Event Name: New Belgium Brewery, 9th Annual Fat Tire Festival

Event Date: April 29 - May 2, 2024

Location: Fruita, CO

Comments: Fruita proved to be a full weekend; surrounded by a Mecca of the best mountain bike trails in the country. It was the place to be in Colorado that weekend!

The event started out on Friday with a full day of expo. The RV was parked in the tech area with many bike vendors. Magazines went into race bags so that all the athletes had copies. Mike Lee was on hand to help with promotion at the event.  Friday night was quiet, as athletes rested up for an early morning wake up call the next morning.

Saturday started at the race site, Rabbit Valley Trail, where the pro’s kicked off the event, followed by a handful of others to support riders of all categories. The afternoon circled back around to Fruita with an all day expo, where athletes returning from their morning ride and many local folks came out to browse the latest and greatest gear.

The real race kicked off at 2pm, THE CLUNKER CRIT. The idea behind this is that entrants could arrive on whatever backyard contraption of a bike they could find, and if you did not have one, one was provided for you.  If that was not enough, it was a free for all when it came to race attire. Not many could outshine the man in the blouse and leather mini-skirt.

After a full day of expo, Denny DePriest of T3 Coaching was on site to support the event, which continued into the evening with a plentitude of Fat Tire brew, reggae rhythms, and so much schwag tossed to the crowd you would think it was falling from the sky! Not one person was shy of an ASM koozie by the time Ty was through with them. Come on, it WAS a beer festival.