Late Winona Lake Councilman and cycling enthusiast Jim Zachary’s family gets ready to lead the cohort in the mass community ride at the Kosciusko County Velo Cycling Club’s 2022 Fat & Skinny Fest in this InkFreeNews file photo. This year’s festival runs Friday, May 19, through Sunday, May 21.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WINONA LAKE — The Kosciusko County Velo Cycling Club wants people to know that this weekend’s Fat & Skinny Tire Fest is for everyone, not just serious cyclists.

The club’s 18th annual event starts Friday, May 19, and runs through Sunday, May 21. It starts 7 a.m. Friday at Light Rail Cafe & Roaster in Winona Lake, where people may get free coffee and snacks before riding bicycles to work.

“(That) coincides with National Bike to Work Day, and that’s the culmination of Bike to Work week, so we always time it in relation to that national event,” said KCV Cycling Club President Mike Cusick.

Friday’s Fat & Skinny activities continue in conjunction with Main Street Warsaw’s Third Friday, with that from 5-10 p.m. in downtown Warsaw. MSW is providing food trucks then, with music from Beez & The Rocker featuring the Leesburg Wrecking Crew starting at 8 p.m.

The public is welcome to meet at the Miller Sunset Pavilion in Winona Lake at 6 p.m. for Fat & Skinny’s opening ceremonies. Aside from the new The Farmer’s Market at Winona, it’s the first non-ice skating community event to occur there.

People may then ride to Warsaw, leaving around 6:30 p.m. in Fat & Skinny’s traditional community ride.

“Last year, I think we hit a record or close to a record of about 800 people, we’d love to get that to a 1,000 riding,” said Cusick.

There will be kids’ activities downtown at 7:30 p.m., with first of three BMX shows for the weekend at 7 p.m.

This year, there will also be a race in downtown Warsaw starting at 7:30 p.m.

“We did not have that last year, and previously we had it as a time trial out to Zimmer Biomet and back, but this year we’ve made it a criterium, which is a lap event,” said Cusick. “We’re doing around three city blocks around the courthouse.”

Fat & Skinny continues Saturday and Sunday, primarily in Winona Lake, with events including kids’ activities, music, a countryside tour, a historical tour through Winona Lake, more BMX shows and competitive mountain bike and road racing. To find the full schedule, people may go to kcvcycling.org/events/fat-skinny-tire-fest.

New this year are youth mountain bike clinics at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Winona Lake Trails Hauth Trailhead for those in kindergarten through 12th grade. Registration is available on-site, and kids are encouraged to bring their own bikes, though a few extras will be available.

“Any parents with kids who are interested in learning and improving skills on mountain bikes can join that,” said Cusick. “That’s actually being delivered through a partner of ours which is the NEIC Mountain Bike Trailblazers group, and they have certified coaches that will work with the kids on the skills and then actually take them out for a small ride on a portion of the dirt trail.”

KCV Cycling Club Vice President Greg Demopoulos said organizers hope to have more people out at the festival this year.

“We were over 2,000 participants last year, and then estimates were well over 5,000 spectators (last year), so we would love to be at that or above,” he said.

“There’s really something for everyone,” noted Cusick.

Demopoulos agreed.

“I think oftentimes people think, ‘Oh, I’m not a racer.’ Well, it’s not meant just for racers,” he said. “You’d be surprised that you can get your bicycle out, make sure it’s tuned up and ready to go, and you’ll have a great time riding from Winona Lake to downtown Warsaw to then watch the races, to watch the BMX stunt show, to enjoy the live music and the food trucks … Even from a social aspect, it’s a great community event.”

Demopoulos then referenced various activities at the festival.

“Like Mike said, we want to put our best foot forward with showcasing our community to all the visitors that come in to town, but then also showing what bicycling can do for a community,” he said.

“Our biggest goal … with KCV is to improve the community through cycling, so the festival, we use it to create awareness in the community, to encourage cycling, to create awareness for KCV and what we do as well,” added Cusick. “That’s really the goal of it overall, and how it started was, we’ve got a great community for bicycling, let’s celebrate it, and let’s use the festival as a way to create greater awareness and get more people on bikes.”