Ive always been a roadie, and I consider myself to be in fairly good shape. I purchased my first fatty recently and I absolutely love it. My question is what’s everybody’s average speed and distance they ride these things? I knew it was going to be a bit of a workout compared to my carbon roadie but after a 6 mile one way commute on some snow covered/plowed roads I have to say my legs where burning. At an average speed of about 8-9 mph. Just curious how out of shape I really am lol. Those that ride fattys regularly how far are you normally riding or are you trails only?

First of all, there's nothing normal about the Hypno Toad

I have lots and lots of miles on my Pugsley, and my average speed is all over the place. The first winter I rode the Pug, I felt like you... There is a different 'level' of fitness to fatbiking.

Tires and tire pressure are going to be the biggest issue to speed on a fatbike. That said, I'm riding Panaracer Fat B Nimble in the summer and 45NRTH Dillinger 4 (studded) in the winter. Summer is typically 12-15 psi and winter is 8-12 psi (the rider is ~165lbs). Switching to winter tires/pressure can suck about 2-4 mph on average speed.

Looking back to the first winter, when I was bike-commuting by fatbike, I had a 12 mile commute that'd take an hour 15 minutes - 10 mph average speed.

My high-water mark was the 2017 Filthy 50 - 52 miles in just under 3 hours for an average speed over 17.5 mph. I spent much of the ride with a group and had the benefit of drafting (and I did my far share of pulling too). Also, the winds were the nicest I've ever experience, mild headwind on the first 20 miles and massive tailwind on the last 15 miles (I ran out of gears on flat roads!!)

Earlier this month, I did a solo 40-mile ride on winter tires - the route was a mix of plowed trails, unplowed trails, and some roads - that took 3 hours 12 minutes for an average of 12.5 mph.

For reference, he's me and my Pugsley at the 2016 Filthy 50:

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I did two rides with friends this weekend in the snowy singletrack woods - my avg speed was between 4 and 6 mph

Average speed? On snow, depending on terrain and conditions it could be anywhere between 15mph and 1mph (or less).

I just completed 750 kilometres over 10 days bikepacking on mine, so an average of 75 km per day at somewhere south of 15 km/h ... not sure if that is normal but


Barker Inlet Beach by Andrew Priest (Aushiker), on Flickr

You're my kinda normal!