'The Guy from Tahoe' also is the dude with the bike connections

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of stories this week in advance of the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Film Festival, which will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday in the Duke Theater at Lake Tahoe Community College. The public is invited.

This year's winner of the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition's Individual Award is Curtis Fong.

Fong is the most experienced professional bicycle-event director in the Tahoe region. He is one of the founding fathers of the Alta Alpina Cycling Club and was director of the Death Ride from 1984 to 1995. Fong started TGFT Productions in 1989 to produce his own series of rides with the Comstock Silver Century as his debut.

In 1992, Curtis produced the first America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride at Lake Tahoe as well as the OATBRAN (One Awesome Tour Bike Ride Across Nevada) and America's Loneliest Bike Tour, which both are continuing today.

Although Fong calls the Lake Tahoe area home, he continually has worked with the Nevada Commission on Tourism to promote tourism through bicycling in other communities, including Las Vegas with Tour Las Vegas - Ride of the Century; The X Rides in Rachel, Nev.; and the Tour of the Carson Valley - Barbecue and Ice Cream Social.

Fong has received awards from the Nevada Bicycle Advisory Board for promoting bicycle safety and a Governor Tourism Development Award from the Governor's Conference on Tourism.

Fong is a charter member of the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, the region's leading bicycle-advocacy group. In the winter, Fong shifts gears and moves into his radio and television personality, "The Guy From Tahoe," as he reports on weather and ski conditions at the area's resorts. He is a member of the North American Snowsports Journalists Association.

About the award The first Lake Tahoe Bicycle Achievement Awards will be given out at a ceremony during the upcoming Lake Tahoe Bicycle Film Festival on Friday at the Lake Tahoe Community College's Duke Theater. The Achievement Awards, the brainchild of the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, are a way to recognize people and organizations that have been making significant contributions to the advancement of cycling in the Tahoe region.