Stuff I like: Biketoberfest Marin

I love a good consumer bike show. Getting the industry and consumers in the same place at the same time doesn’t happen often enough, but it’s usually great when it does. With some West Coast bike-biz peeps plus all the new, old and future readers of our magazines, where else would I want to be?

Biketoberfest Marin had this and more: Good friends in town from Pittsburgh, a ride with my sensei Charlie Kelly, music and my favorite four-letter beverage of choice, BEER!

The show was free, with tons of bike company booths, music, family stuff, food for sale and even a ‘cross race. The beer was not. For $20 (advance) you got to sample at least 30 different beers from 20 West Coast breweries, including a nicely sized sample glass that could be filled as often as you like. Sweet deal.

More importantly, 4,000 people attended, raising more than $20,000 for the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and Access4bikes. Mmmmm, beeeeer.

Doh! BEER comes after the ride. Must ride first, and then work the booth while drinking beer. Yep, sounds like a plan.

It’s the “Legends” ride being led by Charlie Kelly and Joe Breeze that I will go on. SeeKay and Joe a couple of local/international luminaries if there is such a thing. Here’s Charlie leading from the plaza in Fairfax, CA.

Joe’s like WTF? Who is this guy?

As we hit the dirt, this is the last time we’ll see both leaders together.

I found this sign interesting.

Almost there. Charlie brings up the rear. That’s Mt. Tam back there.

Joe has taken the fast kids down into some Tamarancho singletrack, while Charlie took us to the top of Repack. Here we hear how it was, back in the day, before plunging down the historical track.

Here we are at the bottom. We all made it.

Different styles, same smiles. That’s my Blur LT on the left.

Mugging.

You can see Charlie’s jaw moving in this shot.

Ahhh, the booth.

Here Liam Studdiford pitches the wool (Who’s that guy in the middle?), Elizabeth from Pittsburgh pushes the ‘Zines

Music:

Bikes:

What more do we need? Please comment if know a good festival/expo we should attend. Next week, SF Bike Expo!