London Tweed Run

Looking good!

I passed by this the other day. Didn't realise it still existed. I never went but my partner went years ago, like more than ten years ago, possibly with @Wicksie, and some other older LFGSS ladies heads.

I passed by the ride on the embankment. The ride was pretty big - enormous I would say, in fact. But it was hard to get a sense of the true scale of it, because everyone was crammed into the bike lanes and the ride was strung out a very, very long distance, while the main road was relatively free of traffic. One slightly over zealous marshal up ahead stopped shouting at me to get into the bike lane when I got a bit closer to him and he realised I wasn't on the ride itself. Not sure why, I wasn't dressed for the occasion!

It looked a bit unpleasant being crammed in like that into the bike lanes and then being stuck at the hot and crowded junction at Westminster bridge, with the marshals only letting two or three dozen riders through at a time.

Is the ride not able to ride on the road?

I was on another ride recently (kidical mass) where the leader decided to bring the ride into the separated bike lanes instead of going on the road, which actually ends up causing more disruption as it strings the ride out far longer, blocking cross junctions. It slowed the ride down to an unbearable crawl and made for a pretty miserable, isolating, deflating part of the day.

Don't talk sense.

See also: drivers screaming at cyclists riding 2-abreast vs. stretched out single-file.

Risk Assessment probably says to use cycle lanes on Kidical Mass. I think the upcoming mcr one is very infra heavy, as are the recommended feeder routes.

For about 70- 80% of the kidical ride it was on the road.

The ride was pretty big - enormous I would say, in fact.

The size of the ride grew steadily over time. Ted's last year, he'd pushed it up to approaching 600. Now it's usually over 800, although probably slightly under 800 this year.

But it was hard to get a sense of the true scale of it, because everyone was crammed into the bike lanes

Only on a couple of sections at in the earlier stages. The only ride longer than this year was the very first, in 2009. Most of the ride was on open streets - went most of the way round the Outer Circle, for one thing.

and the ride was strung out a very, very long distance

That inevitably happens in places. The Met used to let us blast through junctions no matter what the lights said, because it's safer and less of an inconvenience to drivers over all. Then TFL took over and changed the rules. We have no choice. So junctions split things up and we have to find opportunities to gather them up later. Outer Circle was one such place, where the ride pretty much came back into one group. But managing junctions is a lot harder than it used to be, stretching the marshals to the limit.

while the main road was relatively free of traffic.

A fair number of the marshals are still forumengers and the rest are also very experienced cyclists, but the membership is much broader these days. Some are dedicated cyclists who put on some second hand vintage clothing once a year, others wear tweed every day and get on a bike once a year. So in some parts it's just better to use the segregated cycle lanes. Getting past Parliament and over Parliament Square (a tradition of the ride) is now one of those places, because the overall cycling infrastructure "improvements" actually make just using the main road worse when trying to manage 800 riders of greatly varying ability. Going down the main road and around three sides of Parliament Square with those same people would have been the smarter idea a few years ago. Not now.

One slightly over zealous marshal up ahead stopped shouting at me to get into the bike lane when I got a bit closer to him and he realised I wasn't on the ride itself. Not sure why, I wasn't dressed for the occasion!

He had 800 people to worry about. Cry me a river.

It looked a bit unpleasant being crammed in like that into the bike lanes

I was there with them. That's not how they felt. I know, because I spent the whole day with them and talked to them afterwards. The ride spread out fairly openly between where we joined the Embankment (close to Blackfriars) and Westminster Bridge, then bunched up again. Then became more open again as we headed through St. James and onwards.

and then being stuck at the hot and crowded junction at Westminster bridge, with the marshals only letting two or three dozen riders through at a time.

That's all they're allowed to do under the TFL rules. The riders don't complain as long as there are plenty of bits where they can ride more freely. They particularly don't complain in tourist spots like that bit because they get photographed a lot.

Is the ride not able to ride on the road?

As said, it mostly was on the open road.

