Everyone in Fort Collins has heard of New Belgium. The company is known for its Eco-friendly business tactics, great tasting beer, and unique fun atmosphere. Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan Started the company in their Fort Collins basement in 1991, and ended up expanding it to 15 states. New Belgium offers its employees amazing benefits such as a free bike after 1 yr with the company and a trip to Belgium after five years. To hear the full history of the place, and to get some free beer I would recommend you go on the Brewery tour though.
Anyway, This weekend I attended Tour de Fat; which for those of you that don’t know is basically the craziest largest bike parade around town that ends in alot of drinking good beer, eating good food, and having a great time.
I am not quite sure how long New Belgium has been doing this for, but it is done in 11 cities across the country. Every year I guess the number of people that ride grows. This year over 7,000 people showed up dressed in some of the wackiest costumes ever. The starting line was a solid chuck of bikes for about five city blocks. With all this chaos its a good thing their are biking commandments. The best view of all of this is on the couches on fork lifts. One of the most impressive parts of this whole thing is that every year someone trades in their car for a New Belgium bike.
This being an election yearI saw masks and signs for every politician. Even oddly a few Richard Nixon masks. There was a guy in a full body gorilla suit that had to have been dying of heat, and even an entire family with lamp shades on top of their helmets.
; which kinda reminded me of that Brad Paisley song “Alcohol.” My favorite though had to have been either Waldo or the shower curtain bike. How some of the riders stay on their bikes with the contraptions and decorations built around them I have no idea. Anyway, its a great semi eccentric way to spend a Saturday, and I really enjoyed it, so as the New Belgium motto goes Follow your Folly, and check it out sometime.
Every year I want to attend this event and always end up missing out at the last moment; there’s always next year!
I didn’t go for the bike ride associated with the Tour de Fat. However, I was able to see many of the people riding their bikes in the full regalia. At the time I had no clue what was going on and why people were dressed up and riding bikes. It definitely looked like a lot of fun and hope that I can participate sometime in the near future.
On a side note, the picture with the couches looks really cool! Where do I sign up?
I didn’t get to go to Tour de Fat because I was out of town. It’s great getting to see pictures from it though. Looks like it was a blast!