3 replies to this topic

[bikesurgeon]

This year's Southern Illinois Fat Tire Festival is going to ROCK, literally, with live music for the first time ever at FTF.  We are bringing in the Black Foot Gypsies from Nashville, TN to provide some live entertainment both Friday and Saturday nights.

 

We have stepped it up across the board, more beer, more food, more vendors, more trails, more riding, more activities, MORE FUN! We are based at Camp Ondessonk again this year with access to all the cabins and tree houses so you can leave the tents at home if you want. Specialized will be back with their demo bikes, both road and mountain. Merrell will be in house to demo product and lead some trail runs.  The North Face will be on hand with some cool product demos and prizes along with GoPro, Thule, Kuat, Hammer Nutrition, Clif Bar, Camelback, and many others.

 

We are getting some cool new brews from our friends at New Belgium and adding many other top shelf beer options from our beverage sponsors.  We will also have some great unleaded options; Ski and other Excel bottling goodness.  Rest assured there will be plenty of wetness to quench even the thirstiest of riders.

We are adding a bunch to Friday's festivities cranking up at 4PM with a Vendor Expo, bike demos, climbing wall fun and a trail run Friday evening all leading up to a great concert in the CampO Grotto at 9PM.

 

Saturday will start with a big buffet breakfast including the candy bar of meats....BACON! (and some other breakfast goodness to compliment the bacon) The demo trailer opens right after breakfast and the riding starts around 10 with ride options for all skill levels from beginner to advanced. We will have multiple guided rides throughout the day; an epic option that will leave at 10 and not get back till dinner with quick pace for technically advanced rider and many other guided ride options based on distance, pace and skill. Self-led options will also be available with over 30 miles of GPS mapped trail with numbered trail markers to have fun on.  

 

If the weather allows, the swimming hole will be open for after ride cool-offs via the zipline and waterslides.  A kick but BBQ dinner, complemented with live music, cold drinks and some awesome prizes will lead us into the FTF challenge and all its goodness. Sunday will be some more self-guided riding and hiking options after another kick-butt breakfast buffet.  Check out all the details at bikesurgeon.com/ftf.

 

Come out and enjoy the FUN, October 4th-6th at Camp Ondessonk, Ozark IL.  Register today at: http://www.eventbrit...ent/7547238995/

[Lichimus]

Not to be a dick but more than twice the cost of last year doesn't mean it will be twice the fun!  IMO these trails were not that spectacular and were flooded in a lot of lower sections as well as heavily covered with leaves and not ridden very often kind of like the East side of Berryman earlier this year.  Don't get me wrong I had a blast last year with the great atmosphere and things included but the beauty of it then was the low cost.  I think the trails here are way better and buffed out but that's just me......  

 

If you are going to splurge on a festival this year I would recommend Brown County as these trails are heavily ridden and now an IMBA EPIC destination!

[bikesurgeon]

Thanks for the feedback Rick!  We did have to change venues last year and that happened right before the event so the amount of trail maintenance that could be accomplished in the short period of time left us with some trail issues.

 

We have put even more work into the trails this year and will be taking over 100 volunteers out this weekend to help polish things up even further.  This combined with the addition of about 10 more miles of trail should help us have some great riding at the fest this year.  Now if we can just keep it from raining 4" the week of the event like last year, life will be great!

 

In regards to cost we have added a lot more to the event, including cabins rather than tents, live music, a better menu of food and beers, a vendor expo and both road and mountain demos just to name some of the changes.  These events cost a bunch to put on and this new venue costs dramatically more than our old tent camping venue, but when you look at what we were offering in comparison to some of the other events in the region we think the value is great.  Two nights of accommodations, four meals, top shelf beers on tap all weekend for all attendees of age, a bag of schwag and a chance to win over $10K in prizes along with some fun riding, bike demos, live music ALL included with your registration

[bikesurgeon]

And just a few more details for those who haven