Bicycle riders brave the cold for Saskatoon's 9 Mile Monster Bike ride
The ride is part of Saskatoon's Wintershines festival
Bicycle riders in Saskatoon did not let frigid temperatures stop them as they plowed through snow and ice during the Wintershines' 9 Mile Monster Bike ride this weekend.
The annual Wintershines festival is a week-long event in Saskatoon that includes a variety of winter activities including ice carving, skating parties and shinny, but also non-traditional winter activities such as bicycle riding.
Sarah Robbins coordinated the 9 Mile Monster Bike ride.
She says the ride is a combination of cycle cross, BMX and mountain bike-style racing, with participants riding all-terrain bikes, also known as fat tire bikes, through a course with various snow obstacles.
Although it sounds like an event for bicycle enthusiasts, Robbins says the ride is open to anyone who wants to partake.
"There's a whole range of abilities and bikes and speeds," said Robbins.
"There's definitely people that race it to win, and there's people that just want to do it and have fun and go for beers afterwards," Robbins said with a laugh since one of the event's sponsors is Saskatoon's 9 Mile Legacy Brewing.
Regardless of skill level, Robbins says fat tire bike riders all have one thing in common -- they like to be outside.
Fat tire biking brings people together
Robbins says she got into fat tire biking around eight years ago and has not looked back.
She says one of her favourite things about fat tire biking in the winter is being outside with her friends.
"We'll ride down to the river, we'll ride along [the river], especially out towards Chief Whitecap Park, and we'll be right on the river's edge and the sun's coming up, and the hoarfrost is on the trees, and I just get this immense sense of happiness, and everything is right with the world," said Robbins.
The Wintershines festival runs from Jan. 27 until Feb. 4.
With files from CBC Radio's Saskatchewan Weekend