Some of the best-dressed people in Calgary spent Victoria Day on bikes; the fifth annual Tweed Ride brought cyclists out in their finest itchy, wool wear.
The main goal of the leisurely ride along the Bow River is a good time, but the riders also wanted to show how easy it is to pedal a bike around town no matter where you go, or what you’re wearing.
Dozens of people dressed to impress at the fifth annual Tweed Ride in Calgary on May 23, 2016.
“Since the cycle tracks were launched about a year ago we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of people who are riding bikes,” Peter Oliver said. “Not everyone gets to go downtown all the time so we thought this would be a really good way for people to see the old, the young, the families, all the different people that are riding their bikes in Calgary.”
Oliver is part of a group that supported the creation of the downtown bike lane project last year.
WATCH BELOW: The first phase of the downtown cycle track opened Tuesday weeks ahead of schedule. It’s a pilot project that will see more separated lanes for bikes in the core. Sarah Offin reports.
Now he’s started a project called People on Bikes YYC, which he said is designed to showcase the wide variety of people who are trying out the lanes.
“I think we are trying to break the stereotype of what or who cyclists are,” he said. “Right now it’s really everyone around us. It’s ordinary people who live here who are just riding their bikes to get to work or to get to the grocery store and go for coffee.”
Professional photographers will snap shots of riders using the bike lanes and their work will be displayed on Instagram.
“We are finding either established or emerging photographers in Calgary that are volunteering their talents to help us tell a story to provide really high-quality photographs of the different people that are using their bikes to get around,” Oliver said. “I think that provides us with a different and unique perspective to portrait taking and street photography.”
They hope to use these when the issue of whether to make the pilot project permanent goes to council in December.
WATCH BELOW: The finishing touches have been put on the last section of the downtown cycle track network, and it opened Thursday morning nearly two-weeks ahead of schedule. Jenna Freeman reports.
“I think it might put a face to all the people who are really benefiting from the cycle tracks and show the human side of things,” Oliver said. “I think it will also be able to provide a cross-section of different perspectives on biking in Calgary and on Calgary itself – a very interesting time right now where things are changing very quickly.”
Comments