Southern Illinois Fat Tire Festival (FTF) is back for the 14th year in a row! This year’s event will happen October 12-14, 2018 and once again we will be based at Camp Ondessonk in the beautiful Shawnee National Forest. We will have miles and miles of great riding with over 50 miles of trail this year due to some exciting new additions! We ride and we ride a LOT with both professionally guided and self-led adventures going on all weekend long.
We also make sure to cater to those looking for a little added adventure over the weekend or those just not as excited about MTB riding. This list has grown each year and is part of what makes Fat Tire Fest such a fun event for EVERYONE. Here are just a few of the other things going on at this year’s event: the Cannonball Gravel Race, guided hikes, the O’Face Adventure Race, rock climbing, paddling on Lake Echelon, live music, a great vendor expo, the Fat Tire Challenge, zip lining, a Tunnel Hill Rail Trail ride, kid’s ga-ga ball games, the FTF Strava Segment Challenge, kid’s craft area, family MTB rides, the Gravel Crit World Championships, bike demo’s all day Friday and Saturday and absolutely awesome food and drink for everyone all weekend long.
This fall jump in on Fat Tire Fest, have more fun, experience more adventure and embrace the outdoors while you have your best weekend of 2018. For more in depth event information click here.
Each FTF registrant receives:
- Lodging for Friday and Saturday nights
- Exclusive access to the CampO trail network with almost 40 miles of trail right out your treehouses front door and 15 more miles at Lake Glendale just a short drive away.
- ALL meals and drinks for the weekend (7 total meals), starting with lunch on Friday and ending with lunch on Sunday, Great food too, hot breakfasts and kick-butt BBQ on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, over 1,700lbs of meat were served in 2017! Drinks sponsored by New Belgium Brewing, and Excel Bottling, no need to be thirsty this weekend.
- Friday and Saturday, include multiple guided trail rides ranging from the tame to the extreme at both CampO and Lake Glendale
- A super sweet FTF 18 commemorative tee shirt
- CampO Outdoor Adventures include: Zip Lining, Rock Climbing, Boating, Hiking and tons of other CampO fun all included FREE!
- The opportunity to demo ride top of the line Specialized bikes in the woods and on the trails
- A vendor expo put on by our top brands
- Each participant will have multiple chances to win thousands of dollars in giveaways, over $10,000 in giveaways in 2017!
- A Strava Segment Challenge will be rocking all day Friday and Saturday, with winners and prizes announced at Saturdays live concert. Pick from a number of trail segments throughout the FTF trail network and go lay down a blazing fast time. Upload your times to Strava and we will score the winners and award some sweet prizes!
- Entry into the O’Face Adventure Race, a super FUN adventure race for everyone on Sunday morning.
- ALL of the mountain biking and fun you can cram into 3 days!
- Cannonball Gravel Race and the Gravel Crit World Championships will be open to any FTF participant who would like to get in on the Gravel Racing fun.
- The FTF includes riding options for ALL SKILL LEVELS, from the gnarliest mountain biking anywhere with slick rock and creek crossings to gently rolling fire roads; you’ll have a great weekend of riding and FUN no matter your skill level.