Tour De Fat Comes Home to the Mother Ship

On the subject of festivals getting larger, today was the annual Tour De Fat bicycle/costume parade and celebration in Ft. Collins, hosted by the Fat Tire folks, New Belgium Brewing, at their "mother ship" headquarters. It's gotten big enough that they've had to move all of the activities off the cozy brewery site, and over to the field next door.

There must be more bicycles per square mile every year here, than at any other place or time in Colorado:


Paper Bird performing in front of a happy costumed crowd:



The always-popular "Slow Ride" competition (this year on grass instead of pavement): the slowest ride across 20 yards or so, wins. A foot on the ground, going backwards, or standing in place eliminates you.



And back for the second year was the Slow Ride Choir (w/Paper Bird this year), singing "Time Is My Side" during the finals:



A gallery of vintage and homebrew bikes:


Some Schwinn vintage classics:


A couch bike:


This strong cycling team pulled a car through the parade!

In the bike boom of the seventies, this Peugeot ten-speed was the bike to have:


The whole show moves to City Park in Denver next weekend (September 13, 2008) if you missed this one, or want to see it again.