Ballyhoos of bikes and beer and fatness

When the kids are out of school, and people care less about when I show up for work and how smelly I might be when I get there, I take the slow route and ride my fat tire bike up the road like a 1950's paperboy on 'ludes. It's a slow and steady ride the way I take it, and it's not unusual for me to imagine hearing the quavering voice of Devendra in my head while I snake up into the buckle of Sleepy Hollow. "Fat tire" has begun to mean to me an exploratory, unhurried way of things, journeys during which I try to gather the answers for most of the day's questions before I arrive to encounter them. In the same way that I like to believe Jeff Lebesch came up with his amber ale recipe while riding a similar bike (albeit with fancy lantern and bell) slowly across the easy, ambling roads of Belgium, I like to believe the zen-like state helps me compose from thin air, like this ultra-reduced partial mash brown ale recipe I wrote up for Chris the other day.

Which leads me to this weekend. Both New Belgium's annual Tour de Fat in Golden Gate Park and the second annual Fairfax Fat Tire Festival (of no obvious relation) are happening on Saturday, and it's more than possible to travel from one to the other via your favorite 2-wheeled transport. Of course, as it's supposed to be in the low 90's on Saturday, this might be a tour best enjoyed in the luxury of an air conditioned vehicle (with a designated driver, of course). I'll be there, just look for the guy in the yellow Tour t-shirt with the fat tire around his belly.