Bicycling Miscellany: History
Over the past few months, I’ve been re-reading my back catalog of cycling magazines, pulling out points that I thought were worth remembering and/or sharing. I’m publishing my findings in five installments. I’ll start you off easy with this first installment, which contains a handful of interesting historical factoids.
At the time of their invention in the late 19th century, bicycles were true state of the art technology. Important inventions such as the pneumatic tire and ball bearings were originally discovered while searching for ways to improve early bicycles.
It is a common misperception that the invention of the automobile was what prompted America to improve its mostly dirt and mud road system. However, it was the League of American Wheelmen-an organization of bicyclists-who founded the Good Roads Movement in 1880, and who led the group for its first twenty-five years. Ironically, although automobile drivers benefited tremendously from this effort, today’s drivers sneer at cyclists, who have to fight (legally and sometimes physically) for the right to use the very roads they created.
In similar vein, recall that the Wright Brothers used their bicycle shop to generate the capital to build the first flying machine, using bike parts from the shop and mechanical skills they’d gained in producing bikes. One of the bike shop employees even built their first aircraft engine. Despite the bicycle’s contribution to early aviation, today’s airlines require cyclists to pay a surcharge of as much as $175 each way to transport a properly packed bicycle.
The bicycle was also an important factor in female emancipation and the suffrage movement, because it gave women freedom of travel. The bike also prompted the development of bloomers, driving the first nail in the coffin of restrictive dress such as corsets and ankle-length skirts. Susan B. Anthony stated in 1896: “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel… the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” And Frances Willard of the WCTU praised cycling in a book entitled, “How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle”.
In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a heart attack and was attended by Dr. Paul Dudley White of Roxbury, Harvard, and MGH. Dr. White, a cycling advocate himself, prescribed bicycling for its cardiovascular benefits. The 17-mile Charles River bike path in Boston is named in his honor.
Speaking of Boston, our first bike club, the Massachusetts Bicycle Club, was founded in 1879. Five years later, they built their headquarters at 152 Newbury Street. The building is located directly across the street from my condo and now houses the Snowden International School.
Finally, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean’s political career began in 1978 when he proposed a bike path in Lake Champlain, Vermont.