Here it is folks, probably our last chance to gather the Fat Bike Manitoba ‘Herd’ for a group ride on what remains of the groomed winter ski trails at Grand Beach Provincial Park. Btw, we have access because grooming has stopped for the season, but some skiers may still be on the trails. We have ridden there in past years at the end of March with similar weather conditions and had a great time (even when it was a bit soft snow or icy conditions).
Our chat at Birch indicated this Sunday works for a bunch of us.
So, giddy up Fatties – who’s in?
WHO: Anyone with a Fat Bike. Minimum 3.8 inch tires. Maximum 10lbs of air pressure. Be prepared to reduce tire pressure to maintain float.
WHAT: Fat Bike Group Ride and Potluck BBQ
WHEN: Sunday, 26 March 2017. Meet: 10:00 AM to start riding at 10:15 AM and finish 11:30 to 12:00 (then BBQ)
WHERE: The Grand Beach X-Ctry Ski Trails Parking/Trail Head on the East side of the park (see Map link below)
POTLUCK BBQ: We can use the warming shacks and potbelly stoves to cook fireside food, smokies/bacon/scallops,potatoes etc in frying pans (bring one) and/or bring a portable stove.
Bring some food and drink share. There are a couple picnic tables, but a few lawn chairs would be handy.
PARK PASS is needed!
MAPS: http://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/parks/pdf/maps/2015_winter_maps/winter_grand_beach.pdf
Well conditions have been mild for a fair while now in Manitoba and most all of the snowpack on Lake Winnipeg is gone. But that didn’t stop Jeff Badger (long time organizer of the Polar Bear Run/Bike annual event from not only organize but also ride across himself. It was in fact a very ‘Icy Treat’, but Jeff and few other fatbikers made a go of it and survived to share the images. Good adventure fun!
Having fun again … we raced our fatbikes on the sweet flowing trails at Birch in the beautiful Pembina Valley … paused after the race to remember Alfred in silence and raised our glasses in his honour … then raised more glasses and enjoyed the spice of life!
Thanks Gregory ‘G-Mac’ McNeill for this great picture and all your support bud!
Here’s G-Mac in action as viewed from my GoPro:
Birch Fatbike Race was awesome today! Excellent flow, well groomed and yes, steep trails; along with great folks and good fun times! Thanks Wayne Bishop, 2WR and all the volunteers for making it a success … just what we all needed after a week plus of sadness after the tragic loss of our friend Alfred.
G-Mac … always at the right spot at the right time! Thanks bud! 🙂
My heart is still hurts, but my lungs and legs feel better and my soul is uplifted! Thank you all for being such a great fatbiking community and terrific people!
Today many of us were able to take part in MCpl Alfred Barr’s Memorial Service at 17 Wing Winnipeg Air Base, to share our sorrow with Alfred’s family, his fiance Steffi Hempel and her family, his many close friends, his 435 Squadron mates, members of SAR Tech Course 49 (the course he graduated with June 2016), members of 1 RCHA (his former unit), members of the greater Canadian Armed Forces, the greater SAR community, and most personally with a group of us fatbikers who rode to the service.
We fatbikers were there to show our respects and share our stories of how much Alfred was a valued member of our Manitoba Fat Biking community, who had touched our lives in many wonderful personal ways. He was such a wonderful young man, who always made rides and adventures more fun, who lifted others up and made us smile … as he always was himself!
I was honoured to speak on behalf of our fatbiking community to express my and our communities’ memories of Alfred.
Today more than 20 fatbikers and friends of Alfred Barr gathered at my home and we rode to the Forks and back to my home again to Honour Alfred, pay Tribute to his many wonderful qualities and join in mourning his tragic loss!
I give thanks to all of you who joined me on this ride and an special thanks to Robert Paige of Xtreme Sports Medics who met us at several points in the ride with refreshments served from his Medic Ambulance.
These Badges are Special:
LEFT – is mine from my flight suit when I flew C-130 Hercules aircraft and was a Pilot on 435 Squadron based in Winnipeg flying Search and Rescue missions for over eight years.
CENTER – a badge made in Honour of Alfred by his SAR Tech Training Course Mates
RIGHT – Alfred gave me one of his SAR Tech Course 49 badges when he first arrived back in Winnipeg after he graduated and was assigned to 435 Sqn. I recall giving him a big high-five and he gave me a big hug in return!
This Picture Collage was made for me by the RCAF Graphic Designer at 1 Cdn Air Division HQ at 17 Wing Air Base in Winnipeg – much appreciated:
I am in SHOCK and SADNESS to hear of the tragic death of my good friend Alfred Barr and member of the RCAF SAR ‘Team’ who was actively training today as a Search and Rescue Technician at 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron (my former squadron) based at 17 Wing Winnipeg!
