Every Year 20,000 Costumed People Ride Strange Bicycles Through This Quiet Colorado Town

Take the atmosphere of San Francisco's Bay To Breakers 12K run. Mix in the engineering creativity of the Burning Man festival. Put everyone on a bicycle.

Now add beer.

And you've got yourself a party, Fort Collins, CO-style.

Every year this normally sleepy little college town, home of Colorado State University, transforms into the wildest bike festival in the nation, courtesy of the New Belgium Brewery, headquartered here.

It's called the Tour de Fat, named somewhat after the famous Tour de France bike race and NBB's most popular flavor of beer, Fat Tire. All proceeds from beer sales are donated to bicycle-themed non-profits.

NBB hosts a dozen Tour de Fat festivals in cities across the nation: Atlanta; Washington D.C.; Durham, N.C.; Nashville; Chicago; Minneapolis; Boise; Denver; San Francisco; San Diego and Tempe, AZ. So there's still time to catch one.