Bucket list item achieved! For years I’ve wanted to ride in the Tour de Fat1, an annual bike parade sponsored by New Belgium Brewery. And, of course, I’ve wanted to proudly showcase my New Belgium cruiser bike. It’s as natural of a combination as beer and pretzels. (Or wine and cheese for the celiacs.) Back in 2010 when my dad won the bike in a liquor store raffle, he rode it in the Tour de Fat. I remember being a spectator that year and seeing how fun it looked. For reasons unknown (busy life) we have never made it back to this annual parade. But today was my Sturgis!
Today, the dream became a reality when we loaded up the cruiser and Greg’s bike, drove up to Fort Collins, and experienced what can only be described as the most off-the-wall, wacky, bike-forward costume party I’ve ever seen. The parade itself consists of people of all ages on anything human-powered that rolls. Let’s just say the term “bike” is very subjective. And the costumes are next level! This will be a very photo-heavy entry because you really have to see it to believe it. There was so much more to it than this tiny snapshot of the event, but it was very crowded making it hard to safely get a pictures of everything.
The parade follows a simple east-west route up and down Mountain Ave. just a few blocks west of old downtown. This road has a beautiful grassy median so the parade heads west for several blocks and then turns back east on the other side of the street. You can do the loop as many times as you please - or become a spectator. It reminded me of the Bolder Boulder, Boulder’s famous 10K race with lots of hi-jinx along the way. Today we encountered drum circles, beer pong, lemonade stands, lots of bubbles, and much more!
Here are some of the sights from the route. Click on each one if you’d like to see the full picture. There’s Greg in the last one!
My favorite costume of the day is below. Word Nerds Unite!! The woman (left) is Wordle and the guy (right) is Connections. Two of my favorite NYTimes games! His puzzle was solvable and there’s a QR code below if you want to try it. So clever! I’m thinking about dressing up as the Spelling Bee next year, my all-time favorite game.
Here I am cruising along in the crowd. Look at the guy next to me checking out my super cool wheels!
Here is one short video of the action. There are bubbles at the end!
After the parade, many riders make their way over to the New Belgium Brewery for beer, music, games, and other festivities. It was verrrrrry crowded there so we just stayed a few minutes. And check out the bike parking. Thousands of bikes as far as the eye could see.
Mine wasn’t the only New Belgium cruiser there, of course. Here are a couple other beauties we spotted. New Belgium makes a limited number of custom cruisers every year. So fun!
My next Freewheeling posts will be from France. Ooh la la! We are headed there next week for a 6-day bike tour of Burgundy (Burgogne). I will be back with tales from Europe tout suite. Happy trails, everyone!
In case you’re wondering about the name Tour de Fat, it’s named after New Belgium’s most famous beer, the Fat Tire Amber Ale. An iconic beer recognized far and wide.