Two years ago, Ernest Gagnon weighed 570 pounds. The 30-year-old lived in self-imposed exile in his Massachusetts apartment, leaving only to go to work and to the grocery store. He was depressed, lonely and suffering from crippling anxiety.
Then the doctors gave him the news and two choices: Gagnon had type 2 diabetes; he could undergo gastric bypass surgery or die.
This past weekend I took the family to the much anticipated Tour de Fat at the Yards Park in DC and I must say that there was nothing lame anywhere to be found. (Except the Yankees winning a block away)
There were lots of oversized board game classics...
There was lots of meandering...
There was a fake/real gameshow...
There were lots of chicks with drums, some say those are the best kind of chicks....
There was me on what I can easily say was the most fun "bike" type machine I've ever ridden. The concept of this amazing contraption was simple; make a bigwheel for grownups that power-slides every time you make the slightest turn. The best part was that if you turned too hard it would send you rolling off, combining my two favorite adrenaline boosting activities; power-sliding and wrecking. Thank you New Belgium!
Here are some power-sliding action shots:
And here is a wrecking shot.
There were lots of other bike oddities to wreck on...
Yeah that's my voice talking to my 3.5 year old. Suck it.
I was unaware at the time but this video I captured Gwadzilla, (in the pink helmet) deftly outspinning his opponents who were flung far and wide and left hoist in their own petard. (0:45sec)
The event culminated in a ceremony honoring a DC citizen who traded her car in for a bike. Props.
So a damn good time was had and a bunch of money was raised. Cheers to New Belgium and WABA.
A friend sent me a link to Half Moon Cycling today. I am impressed on many levels; the first of which being that there is an ass printed right where your ass should go, that's just good common sense. Also, any logo that looks like boobs is a good one in my book. The flaw I see with this product is that anyone with a pair of bib shorts and a some scissors can make their own ass bibs in a matter of minutes. Having said that, these have moved to the top of my "Shit I Must Have" list.
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