I was on another ride recently (kidical mass) where the leader decided to bring the ride into the separated bike lanes instead of going on the road, which actually ends up causing more disruption as it strings the ride out far longer, blocking cross junctions. It slowed the ride down to an unbearable crawl and made for a pretty miserable, isolating, deflating part of the day.

I can't answer for somebody else's shit ride. This wasn't like that. Take a look at the route. In fact, we spent less time on segregated paths than the map indicates, because the Mall was rammed on the day so we skipped Birdcage Walk and did Horseguards and Admiralty Arch, then back to St. James.

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• Tweed_Run_2023.pdf

Thanks for your reply, that all makes sense. I only saw that portion of it and had to cross Westminster bridge southbound with my cargo. I can't open that PDF for some reason but I'll check it out somewhere else online if it's there.

PNG with the corrected "Oh, fuck, the Mall is rammed" route.

Come be a marshal next year. We have more fun than the paying membership.

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Also, if that marshal was at the entrance to Parliament Square, it was @ChainBreaker. He'll give you a big sweaty hug.

Maybe mcr will ride alongside the infra then. The rude is advertised as 1.5miles and goes along Deansgate & Oxford Rd which are both 'flagship' infrastructure projects, albeit Deansgate lane is a bit confusing and got some heat off the twitter campaigning crowd.

A pleasant surprise to get a mention email from LFGSS, particularly as I'm planning to pop back in a couple of weeks.
Hi Kev.
Our Tweed Run in Oz happens in Ballarat, 1.5hrs from Melbourne. Maybe I'll go. Thanks for the inspiration.

One slightly over zealous marshal up ahead stopped shouting at me to get into the bike lane when I got a bit closer to him and he realised I wasn't on the ride itself. Not sure why, I wasn't dressed for the occasion!

Probably me 😁 was he in a vest?

Also, probably just asking everyone to be curtious to the other lane.

Thanks for the offers of the marshal, each to their own and that, but I don't think I would be the best marshal as I don't care about cars being blocked etc.,
and admittedly, the victorian dressing up, it's not my thing.

Please don't take offence, it's just a personal take / opinion on it, but I'm not English and the ride has always made me a bit uncomfortable, kind of imperial / colonial vibes for me, thats why I never attended with C. and others who did go.
Yes I know it isn't that. It's just fun and a day out, but ... I guess I have been more brainwashed by my republican upbringing than I thought.
The last ten years or so with Brexit and Tory hate makes anything that harks back to anything in the past tainted in my head with a Rees-Moggian, Daily Expressian hue.

I don't want to get into it here, I know that people enjoy it and it's fun for them, so that's cool with me.
I was primarily asking about it to find out if TfL had come down on it and forced the ride into the bikes lanes, which Bruce has cleared up for me, thanks.
Best of luck with it in the coming years. It's obviously very popular and good to see "non cyclists" getting involved with it.

Please don't take offence

Zero offence taken. It's complicated.

About 1 in 6 of the marshals are of Afro-Carribean or African heritage. Every so often somebody will ask them why they get involved or why they dress like that. The typical answer would be "What do you think my ancestors were wearing a hundred years ago?". But then while sometimes the question is asked by a racist Kipper, sometimes it's by a fellow Afro-Carribean who would not make the same choice. So it's definitely complicated and I'm absolutely not trying to carry on an argument, let alone win it.

Is dog and bell crew no more?

"Please don't take offence, it's just a personal take / opinion on it, but I'm not English and the ride has always made me a bit uncomfortable, kind of imperial / colonial vibes for me"

Its worth looking at the history, where and how of Harris (and Donegal) Tweed, it's a unique hand woven rural fabric which somehow in the age of fast fashion still survives.
Tweed run makes me a bit uncomfortable but for other reasons, I wear Harris tweed not as fancy dress and not using the company of others in uniform to make wearing tweed socially acceptable.
If you want to wear tweed then you shouldn't need an organised event to do so and then put the tweed away until the next gathering.
IMHO.

I was looking for a specific picture, stumbled across this page - next TR is 26 April 2025.
Tickets (!) are £49.

https://www.tweedrun.com/tickets

And to think that a bunch of us just 'met up' for a tweed themed ride back in 2009.