On Sunday, hundreds of people will lace up their Oxfords, button their waistcoats, and come together for a bike ride around the city.
The cause, of course, is the DC Tweed Ride, an annual celebration of style and cycling that is now cruising into its tenth year. Newsboy hats and pocket-watches are welcome here. A curled mustache would hardly be out of place.
The gathering spot is kept a surprise for registered riders, but Eric Channing Brewer will surely be among the crowd, dressed in his Sunday best and riding a vintage bicycle he built himself.
When Brewer launched the Tweed Ride in the fall of 2009, he’d already been a longtime cyclist—but “mostly in the way of racing around in Lycra.” He saw photos from a tweed ride in London and grew inspired to recreate it; the event spoke to his own nostalgia for the style and grace of earlier eras.
Before long, Brewer was researching dandyism, collecting vintage clothing, and spreading word of a tweed ride to take place in D.C.
“I saw it as a way to not only introduce a ride or singular event, but an idea of lifestyle,” Brewer says. He began a new social group, the Dandies and Quaintrelles, to put a face and mission behind the inaugural ride. The group’s motto? “Redemption Through Style.” Dandies and Quaintrelles hosts other vintage-inspired events throughout the year.
“I was having fun with it,” he says. “My goal was to keep it fresh, keep it accessible.” The Tweed Ride offers a different route every fall, typically ten miles long, and celebrates long into the evening. Sunday’s afterparty features a Lindy Hop dance troupe and a live jazz band.
Ten years ago, Brewer expected to rally at most thirty friends and acquaintances for the niche event. Instead, he found himself riding alongside more than four hundred people, and familiar faces return year after year.
The sustained popularity of the Tweed Ride has taken him “very much by surprise,” he says. In the last decade, he’s seen tweed rides become something of a global phenomenon, cropping up everywhere from San Francisco to Sweden.
“I realized that there were a lot of people who missed an excuse or reason to get dolled up—men and women of all ages,” he says.
Gary Nabors fits that description. He caught a glimpse of the well-dressed cyclists on the 2014 Tweed Ride while walking in Adams Morgan and couldn’t forget it. “They really stood out,” he recalls.
Nabors made a point of joining the ride the following year and is now a key organizer of the event, helping to design the poster and lead the promotion effort. Over the years, he’s befriended fellow history buffs and acquired more than one vintage bicycle, including an 1880s-style penny-farthing. Through a connection from the DC Tweed Ride, Nabors now competes regularly in a penny-farthing race in Frederick, Maryland, on his own 52-inch high wheel.
Brewer sees this kind of camaraderie and good humor as central to the event. Riders are quick to shake hands with one another or tip their hats. Perhaps the elevated dress code brings with it a more noble code of conduct.
According to Nabors, there’s no role-playing or playacting of the sort you might see at Comic-Con and other costumed meetups. “People are just themselves,” he says, and that’s the best part.
Brewer is continually impressed by the diverse cross-section of the city that the Tweed Ride attracts. The ride “had this mix of people from all neighborhoods and ages and walks of life,” he says. “When they came together, they sort of meld into creating something that was greater than their single additions.”
And while many Tweed Riders might have prior interests in dandyism or vintage bikes, the hobbies are by no means a prerequisite. Anyone is welcome, whether on a vintage cruiser or a modern mountain bike.
The ride itself is free, and these days, tweed and vintage accessories can be found on the cheap at local thrift stores. As Brewer puts it, “No one has to pay anything to ride through the streets of D.C. and look spectacular for a day.”
On Sunday, Brewer will be riding a bike that he built piece by piece from the frame up. Though vintage in style, the bike is made of modern components and assembled “to look exactly the way I want it to,” he says.
In a way, Brewer’s custom-made bicycle encapsulates his entire approach to the Tweed Ride. Both bicycle and event are an open expression of his personal style.
The point is not to step back in time, but to look “at what aspects of the past people can hold in high regard and reclaim them,” he says, “bringing them to life and pushing them forward into the future.”
The DC Tweed Ride begins Sunday at 11 a.m. in a secret location, register here for details. Jazz Age Jam afterparty at Roofers Union runs 5:30 p.m.-9 p.m., tickets $20.
