{"id":6437,"date":"2015-04-23T09:08:10","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T07:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/?p=6437"},"modified":"2024-05-26T15:15:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T15:15:30","slug":"tweed-run-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/tweed-run-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Tweed Run: London’s most stylish bike ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was not going to miss it this year! The first time I heard about it – I had just moved to London – it was after the fact. The next year I had already booked a trip to Madrid. So no, no matter what, I would not miss it this year. For someone who wishes there would be such a thing as a leisurely bike ride in London but at the same time loves everything else that comes with living in this city – including all its quirkiness – what better event to attend than The Tweed Run<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Tweed<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Guy<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I walked out of the Charing Cross tube station, I instantly spotted a bike-tweed combo, then another one…and another one. By the time I arrived at Trafalgar Square – the meeting point – I couldn’t help but smile. This was incredible. It was like a tweed fashion show with vintage bikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Tweed<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Dog<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even though there’s a lot of publicity before the event, the actual route is being kept a secret until the very last moment. And even then, they only share it with the people who are participating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had arranged for a photo pass, so even though I had left my bike at home and wasn’t dressed in tweed, I could still follow them during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Tweed<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Tweed<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Tweed<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Tweed<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Around 500 people – young and old – had managed to get a ticket for the seventh annual London Tweed Run. It felt like a reunion with people greeting each other, posing together for yet another photographer. Is there some secret London Tweed Society that I don’t know about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By the time all participants had arrived, and enough ‘outfit of the day’ photos had been taken, they gathered everybody in front of the National Gallery for a group shot before starting the bicycle ride. And of we go!  It was such a beautiful sight. Usually when you see someone cycling in London, the dress code is often spandex and a helmet. Let me state for the record that I’m not one of those people. I will cycle in high heels, short skirts or long evening dresses if I have to. But this was something else…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it weren’t for the occasional Boris bike, the GoPro cameras and selfie sticks you’d think you’d gone back in time. How often do you see men on high wheelers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Tweed<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Tweed<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When you make an effort and dress up like this you don’t want to get all sweaty, so there was enough time to take a break and relax. I didn’t follow the entire 12 miles (20 km) route, but after taking the first photos at the starting point I got on the tube and went to Red Lion Square in Holborn for the Tea Break. It was hilarious to see people’s faces on the street when all of a sudden there was this group of cyclists in tweed passing by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Tweed<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Tweed<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next stop was the traditional picnic in Saint Pancras Gardens. A beautiful park on the other side of the station that I had never been to. With music coming out of a gramophone, people sitting on the grass enjoying their picnic basket or playing a game that involved throwing a tweed cap on a pigeon (don’t ask), it was again a picture perfect moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at all of this I decided that next year I want to participate as a cyclist as well. I need to go shopping…Where do they sell tweed dresses these days?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was not going to miss it this year! The first time I heard about it – I had just moved to London – it was after the fact. The next year I had already booked a trip to Madrid. So no, no matter what, I would not miss it this year. For someone who wishes there would be such a thing as a leisurely bike ride in London but at the same time loves everything else that comes with living in this city – including all its quirkiness – what better event to attend than The Tweed Run?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,24,13,25,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-culture","category-city-trip","category-europe","category-london","category-united-kingdom"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanpixxels.com\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}