Fat Bike Worlds returns to Crested Butte in 2025

Fat Bike Worlds returns to its roots in Crested Butte, Colorado in 2025. The rugged ski town where the event was born will host its tenth annual iteration from January 24-26, 2025. As always, the weekend will include the world championship race, social activities and live music. More information is below, along with fun facts about the history of fat biking in the Gunnison Valley and beyond.

Photo courtesy of Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association

2025 event info

In 2015, the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association launched Fat Bike Worlds, a weekend-long event centered around a not-so-serious world cup championship fat biking race. The event has been held in several locations over the years, including New Richmond, Wisconsin and Leadville, Colorado. In late January 2025, it’s back in Crested Butte for its tenth year. This year’s event will feature a special music show by Led Zeppelin cover band Ten Years Gone at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts. The concert is open to both racers and the public. Head to the Fat Bike Worlds website for a full event schedule and registration info. View the official press release here.

A brief history of fat biking

Fat biking got its start in the 1990s on snowy terrain in Alaska and deep sand in New Mexico. It wasn’t until the late ‘00s that the sport gained traction commercially. Considering the Gunnison Valley’s obsession with mountain biking, it wasn’t surprising that Gunnison and Crested Butte became hubs of this new version of biking, too.

Crested Butte fat biking featured in Warren Miller’s Here, There and Everywhere in 2016

The Warren Miller film crew captured the 2016 Fat Bike Worlds race in all its gnarly glory. Watch the segment of Here, There and Everywhere below for a look into peak Crested Butte fat biking culture. Carnage and costumes abound. People were definitely hurt in the making of this video!

Here, There and Everywhere: Fat Biking

Fat biking in Gunnison and Crested Butte

In the early 2010s, the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association and Gunnison Trails both started grooming winter trails specifically for fat bikes. Gunnison Trails even crafted a custom-built machine, the Powder Chinchilla, to groom singletrack trails at Hartman Rocks. Hartman’s remains one of the best places in the world to ride a fat bike due to ease of access and the sheer size of the trail network. For trail maps and more Gunnison Valley fat biking resources, visit our fat biking guide.

Pioneering Fat Biking in the Gunnison Valley

The video below chronicles the origins of fat biking in the Gunnison Valley. Watch the video to see how the sport was pioneered by local nonprofit groups who were passionate about biking on dirt and snow.