Tour de Fat

Goodbye 2008…

Juice Box — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:37:47 +0000

Well the 2008 Tour De Fat season has come to a close and frankly world, I am a little weepy. There has been many fun times in many fun places, great shows, great parties, great parades, great carnage, great creativity, and (ahem) decent blogging.
I would like to extend my hand upwards and offer you, the wonderful people of the world an enthusiastic high five (capitol H and capitol F implied). Team TDF couldn’t have done it without you (well we could have, but it would have been a gigantic waste of time and energy, and think of how silly we would have looked sitting in the park with all those tents popped and that stage built and the big balloon in the air and no crowd of people to enjoy it, we would have looked silly indeed).
A lovely winter season to you and yours, and I will see you next year.

-the Juice-Box

Tour de Fat Austin Video!

double_a — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:07:33 +0000

Watch Logan trade her car for a New Belgium Black Sheep commuter bike!

Austin we love you!

Ride On!

Austin, you’re the best…

Juice Box — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:23:02 +0000

well, I am back at the beer factory now and trying to scoop up what remains my mind being blown by your lovely town. What a week. There were good times had all over the place, but I would like to outline my Friday for you: woke up very early (6:30 in the am (until this summer I was unaware there was a 6:30 in the morning, I thought 6:30 just happened once, much later in a day)). Then went to Fiesta Gardens to set up the big show. That went very well, we had good help and and a great plan and things went smoothly, as if we were skating on a freshly Zambonied pond. After set up was done I went back to the hotel and showered (much needed, due in part to the humidity in Texas). I cleaned myself up real nice, brushed the chompers and made my (accompianied by the rest of the TDF crew) way over to the Sustainable Waves work space (they are the staging company we have been using on the TDF for quite some time now) and we ate delicious tacos and drank Lone Star and chatted about all the good times. When our fill was had and when foil ball bowling came to an end we pushed forward to the Compound (this is where the folks from Nomad Sound (the sound company for the TDF) call home), just in time to catch Paper Bird, those guys sure can play. We had more good times there with music and beers and nice people. Then the crew split up, some stayed at the Compound and some of us went next door to the Scoot Inn. There we enjoyed an immense patio and more live music, it was alright (and by alright I mean super awesome). We danced and joked and somehow got in for free. There was a cat at the bar named Mr. Cat, he was a little bitey and sharp, but what are you going to do but keep on trying to pet him, then get bitten on the thumb and laugh and howl because you knew it was coming. Then the night was drawing to a close and we all walked back to the hotel to get some rest for the big show on Saturday. Friday night was super and I wish all my Friday night’s to come are just as super.

Then the big show, wow.

Mucca Pazza is pretty great huh?

That call and response thingy they did was real cool, playing over the top of the crowd made for some fun, and everybody was into it.
Highlight of the day though had to be the parade. If you missed out on it don’t ever miss out on it again, great music pulled by the carnies, tons of hooting and hollering, then that sweet back and forth high five section, what a great way to start out a day.

Thanks for everyone who came, team TDF had one a laugh per minute (and in some cases a much higher ratio).
see you next year Austin

-Juicebox

Durango tango

Ms Mel — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:54:54 +0000

I wanna trade my car for a bike in Tempe, Arizona!

Ms Mel — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:02:47 +0000

Hello and thanks for providing the opportunity to trade in a car for a bike at the 2008 Tour de Fat Festival in Tempe, Arizona!

I am a Ph.D. student in geological sciences at Arizona State University, and as an earth scientist, I am very aware of the detrimental impacts of driving. I currently live in Glendale (NW Phoenix Valley) with my boyfriend, Ivan. I commute to ASU in Tempe every day (60 miles round-trip), and he commutes to his workplace in the rural town of Wickenburg, Arizona (100 miles round-trip)– so, we cover 160 miles every day! This amounts to nearly 2 TONS of CO2 we pump into the atmosphere every month; 24 TONS a year! Not to mention the other pollutants that cars emit, such as nitrous oxides and other greenhouse gases. Luckily, Ivan just landed a new job in downtown Phoenix, and we are moving next month. We chose our new apartment based on its close vicinity to Ivan’s work and the new Phoenix light rail system. Ivan plans to bike to work, and I will take the light rail into Tempe each day. We are looking forward to starting our new lifestyle and personally saving 24 tons of CO2 from winding up in the atmosphere above Phoenix every year (and we all know that with Phoenix’s air quality, every little bit counts!).

