Good afternoon, comrade. Ride leaders sported red arm bands.
Yesterday, Austin had its first Tweed ride, the Dapper Dan Dash with a nice attendance of about 80 cyclists. Hosted by The Peddler Bike Shop, Austin has come late to the Tweed ride concept despite our vibrant social cycling scene. I blame it on the fact that our Texas climate means there’s only 20-30 days of the year you’d actually want to wear tweed. The rest of the year, you’d be just plain hot.
This ride was a chance to get duded up, and most of the participants did not disappoint. Tweed jackets, knickers, and frock coats were in abundance, and many of the lovely ladies had all manner of feathers in their hair. Jason from ATXBS provided appropriately vintage music with his bike stereo. I opted for wearing my kilt while my wife put on her lace up boots and sweater and tie for the appropriately flapper look. My thanks to The Peddler for organizing a ride where everyone looked so good.
UPDATE: The ever present shutter bug Doug took lots more pictures of the ride here.
Unfortunately, the ride was not without some “issues” my ride mates brought up, so I’d like to offer some friendly advice to anyone planning a future Tweed ride or other social cycling event. Tweed rides are part of the slow bike movement, a philosophy that holds there are few things as pleasurable as riding your bike at a leisurely pace with friends. When slow biking, having fun and looking good are the priority, not making good time. While this ride was not specifically advertised as a slow ride, I think there is an assumption that the speed will be turned down a notch on these rides. I explained this to my ride mates, my wife, and our friend, Nicole, both women who love to ride but at a “social pace.” I was also experiencing some technical difficulty with a rear drum brake that was not fully releasing so the idea of a leisure ride kept me on track as we rode to the ride start.
I consider any ride that gets a turnout of at least a quarter of the participants from women to be a success, and I’d estimate that at least 1/4th of the riders were women Sunday afternoon. The ride leaders however were all young men, and as we all know, one man’s slow is another man’s fast. These guys lead the pace which, while not a racing pace, ended up being far from slow. Equally frustrating was the anxious hustling the ride leaders were making at lights to get everyone across in one light change. We were only a 1/2 mile into the ride when my wife and I realized our friend Nicole was missing. We told the ride leader who was the caboose, and he dismissed us saying surely she was ahead of us. We pulled over to wait for Nicole and let the ride continue. Now I don’t care what paced ride you are on, the caboose’s job is to be the last person on the ride sweeping the route to ensure no one gets left behind and rend aid when needed. If you don’t want to do that, do not volunteer to be the caboose. I have no idea if there were any other riders in a similar situation to our friend. I hope not.
Once reunited with Nicole, our trio rode straight to the first pub stop, the Dog and Duck Pub, skipping the ride detour to the Capitol. It turns out the ride pace was so fast the entire ride was already at the pub with drinks in hand by the time we got there. After about an hour, the ride continued another 4-5 miles to the Draughthouse with The Peddler as the final destination. We had had enough and stayed at the Dog and Duck for the afternoon before heading home.
ATXBS author Jason Abels provided the vintage soundtrack to the ride.
Tweed ride organizer would do well to attend Social Cycling ATX‘s Thursday Night Social Ride to see how you can keep rides at a pace for everyone and keep it together despite traffic lights. First of all, do not let the young men dictate the pace. If you bike everyday and the pace feels painfully slow, it’s probably just about right for those less committed to biking. These rides are supposed to be about the joy of riding with friends, not a workout. Do not hustle people at intersections. If you can’t all make the light, split into two groups or have the lead group stop. Also, distances of no more than 2 miles should divide stops. This gives people plenty of chances to bail if they need to or meet up with the ride if they can’t make the start. If you have to go longer on a leg, make it the first leg as your enthusiasm for riding decreases as you consume food and drink. Finally, choose your caboose wisely (and preferably someone with mechanical skills.) This person must not mind missing most of the ride to help those in need.
I do not wish to be harsh but simply want rides like these to encourage people to ride more, not get frustrated and quit. I’m looking forward to the next Tweed ride but at a little more sociable attitude.
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on Jan 11th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Elliott –
Many thanks for the comments. I would like to apologize to you and to your ride mates for your less-than-favorable experience, and will take your good words to heart.
on Jan 11th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
I was not in attendance for the ride but did ride my bike to Flight Path on Sunday around 1:45pm which was 15 mins til the Tweed ride was scheduled to depart from The Peddler. I read about the event early last week but was discouraged to attend the ride because I feared the pace was going to be similar to the Social Cycling ATX NYE event.
The NYE ride, although very coordinated & had EXCELLENT ride leaders, was fast paced (for me) with an unknown route but given a clear destination for what I thought was going to be a ‘social ride’. I translate a social ride to be a slow to moderate pace where riders are given the opportunity (not to mention the breath!) to have and maintain a conversation with other bike riders, drink a few at stops or pubs, and enjoy the scenery while meeting new/reuniting w/other Austin cyclists. I felt rushed, frustrated that the pace was hurried & rushed (even though we departed 3 hrs before we were scheduled to be at the Coop) and basically discouraged me to attend a bike ride anytime soon for fear I will get left behind. Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun (when we were stopped) chatting w/other riders & getting my butt kicked with one final workout for my year. I just wish that a route was established & shared, a slower more comfortable pace that doesn’t feel rushed, and encouragement to attend other rides throughout the yr.
I was disappointed I did not attend the Tweed ride and do hope there are more in the future. After reading your post about the pace I feel almost relieved I couldn’t make it.
Let’s hope to see more rides in Austin that are more social and less of a workout. I work out everyday and the last thing I want to do is haul some serious butt on my heavy cruiser.
on Jan 11th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
That’s what happens when the Bowery Boys lead the way! (jk) I’m sorry y’all were discouraged from continuing, but totally understand how Nicole felt. If anything, the pace got more hectic on the Draught House leg; OTOH, the spirit of community got stronger with the crowd cheering every arrival – even the last fat old lady (me)! I hope we do this again soon, and Melissa, I hope you join us. Next time more of us will be aware and watch out for each other.
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Nice to see a bit of tweed on your side of the pond. We have our own ‘Dapper Dan’ in our cycle team; he extols the virtues of self-wicking tweed (?). Apparently you can also get it with interwoven reflective fibres.
He also spent £40 GBP on having his beard shaped and waxed at some exlusive venue in London…
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 10:41 am
Yep that’s about right. Like you said one mans slow another man’s fast. So I guess I felt pressured to keep what I thought was a moderate pace, not to say that I was the pace driver but I just happened to ride near the front for most of the ride. Moderation being generally good and all I hoped it wouldn’t be too rough on anyone. I’d like to personally apologize if it was. Next time we will need to make a better effort to allocate responsibilities to “ride leaders”. I’m not even sure that we had a “sweeper” and I know we know better than not have one. Even with the shortcomings that we did have I think most everyone had a good time (at least I really hope so). And I would like to thank you all for coming out and joining in on it!
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 10:49 am
AJ,
Thanks for the comments. I’d say on a social ride when in doubt, slow down the pace. Again, the purpose is not a workout but to enjoy each others company so there shouldn’t be any pressure to speed up. In fact, ride leaders should probably actively try to slow the ride often since rides with men at the front tend to gradually get faster (I’m guilty of that myself.) As for sweepers, if you have a ride and don’t provide a map of the route to everyone involved, I think it is your duty to have a caboose. I think its just good form.
on Jan 16th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
I saw this ride go by as I was sitting in my car, totally frustrated that I’d missed a chance to cruise around on my ’69 Schwinn in my tweed jacket! Slower paced rides have always been more my style; I hope this one keeps up, tweed or no tweed.