There are many positive things I could say right now about this wonderful young man that I know as a fellow fatbiking and adventure friend, and my thoughts and prayers go out to his fiancee Steffi, his and her families, his friends and squadron mates … but as a former member of the RCAF SAR Team I reflect on the motto that he and his fellow SAR Techs adhere to and are committed to: “These Things We Do So That Others May Live”! https://www.facebook.com/…/rpp.61263506…/10154191884061237/…
NEWS RELEASE: Royal Canadian Air Force Search and Rescue Technician dies in training accident
A Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Search and Rescue Technician (SAR Tech) based at 17 Wing Winnipeg died in an accident during training near Yorkton, Saskatchewan on Wednesday, March 8, 2017.
Master-Corporal Alfred Barr was a member of 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The RCAF’s Directorate of Flight Safety will be investigating the accident and no further information will be released about the incident while that is ongoing.
Colonel Andy Cook, 17 Wing Winnipeg Commander:
“On behalf of all 17 Wing Winnipeg and the entire RCAF, I would like to express my condolences to Master-Corporal Alfred Barr’s family, friends and fellow service members. Master-Corporal Barr was a valuable member of 435 Squadron’s Search and Rescue team, and he will be deeply missed.”
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Alfred Barr – together with our Fatbike group on Lake Winnipeg just 10 days ago …
My friend and fellow fatbiking adventurer Alfred Barr riding just before sunset as we and ten other members of our “Fattie-Not So Frozen-Dozen” ride back to the middle of Lake Winnipeg on 25 Feb 2017 to camp-over on a -25C night … yes we stayed warm, had a blast and Alfred revelled in it all!
We will miss him in all our future adventures! We will miss his genuinely true character, his zest for life and adventure and his caring for all those he interacted with.
These qualities lead him to strive after and succeed in becoming an operational RCAF SAR Technician with 435 T&R Squadron at 17 Wing Winnipeg Air Base. It was during a routine SAR training parachute jump that he died – in the service of being ready to take risks to save other’s lives.
We, his fatbiking and adventure friends will miss him greatly, but his fiancée Steffi, his and her families, his many other friends, his squadron mates, members of the RCAF, CAF and Canada will of course miss and mourn his passing in different and no doubt more heartbreaking ways!
Thank you Gregory McNeill for this and many other beautiful pictures you have taken of us adventuring over these many years! It helps to clearly recall the good times we had together!
This beautiful picture of our “Fattie – Not So Frozen – Dozen” enjoying some bonfire time at our campsite on Lake Winnipeg last weekend is courtesy of our very own fatbiker friend and photographer extraordinaire Gregory ‘G-Mac’ McNeill.
Our “Fatty – Not So Frozen – Dozen” took on the “2017 Lake Winnipeg Fatbike Crossing & Campover” on 25-26 Feb 2017 and ROCKED IT! 🙂
Gregory ‘G-Mac’ McNeill’s awesome group picture!
We rode from Grand Marais, Manitoba 35 Kms/22 Miles across to Gimli (for lunch of course – thanks to Jeffrey Badger for the free drinks at Kris Fish & Chips) and then back to the middle to camp over night.
Here’s Pete McAdams out for a casual ride (by his regular long distance riding standards).Paul ‘PePe’ Lapointe and Lindsay ‘The Legend’ Gauld.
We rode on the “Closed for the Season – early due to recent snow melt” snowmobile trail that was still marked and providing a roughened icy tread remnant with some old and new thin snow cover.
Ken Stojak and Tony Kinal.Me, Keith Holm and Bradley Paul.
Those with studs were better able to ride all of the surface, but with lower tire pressure those non-studded faired fine (a few spills happened early on with the icy close to shore section covered by a wisp of fresh snow that made it hard to see what was really icy). After about 4 Kms the trail was much better with snow pack.
Tony and Ken (the Pulk ‘Pack Mule’).Lindsay: “So then I realized I was gonna have to wrestle that Polar Bear!” 😉Keith with both wheels on the ground for a change! 😉
Our American friend Bradley Paul was welcome to pitch his tent near ours, but decided for photographic purposes he would find a spot on his own.
Thankfully, our recce ride the day before the weekend confirmed the trail conditions and the ice pressure ridge gaps that had developed just out from the Gimli Harbour and likely further out! With that info, we had Kevin Champagne step up with his brother Peter to join us with two quads and foldable ramp to allow safe gap crossings!
The skies cleared as dusk approached.
Alfred working his stove with a solid wind blowing across the lake.
Kevin & Peter also transported some firewood for us … added bonus! We enjoyed a night around a bonfire, complete with special beverages, snacks, tall tales and entertainment (Ken’s fireworks – Just little ones – no SAR or 911 callouts).
Paul ‘PePe’ Lapointe could read the bottle.
Bedtime and all the guylines tight with a solid wind and -20C.
