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Spring has finally sprung. It felt like it was never going to make it, and yet, here we are. The key is to take advantage of it before Summer hits… With that in mind we’re hosting a spring picnic ride Saturday afternoon, April 26th to our beautiful Turtle Creek.
Here are some tips and must-haves for joining this year’s Seersucker Spring Picnic Ride.
Things you’ll need:
Bike I am going to make a pretty large assumption that you already have a bike. So, cross this one off of your list. If you don’t, I suggest hitting up craigslist or any local bike shop (more on this later).
Seersucker This one is key. Seer sucker is a light breezy fabric puckered fabric, usually with stripes, perfect for dressing up in balmy weather. Wearing seer sucker takes us back to the 20’s, when people still dressed up even in the heat (and no air conditioning!) According to Wiki, The fabric was originally worn by the poor in the U.S. until preppy undergraduate students began wearing it in the 1920s in an air of reverse snobbery. Perfect.
Because of the fabrication technique it can be pricey – though a bargain shopper might find seer sucker at a thrift store or outlet for much less. If you hurry there’s still time to get a nice seersucker dress/suit/short/skirt/jacket online and have it tailored. If you’re pressed for time, you could get away with just a bowtie.
Basket There are tons of options for a picnic basket depending on your personal style and the type of bike you ride. My personal favorite is this Front Basket by Wald. It’s inexpensive, easy to install, but only works with a few handlebar styles. If your bike needs a picnic basket, visit one of our friends at the following bike shops:
Oak Cliff Bicycle Co. 
Richardson Bike Mart
Dallas Bike Works
Bicycles Plus
Switching Gears Cyclery
So now you’ve got your blanket in your basket on your bike, and you’re seersuckered up. What to pack? That’s simple enough, just pack any snacks you’d like to have, and maybe a little extra to share with your fellow seersuckered bike riding friends. If, however, you want to up your picnic game, here’s some things that will make for a fantastic spring picnic in the park.
Picnicing at the recent Jazz Age Sunday Social. (Note the plastic wine glass!)
Cheese, Sausage, Fruit (grapes, berries, apples, etc), Nuts & tasty dessert You must know that in case you’re pressed for time we’ll be stopping by the Eatzie’s on Oak Lawn along the way. Luckily it’s right near our destination at Robert E Lee Park!
Beverages (I should take this opportunity to say that a person caught consuming alcohol in Dallas city park can be fined up to $500, so you know, do what you will with that information.)
Cups Glass is fancy, but risky. There’s plenty of other alternatives available.
Forks, knives, spoons (as necessary) Whole Foods has bamboo ones that are pretty neat. I’ve seen some compostable plasticware that’s nice. Like the cups, disposable is convenient, reusable works too.
Blanket
Water & Sunscreen
Yard games! We’ll have at least one set of croquet and bean bag toss – feel free to bring your own!
Pull out your Sunday best – we’re heading to a Jazz Age picnic social
Sunday March 30th, 12-4pm
The Art Deco Society of Dallas and Dallas Heritage Village are presenting the Jazz Age Sunday Social, a vintage-inspired event the likes of which Dallas has never seen. If you know the annual Lawn Party on Governor’s Island in New York City, you have an inkling of what this will be like.
We’ll be riding from Klyde Warren Park, meeting at 11:30am and heading to Heritage Village at noon. Bring your bicycle picnic, $10, and be ready for the most relaxing and exciting Sunday afternoon you can remember!
The event will have a little something for everyone: vintage Model A Fords from Vintage Coach, croquet and yard games, and a costume contest! Elaine Hewlett from the Rhythm Room will be teaching dance steps from the 1920s so you’re up to speed and ready to dance to the music of The Singapore Slingers, performing in the newly restored gazebo!
Carnival Barker’s Ice Creams will be serving their delicious Dallas-made ice cream, along with popcorn vendors and more. And of course, lawn chairs, blankets, and picnics are encouraged.
Admission is $10, and children under 12 are free so bring the kids!
Connect with us on Facebook to hear the latest developments as we get closer to the date, and
As things are cooling off for Fall, let’s have a summer commuting recap here.
Headed to work in July
When it’s over 100 degrees in the summers in Dallas, commuting to work by bike can be a bit of an art. Especially when commuting in your work attire, as opposed to getting as sweaty as you need then showering and dressing at the office.
I am a woman working in a professional office downtown. Heels, skirt and laptop included. This summer I biked 2-3 days a week, May through September, averaging a half to a third of all trips to work.
