It may have been overcast and windy with temperatures in the 50s, but that did not stop well over 1000 party go-ers -- er, cyclists -- from congregating at the New Belgium Brewing Company for the Tour de Fat on Saturday. Even Big Bird showed up. Yes, Big Bird!

Here is evidence of our tall, yellow, feathered friend making his annual migration through Old Town in Fort Collins. Why he chose to ride a blue banana-seat bicycle instead of just flapping his wings is unknown but perhaps it was so he could mingle more effectively with some of the other animals present. Such as the tiger beating on a drum...

For sure, a good time was had by all of those who were brave enough to roll out their two- (or one-, three- or SEVEN-!) wheeled contraptions from the garage while being dressed like a cartoon character. Even those more boring (e.g., me) who did not dress up as anything but themselves had a great time. Never mind this was not really a "tour" per se, but more an excuse to take over the streets while ringing bells, tooting horns, and riding outrageous machines. (Question: where DID all of those people riding six-foot-tall bicycles get them??) Even the motorists who were backed up while waiting for the "parade" to go by seemed to be enjoying this, gauging by their cheers and horn-tooting.

Also never mind that despite the event's name, there was nary an ounce of excess fat to be found on many of the participants here. Even Big Bird appeared to be a lot trimmer on this day than he normally does on TV.

Enjoy the rest of the photos below.

Lately the weather in Northern Colorado has been about as erratic as Jake Plummer's throwing arm. So I couldn't help but smile while driving down to Arvada on Sunday, a day when a cool breeze rustled tree leaves audibly but yet it was just warm enough to drive with the convertible top down.

For what reason was I motoring down to Arvada in an Alfa Romeo Spider, an Italian sports car? To see some all-British sports cars at the Colorado Conclave. Ok, I was driving the "wrong" vehicle to this car show considering I do have a genuinely English auto as well, but my '69 MGB was taking a breather in the garage and patiently awaiting her owner to get a valve job done on her cylinder head. Perhaps seeing her brethren at the event would motivate me to finally do the deed, I thought.

I was not disappointed. The show turned out to be huge — almost as large as the annual All-British Car Meet in Palo Alto, which claims to be the largest in the nation. All of the major British marques were represented, including MG, Triumph, Austin-Healey, Morgan, Marcos, and TVR. Never heard of some (or all) of these manufacturers? The more reason to put this event on your calendar next year...

More contemporary vehicles were also present, including some of the latest Jaguars, Aston Martins, Rolls Royces, and Loti. There were even a dozen newish Mini Coopers on the field. Although, hey, those are thoroughly German, being BMW-owned-and-manufactured unlike the English-built originals!

Then again, who I am to complain when I drove down to the show in an, ahem, Italian car. Excuse me as I retreat to the garage to work on that cylinder head.

So maybe you are not as quick a runner as Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, or even the Barney the Dinosaur. (Neither am I.) You know that if Michael Johnson or Paula “Head Bobber” Radcliffe were dressed in suits of armor and carrying 50-pounds of rice on their backs, they’d still lap you around the track. The only race you could ever win, you think, is the Kindergarten ¼ Mile Run — and that’s only if you cheated by telling the 4-year-olds to start running in the other direction.

Don’t despair, the Fort Collins Running Club has a contest for you in its Tortoise & Hare Race Series.

In this series — which feature increasingly longer distances between 4 km and 10 km on the first or second Sunday of each month — computer-predicted times allow runners of all levels to compete “on equal footing.” Basically, the start times are stagnated for each runner — with the fastest runners beginning last — so that, in theory, everyone would finish at the same time. The “winner” would be the one who crossed the finish line first, or, in essence, beat his predicted time the most.

Of course, the computer’s prediction is only as good as the information fed to it, which is often faulty. Who cares! This is because each of the top finishers in the race receive ribbons. In the case of the Warren Park 5k that I participated in on Sunday, the “top finishers” seemed to be defined as “anyone who successfully got out of bed, entered the race and managed to cross the finish line.”

Anyhow, so here is a recap of the race:

A dozen of us showed up on this cool, foggy morning, and after exchanging pleasantries we went about the business of moving our legs as quickly as possible. As in the previous Tortoise & Hare races, I got to start last, just 44 seconds and 51 seconds of Marilyn and Alex, respectively.

The results were a mixed-bag for me. I managed to only catch Marilyn and 50-something Tom (whom I sprinted by in only the last 50 feet or so), so I finished third-to-last place (which is becoming a familiar place for me). "Felix gets another lesson in humility," kidded Marji as she summarized the results at the end.

On the other hand, my time (20:20) was good enough to be the "male hare" -- the man with the quickest time -- plus my 10th place ribbon allows bragging rights to a "Top 10" finish. We will neglect to mention that there were only 12 finishers, of course. :)

Afterwards, we traversed (in our cars, not on foot) to Gib's Bagels, where there was FREE FOOD waiting for us. (That was included in the very reasonable entry fees of $5 for FCRC members and $10 for non-members.)

Over breakfast at Gib’s, we talked not just about running, but other mundane things as well, such as "the assistant coach of a youth football team who unwittingly found himself on national TV last week for running wild onto the field and tackling a 13-year-old in Stockton, California." Funny how those types of things don't seem to occur quite as frequently in Fort Collins.

Then again, maybe there are less reasons to get angry or upset out here. After all, in the Tortoise & Hare Race Series, even the assistant coach or 13-year-old kid could have beaten Barney.