Late January is here and we are well on our way into winter.

Although the recent weather may have you convinced otherwise, there is no doubt cold temperatures and snowy days are to follow.

Before you break out the board game or cards for an afternoon indoors, consider going for a hike, a run or cross-country skiing in one of our local parks. However, if you happened to have set eyes on one of those weird looking bicycles with the super fat tires, you may want to consider taking a bike ride in the snow.

Yes we said bike ride in the snow. As avid cyclists, one of the most often asked questions that we get would be “what do you do in the winter?” Our response is consistent with any other time of year: We ride.

Over the past several years the cycling industry started to see a larger demand for bike models with tires reaching 3.8 inches wide which have come to be known as fat tire bikes. Once most of the major bike manufacturers produced models, it quickly became a category all its own.

An annual Global Fat Tire Day, exclusive fat tire races and a fat bike class have come to be the norm. You can even find kids-sized Fat Bikes now.

The larger tires give you a wider contact patch and when set up correctly, air pressure is typically in the single digits to 10 psi, provide a super soft ride and excellent traction. Fat bikes will typically be sized and fit along the same line as a regular mountain bike, though frame geometry may differ.

If you are wondering where you could ride such a bike, your options are endless. Although the average aluminum framed fat tire bicycle will be somewhat slower and is often thought of as just a winter snow bike, they are still just as comfortable on a dry summer day, in the sand along the beach during vacation or a wet muddy spring afternoon.

Locally, we have some great low maintenance winter roads, the rail trail and surrounding community parks that now offer single track riding. Heck, we ourselves even use them for winter work commuting on days with slushy roads or heavy snowfall.

We have a few years in on our fat bikes and have taken them to some fantastic events. One that sticks out to us was a day in Northeast Ohio where a golf course groomed a path from the clubhouse around the first nine holes.

Local bike shops offered fat bike demos for anyone to test ride. Just like a snowmobile, a fat bike floats on top of the snow, causing little if any environmental impact to the surfaces below the packed snow. The event was casual with food and a fire pit, offering opportunities for experienced and new riders to exchange adventures.

One of our favorite winter Sunday rituals on a day with fresh snow is to wake up, sip some coffee while plotting a 25-40 mile route, maybe even incorporating a quick stop at a local merchant for a hot bowl of homemade soup.

Sometimes the best rides are those right out of your front door. A particular ride that comes to mind was Super Bowl Sunday, 2015. Knowing traffic would be light and having the roads mostly to ourselves, we set out for a 50-mile day largely on roads with little to no winter maintenance.

We ended up in a blizzard with nearly less than a foot of visibility in front of us. We couldn’t see the sides of the road ... Were we even on the road? It was a real life snow globe swirling around us.

Keeping our safety in mind at all times, we use a rear facing flashing light that has been specifically designed for visibility during the daytime. It has a flash pattern that is designed to draw attention therefore letting motorists notice you before they become surprised.

We’ll discuss lighting and clothing in a future column because safety and being seen is extremely important. In the meantime, take a moment at your local bike shop to spin around on one of these monster bikes and take notice next time you see someone riding down your street or on the rails to trails to see if they are on one.

You’ll be surprised to see just how many are out there. Remember ... You don’t have to have a fat tired bike to ride in the winter, but it does make for a fun adventurous way to enjoy the snow.

Travis and Julie Saeler are cycling columnists for the Butler Eagle.