Spearfish FAT Bike Trail Pass
Donation protected
Hop on the FAT TRAIN and be a part of the future of FAT BIKING!
My name is Jesse Hansen, owner operator of Rushmore Bicycles in Spearfish, SD.
The Black Hills have been my home since 1976, mostly due to the excellent community and the great recreation the area has to offer for freedom seekers like myself.
The Hansen family has been active in skiing over 40 years in the area. The last 25 of that I have been grooming snow to try bring a little "resort" skiing to the the Black Hills.
Operating a bicycle shop we had our first fat bike built up about 10 years ago. Didnt think a whole lot about them one way or the other until I rode single track snow. This changed the way I looked at these contraptions. After grooming the XC ski trails early one morning, I took a Surly Moonlander down the snowmobile trail and took a turn into the woods on an old snowmobile "boondocking" track. I was hooked! I followed that track 500 vert ft down to Higgins Gulch jumping over logs on the firm snow ribbon that cut through the chest deep powder was eye opening.
After a couple seasons of experimenting on how to get a good snow single track, a snow grooming company,West Yellowstone Track systems who makes the world best snow grooming equipment started to manufacture a simple but effective drag to make snow much firmer than XC ski trails. A 30" groomer makes about a 20" wide path once the snow falls back into the trail. After we purchased their Compaction Drag and bought an old Ski Doo Skandic 550f SWT and began to clean out forest debris out of gulches just above Spearfish where the snow stays 6 months a year.
Also important is we DO NOT groom the summer single track trails. When snow is packed it lasts longer, and who wants the dirt single track to stay frozen and muddy longer in the spring time??? Our special use permit for grooming ends in March, by the time spring rolls around it is impossible to notice that the groomed FAT bike trails even existed.
Black Hills snow is especially dry, unless you are from Casper, WY, or Red Lodge, MT you are not used to snow this dry. It needs to go through a warming and cooling cycle to set up. One day and it sets up quite firm in most conditons, then every night it gets firmer until the next snow falls. The more weight that can be pulled the firmer the groomed surface, and that is what we shoot for. Consitently groomed surface so riders can use the trails on a consitent basis and not worry if its going to be good or not.
In 2015-16 we had our first season of consistently groomed trail, 12 miles. For 2017 we added a couple little sections bringing the trail lengths to 13 miles with some extra loops, and it turned out quite nice, great actually, but that is not enough.
For 2017-2018 season we had the go ahead to groom from Spearfish Canyons Iron Creek Trail in the early season when conditions were a bit rough at the Big Hill Trails yet. This year we are changing some of the loops to have more manageable grades and avoid drifting areas as well.
It should also be said that the State Game Fish and Parks and SD snowmobile association is not allowing FAT Bikes on the groomed snowmobile trails at this point. That is a touchy situation, the snowmobile association started that from the ground up decades ago. Fat bikes are very new to the scene and they are looking at options to see how it may work. I personally still skate ski on the snowmobile trails during the week when there is little or no motorized traffic and it is fantastic. However, when there is motorized traffic the trail surface is very poor for FAT Biking/skiing, and most users go out on weekends, both motorized and non motorized. I dont think the two mix very well no matter what the rules are. To have non motorized users on the snowmobile trails in the Black Hills where most snowmobiles stay on the groomed trail (unlike other Rocky Mountain trails where they use groomed trails to get to the powder riding) , needs to be looked at very carefully. Something can be worked out i am sure, but not yet....
So, for the time being...., XC skiers, snowshoers and DOGS can use the current FAT bike trails also since they only help add texture/that adds to traction. XC ski trails are not always the best for dogs and snowshoes, being that they are groomed to .5-2 psi. Fat Bike trails are groomed to 5+ psi and some think are more fun because they are narrow and twisty.
For starters we have new sled, more power, bigger lugs better dependability from the 900 ACE SWT from Ski Doo. Our local power sports shop offered us an excellent deal and has been very helpful with as well. That and a new groomer(we sold last years) we are looking at a skosh under $15k with taxes and Black Hills National Forest insurance is $550 annually when we partner up with the BLACK HILLS NORDIC SKI CLUB. There is also the "Go Fund me" fee in case you were using a calculator.
We decided to go new on the snowmobile due to used sleds in this category nearly non existant and not much less than new. Maintenance costs on the new Skandics is low to zero with a good operator. There are 3 sleds on the market capable of pulling a 500lbs of "drag" over the river and through the woods and this is the most dependable and cheapest..
So, there you have it. RMS has fronted the cost of the equipment, and as fun as it is to make this work we are still looking for an additional $10700 to pay off equipment and the annual BHNFS liability insurance. RMS will take care of the fuel, transportation, repairs(THIS AVERAGES $150 A WEEK), trailer, and trails to be groomed ASAP after snows, and the expansion of future trails this year again and to follow.
Join this fun operation!
