Fatty

It was a late october day in 2005 as I first cranked the Fatty in Rodalben.

Although strictly "verboten" to mountain bikers especially on the weekends, the 46 kilometer singletrack Eldorado in the Rheinland-Pfalz region has gone mainstream and became very popular in the mtb-community. Millions of pictures posted, there are helmet cam videos in the wild and, albeit no necessity for navigation, GPS tracks too.

As more and more idiots get their hands on this stuff, weekend rides are no rarities. The hikers, the legitimate owners of the footpath, have already gone mad. At facebook times, there are no secrets anymore. Just click the fricking "Like" button.

Soon, there will be no more riding on this jewel, that is for sure.

I keep asking, why should I care? I rode it a few times, and quite frankly, it is not even the best trail in that area - no climbs, no descents and nothing really technically challenging on it. But it was a thrill to keep the guerilla hype going, whispering the magic and passing it around. All done underground and we all had our fun.

In 3 weeks, it will be the fifth year of my premiere on fatty and no place would be better to celebrate this than in Rodalben. I even think of riding the very same bike I rode on the first tour for this anniversary: My Canyon Nerve ES-8, of course with the fatty 2,35 Alberts tyres on it.

If anything, there will still be one promise for me to keep: It will be on a week day.