'Bent and I rented fat bikes from Kamikaze Bikes in Collingwood and took them to Highlands Nordic. The bike trails cross the ski trails in a few places and we've been very curious to follow them! The conditions report said it was 3.5 out of 5, with soft snow on top of the escarpment.
The first section was super fun. The rental bikes - Trek Farley 5.0 with 27.5 X 4.5 tires - were perfect on these well-packed, relatively flat trails. Then we started to climb. When the snow was well-packed, that was still OK. Then it started to get soft and it was hard to keep the bike rolling in places.
If we put a foot down, it would usually land beside the narrow groomed trail and drop more than knee deep in powder. Usually, this pulled the bike down on top of us. It was hilarious - at first - and very hard work.
There were some lovely sections on top where the trail was firmly packed. The descent from Larry's Glacier to the Chalet was excellent. We ran into a guy we'd noticed earlier since he had a Trek Farley carbon bike, a team jersey and obvious skills. He said it had been "brutal" on top but he was enjoying going back and forth on the last part of the trail. So we didn't feel quite so bad. It was our second time on fat bikes and I would still rather ski or snowshoe in winter but we'll definitely rent bikes again - maybe when the trail report is 5/5.
It was the best of times...
It was the worst of times. :)