2007 Tour de Fat

Yesterday we attended the Tour de Fat. Pictures and words don't do this event justice...you had to be there! I'll do my best to give you some highlights though. I arrived to this event "on time". Anyone who knows me, will find this to be out of the ordinary. This just goes to show you where my priorities are at. I did NOT want to miss the bike parade! We loaded up the bikes and headed up into the mountains for Truckee, CA.

Soon after I arrived I had the fine pleasure of meeting Mr. Wolfy of Team Bacon Strip. We had good talk of blogs and bikes, and he hooked me up with a few TBS stickers. I also learned that he and some others had ridden to Truckee the night before and camped. I thought that was pretty cool. Quite an accomplishment with all that camping gear if you ask me. This sort of thing went perfect with the whole event though. The main theme of the Tour de Fat was a move away over consumption, wastefulness, and heavy reliance on petroleum. I had planned to talk with Wolfy later in the day, but never saw him again. I take that back. I did see him once in the freak bike arena, but using every ounce of concentration to ride, I was not able to speak to him. Go check out The Bacon Strip. It's good reading!

The event kicked off with a bicycle parade through Truckee. Any type of bicycle you can imagine was there. Many bikes looked like Dr. Seuss had been the chief designer. We got behind a bike towing a music trailer, and enjoyed the tunes for a while. Vegan Charlie mistook the event for a race though, so we had to catch up to him, leaving the tunes behind.



Music Trailer

The parade route took us through downtown Truckee. Traffic was not blocked off, and most if not all the bystanders seemed a bit stunned to see so many bicycles coming by, not to mention the costumes and freak bikes. For a short time, bikes ruled the streets, and cars were made to wait. One cyclist in an Indian head dress positioned himself in front of a Hummer and then just stopped. He sat there for a good while and allowed the cyclists safe passage. I praised him for his fine work when we got back to the park.

After the parade was over, it was time to enjoy the beer, sights, and sounds. And believe me, there was plenty of everything. New Belgium was there with most of there beers on tap. I had most of them, and all were delicious. I think the mood and theme made them taste even better. Now some might think that with all the beer that was flowing, things would get out of hand. This was not the case though. It wasn't even rowdy. People just seemed to be having a good time and laughing a lot. Nobody that I saw appeared to be intoxicated. Plenty of people, including me, were there with their kids. The kids were having just as much fun as the adults. I think this says a lot about cycling and the cycling culture. It's largely a happy, peaceful, and fun loving bunch!

In addition to the new friends we met, we ran into familiar faces...Brent, Sandie, and Robin, guys from the local shops, riders I've met out on the trail, and the riders from the local cruiser scene. The Slow Rollers, Gonads and Strife, and The Rusted Chain Gang were all represented by their fearless leaders. All three groups mentioned have rides coming up soon...stay tuned!

As you could probably surmise from all the pictures here, something out of the ordinary was going on at the Tour de Fat. All day long there was music and entertainment. Everything had a quasi-carnival-circus-vaudeville feel to it. And when I say carnival, I don't mean meth addict, 80's Aerosmith Tour Jersey, Tilt-a-Whirl, missing teeth carnival. Old time carnival. Traveling performers and musicians. To be laying in the grass, sipping a Mothership Wit, listening to live accordion music, while three girls in pink poodle costumes prance by you, is to be totally disconnected from your usual life. It was very surreal. I had thoughts of joining the circus and living the life of a gypsy.



I have one simple request, and that's, "Fire jugglers riding frickin' flame shooting pogo sticks!"


Halfway through the event, my camera started flipping out. It would only take images like this! Fortunately, Brent and Sandie took a bunch of pictures too, and even let me snap a few with their camera. The camera that broke was responsible for almost all the pictures you see on this blog! It will be missed. Kristy investigated, and it looks like we bought the extended warranty. A replacement camera may be in the near future! With any luck, it will be upgraded. For you, the reader, this means more megapixels packed into the same amount of viewing time. It will be quite a value that I will be pleased to pass onto you at no additional charge.

Throughout the day we enjoyed a variety of vegan victuals. The vegetarian food went well with the theme of the day. Less energy. Bicycle Power. There were no trash cans. They had a compost station setup. Beer cups and forks were made from corn starch and were compostable as well as were the paper plates. The shows were powered mostly (if not 100%) by solar power. Tour buses run on bio diesel. Many people went to a tent and made written pledges to drive their cars less. As one guy said, oil is not a bad thing, it is our overuse of it. As Americans, we tend to take more than our fair share of the world's remaining non-renewable energy sources. The Tour de Fat proved how much fun you can still have at a "powered down" event. I believe this is something everyone will take home and incorporate into their daily lives.



And another thing...Yay for Beer!

The complete photoset is HERE.

Taking it Easy

Why yes, it is three inches bigger!
Originally uploaded by Facility Bike Club.

