Eggs and Sausage and a side of Toast: Mattias bore witness to the Tour de Fat; and he saw that it was good...

...And so Mattias set out on his search to find the beer of the bicycle of which Jenn Fisher had spoken this very Thursday Eve. Beyond the Lake of Tempe he joined his friends, and there was much rejoicing. Yay!

Brittany, Jenn, Mattias, Kim, Alex and Adam

Today, I made it to my first Tour De Fat, a beer and bicycle festival sponsored by New Belgium Brewing Company. For those of you not familar with them, it's a Colorado-based brewery whose signature beer Fat Tire is quite well-liked out west. For you Pennsylvanians, I call it the Yuengling of the West. Overrated and unduly popular! Zing!

But I digress. And they make a number of other beers that I do enjoy. Anyway, every year, New Belgium organizes a tour of charity events to promote environmental causes and, most specifically, bike riding to replace the use of cars. This stage of the Tour de Fat was held at Tempe Town Lake and they couldn't have picked a better day. The weather was perfect: 75 degrees (24 Celsius) and sunny with a nice, at times even brisk, breeze.

Brittany 'Car-Tire' German

Unfortunately I was ill-prepared for the event and did not realize that there was a costumed bicycle parade earlier in the morning, so I arrived too late to see it. And, judging from the costumes people were still wearing it would have been a sight worth seeing. Next year!

The Main Stage

The actual festival consisted of an enclosed area with a main stage, beer tents, various booths and stations, and a mini-arena filled with all kinds of crazy, custom-made bikes for you to try. My personal favorites were the bike with the tires replaced by shoes fastened at the end of the spokes, and the octacycle. Ok - enough talking and time for more pictures.