Thai… Ming

We started planning this ride back in mid-September.  At the time, we were aware of the original Tweed Run in London, and perhaps a couple more here in the States – one in San Francisco, and Boston perhaps.   Well, that’s not exactly true, either… we were aware of the Lake Pepin 3-speed Tour, a multiple day dress-up-in-vintage-clothes-and-ride-your-three-speed-English-bike tour, held in Minnesota, and dating back to 2003.

So why did we wait this long to schedule this ride in Austin? Well, primarily due to weather. Tweed is a very efficient fiber, and makes for warm clothing. It is not exactly appropriate to wear tweed and similar clothing to ride bikes in Austin’s non-existent autumn, when the temperature is likely to be in the mid-80s or so. We knew, therefore, that we needed to schedule this thing during winter, when the weather would perhaps be more conducive to strenuous activity while wearing heavy woolens.

In order to be on the safe side, we consulted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Mark Murray, Zack Shields, the Farmer’s Almanac,and assorted tea leaves, and came up with January 10, 2010, as a likely date to have suitable weather. Given the cold front bearing down upon us, I think we succeeded.

When Dallas (actually Oak Cliff) announced that their ride was going to occur on November 22, 2009, the 46th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination, and that they were going to posse up at the Grassy Knoll, we almost threw in the towel, as that was a sure sign to us that this concept was officially past its prime. But, this is a father/son project, and I couldn’t let my son down. So, we decided to press on. Plus, we knew that there was a growing need to have one of these things here, as various folks had expressed an interest.

So, get a good pair of gloves, and get ready to ride.