Tour De Fat

So, there's this super cool brewery in Fort Collins called New Belgium Brewing Company. New Belgium is all about beer (brewing it, selling it, drinking it) and bikes (because the guy who started it all would ride his mountain bike through European villages dreaming of brewing awesome beer and starting a company like NB in Fort Collins). One of NB's best known beer is appropriately named Fat Tire, after the owner's days in Europe riding his bike with "fat tires". Anytime I have guests in from out of town, I always try to take them to New Belgium because it's got such a cool atmosphere and well, it's just a touristy thing to do if you're not from here! So every year NB puts on an event called Tour de Fat. It's pretty much an excuse to dress up in the most ridiculous outfit that you can find (think hodge podge rather than Halloween) and ride a bike around the city with 1000 other people dressed in the craziest of outfits. This year me and my roommate decided (semi-last minute) to ride our bikes down there and check it out. The best way I can describe this experience is to quote Kim who said when we got there, "Who knew there were so many freaks in Fort Collins?!" I've included some pictures below to help you get a better idea of this experience. If you've ever run a decent sized road race, it was pretty much like that but everybody was dressed up in crazy outfits and at times, slowly meandering through the streets of Fort Collins on bikes. We only witnessed one crash...a poor guy dressed up in a popcorn box who caught his wheel between the sidewalk and the grass and flipped head first over his handlebars. I am happy to report although he wasn't wearing a helmet, his velocity was low enough to not warrant a traumatic brain injury. He got up, shook it off and continued on his way. One thing is for sure...he was def feelin it the next day, bless his heart!

Yes, this is what you think it is...a couch on a forklift!

A bunch of cars made a wrong turn and had to wait for I'm sure at least an hour for everybody to pass before they could move. Bummer!

So, we didn't actually dress up this year but to Kim's credit, she almost wore a ladybug costume from 6th grade...it turned out to be a bit snug and instead she went with the classic cycling hat.