on Saturday which equals no ride. Keep an eye on the weather and this post for details.

What: Fatties on the Bottoms ride Saturday November 17th, 10:00 AM
Where: Bloomington Ferry Parking Lot (West end of the River Bottoms Trail)
Who: Anyone and everyone…fat and skinny.
Why: To ride, of course.

This is a no-drop ride so come out no matter what your pace is. It’s not about speed, it’s about getting a group of fun people together to have a fun ride. We usually end up doing 15-25 miles. Depending on the group we ride for ~3hrs but have been known to be on the trail for longer. If you don’t feel like you can/want to ride that far, come join us and turn back early if you’d like. It’s an out and back ride so it’s easy to make it as long as you want.

There were some familiar faces among gang of 18 or so who showed up (all but 3 on fat bikes) but mostly I was meeting new people. I don’t (yet) own a fat bike but the trail was 99% fine for skinny-tired mountain bikes.

A no-drop ride for an informal outing like this means that the leaders stop at intersections regularly to let everyone catch up and rest a bit. If someone doesn’t show, then someone goes back to look for them.

With the threat of rain, the group kept a brisk pace from the Bloomington Ferry Bridge to Cedar and back—about 22 miles in three hours with 6+ stops. And it started to rain just as we were finishing.

After the ride, Larry Marx, Don Youngdahl, and I (Bottoms Geezers) joined a group younger bucks for beers and burgers at Zeke’s Place.