Full Tweed Ahead

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Over the last year, Robb and I have been participating in Tweed (and Seersucker) Rides.  This has been such a delightful addition to our lives.  It combines so many of the things we love into one  activity.  Really, where else can one share one's love of cycling and vintage bikes, knitting and sewing from vintage patterns, vintage clothes, vintage cooking and cocktail with delightful like-minded people?

This was our first ride, through the streets and parks of San Francisco.  I made a pair of knickerbockers for the ride, and did some advanced-level reweaving on the moth-holes in Robb's antique plus-fours.  I designed, dyed and knit my cardigan.  You can read about that project here and here and  here.

Robb really looks like he just wandered off the moors, doesn't he?  Our picnic gear looks pretty cute as well.

After a somewhat hair-raising ride on San Francisco streets, we ended up at a lovely cafe.  I was unreasonably delighted to see the Pogacsa delivery wagon.  (Only a Hungarian would appreciate this, I suspect.)

Our next outing was in Chico, which was glorious.  I rode Robb's father's single-speed early 60's Schwinn, and our friend Gary rode a Monark from the late 1940s.

There were some truly spectacular vintage bikes at this event.  This Spacelander is incredibly rare.  There were fewer than 600 ever produced.

Somehow, I found myself the proud owner of a riding costume of uncertain age and a late1960s Raleigh All-Gold.  Three whole gears!  What a luxury!

We met up with friends and family in Sacramento.  Sacramento is incredibly bike-friendly, especially on the weekends.

We picnicked on the grounds of the California State House.  It was a glorious day, spent with lovely people.

When the weather turned warmer, we headed back to Chico and traded tweeds for seersucker.  It's a little hard to see, but I'm wearing a handmade linen outfit, which I sewed from a 1930s pattern, as well as a striped cardigan, which I knot from a 1930s pattern.  (I'm wearing a red kerchief, and standing at the base of a column.)

The folks in Chico have lovely vintage bikes.   I reckon that they have more storage room than we have in the Bay Area.  

And speaking of storage, Robb built a travel case that folds out into a table.  Tweed riders take their picnics very seriously.  Robb brought enough Pimm's Cocktails and tea cakes to share with friends.

 This photo was from the San Luis Obispo Tweed Ride.  A very similar photo was featured in the local newspaper.

I can't say enough about how lovely it has been to find this community.  Before we joined our first ride, I was worried that we wouldn't be accepted.  Maybe our outfits wouldn't be quite right.  Or maybe Robb's adaptive trike would not fit in with the vintage bikes.  But all my fears were unfounded.  I cannot think of a more inclusive group of people, or a more pleasant way to spend a day.