As always, thanks for your support.
https://rushmorebikes.com/product-category/fat-bikes/
Jesse Hansen
My name is Jesse Hansen, owner operator of Rushmore Bicycles in Spearfish, SD.
The Black Hills have been my home since 1976, mostly due to the excellent community and the great recreation the area has to offer for freedom seekers like myself.
The Hansen family has been active in skiing over 40 years in the area. The last 25 of that I have been grooming snow to try bring a little "resort" skiing to the the Black Hills.
Operating a bicycle shop we had our first fat bike built up about 10 years ago. Didnt think a whole lot about them one way or the other until I rode single track snow. This changed the way I looked at these contraptions. After grooming the XC ski trails early one morning, I took a Surly Moonlander down the snowmobile trail and took a turn into the woods on an old snowmobile "boondocking" track. I was hooked! I followed that track 500 vert ft down to Higgins Gulch jumping over logs on the firm snow ribbon that cut through the chest deep powder was eye opening.
After a couple seasons of experimenting on how to get a good snow single track, a snow grooming company,West Yellowstone Track systems who makes the world best snow grooming equipment started to manufacture a simple but effective drag to make snow much firmer than XC ski trails. A 30" groomer makes about a 20" wide path once the snow falls back into the trail. After we purchased their Compaction Drag and bought an old Ski Doo Skandic 550f SWT and began to clean out forest debris out of gulches just above Spearfish where the snow stays 6 months a year.
Also important is we DO NOT groom the summer single track trails. When snow is packed it lasts longer, and who wants the dirt single track to stay frozen and muddy longer in the spring time??? Our special use permit for grooming ends in March, by the time spring rolls around it is impossible to notice that the groomed FAT bike trails even existed.
Black Hills snow is especially dry, unless you are from Casper, WY, or Red Lodge, MT you are not used to snow this dry. It needs to go through a warming and cooling cycle to set up. One day and it sets up quite firm in most conditons, then every night it gets firmer until the next snow falls. The more weight that can be pulled the firmer the groomed surface, and that is what we shoot for. Consitently groomed surface so riders can use the trails on a consitent basis and not worry if its going to be good or not.
In 2015-16 we had our first season of consistently groomed trail, 12 miles. For 2017 we added a couple little sections bringing the trail lengths to 13 miles with some extra loops, and it turned out quite nice, great actually, but that is not enough.
For 2017-2018 season we had the go ahead to groom from Spearfish Canyons Iron Creek Trail in the early season when conditions were a bit rough at the Big Hill Trails yet. This year we are changing some of the loops to have more manageable grades and avoid drifting areas as well.
It should also be said that the State Game Fish and Parks and SD snowmobile association is not allowing FAT Bikes on the groomed snowmobile trails at this point. That is a touchy situation, the snowmobile association started that from the ground up decades ago. Fat bikes are very new to the scene and they are looking at options to see how it may work. I personally still skate ski on the snowmobile trails during the week when there is little or no motorized traffic and it is fantastic. However, when there is motorized traffic the trail surface is very poor for FAT Biking/skiing, and most users go out on weekends, both motorized and non motorized. I dont think the two mix very well no matter what the rules are. To have non motorized users on the snowmobile trails in the Black Hills where most snowmobiles stay on the groomed trail (unlike other Rocky Mountain trails where they use groomed trails to get to the powder riding) , needs to be looked at very carefully. Something can be worked out i am sure, but not yet....
So, for the time being...., XC skiers, snowshoers and DOGS can use the current FAT bike trails also since they only help add texture/that adds to traction. XC ski trails are not always the best for dogs and snowshoes, being that they are groomed to .5-2 psi. Fat Bike trails are groomed to 5+ psi and some think are more fun because they are narrow and twisty.
For starters we have new sled, more power, bigger lugs better dependability from the 900 ACE SWT from Ski Doo. Our local power sports shop offered us an excellent deal and has been very helpful with as well. That and a new groomer(we sold last years) we are looking at a skosh under $15k with taxes and Black Hills National Forest insurance is $550 annually when we partner up with the BLACK HILLS NORDIC SKI CLUB. There is also the "Go Fund me" fee in case you were using a calculator.
We decided to go new on the snowmobile due to used sleds in this category nearly non existant and not much less than new. Maintenance costs on the new Skandics is low to zero with a good operator. There are 3 sleds on the market capable of pulling a 500lbs of "drag" over the river and through the woods and this is the most dependable and cheapest..
So, there you have it. RMS has fronted the cost of the equipment, and as fun as it is to make this work we are still looking for an additional $10700 to pay off equipment and the annual BHNFS liability insurance. RMS will take care of the fuel, transportation, repairs(THIS AVERAGES $150 A WEEK), trailer, and trails to be groomed ASAP after snows, and the expansion of future trails this year again and to follow.
Join this fun operation!
As always, thanks for your support.
https://rushmorebikes.com/product-category/fat-bikes/
Jesse Hansen
Organizer
Jesse N Petra Hansen
Organizer
Spearfish, SD
