Just the Facts
What: First annual Abe-BERM-ham’s Fatbike Slalom race.
What Else: Demo bikes, live music.
What It Costs: $15-$25.
When: 10 a.m. Monday
Where: Suicide Six, South Pomfret.
More Info or to Register: https://www.bikereg.com/abe-berm-hams-fatbike-slalom
By Jared Pendak
South Pomfret
In the meantime, the ski area simply couldn’t wait to get bikes on the mountain.
On President’s Day morning this Monday, Suicide Six and the Woodstock Area Mountain Bike Association will host the first Abe-BERM-Ham’s Fatbike Slalom, a timed race sending participants one cyclist at a time down a roughly quarter-mile course featuring classic “flow trail” obstacles such as namesake bermed turns, rollers and jumps.
Staff members used machinery and their own hands to sculpt the course on Suicide Six’s Bee Line and Chimney trails. It’s an estimated 250- to 300-foot vertical drop, and Suicide Six general manager Tim Reiter believes it will be the first race of its kind in the eastern U.S.
WAMBA, a nonprofit that leads weekly group outings on cross country-style trails in and around Woodstock on fatbikes — the increasingly popular iterations of mountain bikes featuring enlarged, deep-treaded tires suitable for wintry terrain — is excited for Monday’s event.
“It’s another outlet for the mountain biking community to come together and have a good time,” WAMBA president Seth Westbrook said. “There are a lot of riders in this area, a lot of people looking for these kids of events, and it’s a novel idea. The only other place I’ve ever heard of anything like this was last year in Crested Butte, Colorado.”
The brainchild of Suicide Six sports program director Christina Mattsson, Abe-BERM-ham’s festivities will also include live music by The Idiots, a Killington, Vt.-based rock covers outfit; vendors, including Tunbridge’s Upper Pass Brewery; and fatbike displays and demos from Lebanon’s Mason Racing.
Split into gender and age groups (12 and under, 13-18, 19-49, 50 and over), prizes will include passes for Suicide Six’s debut mountain biking season this summer and dinners at Woodstock Inn restaurants. Other swag and prizes will be on hand, said Reiter, who’s anticipating a convivial occasion.
“In previous years here, there were some really cool concerts and other events here. Artists like Jimmy Cliff and Levon Helm came through here,” said Reiter, now in his second winter as GM. “It’s a natural setting to have events here (beyond standard downhill skiing), so we’re trying to kind of recapture some of that magic.”
Much like last month’s FIS Telemark World Cup, held in Vermont for the first time in 10 years when it was staged at Suicide Six on Jan. 19-22, Abe-BERM-ham’s Fatbike Slalom will be viewable through the base lodge windows or outside.
Those curious about fatbiking may wish to check out the demos by Mason Racing, which continues to be aided by fatbiking’s flourish in popularity over the last several years. Mason Racing personnel help lead weekly fatbike outings in Lebanon’s Nature Walk trail network, and sales at the store have been steady.
“I just sent someone out with a new fatbike five minutes ago,” Mason Racing owner Jason Ouellette said in a phone interview from the shop. “It’s basically what’s keeping our lights on and our doors open this winter.”
As cool as it is to ride on a bike with huge tires, fatbikes’ appeal rests mainly in their ability to allow mountain bike enthusiasts to practice the sport they love in the winter months, as events like Abe-BERM-ham’s attest.
“A lot of mountain bikers like endurance events, but it used to be that you couldn’t really do them in the winter,” he said. “Now you’ve got all these group rides and events like what Suicide Six is doing. It’s awesome, because it’s a great time to be outside.”
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.