With these plans for the future, I decided to sell my car. Then I heard about the Tour de Fat car-bike swap. I am a perfect candidate for this exciting opportunity. I have a 1996 black VW Jetta Trek, with 116,000 miles on it. This is the first car I have ever owned; I bought it 2 years ago when I moved to Phoenix from Seattle. I was less than enthusiastic about being a car owner, but with my relationship and every-day-living in the Phoenix Valley, I didn’t see any alternatives. Culture shock soon hit me; I was an environmentally-conscious Seattleite sitting in the 110° heat in traffic in Phoenix, with a lousy AC system. What was I thinking moving to this place? I asked myself. I’ve adapted to this “brown” lifestyle over the last 2 years, but I often get teased by my family in Seattle, since I convinced them to live a greener lifestyle before I moved to Phoenix. You can imagine my joy at the idea of consolidating my commute down to an easy light-rail ride south come December, when the trains start running.

After I get my Ph.D., I plan to become a faculty member in an earth sciences department at another university and start a family. I want to be a role model to my students and my children, by commuting as often as possible by bike, bus and rail. Trading in my car for a bike at the Tour de Fat will be my first step working towards this goal. I would ride my new bike and trailer to the grocery store and Phoenix Farmer’s Market on the weekends, and Ivan would use it to commute just a few blocks east to his office on weekdays. We will take our savings on gas, car insurance and maintenance, and put these funds into supporting local businesses that are sprouting up along the new light rail tracks, revitalizing downtown Phoenix. My family will be visiting from Seattle on October 11, and I look forward to showing them at Tour de Fat that you can be green AND live in the Phoenix Valley! Thanks New Belgium, for all you do to encourage alternative transportation and see you next week for the big party!

Thanks very much for your time, and hope to hear from you soon!

Best,
Jen

Durango…. more like FUN-rango

Juice Box — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:28:59 +0000

That was super fun Durango, so fun in fact I have been laying down for a week and a half just trying to regain my footing in the real world. And since I was laying down and the computer was in the other room I have not been able to post on this here blog, and tell you what fun I had.
What was your favorite part? I had two; first was when that fellow dressed as a traffic cone came into the bike pit and acted like an obsticle, that was pure humor. Then number two, the cruise-ade. Man that parade was fun huh? On the bike path and in the neighborhoods, and how about those little shredders on the really tall unicycles? Those kids were pretty cool. Everybody was so friendly, the people on the sidewalks waving, the police, the cars in traffic…Then when we went through Main Street (I think it was main, but I’m from out-of-town), everybody hootin’ and hollerin’ waving and wishing everybody a happy Saturday, bliss I tell you.
Then after the Tour De Fat yours truely went to the Abbey Theater and saw Paper Bird and March Forth, holy smokes that was the best. I have seen Paper Bird a whole bunch of times this summer and they always impress, but seeing them inside is a totally different feel, real great. Then March Forth did what they do… put on an awe inspiring show (so awe-inspiring in fact I danced, and sweated (seriously, thats a word)). That was fantastic.
Thank you Durango (or should I say FUN-rango) for all the good times.
-Juice Box

Denver does good deeds

Ms Mel — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:45:47 +0000

Tempe Schedule

double_a — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:49:53 +0000

9:00am
BIKE CRUISE-ADE
REGISTRATION BEGINS

10:00am
BIKE PARADE DEPARTS

11:00am
RIDERS RETURN FROM BIKE PARADE, HUNKER DOWN, TAP THE KEGS AND LET THE FESTIVUS BEGIN

11:00am-11:15am (Bicycle Revival Stage)
WELCOME ANNOUNCEMENTS, HOUSE RULES, and INTRODUCTIONS

