Super awesome, Hans.

One week too early for me, sorry to say. I don't get back until the 13th. Everyone else have fun. This is easily the best group ride I've done in SD.

Thanks for the bump! The planning is going great. A little problem with getting the fliers out, but I just got back in town and tying up the loose ends. We have a number of bike shops and local merchants on board this year, promising to make this a larger event than ever. We have just received confirmation of the entertainment. Acme Piano Restoration put up a challenge. If I could sign Greg Watson ( http://www.lajollalight.com/2009/04/01/legendary-pianist-to-lend-talent-to-event/ ) to play ragtime for me, he'd throw in a turn-of the-century piano for him play on. I'm excited, and hope you'll enjoy it as well. If you have relatives who appreciate the era, yet no longer ride bikes, invite them along. Greg will be playing from noon until 3ish. More than just bikes, it's about building community.

So many thanks go out to Mission Hills Bike for their generous donation to be raffled off at the Tweed, and Blind Lady Alehouse for having it on display until Sunday's event.

Sigurd:What time is the actual ride scheduled to start?

The ride should start sometime shortly after 1:00. Meeting at noon for socializing, etc. with music starting at that time. I'm really not in such a hurry to roll and leave Greg after an hour. He's that good, and am honored that he's playing.

Hans is the man!!! He invited the mayor to join in on Sunday. I believe the new mayor can play the piano too. Maybe we can witness a little piano duet between Greg Watson and Mayor Filner???

We will miss Tweed this year. Have fun everybody.

dead link to FLIKR is fixed.

What a great event the San Diego Tweed Ride 2012 turned out to be. The weather was perfect and Ward Park was a great meeting spot that was able to handle the large turnout. There were lots of very fashionably attired ladies and gentlemen whom I thought went the extra mile to "get their tweed on". As well as being well dressed, they all seemed to have really nice bikes that fit right in with the theme. It was great to see old faces, new faces and to get reacquainted with many of the local bicyclist here in San Diego.


Dang Brothers Wood-Fired Fire Truck Pizza. Say that three time fast!


Greg Watson serenaded the gathering on the gorgeous upright piano provided by Acme Piano Restoration.
He was really terrific and added so much to the ambiance of the day.


There were at least four of five Penny Farthings to be seen and ridden.
They added that "old-time" feel and a lot of fun to gathering.
Hey Mike, can you do a "wheelie" for us?


Hans is to be congratulated and thanked for organizing and leading this year's Tweed Ride.
I'm sure there were many others who contributed and served in the background, as noted by Sam above,
and to them many thanks as well for a super day of riding bicycles in sunny San Diego.


There are lots of photos posted on the Urban Bike & Social Club Meetup page.

PacMUle:did anyone get an official count? had to be at least a few hundred or more!

"Turbo" Bob said he counted 126.

Looks like it was a success. 125ish has been about the count 3 strait years now.

All that blue sky and sunlight looks nice.

well i finally joined SD commuter.
what great pics you guys took of me!

Is there going to be a set date for this in the future? I.e. The first or second Sunday in December of each year?

I always thought that since we do an annual Tweed Ride in the cooler winter holiday season, we could leverage the preparations by participating in the seasonal parades around town. Not only "get our tweed on" for the one ride, but do it multiple times for things like the Mother Goose Parade, OB Tree Lighting parade, Encinitas seasonal parade, North Park Holiday parade, Poinsettia Bowl parade, San Diego Big Bay Balloon parade, (even the St Paddy's Day parade in March would look good in tweed) etc. etc. It's the cool time of year and so wearing wool & tweed is not too hot and we could clearly represent bicycling to the different communities as a fun and joyful activity. Hell, with a little ambition and a little effort, we could roll the Rose Bowl Parade! Ha! (Man's gotta dream.)

The bikes are usually already adorned with seasonal motifs and everyone has their tweed outfits ready to go. We could just put out an open invite to get folks to show up for different parades. There could be a representative coordinator for each event to get applications in and know the limit of riders in each parade. It would be a great way to promote bicycle riding and we could provide talking points to the announcers in each parade to reinforce the message of bikes belong. It might be a way to coordinate with the business districts to promote the bikes local/shop local theme.

In the hotter months, maybe a "Hawaiian Shirt / flip-flops" parade through the cooler beachy parts of town. No more Adams Avenue 100 (degree) scorchers. I'm still dizzy from that one.

Just sayin'

OKB

I agree with Hans.

Hans:I've stated this to many people and on many forums over the years, but here it goes again...

"I personally would not like to see the Tweed diluted by having it more than once a year. Just my thoughts. Valentines Day is also once a year, but feel free to express your love to another person throughout the year. Buy him/her flowers, or wear tweed, for no other reason than it feels good. There are other ideas for annual celebrations out there (I have more than one in mind). Define it, embrace it, develop it, and promote it."

Hans:Todd Gloria's office called me to let me know that he's booked already, but is looking forward to next year, and I haven't heard back from Bob Filner (although Hanukkah starts today at sunset, so it may be understandably inconvenient for him).
On another note... Kevin, over at Dang Brothers wood-fire Pizza confirmed that they'll be there after the ride, for those who aren't packing a picnic in their basket!