What is SnoFatShu? This weekend in the snowiest park in New York will host the annual race

What do you get when you pair snowshoes with fat bikes—essentially fat-wheeled mountain bikes on steroids—and put them on carefully groomed trails in one of New York State’s snowiest parks?

The answer is, of course, SnoFatShu.

The seventh annual SnoFatShu race, a duathlon of fat bikes and snowshoes billed by the organizers as the first and only competitive event of its kind in the country, takes place Sunday, February 12, in the Winona State Forest, near the town of Tug Hill in Mannsville.

“This is not for beginners,” said Rich Shumway. “But it’s much more fun if you fall, that’s for sure.”

Shumway, cycling director of the Winona Forest Recreation Association, the non-profit group that organizes SnoFatShu, compared SnoFatShu participants to triathletes.

“They are special,” he said, “they train for this all year.”

However, Shumway encourages anyone with consistent cycling and running experience and a good set of lungs to give it a try.

“We’re going to set up fire pits, turn on the music, we’ll have food for the athletes when they’re done,” Shumway said. “Just hang out and enjoy the camaraderie of other athletes.”

Shumway said that SnoFatShu’s course will be a little different this year. “We stepped it up a bit,” he added.

It starts with a 10 km double track cycling race followed by a 5 km single track section. Then repeat: bike, snowshoes, four segments total. Shumway expects most entrants to be able to complete the race, which starts at 9am, in three hours or less.

While downtown New York hasn’t had much snow this season, Winona State Forest has plenty, Shumway said. He described the current track conditions as “untouched” and expects them to remain in top form on Sunday despite warmer conditions later in the week.

Shumway said members can choose to go SnoFatShu alone or with a partner of either gender. Registration for the event closes on February 9 at 17:00.

Steve Featherstone lighting outdoors for The Post-Standard. syracuse.com And NYUP.com. Contact him at [email protected] or on twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow all of our outdoor content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.

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