We decided not to do a big road ride today, since we have a century (metric) ride coming up next weekend. We had originally planned not to ride today, but were talked into it (quite easily I might add) last night right before bed.

We loaded up the mountain bikes and headed for the Pine Nuts trail head. The girls did a loop in the main valley, and I talked the Jeffs into a loop in the next valley over. I had ridden the loop several times before, but it was on my motorcycle. I was hoping it would be as fun on the bicycles. How far would the Jeff's follow me if the trail sucked?

Jeff F. was on a full suspensioned geared bike, I was on my single speed, and Jeff P. was on his new 29er single speed. A few miles in, we got to this very smooth hard packed road. We had the wind at our backs, and we were making good time down the hill. But then it dead ended into private property. Shoot...would I remember how to find the trail? It had been a couple years... We back tracked a ways, and then found a road that looked familiar.

We found the single track that crossed the valley, and it was great. Smooth, twisty, and almost no climbing. It was very relaxing. And the Jeff's praised me. After crossing the valley, the trail turned into miles of rocky uphill. In between the rocky sections were deep unrideable sand washes. I thought the Jeff's might bludgeon me with a rock and stash my body, but they actually appeared to be having fun!

We finally made it to the ridge trail that I was seeking, and the payoff was great. Even better than I had expected! We got to enjoy a couple miles of fast rolling single track along the ridge. We all had smiles at the end.

We encountered quite a few rocks on the way back, and they started taking a toll on my body. The rigid forks were beating me up. Jeff P. seemed to be in much better shape with his rigid forked 29er. The accumulated smoothness of the larger wheels seems to be a big plus for enduring longer rides (that, and Jeff P. is a better rider than me). I could see the Jeff's way up ahead, but they'd wait for me to catch up once in a while. They're nice like that.

When we finally made it back to the trail head, we figured we did about 30 miles. That's by far the longest I've done on the single speed yet! As I type this, I'm feeling totally wiped out. So much for taking it easy...

Kristy's 29er

Kristy ordered an On One Inbred 29er last week, and it arrived on Monday. We assembled it on Monday night, and Kristy has ridden it a couple times this week. Today I rode my On One 26er...basically the same bike with smaller wheels. Both are single speeds, steel frames, with no suspension. The 29er has a slightly higher bottom bracket, but the flat bars are about the same height as my riser bars.

Kristy even let me ride it towards the end of the dirt section. I've been wanting to try a 29 inch wheeled bike for quite some time now. I was going to try to be very careful during my first test ride, and note any subtle differences in the way the bikes handled. I thought I may even have to ride a section a couple times to notice something.

I ended up being surprised instantly though. The bigger wheels rolled over stuff much easier. Little bumps and rocks seemed to disappear. I still felt the larger impacts of course, since it has a rigid fork. Conversely, Kristy said my bike felt like a pinball...bouncing off every little thing in the trail. Kristy will be riding her Stump Jumper with some friends in Reno tomorrow, and has agreed to let me test ride the 29er some more. I can't wait!

Hmm.... a 29r Single Speed?

So the other night Jeff and I were on the Internet for hours looking at frames. We decided it would be cool to get a 29r single speed frame. That way the bigger tires would soften the bumps a little while keeping the front end light too. After looking at many frames we kept coming back to this Karate Monkey by Surly. I really liked the frame and it comes with a matching fork. You all know how I like to match.

I could run the bike single speed, geared, 1x9, rim brakes, disc brakes, put a rack on it, run just about any tire width...it's very versatile! And the price is right...

And Jeff just pointed out that the initials for Karate Monkey, KM, match my initials!

Going Single!

I have wanted a single speed for a while now, but would I be strong enough to ride it? That has been the big question on my mind, so I decided to try out Jeff's bike first. So yesterday, we switched bikes. I rode the Inbred and Jeff rode my Stumpy. After we adjusted seat heights we were off. Other than the Inbred being a bit long, it was a nice fit. We did the RR Grade, an easier ride, perfect for my trial. We headed through town towards the bike path when Sandie asked me, "how do you like it?" At this point it was great, I was able to keep up with the group and felt comfortable pedaling. I was still apprehensive because the true test would be on the climbs.

On the RR Grade I was surprised to find that it was a little easier pedaling up the hills, as long as I charged them with a little speed. The front of the bike felt so much lighter than my mountain bike. This bike just wanted to fly up them. It was kind of exhilarating! I didn't realize how much difference a couple of pounds make on a climb. Felt like I was on my road bike, kinda sorta. I also found that I needed to balance a bit more, to get my momentum going on steeper sections of the trail. Usually, I would just down shift but that wasn't an option. I did miss my suspension a little bit on rocky sections, however I don't know that I would want to add any weight on the front. I really liked the front light. I even climbed a couple of hills, that I rarely make on my Stumpy. Amy and I had so much fun we decided to do the route again, as the rest of the lunch bunch went back to the office. We also ran into Kathy and Mike while on the ride, it was good to see them!

I had a blast! I can't wait to get my own.