Tour de Fat, Los Angeles

Tour de Fat volunteer opportunities are available!

If you haven’t experienced Tour de Fat, you just haven’t had enough fun on two wheels! October 8th, New Belgium Brewing’s traveling celebration of all things bicycle returns to the L.A. Historic Park.  Tour de Fat sings the praises of the bike life while raising funds for C.I.C.L.E., the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition, and the Bicycle Kitchen.  It is more than an event; it’s a rite of passage that includes a costumed bicycle parade, New Belgium beer, eye-popping entertainment, local food, bizarre bike contests and much more.  Here’s a breakdown of what to expect!

Costumed Bicycle Parade

Share your love of the bicycle life as you ride through downtown Los Angeles in a festive group ride.

When: 11:00am-noon (arrive early to register)

What to bring: Your most expressive costume, your bicycle in good working condition, a suggested donation of $5 for the LACBC (ride organizers).  All participants should be able to ride a bike safely with the ability to brake, change gears, and balance while stopping and starting. All participants under 18 must wear a helmet and be escorted by a parent or guardian. Children under age 8 should be on a tag-a-long, bike trailer, tandem, or other safe child-carrying device to participate in the ride.

Music, Theatrics, Fun, and Beer!

Stay and enjoy the fun after the ride with music and theatrics by Daredevil Chicken Club, The Dovekins, YoYo Squared, and Mucca Pazza.  Sing your heart out in the Karaoke-porta-john, take a ride in the wacky bicycle pit, enjoy cold New Belgium Brews, make new friends, and celebrate the Los Angeles bicycle community.

When: noon-5:00pm

What to bring: You and all your friends!

Bike Swap

A highlight of Tour de Fat is the annual car-for-bike swap. At each Tour de Fat stop, one person will hand over his or her car keys and commit to one year of living car-free. Tour de Fat is now seeking volunteers to accept the swapper challenge. Each car-for-bike swapper will receive a hand-built Black Sheep commuter bike in return for their car.

Volunteers are chosen after submitting an application describing their desire to live sans-car.  To submit, go to the New Belgium Tour de Fat Facebook page, click on events and your city of choice, and upload your application in one of three formats: video (two minutes or less, please), photo or the written word.

“The car-for-bike swap epitomizes Tour de Fat, wherein one brave soul makes the commitment to live car-free while inspiring others to think about driving alternatives,” said Bryan Simpson, spokesman for New Belgium. “We’re building a network of folks who originally said they’d leave their car behind for a year, but are still living car-free today.”

A few tidbits about Tour de Fat:

Tour de Fat encourages everybody to team up and present each city with the most colorful, respectful and creative bike parade ever witnessed. (Hint: No one stands out like the guy who was too cool for a costume!)

Tour de Fat seeks to leave as small an environmental imprint as possible and composts and recycles waste.  The waste diversion rate for 2010 was 91 percent.

Tour de Fat is free to attend, but beer and merchandise proceeds go to local cycling non-profits. During its lifespan, Tour de Fat events have raised more than $1.75 million for philanthropy.  Last year Tour de Fat raised $331,428.

All musical acts perform on a solar-powered stage decorated with recycled materials; trucks and transport use biofuel sourced from recycled waste oils; and all vendors operate off the grid.

This is a pro-bike celebration, not an anti-car rally…non-cyclists are more than welcome to join the festivities.

See http://www.facebook.com/TourDeFat for the Tour de Fat credo, schedules, videos and to submit your entry to swap your gas guzzler for a shiny new bicycle.