Video: Thin triathlete on a fat bike

Editor's Note: Dave Erickson recently had the chance to see how the other half lives and filed this story for his local TV news.

I know a lot of my fellow cycling enthusiasts and triathlete friends here in the Inland Northwest are itching to get outside to go for a bike ride.  It's not that easy though when there's more than a foot of snow on the ground and the roads are covered in snow and compact ice.

Friday I was given the 'tough' assignment to report on a mountain bike for sale in downtown Spokane that has exceptionally wide tires made specifically for snow.  It's called a Surly Pugsley Fat Bike.  You can also find them at www.fatbikes.com.

The Fat Bike has four inch wide tires which helps it 'float' over snow or sand, anything with a soft uneven surface.   The owner at Two Wheel Transit, Geoff Forshag says think of it as snow shoes for a bike.

What I found most interesting is where this bike is most popular.  It got its start in Alaska which then evolved into racing.  They now use these same bikes on the course as the annual iditarod, they call it iditabike.

Here's the story as it aired on Friday on KXLY4 HD News at 5.

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