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¡El Funduro Grande!

Last weekend we co-hosted the third in a series of events that fly under the Flag of FUN aka the Grand Funduro Beach Ride & Ball or El Funduro Grande en españiol. I suppose that you would have to have been hiding under a rock if you hadn’t seen anything about GFBRAB, because we’ve been promoting the hell out of it for the last little bit.

Our third funduro is a collaboration between Zion Cyclery and Fat-Bike.com which means that I get to work with fellow Croatian Bicycle Gypsie, Chris Daisy. Chris and I wanted to take Fun on Bikes to the next level and really put our heads together to create a guest experience that was universally welcoming and fun (AF)! I think that I may have stressed poor Chris out with all of my ideas but in the afterglow of the past weekend’s festivities, this is what Chris had to say…

It’s hard work having this much fun, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat

Chris Daisy – Zion Cyclery

The core principle of the funduro series is to create all-inclusive events for folks that don’t necessarily race or racers that want to do more than race. We called it a funduro because the foundation of the series is FUN! One of the crazy things that led this funduro to the Illinois Beach Hotel was Zion Cyclery’s group beach rides. Last winter, after seeing ZC’s big group rides, someone from the hotel contacted Chris and asked if they could work together. I’ve run a couple of “bike-proms” before and I’ve always wanted to host a bigger version, so the GFBRAB was born!

GFBRAB was the epitome of a fall Fat-Biking event and gathering. All the activities the camaraderie and the venue made it an amazing weekend to ride bikes and have fun with old and new friends. A big shoutout to the organizers and sponsors for making it possible. I’m looking forward to the next GFBRAB.

Ernie Huerta

The weekend started with a Friday evening Pre-Party sponsored by Surly Bikes and hosted at Zion Cyclery. Then Saturday, Surly rolled out their demo-fleet followed by a beach ride!

One of the best grass roots fat bike events I have ever attended. So many rad people worked on getting this event to happen. Great venue, food, prizes and people. So Many shenanigans so little time.  Cant wait for the next one!

JP Syverud

After the beach ride, we all mounted up some lights and rode up to Harbor Brewing for pizza and local craft beer!

After we rode back from the brewery, Aaron from Surly held a multi-round double elimination, sudden death, skid contest. After that… we all got dressed up and we held a dance party in a seriously tacky 1970’s ballroom. People danced while Sven recorded a full spectrum cycling podcast. I might have been on there making very little sense. There were copious amounts of merriment if I remember correctly. We closed down the ballroom and proceeded to close down the hotel bar.

It’s like a wedding without the weird relatives! Plus we all get to ride bikes, look at bikes, derby on bikes, talk about bikes… 
It’s like a wedding with only the weird relatives!

Dustin Marsh
Sunday Ride

Sunday morning Garage Coffee Roasters came to the hotel and treated us to freshly roasted coffee to get us primed for an incredibly delicious taco brunch back at Zion Cyclery. After that…There was just one thing left to do….ride some Beulah Park singletrack! Somewhere between the beach ride and the BP mud, my drivetrain decided to go on strike for cleaner working conditions, so I limped back to the shop and took stock of the last few days shenanigans and tried to wipe the grin off my face…along with the mud splatter.

Trouble with a capital ‘T’

Chris and I want to thank everyone that came out and shared some fun on bikes with us! We also need to send our heartfelt thanks to our industry sponsors for showering our guests with gifts and prizes! Our Next Funduro is January 2-4 2020. If it’s anything like this Funduro, it’s guaranteed to be a Stone-Cold Groove…..cuz, it’s like cold in January.

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