After two years now of biking to work in the summers, I’ve learned a few things that might help you manage your hot-weather commute, and maybe even your upcoming winter commute. It’s definitely a woman’s guide but there’s a few things applicable to men too.
– Get a basket, front or back. A back rack alone is a good start, but unless you’re carrying a large purse or a bag of goodies that you want to strap on a back rack, or are investing in paniers, you’ll want your purse in a contained place. There’s NO point to wearing a backpack. Too much work, too much sweat.
City commuting
– Wear something short, wear layers. Shirts and professional work-shorts are perfect. Layer a tank top with a chic blazer, wear your hair up. Keeping your legs cool is key – a lot of blood runs through there.
– Wear perfume. There’s a reason it was used before deodorant was invented – it helps distract from a temporary glow.
– Keep travel-size deoderant at your desk, just in case you’re running afternoon errands and you start to fret.
– Take it easy while biking, try to avoid long stoplights – you don’t want to stop moving for too long. You’ll feel cool as long as you’re moving because it creates a nice breeze.
– Lock up in a shady spot. That’s when I get the sweatiest – when I’ve stopped moving (no breeze) and the sun’s beating down on me.
– Ideally you can park somewhere you have some shady walking distance before you reach your destination, so you can air-dry and cool off before you have to put your blazer on.
This mom knows how to work a morning commute!
Pull out your favorite Fall cocktail attire, we’ve been invited for Cyclist Happy Hour at the Nasher!
From 4pm-5pm we’ll be mosying through the Nasher garden, admiring Picasso’s talent in clay… and sipping complimentary cocktails because we arrived in style (on bikes, of course!)
It’s all for the Nasher’s 10th Anniversary weekend, AND they’re installing new BIKE RACKS! They want the cycling community to feel welcome. And we want another great excuse to visit the Nasher! And sip afternoon cocktails. And ride through town in this amazing weather!
Events at the Nasher are scheduled throughout the day Sunday, from 10am to 10pm. Here’s the full run-down. My favorite highlights are yoga in the morning, Ballet Folklorico in the street at noon, and free Cool Haus ice-cream sandwiches. The Nasher really knows how to throw a party.
A few of us will be gathering at Oak Cliff’s Oddfellow’s at 1:45pm, to depart shortly thereafter – if you’d like to meet us at Main St Garden, let us know on the Facebook Event – we’d swing by on our way, at about 2:15pm. At 2:30 is the 360 Lecture: Nasher Xchange Panel.
Have you heard of this public art display all over the City?! It’s kicking off 10 commissioned pieces being installed this month, to stay up through February. I can’t wait to hear more about the whole project. Then afterward is the wine reception. Before the Cyclist Happy Hour starts….. You need to rsvp for the 360 Xchange & reception though – just email 360RSVP@nashersculpturecenter.org and you’re set. Free admission, free parking, free wine, cocktails and don’t forget the art! What a lovely afternoon it will be. AND we’ll even be home by dark.
Visiting Zurich, Switzerland last week, I was inspired by the casual eclectic style of the folks biking there.
Come to find out, there’s a Zurich Cycle Chic, though no photos on the blog of Zurich cyclists…. Not from lack of subjects though, that’s for sure! These are a few of the folks I saw while meandering through the streets of the Kreis 1 district. There were even streetcar tracks all over the place and these folks navigated effortlessly.
The annual Cycle Style fashion show and Cyclist Census afterparty on the 27th was a smash hit. Here are some photos of the highlights – and of course, the winners….
2013 Face of Biking in Dallas
Justin, with his 3 kids. Photo credit: his wife!
We looooooove that this year’s winning rep for biking in Dallas is this hip dad who bikes with his kids! Yes!
These are the past faces of biking in Dallas…. 2012, 2011
AND! The runners up:
Dave and Sharon – photo credit: John “Turk”
If you’ve been to a Dallas Critical Mass ride, you’ve probably seen these two. What a great shot of them! They were a ridiculously close second to Justin – by TWO VOTES.
Action shot: Marcy – submitted by her honey, William
Marcy lives here in our home neighborhood of Oak Cliff – though we don’t know her personally yet, we love this photo of her.
2013 Cyclist Census Showcase Favorite Photographer
John “Turk” – an amateur photo of this professional photographer
John “Turk” rocked the Deep Ellum photo station taking our favorite shots of the Census this year. Thanks Turk!! We also gave him a $50 gift certificate to Light Tec to say thanks – and he’s already used it!
