Actually, I rode a 6 day tour with a group last spring. One guy was riding a fat tire bike. I thought he would have a hard time keeping up. WRONG. Most of us were on Surly LHT or similar bikes. He was carrying the full complement of panniers and camping equipment and was a leader into the wind. Amazing. We did en****er some very rough pavement and some dirt roads, but mostly paved roads. He had no problem with any of this.