Another weekend filled with noteworthy biking events and once again I am out of town (this time I’m on the east coast for a visit with family and friends). Since nearly 3,000 miles stand between me and my participation in Seattle’s bike offerings, I demand you all participate so that I may live vicariously through your fun.
Saturday
Tour de Fat – Gasworks Park, 10a.m.-5 p.m., Free (though donations are requested) — New Belgium Brewing’s annual bike festival returns to Seattle for its third year. It starts with a parade through Fremont at 10 am and continues through the day with wacky bike rides, games, performances, and contests. And, since the event is run by New Belgium there will be lots of tasty beer for sale. All proceeds and donations from the event benefit Seattle-based bike advocates Bicycle Alliance of Washington and bike nonprofit Bike Works.
Seattle Century – Magnuson Park, 6 a.m., $80 — If you’d rather put in some real mileage on Saturday instead, the Seattle Century offers fully-supported 50 and 100-mile rides through rural King County. The 100-mile ride starts at 6 am, the 50-miler at 9 a.m. There seems to be nearly as much emphasis on the food being served at the event (continental breakfast, fully-stocked rest stops, “gourmet meal with free beer garden” at the finish line) which is, as I’ve mentioned many times before, one of the best parts of long-distance riding.
Bikes for Africa Bike Drive – West Seattle YMCA, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Free—The Village Bicycle Project, a nonprofit that works to send bikes and specialized bike tools to Africa, is holding a bike collection on Saturday in West Seattle. They’re collecting people’s unwanted bikes, bike parts, frames, wheels, etc to ship to donate.
Tom Furtwangler, local bike blogger and friend of Village Bicycle Project, says, “A bicycle can truly have a transforming impact on the life of someone who lives several miles from their school, work, clinic, or water source: cycling reduces their time in transit, and increases the load they can transport.”
