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Sunday, August 27, 2023

hold the fat

 To quote Bette Midler in The Rose, yesterday, I felt like "a waitress in the banquet of life".

Yesterday was Tour de Fat here in Fort Collins, one of our largest unwritten "holidays".














"Tour De Fat is an annual, free-to-participate event put on by New Belgium Brewing Company featuring live music, costumes, beer and bikes"

It begins with a huge bike parade down scenic Mountain Avenue - which, by the way, was the route Magnum and I were on for his fateful crash and burn a few weeks ago, thankfully not during a massively attended parade. The parade finishes up at New Belgium where the fun and festivities continue. 


Magnum and I attended our first Tour de Fat last year  - such a happy event. It didn't happen in 2020 or 2021 because of you-know-what. 

I knew in the back of my mind that it happens around Labor Day, and a couple of weeks ago, I saw that it would be Aug. 26th this year.



And I thought, "hmmm, that date sounds familiar". Oh yeah, I was scheduled to work that day, harumph

Our testing center is open for 5 hours every Saturday, and Boss schedules two people to staff it on a rotating basis. So while my Monday thru Friday schedule is very predictable, the Saturday rotations come around when they come around. So yep, it was Triple Dee, Chili, and me working on Tour de Fat Saturday.

Not a hardship, really. I probably could've gotten someone to switch if I was desperate, but I wasn't. I enjoy the parade and bikes and costumes and people watching, but I'm okay to leave the festivities to the young folk.

On my commute home, the bike path was clearly a bit more crowded than usual with people heading home from Tour de Fat - silly costumes, decorated bicycles, large groups in matching shirts, etc. I understand there were lots of Barbies and related gear this year.

And there I was, in with them for a short bit, in my conservative Saturday going-to-work clothes.

So I'm sure it was fun, weather was good, and attendance was high. I'll plan to be at the next thing:

Tour de Corgi!


6 comments:

Jeanette said...

That does look fun!

Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) said...

Why is called Tour de Fat? Inquiring minds wanna know.

Abby said...

Jeanette, it's a pretty wholesome event too. Fun for all ages, even though there's beer.

Peggy, I'm pretty sure it's a blend of "Tour de France" bike race and "Fat Tire" beer - with a bicycle logo - from New Belgium brewery (hence the bicycle themed shenanigans).

Danielle L Zecher said...

The Tour de Corgi sounds awesome! Please share pictures of that one! :-)

Allstarme79 said...

That looks like a pretty cool event!

Abby said...

Danielle, Tour de Corgi is super cute. The parade does move a bit slower than for Tour de Fat.

Allstarme79, it is a lot of fun. It rained all day the day before, but the weather gods smiled on Tour de Fat.