After our morning ‘boil offs’ for breakfast and water bottle refills Gregory arranged our group photo shoot and then we rode back to Grand Marais for lunch (okay – a few speedsters enjoyed brunch :-])!
Wakey wakey time in my Big Agnes 6-Person tent. Only five of us slept in it and that was perfect actually. Pete McAdams is in the back and L-R was Gregory (already up), Alfred Barr (Para Rescue toque), me and David Ristau (that’s him smiling cuz he’s so warm).
Almost up …There it is and just enough wind to display the Canadian Flag. Bradley Paul did bring an American flag, but left it in his vehicle – accident or being too nice? 😉
As Gregory put it when we were chatting after sunrise:
“This is AWESOME – look at that [view], that’s what we came here for – it’s beautiful!”
Here Bradley Paul from New York rising from his little tent that appears to be all on it’s own on Lake Winnipeg – almost like it was staged! 😉Jonathan Letkemann was an excellent addition to our crew and we chatted out more adventures ahead, including an even bigger lake trip in the future.Alfred and Jonathan lighting stoves and sharing adventure ideas!Wow Gregory – just Wow!!!Gregory’s full version of our Group Picture.G-Mac: “We need pizza, stat – now get to da choppa!” 😉Me and Keith – a fellow fun adventurer you can always count on! 🙂Me, Alfred, David Ristau and Bradley riding back into Grand Marais.The weather beautiful for our ride back in for lunch.
Thanks for joining in guys: Gregory C. McNeill, Alfred Barr, Keith Holm, Jonathan Letkemann, David Ristau, Lindsay Gauld, Paul Lapointe, Pete McAdams, Bradley D Paul, Ken Stojak and Tony Kinal. A great group of fellow winter adventurers!
It was a terrific adventure for all and a lot of fun ‘ta boot’!
A big shout out to Wayne Bishop who had offered to groom a track across the lake for us, but the recent melt off made that not required. In normal conditions, our trip would have been difficult to impossible without his Wild Cat groomer!
Big Sponsorship thanks to:
– Rick Shone and Garrett Tremblay at Wilderness Supply Winnipeg (assistance with Base Camp Tent)! – Ken Berg and Alisa Mayberry at Mountain Equipment Coop Winnipeg (camping meals)!
It was a terrific adventure for all and a lot of fun ‘ta boot’! 🙂
Cheers, Fat Tom K
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* These pictures were added later in Post Edit … in Memory of RCAF SAR Technician Alfred Barrwho died during a training parachute jump from an RCAF C-130 Hercules aircraft (that I used to pilot) … just 10 days after he had adventured with us as a member of our ‘Fatty-Not So Frozen-Dozen’.
Alfred – you are not forgotten!
Next year we will return to again to “Camp Barr” on the middle of the lake during the “2018 ‘Alfred Barr’ Lake Winnipeg Fatbike Crossing & Campover” adventure!
Always a SAR Brother – RESCUE!
Major Tom Kolesnik, RCAF
Former 435 Squadron C-130 Hercules SAR Pilot
On the Grand Marais Side: All the puddles are solid frozen now and the trail is well defined and rough (generally good traction) with the trail markers in place. No problem riding with no studs, but studs are a bonus and with them you can enjoy riding on the smooth areas. Very little snow left until you get out a few kms. The usual narrow cracks are no issue. Plenty of people out ice fishing using trucks.
Here’s our American friend Bradley Paul from NY posing by the Snoman Trail signs (gotta love the STOP sign!). You can see some frozen puddles from the recent + temps, but the trail itself is not bad and gets better as you ride further from shore.It’s not snowpack but it is roughened and it gets better as you go.Thumbs up from Gregory ‘G-Mac’ McNeill and he was riding without studs.
After riding out a fair ways on the Grand Marais side, we could confirm no major pressure ridge or cracks and that the riding surface got better after about 4 kms. Then we drove around to Gimli.
On the Gimli side, we rode out from the harbour and looked for the main trail leading to an expected pressure ridge crossing point …
We discovered that the usual pressure ridge about 400 metres out from the Harbour had increased recently (we were warned) and stepping or jumping across was not an option.
We are looking at a way to bridge it with ramp support from our quad friends (thanks Kevin & Peter Champagne). Safety will be the priority, but we did find a good spot to cross (preferably with ramps).
Here G-Mac riding back into the Gimli Harbour past the iconic Lake Winnipeg Research ship.Before we headed home, we checked out the pressure ridge at the northern end of the harbour. G-Mac caught this gorgeous view! 🙂
So, all is good for this weekend!
Studded tires would be a bonus, but not required. Just ride on the rougher sections and straight line on the smooth parts.
We have two quads (with loading ramps for crack-crossing) in support thanks to the amazing Kevin & Peter Champagne! 🙂
Saw Marty Roy’s post after he Rick and Christa enjoyed a great day riding on the sweet Brandon Hills Fatbike Trails (hey it’s winter so not so MTB now – Eh!).
