Southern Illinois Fat Tire Festival (FTF) happening again for the 19th year in a row, one of the best MTB events in the entire MidWest! This year’s event goes down October 20-22, 2023, at Camp Ondessonk located in Ozark, Illinois right in the middle of the beautiful Shawnee National Forest. We will have miles and miles of great riding for all levels of riders from mellow flow to rugged all mountain boulder strewn rowdiness. Tons of fun riding all weekend with both professionally guided and self-led adventures rolling out both Friday and Saturday.

FTF has something for everyone, from those wanting to ride every minute of the day to those tagging along to enjoy some time in the great outdoors.  The list of fun evolves each year and is part of what makes Fat Tire Fest such a fun event for EVERYONE.  The year the list includes a 30+ miles of onsite trails to explore at any time.  This includes the 10+ miles of fun and flowy trails handcrafted specifically for MTB riding that weave thru the 800+ acres of CampO property.  We will also have offsite riding options at the Glendale MTB Trails, the original home of FTF.   Continuing on with the MTB fun, Saturday late afternoon we will once again host the Off-Road Crit race on a super fun one mile course, 30 minutes of racing for bragging rights all weekend long.

Now for this years “other fun” list: the Fat Tire Challenge will be back on Friday night with huffy tosses, “big kids on little bikes” races, the CampO tug of war and other FTF Challenge tomfoolery.  Of course there will be great food, cold drinks, treehouse accommodations, the FTF MTB Bracket race on Sunday, awesome live music Saturday night, vendor expo, the Hunt scavenger challenge, a Tunnel Hill Rail Trail ride, family MTB rides, on-site bike demo’s all day Friday and Saturday and all other kinds of fun.

Do Fat Tire Fest 2023, have more fun and more adventure. Embrace the outdoors while enjoying your best weekend of the year. 

Event Check In Opens at 9A on Friday October 20th.

The Riding

There will be professionally guided rides available Friday and Saturday with options for everyone, from family paced mellow low mileage / low speed jaunts to full-on-worm-burning epic rides.  All rides leave from the vendor expo area and there will be multiple ride options rolling throughout both Friday and Saturday.  When you check in to the event you will receive the hard copy schedule including all the rides and all other activities for the weekend.  You will also receive a hard copy of the maps of the trail network and GPS files will be available for download prior to the event and onsite.

The Trails

With over 35 miles of trails at the FTF location, the riding is amazing. CampO’s buffed in and rocking 10 miles of trail is all within thier 800+ acres.  These are professionally crafted MTB trails that provide a fun network with great flow and fun for everyone.  Then we have the expansive Forest Service trails with 25+ miles of everything from super rowdy and rugged to wide open double track, original Shawnee goodness.  We also have full use of the Glendale trail network, the original home of Fat Tire Fest!   Glendale is about 10 miles, as the crow flies, from the expo area, about a 25 minute drive, and some of the best old school trails in the Shawnee!  This ~15 mile trail network includes slickrock, bluffs, tech and flow.

Bike Demos

We will have demo’s on site for you to throw a leg over and take out into the dirt, all will be available for real demo rides on our CampO trail network!  The only limit to the fun will be please bring them back within one hour so others have a chance to try them out too, but feel free to take them out multiple times and try multiple bikes!

Rail Trail Ride

For the mellowest riders we go offsite on Saturday to the very scenic Tunnel Hill Trail, a short 10 minute drive away, for a fun ride on southern Illinois’ only rail trail.  Experience riding through a tunnel over 500’ long, riding across multiple trestles, the largest of which is 400’ long and over 100’ high and enjoy the fun of a meandering ride on the relatively flat trail. This ride is an out and back so you can go as long or as short as you want.

The Races

Finally on the riding front, for those looking for something a little competitive and a LOT fun, a couple races for everyone.

First up an all new for this year Kids race for the riders with us under the age of 12, super short course fun with lots of hooting and hollering!  Next up is the all original CampO Off-Road Crit, join in on the fun;  a one-mile course combining a bit of everything from gravel to stair drops to smooth singletrack.  We race for 20 minutes +1 lap and the prizes are huge, the biggest of which are the bragging rights which are yours to flex all weekend long.  Podium ceremonies happen before dinner on Saturday evening.

The second race of the weekend, the O-Face Bracket Race, happens Sunday at 10A.  We will be racing one lap of the CampO 10 mile course, and to level up the entire field, we will score this one on the accuracy of your predicted finish time.  As you sign up for the race you will receive your bib number and you will predict your finishing time.  Of course no electronics will be allowed and cheating will be punished with the harshest of consequences.  The podium ceremony for this one will happen during the final lunch at the new dining hall.

Other FUN!

With our move to CampO seven years ago FTF grew from more than just one of the region’s best MTB events into a full-on outdoor adventure weekend with tons of fun for the riders and non-riders alike.

The Prizes

This year we have prizes from tons of sponsors and the grand prize ceremonies will be at lunch on Sunday after the O-Face Race.  Our awesome sponsor New Belgium is sending us one of their very limited edition bikes to give away as this years grand prize!

The Hunt

We had an amazingly popular, fan favorite addition developed from the challenges of putting on FTF in 2020. The Quest, is an intense scavenger hunt driven from an obscure sheet of clues that will have you exploring all throughout CampO’s 800 acres to find the answers and win.  Challenges are presented in the form of riddles and puzzles and the more challenging they are the more points you win.   Put the highest score on the board and take home big prizes!  The year the Hunt ends Saturday at 5P and  winners will be announced and prizes awarded at Sunday’s lunch.

Fat Tire Challenge Friday Night

The Fat Tire Challenge will go down on Friday night, and always includes the world famous “Huffy Toss”, the “Little Kids Bike Dual Slalom”, the CampO tug of war to lead it all off and who knows what else we might cook up. We will have a huge campfire going all night long to keep you nice and warm while you wait for your turn at the craziness.

Music by the Campfire Saturday Night

Saturday night after everything else is done and dinner is finished, we will light the fire and warm up the band for a great night of music at the FTF HQ.

Scary Movie Night in the Woods

Get the $*** scared out of you as you watch a super sketchy scary movie at the most haunted location on Camp property.  Like for real, don’t come if you have any cardiac or anxiety issues, you will be scared, a LOT.  Set the Terror Level at CODE BROWN and bring a change of pants.

Register here

Date:  October 20-22, 2023 

Location: Camp Ondessonk located in Ozark, Illinois

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