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This past September, Alliance President/CEO Jeff Miller attended the Tour de Fat in San Francisco — and he couldn’t stop talking about it for a week.

Lucky for us in Washington, DC, Jeff took plenty of photos showcasing the bike-centric festivities, giving us a glimpse of the fantastic event hosted by New Belgium Brewing Company. (Still, we were jealous!)

It’s no secret we love New Belgium. Right now we’re accepting applications for Strategic Planning Assistance, a service supported by a generous grant from the Colorado-based beer makers. But New Belgium doesn’t just support the Alliance. They spread their love of bicycling by supporting to plenty of our member organizations, as well. One of the ways they do it is through the annual Tour de Fat, a multi-city tour that combines music, theatrics and creative bicycle merriment for the benefit of local advocates.

Last month, New Belgium tallied the impact of the 2010 Tour de Fat. “The philanthropic traveling bike festival raised $331,428 for non-profit friends, which is up nearly 20 percent from 2009,” the company said in a press release. “The 2010 tour also saw record-shattering attendance with 70,250 cycling celebrants in 13 cities.”

The Tour raised tens of thousands of dollars for a number of Alliance members, including the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota, Bicycle Alliance of Washington, Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Bike Fort Collins, Bike Denver, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. Just as important, though, the Tour gave advocates the chance to engage hundreds of residents — and potential new members — in their communities.

“We’d like to high five each person who supported our efforts, but since that’s a little tricky, we’d like to thank everyone for their tremendous support,” Bryan Simpson, New Belgium Brewing Spokes Model, said in the December release.

We, for one, would like to raise a glass to New Belgium for their incredible support of our People Powered Movement. And you better believe we’ll be filling that pint with Fat Tire.

Read more about New Belgium Brewing Company and their community grants for advocacy organizations.