Bicycles Rediscovered

Bicycles Rediscovered

By Jeffrey M. Bowen

A few years ago, my wife Hillary and I decided to revisit a form of recreation we had both enjoyed as children – bicycles!  Although we had never quite lost our balancing skills, the hilly terrain around our area has caused a different imbalance.    Lots of our time is spent pushing the bikes uphill, but it takes almost no time to shoot downhill. “Hey, this is all good exercise” is our mantra.  

We thought ahead and tried to buy the right kind of bicycles.  We discovered it helps to anticipate the surface you will travel – pavement, gravel, mud, and maybe snow and quicksand.  These determine desirable tire size and tread.  There are mountain bikes for rough goat paths, touring or road bikes for pavement, racing and BMX bikes for competition, and ultimately, hybrids for the undecided.  We chose hybrids.

Then came gears.  Remember those three simple gears that used to click on your English bike handle bars?   Or even the brawny cruisers with coasting breaks you could stomp on to skid and impress your friends?   Sometimes these reappear with fancy bells and baskets, but I suspect many of them now collect dust in museums and basements.

These days bikes may have two or three chainrings around the front wheel, and seven to 11 gears or cogs in the back.  The front ones make big changes, the back ones make smaller changes in pedaling pressure. They work in combinations numbering up to 33.  Of course, you have to find the shifters which live on either side of your handle bars.  Once found, your range will be somewhere between developing a hernia in the lowest gears to furiously pedaling and getting nearly nowhere in the highest gears. 

As we continue to learn, the pleasures of bike trekking have enriched our lives.  We see what is going on around us, and underneath us where road repair may be seriously needed!  Wild life crosses our path, and beautiful country views emerge.  Photo opportunities cause many delays.   Noisy rushing traffic no longer causes a panic because we are trussed up in brightly colored spandex and bike helmets.  It also helps that we pray at regular intervals.    Never do we feel we are in a race as we sit rather upright holding traditional handlebars.  Other riders lean over curved bars and seem to be competing in the Tour de France.  

To date our bike treks have included the Maine coast, along the Danube River, and around Amsterdam (with two million other cyclists) as well as Prince Edward Island in Canada.  Dr. Gordon Comstock and his wife Ginger inspired us to take a PEI bike tour arranged by a company that reserves bed and breakfast accommodations along a “rails to trails” route that lets you travel at your own pace.  

Cycling has made us more aware of the bicycle’s fascinating history.  Think of that oddity with the big front and tiny back wheel.  Invented in the 1870s by a Frenchman, it was nicknamed a penny-farthing model.  Although it had pedals while many earlier types did not, it was unwieldy and suitable mainly for athletic males.  Frequent accidents actually led to new terms in our language – taking a header, and coming a cropper.     

By 1900, bicycling had gained enduring popularity.  Front and back wheels were approaching the same size.  Improvements in the design and engineering were linked historically to the newly invented automobile, and even to future airplanes.  The Wright brothers ran a very successful bike shop, which financially supported and inspired their dream of manned flight. 

Seldom does a week go by without our finding some new merits in cycling.  For instance, the appearance of the roadster with a step-through frame unquestionably enhanced women’s freedom (as did bloomers).  A hundred years ago Susan B. Anthony said they had done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. “I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” I agree and prefer to ride along.    

Note:  For more history of the bicycle go to Wikipedia or Smithsonian web sites.