We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day for the Kansas City Tweed Ride, hosted by Mark Rainey and BikeWalkKC. Over 115 dapper, vintage dressed participants turned out with bikes in tow to gather for good conversation, showmanship of their magnificent velocipedes, and flaunt lady and gentlemanly attire. Before the commencement of the actual ride, there was the judging for the best dressed male and female and also for the best velocipede. They also had a best moustache contest, which really made Christopher jealous because it was only three weeks ago after our Moustache Ride of Kansas City that he shaved off his glorious handlebar moustache! There’s always next year! The five mile route took us through Cliff Drive, Gladstone Boulevard, and its scenic surrounding areas. The conclusion held a brief picnic, group photo, contest winner announcements, and raffle prizes. Christopher was lucky enough to walk away with a rear trunk rack for his new commuter bicycle that he’s currently building. Below are the photos and brief video that we took of our afternoon. We had so much fun at the KC Tweed Ride, and we will definitely be there next year! Thank you to Mark Rainey and BikeWalkKC for their hard work in organizing this event. Check out Kansas City Tweed- Indeed for more pictures of this splendid day!

If anybody else has some pictures of this ride, please let us know!

M&C

We saw this video on UrbanVelo.org and liked it so much that we had to post it here. Every part of this video hit home. In our quest to get the word out and try to get people off the couch and into a better of way of living, please watch this video and think about it. It just makes perfect sense.

Cheers!

M&C

 

This event we discovered through Facebook. It was to help raise awareness for a safer bicycling community and to help promote a cleaner enviroment. It sounded like a lot of fun but originally the weather called for cold and rain. It wasn’t until late the night before that we gave it further thought and ultimately made our final decision that morning. The weather was partly cloudy and around 63 degrees (f), so we grabbed our bikes and headed for the ride! Our friend Tom joined us as well.

They started out at the Liberty Memorial for a small gathering, and then they headed to Czar bar for thier first pit stop. It wasn’t until the second pitstop that Mandy and I were able to join up at Tower Tavern because I got ANOTHER flat tire (I seem to attract those). None the less I’m glad we were able to make it.

From there, we all headed to The Foundary and The Riot Room. After a couple of hours there, we decided to part ways. It was getting cooler and darker. The rest of the group headed for a bonfire, which sounded like a blast, but we didn’t want to head back during the night. Our mistake for not dressing warm enough. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun. We are happy to have met some fun new friends that love what we love; cycling. Thanks to Kate and Nicole for organizing the event!

Below are a few pictures from that day!

Christopher and Mandy

Saturday April 30th marks the second annual Kansas City Tweed Ride. Now that we had our successful test ride with our newly restored bicycles during our Moustache Ride of Kansas City, we are set and ready to go! So everybody that is wanting to participate, grab your bicycles and your tweed and let’s have fun! Click on the poster below to see details about this “afternoon of sophisticated social revelry upon the most marvelous machines ever devised by man.”

Well the long awaited for day had finally arrived!  We had finished restoring our bicycles in the nick of time; between my chainring and headset and Christopher’s cotter pins, we were working on the finishing touches right up until Thursday night.  We had just enough time to take them for a spin on Friday to work out the kinks and get them ready for the ride Saturday morning.  The weather forecast originally called for cold and rainy, but the day ended up sunny and warm with a high of 90 degrees!  We met up with some friends and family at Jack Gage for breakfast, parked on the Plaza, and then rode our bikes to the meeting point at the JC Nichols Fountain.  14 riders made it out that morning dressed in their finest, along with some very “real” and fake moustaches.  Due to the rain the night before, we opted for street-side riding as opposed to the Trolley Trail in an effort to avoid puddles and mud.  We took that into Brookside and made a pit-stop for coffee at The Roasterie.  From there we proceeded to Family Bicycles at 75th and Wornall to show off our attire and visit some friends (and also made an attempt to tighten Christopher’s cotter pins.) The only trouble we had was that his pins kept coming loose and needed to be tightened every couple of miles.  We made our way back through the beautiful neighborhoods to end up back on the Plaza at O’Dowds.  We had some cocktails and a light lunch and enjoyed the beautiful day atop the balcony.  We even had a chance to light our pipes!  All in all, the first Moustache Ride was a great success, and we look forward to next year’s ride.  We hope you’ll join us!  

Mandy & Christopher

***The Kansas City Tweed Ride has been rescheduled for April 30th at 10:00am.  We will be participating and invite all of you to come along!  Please let us know if you’re interested!