Thank you, everyone!
Thank you everyone, for another fun and successful Tour de Fat! Bicycles were ridden, beer was enjoyed, and entertainment was had by all. In upcoming days, as we recover from the fun and take stock of things, we’ll provide more details on how the event went. Again, all proceeds from the Tour de Fat benefit four local nonprofit biking organizations: TBAG, the Bike Saviours, the Mountain Biking Association of Arizona, and the Central Arizona Mountain Bike Patrol.
In the meantime, mark your calendars for the following upcoming events, some organized by the City of Tempe and some by TBAG:
Wednesday, October 15: Tempe Walk to School Day.
Check the Tempe in Motion website for details.
Saturday, October 18, 10 am, Tempe Beach Park Entrance: Cupcake Ride to Lulu’s Cupcakes (4-mile leisurely ride or 15-mile appetite-stimulating ride)
SUNDAY, October 26: 13th annual Tour de Tempe bike ride
Registration starts at 7 am, the ride starts at 8:30 am, departing from Kiwanis Park
TBAG volunteers will be on hand to serve as ride marshals.
See the Tempe in Motion website for more details.
Sunday, November 2, 3-5 pm: Annual Membership Meeting, location TBA
It looked like a great event glad I could help out.
The ultimate bike warrior of the afternoon, however, was Jennifer Glass, a PhD student at Arizona State University who traded in her 1996 Volkswagon Jetta at the event in exchange for a $3,500 custom-made bike.
“I’m going to miss it,” Glass said of the car. “But I’m not going to miss sitting in traffic or the emissions it causes. I’m excited to donate to a good cause.”
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2008/10/tour_de_fat_trades_car_culture.php
I use the money I save to travel :).
I know get around more places than I did with a car HA!
Fight the broken system with your choice to reduce or eliminate.
Thanks again, everybody!
I’ve actually been car-less for several weeks, now. Remember that hurricane-force wind storm that blew down all the trees on Hardy and Fifth? Well, it also ripped the top off my ’68 VW pop-top camper. And State Farm insurance and their “preferred” body shop have been pretty much sitting on their thumbs since then. They’ve finally decided to total the car — never mind that it’s a few hundred dollars in parts and a day’s worth of labor, they think it’s thousands in parts and at least a week of labor. I tried arguing with them…until I finally realized I should just shut up, take the money (I get to keep the car), and run.
It’ll still be at least a couple weeks before my shade-tree mechanic can fit me into his schedule…so I’ll have been without motorized transportation for 2-3 months all told, depending.
I’m mostly telecommuting, so that takes care of a big chunk of it. I’ve been able to do all my grocery shopping and other kinds of errands on the bike. I can’t fit the trumpets on the bike, so I’ve been bumming rides to rehearsals. And I borrowed my parents’ ’55 VW Bug to take the cat to the vet.
I miss the Camper, and I’m really looking forward to getting her back. But I was already putting many more miles on the bike than on the car before the storm. I was on track to fill up less than a dozen times this year; now, that’s no challenge at all.
If only I can figure out some way of packing the trumpets, I’d almost never actually *need* to drive — just when hauling lots of stuff, or when I need to go long distances in little time.
That’s a lot of rambling. But seeing Dr.-to-be Glass on Saturday has been that much more inspiration. I wouldn’t have made the trade, but I’m really not that far away, either….
Cheers,
b&
That is a great story Ben G. It only takes one trip to get the wheels in motoivation.
http://www.bikesatwork.com/
These people will provide you a trailer which can move almost anything.
I use a Burley nomad works great and fits in a shopping cart.
Oct 26th is actually a Sunday. Just an FYI.
Yeah, I want to confirm – Tour de Tempe is scheduled for the 26th which is a Sunday, right?
That’s correct, Tom and Jeremy–Tour de Tempe is on SUNDAY, October 26. I have edited the entry to reflect the correct day of the week. Thanks for noting the mistake!
Well said, finally a good report on this stuff
While this topic can be very frustrating for most people, my belief is that there has to be a middle or common ground that we all can find. I do value that you’ve added pertinent and intelligent commentary here though. Very much thanks to you!