Epic Bike Rides of the World by Lonely Planet
America's Bicycle Route by Michael McCoy
Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road by James Longhurst
![Bicycle shelter, National Cash Register [Company], Dayton, O[hio]](https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3930/32957219582_6be3423ffb.jpg)
![Bicycle shelter, National Cash Register [Company], Dayton, O[hio] - detail](https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3932/32297952553_b6cf485972.jpg)
Bicycle shelter, National Cash Register [Company], Dayton, O[hio]
Contributor Names-Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942, photographer
Detroit Publishing Co., Created / Published[1902?]
Source Collection-Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection
Repository-Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
www.loc.gov/resource/det.4a20572/
With this growth in cycling popularity and utilization have come both a demand for good recreational and utility oriented facilities on which to ride and a concern for the increase in bike involved accidents. The concern for accidents appears well founded despite the fact that only the gross numbers of accidents occurring are known with a reasonable level of accuracy. Very little is known about accident rates associated with the gross numbers. Despite this lack of accident rate information, the following national statistics are significant. In l962, some 570 cyclists were killed and 30,000 injured in bicycle - motor vehicle accidents. By l968, the corresponding figures had grown to 800 killed and 38,000 injured. The National Safety Council's statistics for l972 show l00,000 bicycle - motor vehicle accidents and l,l00 fatalities.
As a result of the growing concern on the part of both the public and public officials at all levels, the past several years have been marked by a veritable blizzard of bicycle safety studies, studies for development of bikeway design and locational criteria, cyclist safety education programs, and provision of physical facilities for bicycles. But the sudden rise in activity and the demand for programs and facilities found planners and designers unprepared and uncertain as to means of responding to these demands. As a result, programs have been planned on the basis of intuitive judgment, what knowledge could be gleaned from European literature on the subject, and trial and error. The result of the past four or five years independent activities undertaken in state jurisdictions across the country has been a broad range of studies, plans, programs, design manuals and in-use facilities with substantial variance and even conflict in recommended practices. The results of initial use and experiences in various localities are now becoming available and it appears that differences in design practices have significant implication for utility and safety.
Local Transportation - By Bike
Q: Can I bike to the march?
A: You are welcome to ride your bike as transportation to the march. However, bikes are not allowed in the rally area or the march route. We are currently identifying a place for bike parking. We will update people over the next week with more details.
Ultralight Bike Touring and Bikepacking: The Ultimate Guide to Lightweight Cycling Adventures by Justin Lichter
Московский Велопарад 2016 from Let's bike it! on Vimeo.
Organizer produced video of the 2016 spring Velo-Parade in Moscow, in late MayThe spring ride in 2016 claimed more than 30,000 participants.
A Profane Parrot that Rides a Bicyclehttps://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84031792/1896-04-19/ed-1/?sp=38
A BICYCLIST parrot Is a conspicuous figure of life on the Boulevard and other uptown thoroughfares which are given up to the riders of the wheel. Everybody Is to be seen on a bicycle nowadays: old women, old men, babies and so forth. It is, therefore, not surprising that a parrot should make his appearance, for no creature could be more active, gay and sociable.
But this particular bird deserves mention for other reasons than the mere fact that he rides a bicycle. His conversational eccentricities are the amusement and the terror of the bicycling community.
The bird's full name is Don Cesar, and his owner Is J. J. Walsh, of No. 490 Sixth avenue, who tells endless stories of the indiscretions of the bird.
Do not expect to hear that Don Cesar turns the pedals of a bicycle himself by any means. Even If that were possible he is too averse to hard work to consent to any such arrangement. When he wants exercise he takes it on the wing, but the tongue is the member which he chiefly loves to agitate.
He perches in the middle of the handle-bars, on the spot where some enthusiastic bicyclists place their babies. There he stands and vociferates and scratches himself. Now and then he ducks his head down to see how the front wheel is going. It Is a wonder that he has never punctured the tire and dislocated his beak, but that has not happened yet.
Occasionally he leaves the handle-bars and takes a fly into the air. For a parrot he is a good flyer. Having taken a view of the crowd, of the river, or whatever may be in sight, he returns faithfully to the wheel. Mr. Walsh slackens his speed slightly when the bird goes flying.