Looks like they had a great time and appreciated the grooming done by ‘Trevor’ (Westman Trail Assoc – I believe). Check it out here and in person:
Looks like I need to get out there myself.
Alas, I am off to recon Lake Winnipeg for our Lake Winnipeg Fatbike Crossing & Campover adventure coming up this weekend.
“The Last Greatest Show on Snow is stopping for our 3rd and final race at Birch. Come out to what you expect … the best! 10 Km ride, 20km and 30 km race.”
We were out marking the approach into the city last night starting at the lead up to the floodway. Snow cover was firm enough to drive part way down the road. The opposite end near hwy 200 is walk-in only so we hiked along the South side of the floodway, driving in stakes as far as the Crow Wing Trail signs. The trail has plenty of foot traffic near the public parking lot. Further East we encountered less foot traffic and were punching through the snow in places. You can expect the floodway to have a mix of soft and firm footing although the warm weather may result in more of the former.
Snow in the city has been melting and the forecast for Saturday is suggesting near or above freezing during the day with some cooling overnight but warming up again on Sunday. This is shaping up to be one of the mildest event days we have had in a few years but don’t worry, that brings its own set of challenges.
So, if you’ve heard rumours of some fatties planning to sleep out on the middle of Lake Winnipeg … their true and we are a GO!
‘Behind the scenes’ a group of six of us local fatbikers have been planning a new adventure to take our previous fatbike crossings of Lake Winnipeg (as part of Jeff & Candy Badger’s annual “Polar Bear Run/Bike Crossings”) to another level of planning, coordination and challenge.
At least four of the guys in this pic from our 2016 Lake Wpg Polar Bear Crossing will be on our upcoming Crossing & Campover.
The result is that our core Planning Team has a plan and 4-6 more riders are joining us. It looks like there will be 10-12 of us – including Bradley, an American from NY (who I met last year when he was taking part in a fatbike training camp on Lake Wpg).
So … we will take on the first (Annual?) of the following adventure:
The “Lake Winnipeg Fatbike Crossing & Campover” on Sat/Sun 25-26 Feb 2017. – We will have several guides/experienced fatbikers in our group and I will be Lead Guide for our adventure.
– We will do this as a cooperative activity.
– We will be using the ‘Closed to Snowmobiles’, but still marked “Snowman #17 “Piston Popper”Snowmobile Trail from Grand Marais to Gimli (approx 35 Kms) and riding back to the center of the lake to campover.
– We will have the support of several snowmobiles (or quads depending on the snow depth on the lake) thanks to Kevin Champagne and his Brother Peter – thanks guys!
– We have received some sponsorship support from MEC Winnipeg in the form of camp meals and snacks! Thanks MEC – always good to have extra food on hand!
– I have also received sponsorship support from Wilderness Supply in Winnipeg, that has allowed me to acquire the Big Agnes 6-Person 4-Season Tent for use on this and future adventures. Just used it on the river behind my house – a nice base camp tent:
Thanks Wilderness Supply – you rock! – Thanks to one of our Planning Team members Alfred Barr (local fatbiker – who is also an RCAF SAR Tech at 435 Squadron based in Winnipeg) we will also have the use of an Iridium Sat Phone! Thanks Alfred, but I hope you don’t mind us calling for pizza delivery! 😉
– Some of us will be riding with fully loaded bikes:
– Others will use ‘Pulk’ sleds behind their bikes (like Ken just made for this trip):
– While we will be bringing meals to cook on the lake and extras, we do plan to enjoy a hardy breakfast at the Sand Bar Inn in Grand Marais on Saturday before we start and a lunch on Sunday on our return. We also are planning a late lunch at Kris Fish & Chips in Gimli (owner’s Jeff & Candy Badger have promised a free first drink – thanks you two!).
– Our very own fatbiker-photographer extraordinaire Gregory ‘G-Mac’ McNeill will be riding with us and snapping pictures that will no doubt make us look even more adventurous than we will be …
Yup – Photo Credit to G-Mac! 🙂
– We are doing this adventure as a ‘simple – but well planned‘ and cooperative adventure. We will work as a team and make it a fun and safe adventure.
This is going to be a blast! 🙂
Any questions or interest, you can contact me at:
tomkolesnik@gmail.com
NEWS RELEASE: Royal Canadian Air Force Search and Rescue Technician dies in training accident
My friend and fellow fatbiking adventurer Alfred Barr riding just before sunset as we and ten other members of our “Fattie-Not So Frozen-Dozen” ride back to the middle of Lake Winnipeg on 25 Feb 2017 to camp-over on a -25C night … yes we stayed warm, had a blast and Alfred revelled in it all!
FatBikeManitoba.com 