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So if you haven’t heard yet via my ecstatic Facebook and Twitter posts, I was one of the lucky recipients of the highly coveted New Belgium Brewing Fat Tire Bicycle…and I’m going to tell you how I won.  Now my method won’t guarantee a win but I do believe persistence pays off.  In case you didn’t know, every summer New Belgium Brewing holds a contest called Joy Ride where they give one Fat Tire branded cruiser bicycle away everyday from the end of May through the beginning of September.  There are a few ways to enter – at the Fat Tire summer tour, writing a poem, calling in a number, and a random drawing online.  Around May at my local grocery store, the new Fat Tire bike display is revealed and will remain throughout the summer.  Visiting the bike is the highlight of my weekly grocery trip (I don’t think you realized how much I wanted this bike!).  At the display, there is a small pad of paper that you rip off and it gives you instructions to access the contest web page.  You can enter once a day, and in previous years had entered several times over the course of the summer.  This year I told myself that I was going to win the bike.  The bike’s design was by far the best and I was going to do whatever it takes to win.  So I committed myself to entering every single day that the contest was open.  I placed the piece of paper on my keyboard at work and made it a reminder to enter first thing every morning when I got in.  Around the middle of September, the 17th I believe, I received an email from New Belgium stating that I won the bike.  I must have reread the email at least ten times before I believed that it was real.  First, let me state that I don’t win things.  I was very skeptical and was expected to see some request in the email to send a money order to Nigeria in order to receive the bike!  But alas, it was real and after replying back to formally accept my prize (who wouldn’t accept it?!), I was notified that my bike would ship to me in early October.  The bike arrived and had to be professionally assembled and that first ride home from the bike shop was AMAZING.  The bike has quickly become my commuter bike to work.  It definitely has a distinct look and I get a lot of attention from it.

Read full post for description of the bike plus photos.

New Belgium has been commissioning bicycle companies to design a Fat Tire branded cruiser bike for several years (read about them here).  Felt bicycles has designed the bikes for the past few years.  Previous manufacturers have been Schwinn and Electra.  It is obvious that a lot of thought went in to the details of the bike.  There are little hints to New Belgium Brewing and the Fat Tire brand just about everywhere you look.  The only thing I am unable to find is a built in bottle opener.  This may be due to some liability in not wanting to promote drinking and riding but c’mon it’s a brewing company whose idea for Fat Tire Amber Ale was conceived on a bike!

The bike immediately after unboxing.

The rear basket with wood burned New Belgium Brewing Company on the side.

Embossed leather saddle.

Joy Ride logo on the chain guard.

The chain ring has the classic New Belgium glass silhouette stamped into it.

2oth anniversary logo on frame.

Fat Tire branding on frame.

The cruiser finally assembled.

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