Don Cesar Is a green and red parrot of South American birth. At one time he belonged, like most parrots, to a seafaring man. During that period of his career he visited the principal ports of the world and learned at least four different languages. These languages consist chiefly of profanity.
It brings prosperity to have a parrot on board ship, just as it means means certain misfortune to have a black cat. Once Don Cesar was left ashore in a saloon in Rio Janeiro by a thoughtless mariner. The ship had weighed anchor, but a deputation of seamen, having represented the gravity of the situation to the captain, the longboat was manned and Don Cesar was rescued. When he was safe on board he swore with such vigor that every one was satisfied that he would have brought evil to the ship If he had stayed ashore.
One of the most dangerous things a sea man can do is to give away a parrot who has learned nautical ways. But Mr. Walsh earned the friendship of a sailor to such an extent that he gave him his parrot, Don Cesar, a bird of rare experience. Now, the bird has changed his proud position of mascot on a ship to the equally eminent one of figurehead on a bicycle In the streets of this metropolis.
Don Cesar's favorite languages are Spanish, Italian, French and German. You may hear him almost any evening on the Boulevard carrying on a monologue of this sort: "Noni d'un chlen, veut-tu ficher la pals'?"."Corpo dl Bacco."."Tas d'idlots."."Caramha."."Allez au diable."."Pesta."."Ach du lieber Gott!"."Oh, la, la!"
According to his owner Don Cesar becomes speechless with rage at the sight of a woman in bloomers. He sets up a fierce, hoarse shriek, which he keeps up for several minutes, at the end of which he is in danger of falling off the handle-bars. Evidently he has old-fashioned ideas on the subject of women. He believes that they should stay in petticoats. When they are so attired he is very affable, submitting to have his head scratched, but, sad to relate, he does not relax his profanity.
Don Cesar enjoys bicycling very thoroughly, otherwise he would not go riding. He gets the best part of it, the fresh air and the excitement, without the exertion and the fatigue.
Of course he behaves himself interesting at other times than when he is on the wheel [bicycle].
It is his habit to salute his master when he returns home, at whatever hour this may be. His favorite greeting Is: "Hello, popper! I see you!"
He repeats this a number of times In a very loud voice, accompanying his remarks with a shrill, mocking laugh. This trick used to cause a little embarrassment to Mr. Walsh when the hour of his return was one which he did not wish to have announced to his family and all his neighbors. Any attempt to silence Don Cesar by threats of violence or throwing a cloth over him was met by louder shrieks. Don Cesar proved utterly incorrigible in this respect, and so his owner has become very regular in his hours.
Bicycle: The Definitive Visual History by DK Publishing![After the [Bicycle] Ride-1897](https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5469/31023578281_8f00432621.jpg)
By the end of this year, Washington, D.C. will be the inaugural testbed for a new type of delivery service: last-mile ground deliveries, performed by robots, for the low cost of $1.
Starship Technologies, a European company, is working with the D.C. City Council to establish a first-of-its-kind pilot program that will allow the company’s robots to conduct package, grocery, and food deliveries within city limits.
The company’s robots are a couple of feet tall and take up the same amount of space on the sidewalk as a pedestrian. Weighing in at 30-35 pounds, the inexpensive robots are equipped with nine cameras, two-way audio capabilities, and a lockbox for its cargo.
“They’re social robots,” explains Henry Harris-Burland, Starship’s marketing and communications manager. “The robot acts like a pedestrian and it knows it’s at the bottom of the food chain.”
LILLIAN RUSSELL'S UNLUCKY CYCLING, Thrown from Her Golden Wheel and There Are Disastrous Consequences.
In Collision with Another Bicycler Where Miss Schumacher Was Killed.
She Sprains an Ankle Badly, and That Is Only the Beginning of Her Troubles.
THEY ENSUE ON A HARLEM STAGE, While Singing in the "Little Duke" Her Ankle Weakens and She and Fred Solomon Fall Flat Before the Audience.