It was great seeing some old friends, some familiar faces, and to make even more new friends this year! And to top it all off, we had our very own Dallas cyclists RIDING the runway fashion show: Jeff, Susan, Dave, Sharon, Chad, Zac, and Kelsie – you guys were amazing.
Photos by Simon Phoenix and Brandon Schrader
One of our favorite photographers, Chris Curnutt of the amazing Biking in Dallas blog, also took some great shots at the event, posted on their Biking in Dallas Facebook page.
Special thanks again to our sponsors
And to all the folks who participated and helped make this year’s Census and party a success:
Tracy Popken, Erik Glissmann, Zac Lytle, and 42 Real Estate in Deep Ellum.
All the photographers – Simon Phoenix, Elliott Muñoz, Brandon Schrader, and John “Turk”.
Regeared, DJ FlightSchoolNurses, Durty Laundry, Steven Hartzler and his re-purposed bike racks, and Guy Wilson’s custom cruisers and choppers – so glad to have you all there!
You don’t have to be Superhuman to ride a bike as your daily transportation. That’s the idea behind the blog #bikeNYC documenting photos and stories of the variety of New York City cyclists.
Though these photos are of everyday cyclists in NYC, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all of these people in Dallas.
Which gets to my point: Cycle Style is about being yourself in all your normal-person glory.
We at Dallas Cycle Style could care less whether WE would personally rock YOUR style, as much as we appreciate people who avoid pulling out the workout wear just because they’re leaving the car in the garage.
Which reminds me, the Annual Cyclist Census is coming up in April! More details to come come but this year we’re looking at what makes the Dallas cycling scene unique. We’ll be asking for YOUR nominations of who should be the Face of Biking in Dallas, and highlighting all the home-grown bicycle style we can find.
We’re not all supermodels nor have superhuman commuter capabilities, but we all have our own style. Even you, in the spandex at the coffee shop. Embrace it. We’re all cyclists.
We had such a great time Saturday, we’re still living in the afterglow. Aside from the great mix of shops we visited on our holiday boutique tour, there was a great group of folks, and the casual pace and booze at the stops really made for an entertaining afternoon! I wrapped up a good bulk of my shopping list, and a few of us even got ourselves Christmas gifts too!
There was even some talk of making this a monthly event, riding to locally-owned boutiques scattered throughout the in-town neighborhoods, changing up the mix each time…. We’ll keep you posted.
Thanks to all the wonderful shop owners at Switching Gears, NSFW Clothing, Modern Relics, Dallas Pin-up, Factory Girl, Far Fetched Imports and of course everyone at the Deep Ellum Outdoor Market. And thanks Patrick McDonnell for these fantastic photos!
The Deep Ellum Outdoor Market is expanding this weekend to include a Vintage Village, and we’ve teamed up with Revolutionary Pants to host a bicycle photo booth. Come snap a shot looking all top-shelf on your bike and in new vintage diggs from these swank vintage sources.
Timmy & Christa, our 2012 Face of Biking in Dallas, this one’s for you!!
Timmy & Christa rocked a tandem for the Cyclist Census.
On July 14, 7:00 PM, the third annual Bastille on Bishop event celebrating everything French will take place in the Bishop Arts District. This year Bike Friendly Oak Cliff is adding a bicycle element to the mix of crepes, wine, mussels, music, French cars and more!
Le Tour de Bastille will be a group ride to the event from the Main Street Garden. Meet up is at 6:00 PM and departure is at 6:15 PM. Riders are encourage to dress in their best French style, including Tour de France new or old, high fashion or whatever French means to you!
After arriving at Bastille on Bishop, the Hot and Sweaty Tandemonium Bike Race will kick off at 7:30 PM. PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED HERE . No Entry fees. Race check-in begins at 6:30 PM. Racers will be required to race through the streets of north Oak Cliff on a tandem bicycle they provide, following a prescribed course with check points throughout the route. At each checkpoint, there will be a challenge question or activity. The winner will win the Yellow Jersey, with places for 2nd, 3rd and Best Style!
The Fine Print – Tandemonium Race Rules:
- 18 or older
- dress in French inspired clothing
- 2 participants and 1 tandem bicycle per entry
- use a tandem bicycle
- adhere to all traffic laws, including traffic signals and stop signs
- stay on course (on the honor system)
- have front and rear lighting
- wear helmets
Dallas Cycle Style 