Tour de Fat, v.2008

Time again for the annual Tour de Fat craziness. Yesterday, eight of us got there a bit early so we could be closer to the front of the pack. Good idea! Turned out "the pack" was over 7,000 strong!

The route changed from past years, taking us through turn-of-the-century neighborhoods and City Park. By the time we got back to New Belgium Brewery's mothership, cyclists were still beginning the parade. The route was 6 1/2 miles long and filled with cyclists the whole way! That's because there were way more than last year's record-busting 4,500 riders!

This was BalticTiger's and my third Tour de Fat. Two years ago, the parade stopped at CSU's oval, someone turned up the disco, and everyone danced as though their lives depended on it.

Last year, we were joined by our friends Deadhead, BikePrincess, SuperNana, and Popeye, and while there wasn't much dancing in the oval, we made up for it with BEER!

This year, we added SuperNana's and Popeye's granddaughters, Crickett and Peanut, to the mix. Which meant no beer, but we stopped afterward for lunch at Rasta Pasta, our favoritest place in Old Town.

That's me and Popeye up top, wearing our trusty dusty tie-dye. Yeah, we copped out with the obvious cliche because it was so easy! Crickett is on the right in her PJs.

Peanut and BalticTiger are sitting in the next photo, waiting for the parade to begin.

And to the right, SuperNana and Peanut are posing in their jammies. Again, because they were so easy to wear. All they had to do that morning was wake up. Yes, they look that great right out of bed.

We had great plans for dressing up this year, but since Deadhead and I are riding the HooDoo 500 next week as a two-man team -- it's a 519-mile bike race in SW Utah -- and since BalticTiger, SuperNana, and BikePrincess are our support crew, our focus and attentions have been elsewhere.

As an example, after riding the Tour de Fat in the morning, we five went on a 160-mile training ride north of Fort Collins, then up to Red Feather Lakes and back down, and then north to Wyoming and back down. We left at 1:30 and got back last night at 9:30.

What a day!