Lillian Russell, diva and wheelwoman, played an engagement with her famous golden bicycle at Manhattan avenue and West One Hundred and Sixth street yesterday afternoon that had not been advertised, and that very nearly resulted In serious injury to the noted singer.
By a strange coincidence her contretemps took place just at the place where Miss Theodora Schumacher met her death April 30, and Miss Russell, who is not at all superstitious, now says she believes "In that sort of thing a little bit."
Miss Russell went for her usual ride in Central Park yesterday afternoon. She wore a tan bicycle suit that fitted as if she had been melted and run Into it, and the gold lace with which it was trimmed was just sufficient In quantity to suggest the pomp and circumstance of the stage.
WAS AT HER BEST.
To the gay throng of riders and drivers along the West Drive the fair Lillian never looked prettier. She sped along at a merry pace, threading her way In and out of the procession of T-carts, broughams, phaetons and other park traps without self-consciousness. Every one turned to look after the well-rounded figure, and the gorgeous bicycle upon which it was so advantageously set off.
"She may lose her voice," It was remarked, "but so long as she has that bicycle we will adore her still."
That was but one of the comments her appearance called forth.
Miss Russell turned out of the Park at the One Hundred and Sixth street gate leaving tho policeman there bewildered by one of those smiles that it is her habit to bestow with such effectiveness.
A scorcher ice wagon was coming up Manhattan avenue at a pace that should have called for police interference. Miss Russell saw it. but she could not see the bicycler who, just at its far side, was riding hard to beat the Iceman and so rebuke the entire Iceman fraternity.
TOOK HER CUE QUICKLY.
"Hi, there!" shouted the driver.
Miss Russell took that as her cue to dodge, and her experience having led her to be prompt when she hears her cue she wheeled suddenly to the left. The Iceman tried to pull up as best he could and his horses just missed the distinguished rider.
Rut the bicycler beyond had no time. He had not seen Lillian nor the glitter of her golden wheel and he ran full into her. There were yells from bystanders and the two bicycles seemed to be doing a golden skirt dance in which some hosiery was shown. Prom out the confusion came feminine Grand Duchesse's screams. The ice man pulled up and ran to solve the golden puzzle. Bystanders and a policeman also came, and with difficulty Miss Russell was extricated from the Involved situation. She was bruised and the pretty costume was pretty no longer. Her ankle hurt her, and the golden wheel was as If it were a game of jackstraws in which the trick was to pick out the back bone.
The man apologized so nicely that Miss Russell refused to make a complaint against him. The Iceman called a cab and the diva was helped into It and driven to her house, at No. 318 West Seventy-seventh street.
FAIR DEVOTEES OF CYCLING
Fate has decreed that the bicycle girl in bloomers shall become a spinster, observes the Salt Lake Tribune.
The bloomer gives to a shapely women says the Galveston News, a great opportunity; in fact, two of them.
A Boston girl started on a trip around the globe and before she had gone 1,200 miles she received 85 proposals, she says.
If "equal rights" means anything, it means a man's right to keep out of the way of a woman who is just learning to ride says the New York Mail and Express.
Chief Badenoch of Chicago punishes rowdies who assault women in bloomers. He shows gentlemanly instinct. The question of what is a proper costume for a woman is not to be settled by rowdies on the street.
The women of Osnaburg, O., set their dogs on a Canton wheelwoman because she wore bloomers, says the Cleveland World. The women of a Connecticut town about 40 years ago gave one of their sex an order to leave town when she put on the first hoopskirt they ever saw. In six months they were all wearing them.
ELIZA JANE
Complete Song, Words and Music, 40 Cents.
I. Eliza Jane she had a wheel, its rim was painted red;
Eliza had another wheel that turned inside her head.
She put the two together, she gave them both a whirl,
And now she rides the Parkway sides a Twentieth Century Girl.
REFRAIN.
"Oh, have you seen Eliza Jane a-cycling in the park?
"Oh, have you seen Eliza Jane?" The people all remark.
They shout "Hi! hi!" as she rides by; the little doggies bark,
For we all have a pain when Eliza Jane goes cycling in the park.
