Fat Bike Fever Hits Marquette County

Biking season enjoyed up North all year round as fat bike fever hits Marquette County!

Mike Brunet takes a jump while riding on the Noquemanon Trail Network. (photo by Ron Caspi)

“Marquette County has some of the world’s best snow biking right out the back door, so get yourself a Fat bike and go ride these unbelievable trails year round!” –Mike Brunet

Two fat bike enthusisits ride on the Noquemanon Trail Network in Marquette, MI on Monday, March 17, 2014. (marquettemagazine.com photo by Ron Caspi)

Marquette Michigan is the easiest place in the world to love in the summer.  The days are long, the nature is endless and the city is bustling with farmer’s markets and locally owned businesses.  The winters however, require a tougher breed, one that is creative and endlessly excited about long winters and late springs.  Snow bikes have helped to fill the gap between summer and winter sports, making biking a very popular year round hobby.  This time of year actually provides the best quality trails for riding, they are hard packed, well groomed and the snow keeps coming.

Mike Brunet, Board Member of the Noquemanon Trail Network, was able to talk with me about snow biking.  He is an avid biker, and has been improvising with winter biking since the late 70’s.  He is a native Yooper and enjoys biking all year round in Marquette County.  He has committed himself to maintaining and improving trails, developing 65 miles of mountain biking trails, and in 2010 helped to provide our area with the first groomed trails for snow bikes.

Snow bikers ride on a portion of the Noquemanon Trail Network in Marquette, MI on Monday, March 17, 2014. (Marquettemagazine photo by Ron Caspi)

Year after year the Fat Tire Bikes, or snow bikes, grow in popularity; the Midwest is a snow bike mecca with great terrain and the perfect snow fall.  The first snow bike to make it to the U.P. was in 2007 and now seven years later, nearly all of the brands are carried in the four local bike shops selling snow bikes.  What started as studded tires, branched out to wider wheels and frames with fatter tires and has now exploded into a whole new bike, the first complete and mass produced being the Surly Pugsley.

Professional mountain biker from Grayling, MI, Jorden Wakeley (right), passes a cross country skiier on the last leg of the trail to win the 2013 Noquemanon Snow Bike World Championship in Marquette, MI, January 26, 2013. (Photo by Ron Caspi)

Snow Biking offers another form of adventure to our visitors and provides another reason to love living here for the locals.  This year has been another successful year with more groomed miles to cover and more bikers jumping into the love of the sport.  The sport is expected to grow and the trails are constantly modified and change yearly, always making the new season a surprise.

Marquette County currently has 50 miles of groomed trails, including the Snow Bike Trail (SBT) in Ishpeming, the Snow Bike Route (SBR) and North Snow Bike Route (NSBR) in Marquette and the Noquemanon Trail Network, which includes the Fit Strip found in the heart of the city and the Noque trail on highway 550.  Three years ago the Noquemanon Ski Network featured a 50K and a 24K bike race.  It has been held every year since along with our cross country ski races.  Our 50K bike race is a part of the Great Lakes Fat Bike series, which currently includes eight snow races in the Midwest.

Brian Geshel of Marquette, MI nears the finish of the Noquemanon Fat Bike World Championship Race in Marquette, Mi on Saturday, Jaunuary 25, 2014. (Marquette Magazine photo by Ron Caspi)

Mike Brunet is one of the faces behind Cold Rolled, a local short film about snow biking.  The footage and photography are breathtaking along Lake Superior and then deep in the woods on the groomed trails with fresh fallen snow.  Check it out to get a glimpse of what the trails are like and who the original bikers behind the scenes are.  Money can be donated for trail maintenance and growth at www.noquetrails.org.  Check out The Range Mountain Bike Club and 906 Adventure Team on Facebook for scheduled group rides.

A Few Rules for Riding the Trails:

Mike Brunet takes a tight turn with his fat bike on a portion of the Noquemanon Trail Network in Marquette, MI on Monday, March 17, 2014. (Marquettemagazine.com photo by Ron Caspi)

-Wear helmets and headlamps (in the dark)

-Please keep your dogs on a leash and clean up after them, this has been a big issue considering that dogs and bikes don’t generally get a long, please keep that in mind if you are hiking on trails that are also shared with snow bikes.

I’d like to thank Mike Brunet and Adam Grunert for taking time to chat with me, and thanks to Matt Belic and Danny Hill for helping to make this all possible.

by Candace Prill

Being raised in a small Michigan town has taught me many things; being one with nature, eating whole foods and living in a sustainable way are just a few. My family and I currently reside in Marquette, where we can grow a garden downtown, bike anywhere in the city and enjoy endless nature just outside of the city limits. In the past several years I have been lucky to be a part of researching, writing and teaching about whole living. You can find my monthly nutrition column “Healthier Living” in the Great Lakes Pilot that I have been writing for the past two years. You can also find my published geological research in “Agates: Inside Out” by Karen Brzys. My passion is to live and, teach to live, in a sustainable way, both nutritionally and environmentally. I look forward to sharing my articles on sustainable living here at Marquette Magazine.

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