Don Your Tweeds, Grab Your Bike, Go North!

Tweed enthusiasts, cyclists, messengers, and fashionistas of yesteryear are invited to the Toronto Tweed Rally on November 16, for a metropolitan bike affair in that city up north.

You know the town, and you can get there easily by train, and stay locally at a period style room at a boutique hotel, or with friends of the Tweed ride.

The inaugural Toronto Tweed “Rally” is a “Tweed” cycling inspired event, which essentially means donning wool tweed coats and vests with knickers for men, and tweed jackets and maybe even skirts or pantaloons for women.

tweed group 8 great copy — These are some of the fun people who will be riding with you on Nov. 16., assembled for a sort of pre-Tweed run through.

Finding those outfits might be the hardest thing you’ll do to prepare for this ride, which often resembles a gentlemen’s touring club straight out of the early 1900’s.

But that can be easily settled if you don’t mind shelling out a couple of bucks at your local Ralph Lauren (their fall collection is on sale now,) or asking your grandma and grandpa (or ma and pa) for some of the stuff they have in the back of the closet.

This event has made pains to distinguish their ride from the “official” “Toronto Tweed Ride” slated for the spring of 2014, saying that this event is “smaller, intimate, and very different kind of event to celebrate vintage cycling in Toronto,” though they support the spring event.

The Tweed Rally will be held November 16—rain or shine, say the organizers, and will start at the Saint George the Martyr Anglican Church, at 197 John St.

That means in addition to grabbing some tweeds from the closet or from your local Ralph Lauren store, you’ll need a vintage-style cover-up—whatever that would have been.

The ride will be “free-form, family oriented” visiting dozens of historic Toronto properties, each with a challenging

tweed jacket copy — Stylin’ in one of Ralph Lauren’s classic tweed jackets. You can also get tweed jackets at Brooks Brothers.

landmark to be recorded in the “Rally Manifest.”

Organizers also promise several “exciting events”, including a “Tweed Alley Cat” for the messenger and ex-messenger community, an optional “Blessing of the Bikes” service put on by St. John the Martyr Anglican Church, followed by the thing all cyclists seem to love to do, drinking beer at the local pub.

The group is also promising prizes for the event, including a dress from the Dzidzia cycling dress collection.

In addition a local haberdashery Kingpin Chic has promised a 25% discount for dudes who want to come in and outfit themselves (see pic). www.KINGPINCHIC.com is at 19 MERCER ST suite 309
(just south of King and John), with a message to Jonathan or Justus that you are there to be fitted for the Toronto Tweed ride and you will get 25% off your tweed purchase.

For those traveling to Toronto, the organizers recommend the booking at the Gladstone Hotel. “It’s a small, restored turn of the century hotel complete with brass porter operated elevator. It would be the perfect compliment to a Tweed ride,” wrote their organizer.

tweed from toronto King — Kingpin Chic, a local haberdashery, is offering a 25% discount for riders in the Tweed ride when they come to outfit themselves. Ask for Jonathan or Justus.

But organizers also promised that they will try and accommodate “couch surfers,” in their Tweed community. And a final message, “don woolies,” because the event will be rain or shine, and could also be, cold!

The schedule is as follows:

Meet at St. George the Martyr Garden Courtyard! 197 John St. Downtown.

– 10:30 = Blessing of The Bikes service at St. George The Martyr Anglican Church