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New fat biking event debuts in Dawson City

Dawson City Fat Bike Blues attracted 23 riders for two days of fat bike touring across Dawson trails

Dawson City Fat Bike Blues debuted in Dawson City from Jan. 18 to 19, attracting 23 riders of varying skill levels, nearly half of whom came from outside of Dawson to participate in two days of casual fat biking fun.

Yukon Arctic Ultra athlete and Spirit of the Yukon award recipient Jessie Gladish organized the two-day event. It featured a 22-kilometre tour along Dawson City's Midnight Dome trail network, crossing Dawson's ice bridge and concluding with a loop around the Yukon River campground.

On Jan. 19, participants concluded touring events with a shuttle ride up to the Midnight Sun Dome for a rapid 475-metre downhill descent, approximately seven kilometres back into Dawson City.

“We had somebody do the whole course in two and a half hours, and we had the last person come in at five hours from the start with a huge smile on their face, stoked about their day,” Gladish said.

Participants could choose the full 22-kilometre route, which passed through historical sites, singletrack snow routes, local mountains and along the Yukon River. Alternatively, they could opt for a shorter 11-kilometre trek.

Cycling Association of Yukon members received discounted flights through Air North as part of the event package. Cyclists without their own bikes equipped with wide blubbery tires could rent one of ten bikes provided by Icycle and Cadence Cycles.

"The ten rentals came from Icycle and Cadence Cycles in Whitehorse. I wanted to ensure that if you did not have a bike, we had one for you. Probably half of the Dawson riders didn't have their own fat bikes, so they used rental bikes," Gladish added.

Rental bikes were hauled up to Dawson along with personal bicycles from riders travelling in from Whitehorse. As part of the package, the Cycling Association of Yukon provided Whitehorse residents with free ground transport of their gear to and from Dawson City through Manitoulin Transport, Gladish said. 

Consistently cold conditions in Dawson City provided stable riding conditions along touring routes, Gladish said. She added that snow conditions around the Midnight Sun trail network remained hard-packed, and that the city had not experienced above-freezing temperatures which could have caused snowmelt, potentially bogging down the group ride.

“It couldn't have been better for a first run with this event. I'm looking forward to the next one, and hopefully more people will join us,” Gladish said.

Participants were given access to the Yukon Spa after the tour as part of the package.

Fat biking events appear on the Cycling Association of Yukon's event calendar. On Dec. 21, 2024, the association hosted the "5+ Hours of Light Fat Bike Festival," an endurance race from sunrise to sunset on the year's shortest day that tested riders on how many laps they could complete on the ten-kilometre loop of Wolf Creek's trail network near Whitehorse.

Gladish highlighted that Dawson City has excellent biking trails and considered the potential of bringing similar events in Whitehorse to Dawson City.

“I just thought it'd be kind of a neat opportunity to see if we could get some interest in fat biking here during the wintertime, and let people in Whitehorse and beyond know what it’s all about,” Gladish said.

Contact Jake Howarth at jake.howarth@yukon-news.com