TRURO, N.S. -- It’s been a long, bitterly cold winter. Many of us have been in hibernation, bingeing on our favourite shows and making up excuses to stay indoors.

The rapidly-growing sport of fat biking is a great option for anyone looking to get off the couch and out into the great outdoors.

Fat bikes are like regular mountain bikes, but built around frames with wider forks, and a smaller front-gear sprocket, which allows for pedalling at slower speeds.

The tires are much wider -- between 4 or 5 inches, compared to 2 to 2.5 inches on a mountain bike. Most have metal studs that grip the ice to allow for year-round biking on snowy trails in freezing temperatures.

“It’s a bike that’s versatile for everything,” says Bruce Roberts, who owns Hub Cycle in Truro, N.S. “With fat biking you can ride on bare ground, you can ride on ice, packed snow … it’s a way for people to stay active and avoid the winter doldrums.”

fat bike

The tires are inflated to a much lower air pressure -- 6 to 10 PSI, compared to the 40 pounds in a normal bike tire. This, combined with the wide tires, allows cyclists to float across surfaces that normal mountain or road tires would sink into.

“You can’t put fat tires on a regular bike … the ride is very cushioned,” explains Roberts. “We call it fun, not fast.”

The sport has really taken off in the last few years as people look for outdoor winter activities other than cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.

Mike Knowlton organizes group trail rides in Truro’s Victoria Park, which has over 30 kilometres of groomed trails -- perfect for fat bikes.

He started the rides in December and says the group gets larger every week.

“We call it ‘Sunday-Funday’ … we started out with six riders and are currently at around 40 or so,” says Knowlton.

“The group is very diverse. One young guy is about 14 and our oldest rider is 81 … at the end of the ride, everyone has the biggest smile on their face.”

Knowlton has been an avid mountain biker for decades and was skeptical about making the switch. He rode his first fat bike three years ago and fell in love with it.

“It doesn’t take as much skill as you think. I encourage everyone to give it a try,” he says. “Embracing winter makes it fly by.”

Fat bike pricing has become more affordable, too. An entry-model mountain bike starts at around $400, whereas a base-model fat bike starts at about $800. A mid-range fat bike can cost $1,500 or more.

Roberts says that people are intimidated to try the sport at first, but once they do, they are hooked.

“If you can ride a regular bike, you can ride a fat bike.”