Photo by Can Türkyilmaz
It started two years ago when Alicia Pol and two of her friends were looking for a place to ride their bikes in Dallas.
“There was a ride called Monday Night Mash, and it was a fast, pretty much male-led ride,” she says. “So we got together and made a slower ride for beginners that was female-led, and that’s where it all came about.”
The ride has garnered a lot of attention in its two years of existence, due in no small part to its feminine, if brash, name — Tits Tuesday.
“We have anywhere from two riders in the winter to 50 or 60 people in the summer,” Pol says.
Riders meet at 8 p.m. weekly at the Lakewood Whole Foods, and they typically ride 8-10 miles, or about an hour and a half. The route changes every week but always ends at a bar or restaurant. The group frequents trendy spots like the Amsterdam Bar in Exposition Park or Barcadia on North Henderson. Participants show up on an array of bikes as diverse as the riders themselves: mountain, fixed-gear, road bikes, cruisers; all are welcome. A few Tits Tuesday regulars even rode down to the Austin City Limits Festival last year. But the experts welcome the novices.
“The group was started for beginners, so I try and teach people the rules of the road,” Pol says. “Our hope was there would be benefits that not only encourage the bike community but others outside of it. We are also one of the longest-running groups that is not a shop ride, meaning we aren’t associated with a bike shop. We make our own community.”
The Tits Tuesday riders stay in touch and organize through Facebook. But unless it’s very, very cold or pouring down rain, the group is sure to meet, on any given Tuesday, at the Whole Foods on Abrams at Richmond. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have the hardware specified in the name.
“It’s supposed to be female-led, but being called ‘Tits Tuesday,’ a lot of guys have come out to join as well,” Pol says.
