The Second Annual Richmond Tweed Ride!

What ho, what ho, cyclists all!

The Art Deco Society of Virginia is pleased to present our second annual Tweed Ride! If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a Tweed Ride is a rather recent phenomenon that combines the appreciation of early 20th Century English culture, vintage bicycles, and that traditional British sporting fabric known as tweed into a themed afternoon bicycle ride. The earliest such event, dubbed a “Tweed Run” took place in London in 2009 and has since expanded over a dozen countries across the world. The United States has seen roughly two dozen of these events in various cities from coast to coast.

We’ve chosen a route designed to highlight the historic areas of Richmond while still considering safety and comfort. The ride itself will assume a very casual pace fit for cyclists of all skill levels. The few mile loop will take roughly an hour to complete with the start and end location being one and the same. The date is Saturday, November 23rd with a rain date of Sunday the 24th of November 2013.

Vintage, reproduction, and retro bicycles are not required to participate though they are, of course, highly encouraged. Surprisingly, vintage style bicycles (especially cruisers) have become popular once again and a guide to easily obtainable candidates is included below. Tweed Rides have seen everything from period Pennyfarthings (big wheel up front, small wheel in back) to unicycles and tandems to vintage 1890s-1950s bicycles. Once again, a vintage bicycle is not absolutely required!

Proper attire

One way to fit in regardless of how period correct your iron steed may be is to find yourself a bit of tweed to wear. Tweed is a traditional English outdoor sporting fabric commonly seen with a thick wool herringbone (chevrons or V’s) weave and often in earth tones. Nearly every outfit component and accessory can be found in tweed these days so in all likelihood you won’t have to look very far. Thrift shops and vintage clothing stores usually have a selection on their racks as do larger retailers around this time of year.

Post-ride celebration

When the ride is complete we will continue the revelry with post ride libations at Rappahannock Restaurant  (320 E Grace St, Richmond, VA 23219) 

Cost and Registration

This is a FREE RIDE! No registration is required. Check-in is from 11:00-11:45 and the ride begins promptly at 12:00 noon.

Looking for a bicycle?

Below are some options for vintage-inspired and retro bicycles that are easy to obtain and won’t break the bank. There are many local and online vendors who carry similar or the same stock at various price points so it pays to shop around.

Richmond Bicycle Shops