A Place to Start

As announced before, the Alpena Tweed Ride will start in front of Blue Phoenix Books. We would hate to assume that everyone knows where that is and have a bunch of lost people dressed in tweed wandering around down town Alpena. So here is a picture of the storefront which is located at 106 N 2nd Ave, Alpena, MI 49707.

The owner, Kim, has agreed to provide a few refreshments to rides the day of the ride, and hand out fliers and maps to anyone who would like to know more the last few weeks before the ride.

A big thanks to Kim and everyone else at Blue Phoenix for all their help with the First Annual Tweed Ride.

You should stop by and give Kato a pat on the head!

Our Bicycling Heritage

Chances are that if you are reading this Blog you have at least a passing interest in the history of bicycles. One interesting group that specializes in this area is The Wheelmen. While they have many interesting things on their website, the category that caught my eye were the pages and pages of turn of the century bicycle themed sheet music. For those of you who don’t know, sheet music was that crazy way of passing around popular music before the invention and mainstream adoption of the radio and television. Here are a few covers to wet your whistle, and I encourage you to check out the full site.

Gorey Tweed

Well we are not talking about blood and guts, we are talking about Edward Gorey, the American writer and artist of macabre Victorian/Edwardian inspired art. Known to many PBS nerds (including myself) for doing the classic opening credits for the show Mystery!. Amongst his vast works are some great bicycle themed pieces.

There was a young sportsman named Peel

Who went for a trip on his wheel;

He pedalled for days

Through crepuscular haze,

And returned feeling somewhat unreal.

from; The Epiplectic Bicycle

from; The Broken Spoke

from; The Broken Spoke

Ideas for your Beard!

This is all over the internet. If anyone can tell me who originated it I would like to give them credit.

Summer’s last Hurrah

Some of you may or may not have noticed that the date of the Alpena Tweed Ride is Saturday, September 17^th, 2011. With the Autumnal Equinox (which is just fun to say) landing on Friday, September 23^rd this year, that means the ride falls on the last weekend of summer!  What could be a better way to commemorate the last few days with more daylight than moonlight for the year than to put on some tweed and go for a ride? So say good bye to summer in the height of fashion and join us for some fun!

Looking Good on Bikes

Audrey Hepburn

Humphrey Bogart

What to wear?

Are you worried about that to wear? Remember this is a fun ride! It's not like you're trying to win two Nobel Prizes! Find something comfortable… and maybe it will be stylish too!

Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in Madame Curie. Marie Curie was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes (one in physics and one in chemistry).  See you won’t just dress smart, you will be smart too!

Where to start?!

So for those of you craving more ride details: The Alpena Tweed Ride will begin (rain or shine) at Blue Phoenix Books (106 N Second Ave) at 4:00pm on Saturday September 17th.  We will travel through the beautiful city of Alpena (hence the name of the ride) primarily utilizing the Bike Path. We are planning a midpoint stop at North Country Candy and Gifts (1045 N. Bagley St)  for an Ice Cream and Coffee break and will finish at The Black Sheep Pub (113 S Second Ave.) at approximately 6:30pm, for drinks, food and good conversation.  We will post a map of the route in the near future.





The Black Sheep Pub