II. No more do skirts enfold her, tho' much her papa grieves,
But baggy trousers hold her in their big pneumatic sleeves;
For where you see the bloomers bloom she sits her wheel astride;
She makes a sight would stop a fight as in the park she rides.
Oh, have you seen, etc.
III. This is emancipation year, the woman movement's on;
Eliza plans to be a man, 'tis sad to think upon.
She thinks she needs the ballot now her freedom to enhance,
She wants to pose in papa's clothes; it is for this she pants.
Oh, have you seen, etc.
IV. Eliza had a nice young man, (Alas! 'twas long ago.)
As gay and fair, as debonair, as any man you know;
He saw her ride in bloomers, he screamed and quickly fled,
And as he ran, this nice young man in trembling accents said:
Ooooh, have you seen, etc.
V. Eliza's ma no longer speaks unto Eliza Jane,
She claims that dime museum freaks give her a sense of pain.
Her dad no longer cashes checks but wanders in the streets,
And thus he cries, in sad surprise, to everyone he meets:
Oh, have you seen, etc.
VI. Eliza's brothers saw her ride, and each one took to drink:
They made it flow to drown their woe, so that they need not think;
But there are woes that will not drown, not even in a well,
And in the worst of their great thirst Eliza hears them yell:
( Hic ), Wow! Have you seen, etc.
VII. Eliza to her tailor went, to try her bloomers on;
She came out from the dressing room and said with angry frown:
"These blooming bloomers do not fit!" The tailor said, Oh, law!
Excuse me, lady, but you've got them on hind-side before!"
Oh, have you seen, etc.
VIII. Eliza Jane has learned to swear since she became a man,
And when she finds it suits her mind she says her little—Rats!
It isn't very often that she feels that swear she must,
But she says it and she means it when her little tire's bust.
Oh, have you seen, etc.
IX. No more upon her red rimmed wheel the fair Eliza flirts,
No more she rides the Parkway sides in bi-fur-ca-ted skirts;
A park policeman ran her in one day in early Spring,
Because he thought Eliza taught the little birds to sing:
Oh, have you seen, etc.
X. Eliza dear, we sadly fear you have not started right;
You will not see more liberty by being such a fright;
Asylums yawn for you, my dear, and in the books we read,
How bloomers that too early bloom soon fade and go to seed.
Oh, have you seen, etc.
With the introduction of the safety bicycle (the first modern bicycle) in the 1880s, women found a need for clothing that would allow them the freedom to ride. Susan B. Anthony was quoted in an interview as saying, "I'll tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate woman than any one thing in the world. I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel. It gives her a feeling of self-reliance and independence the moment she takes her seat; and away she goes, the picture of untrammelled womanhood."[1] Women on bicycles were the object of humorous songs, some risqué, that marveled at the sight of a woman in trousers. "Eliza Jane," is a song published on a song sheet in 1895 that brings together the bloomers, the desire to vote, and the freedom of riding a bicycle, with lyrics that explain the scandalous risks the young lady was taking.
Bicycles in War by Martin CaidinMoss contacted the A. G. Spalding Company, who agreed to provide military bicycles co-designed by Moss at no cost. The Corps, consisting of eight black enlisted men, soon was riding in formation, drilling, scaling fences up to nine-feet high, fording streams, and pedaling 40 miles a day. Each bicycle carried a knapsack, blanket roll, and a shelter half strapped to the handlebar. A hard leather frame case fit into the diamond of each bicycle and a drinking cup was kept in a cloth sack under the seat. Each rider carried a rifle (first slung over the back, later strapped to the horizontal bar) and 50 rounds of ammunition.For someone like me, with my interested heavily towards what the bicycles were like, this wasn't a particularly satisfying book. On the other hand, given that there isn't much published on this topic and was readily available (to me) it was a good enough read.
The Spalding military bicycles were furnished with steel rims, tandem spokes, extra-heavy side-forks and crowns, gear cases, luggage carriers, frame cases, brakes, and Christy saddles. They were geared to 68 inches and weighed 32 pounds. The average weight of the bicycles, packed, was about 59 pounds.
