Trade your Car for a Bike?

Submitted by TimJFowler on Thu, 2007/08/23 - 6:05pm
in
Team Wonderbike

That's the proposition from the folks at the New Belgium Brewery (makers of Fat Tire Ale). If you will donate your car, sign over the title to a charity, and give it away completely ... the New Belgium Brewery will give you a custom-fitted commuter bike. Wow! Now you have to commit to riding the bike (and not driving a car) for a full year, submit a video or letter application, but that's about it. If you're ready to give up your car completely go to FollowYourFolly.com and go to the Bike Trade section of the website for more info.

If you're like me, and not ready to completely leave the car behind, maybe you can join Team Wonderbike. Team Wonderbike is a bicycle commuting club sponsored by New Belgium Brewery that is open to anyone who will promise to ride to work at least twice a month. Wonderbikers receive a quarterly newsletter, eligibility for bike-related drawings, and a forum to post ideas, stories and images. Call me a wimp - but that seems like a more manageable way to get rolling with bike commuting (bad pun intended). More info can be found at FollowYourFolly.com. If you sign up at one of the Tour de Fat events you get a pant leg strap, a patch kit and a bike badge.

This is all tied in to New Belgium's Tour de Fat, which is a festival of beer and bike related folly. Here are the stops on the 2007 Tour de Fat.

Denver, CO: 7/7
San Francisco, CA: 7/21
Truckee, CA: 7/28
Seattle, WA: 8/11
Portland, OR: 8/18
Boise, ID: 8/25
Missoula, MT: 9/1
Durango, CO: 9/15
Fort Collins, CO: 9/22
Flagstaff, AZ: 10/6
Tempe, AZ: 10/13
Austin, TX: 10/20

Unfortunately, the Tour de Fat isn't coming to New Mexico this year. Maybe if enough of us give them a call or an email they will stop in Santa Fe or Albuquerque next year.