1:15pm-11:45pm (Bicycle Revival Stage)
Scot Nery – Pancake Juggler

11:45pm-12:15pm (Bicycle Revival Stage)
ACT #1 “SLOW DOWN or THROW DOWN”: Annual Slow Ride Competition

12:15pm-1:15pm (Longhorn Music Stage)
1st BAND: PAPERBIRD

1:15pm-1:45pm (Bicycle Revival Stage)
ACT #2: “Carpocalypse Now”: Funeral Procession & Puppet Show
Culminating in Ecstatic Commuter Bike Raffle

1:45pm-2:45pm (Longhorn Music Stage)

Squirm Burpee Circus
(Nery & Burpee will host Juggling Camp at 3pm)

2:45pm-3:15pm ACT 3: “Would you Trade Your Car for a Bike?” (Bicycle Revival Stage)
Car for Bike Trade

3:15pm-4:00pm (Bicycle Revival Stage)
2nd BAND: Mucca Pazza

4:00pm “THANKS FOR COMING TO TOUR DE FAT!”

October 11, 2008
Location: Temple Town Lake

Austin Schedule

double_a — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:49:31 +0000

9:00am
BIKE CRUISE-ADE
REGISTRATION BEGINS

10:00am
BIKE PARADE DEPARTS

11:00am
RIDERS RETURN FROM BIKE PARADE, HUNKER DOWN, TAP THE KEGS AND LET THE FESTIVUS BEGIN

11:00am-11:15am (Bicycle Revival Stage)
WELCOME ANNOUNCEMENTS, HOUSE RULES, and INTRODUCTIONS

1:15pm-11:45pm (Bicycle Revival Stage)
Scot Nery – Pancake Juggler

11:45pm-12:15pm (Bicycle Revival Stage)
ACT #1 “SLOW DOWN or THROW DOWN”: Annual Slow Ride Competition

12:15pm-1:15pm (Longhorn Music Stage)
1st BAND: PAPERBIRD

1:15pm-1:45pm (Bicycle Revival Stage)
ACT #2: “Carpocalypse Now”: Funeral Procession & Puppet Show
Culminating in Ecstatic Commuter Bike Raffle

1:45pm-2:45pm (Longhorn Music Stage)

Squirm Burpee Circus
(Nery & Burpee will host Juggling Camp at 3pm)

2:45pm-3:15pm ACT 3: “Would you Trade Your Car for a Bike?” (Bicycle Revival Stage)
Car for Bike Trade

3:15pm-4:00pm (Bicycle Revival Stage)
2nd BAND: Mucca Pazza

4:00pm “THANKS FOR COMING TO TOUR DE FAT!”

October 18, 2008
Location: Fiesta Garden

Party at the Beer Factory!

Juice Box — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:44:23 +0000

The home town show has come and gone, and the party at the beer factory was a major success. I think I saw one million smiling faces (and I’m pretty good with numbers and counting and such). The parade couldn’t have been more fun either, there was wierd bikes, great costumes, and a fun strech of road where the come-ers got to high five the go-ers in a direct pass up Mountain st. (I think it was Mountain, I’m from out of town, I not really sure).
Then the party started and the it was awesome. The fine folks from Re-source had a bunch of games set up, and there was three stages (the third acoustic stage was a real treat, a big soothing and acoustic slap on the back for everyone who performed there). And the bike pit, man the bike pit, that was something special. We had great riders and bad, we had stunning performances of strength and skill, and we and horrible performances of clumsiness and carnage, we had fun (and I mean Fun, you know, with a capitol F).
March Fourth (get it Fourth (as in the date) not forth (as in moving forward), its a play on words. One time I knew this marching band that liked to test the phonetical and definitive limits of words/word, and I loved that about them) blew up. Those folks get people to shake it, and man did people shake it in Fort Collins. Out of the one million smiles I saw, I bet 450,000 of them were during that set (dancing and smiling go hand in hand you know).
Anywho, what fun. I am glad I was apart of it, and Fort Collins, I am really glad you were apart of it.

See you next year,

Juice Box