I bought a fat tire bike in 2015.  It always caught my attention because of its uniqueness.  My model has 4 inch tires.  I felt that I could use it it snow and on the mountain bike trails.  A national  sporting goods mall store was selling a floor model and marked down about $300.  I could not turn this down.

The first thing that I noticed was that it was loud.  I thought that the sound was the rubber rubbing against the rims.

The wide tires would roll over anything and my steering was not impacted by roots and rocks as much as with my mountain bike.

It also was a much harder bike to pedal and a short ride would really tire me out.

In this light snow cover the wide tires worked great is feeling stable on the paved surfaces.  It was slower going on the snowy grass and the bike just sunk in.  I was trudging through and getting tired.

As we received more snow a local bike shop had demo time on the trails.  The local mountain bike association creates and maintains a winter path for bikes during the winter.  What a big improvement than blazing your own trail.  I could go faster and farther.

My road id app monitors my location  for my family.  I also leave a note on my car with the time that I left.  Always have what you need to survive in the cold if you have a problem and take your phone.

My biggest challenges:
1. playing with the air pressure for the conditions.  5-10 pounds  for soft riding conditions.  11-20 for trail riding.  I also use 20 for paved conditions.
2. playing with the gears.  I have 24 gear options with 3 in front and 8 in the back.  Basically it is the same for me as the road,  mid front most of the time,  large cog for pushing the speed and the small one for the slow going.

Enjoy the ride.

I found an app for my phone called All Trails.  It gave me a listing of trails nearby.  I had heard about this nice mountain bike trail called, DTE Foundation Trails, in the Waterloo State Recreation area just north of  Chelsea, Michigan.  One day as I was driving from riding the Lakelands State Park Rail Trail, I saw a sign for parking for the DTE trails.

The trail was constructed and maintained by the Potawatomi Chapter of the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA). www.potomba.org for their information.  The trails flow in different directions depending on the day of the week.  Some days go clockwise and others go counter-clockwise.  Posted signs clearly let you know which direction.  There were spots to pull over for faster riders.

I still consider myself a mountain bike novice and selected the easiest of the four trails.  I felt that this was a very good decision.  The most difficult section for me was during the first half mile which was due to the elevation increase.  I just pull off when I need to catch my breath.

 I found the curves to go smoothly with my fat tire bike. The handlebars could easily make down the path.  There were few rock and roots.  A regular mountain bike could easily traverse this and I even thought of taking my gravel bike here.  I will definitely come back. I had a great time.