Hundreds of cyclists, resplendent in tweed, wove their way through the streets of London during the annual Tweed Run.
Once a tradition that started among a small group of friends in 2008, the event has since expanded to around 800 people riding across the capital in their finest woolly weaves.
The starting bell rang at 10am on Saturday in Northampton Road, Clerkenwell, east London, with participants peddling their way to cross the finish line at St Pancras Gardens, near King’s Cross in north London.
The 10 to 12-mile route features a tea stop at St George’s Gardens near Russell Square, lunch at Lincoln’s Inn Fields near Holborn and takes the dapper peloton along Savile Row, the street famed for clothes tailoring.
Participants were shared wardrobe recommendations from the organisers, Bourne & Hollingsworth, prior to the run.
This included: woolen plus fours, Harris Tweed jackets, cravats, ties, cycling skirts and capes – and a hip flask for refreshments.
While some cyclists upped the costume ante and styled their hair in iconic 40s hairstyles or popped on a fake moustache, as they straddled an array of bikes, from Santander bikes to unicycles.
Prizes were awarded to the best-dressed man and woman who took part in the Run, described as ‘metropolitan bicycle with a bit of style’.
The first Tweed Run took place in 2009, as 300 tweed-clad cyclists gathered at Savile Row in what Bourne & Hollingsworth describe a ‘small guerilla event’.