"Cycle orderlies under fire" - one of the photographs in the book, now widely published on the Internet (and even available for purchase from Getty Images, if you want to spend money)
Bicycles Locked to Poles by John Glassie
Construction at Four Mile Run will begin on Sept. 20, lasting through the Fall season. There is a detour associated with the project.The signs may have appeared last Friday I guess but there were no signs Thursday last week; supposedly construction starts tomorrow? But maybe not the detour.
WHEELS FROM PARK TO CONEY ISLAND-The New Cycle Path Couldn't Carry All Who Rode at Its Opening-Both Sides of the Boulevard Crowded with Paraders and Pleasure Riders-The Brooklyn and Century Clubs Get First Honors in Their Respective Divisions-PROCESSION THAT HAD NO END-Thousands of Spectators on Foot and in Carriages Thronged Every Point from Which a View Could Be Had.The article continues with a long list of individuals and organizations that received various recognition. Quite an amazing description.
"The new cycle path to Coney Island opens to-day," said the wheelman.
"I thought there was one alongside the driveway," said the horseman.
"There was, but this is a new one on the other side."
"What do you want with two cycle paths, you can only ride on one?"
With this crushing retort he of the horse moved away. If he had gone down the Boulevard yesterday he would have learned why two cycle paths were necessary.
There was a procession on the new path parade of 12,000 wheelmen and wheel women-more bicyclists probably than ever got in line before. The old path was just crowded. The whirr of the wheels, the crunching of the powdered rock, the flashing of the polished spokes, were just as continuous on the old path as on the new. Except for the absence of the banners and the way the grand stand faced, you could scarcely have told whether the greatest bicycle parade of this whirling time was on your right or on your left. Indeed some of those who started as paraders wound up as ordinary wheelmen, just bicycling because the roadway was hard and smooth.
The sky was fleecy, and the day fitted the flying sport like moonlight does love making. These last cyclists came too late to find their places in the long line, and rather than mix up the regular order of things they bolted as completely as the silver delegates did at St. Louis. They defiantly wheeled down the wrong side of the road, crying their war whoop and bidding the spectators look at them and not at a side show.
But all the world was not on rubber tires, though from the appearance of the streets and roads leading to the big meet it might have been supposed to be so. The Boulevard was crowded with carriages, coaches, carts and horse men and women, wherever it commanded a view of the new path. One big coaching party afforded a beautiful demonstration of the burial of long cherished animosities. Half the girls on the coach wore bicycle costumes. Piled upon the rear seat were three of the machines. The coaching horn hung in the case beside a bicycle bag. The outfit was not wheelier than it was horsey.
In the grand stand south of Avenue C there was a big holiday crowd, as enthusiastic as the baseball crowds used to be in the good days now gone beyond recall. The stand itself was a blaze of color and a blare of music. There were flags all over it, but the flags and banners were not brighter than the dresses of the women-for dress it was Suburban Day over again. When the music could be heard, which was during the gaps between favorite clubs in the parade, the children about the grand danced among the horses and carriages.
In spite of the crowd, fortunately no one was seriously hurt-not even a policeman.
It is only six weeks since work was begun on the path that was opened yesterday. It was a trifle slow, and punctured tires were not infrequent, owing to the sharp particles of pulverized rock. A few showers and a few days' riding will leave the roadway beaten down hard. Then there will not be a finer stretch of travelling country in the world than the five and a half miles of the new bicycle path to Coney Island.
The popping of the tires furnished the comedy element of the day. The crowd got to watching for them when the gasp of the punctured tire died on the Summer air and the far-away look came into the rider's eye the spectators on the edge of the track shouted cheering words to him In this manner:
"Watcher stopping for?"
"Here, keep that New Jersey atmosphere tied up!"
"Keep off the grass!" shrieked a thousand men when a chocolate costumed young man, who had been riding with his hands off the handle bars, hurtled through space and hit the lawn.
Such things as punctured tires and eccentric tumbles were the only accidents of the day worth recording, and they were not frequent enough to more than properly season the general enjoyment of the day.
There were three divisions in the procession: Brooklyn clubs first, then New York clubs, and last New Jersey and other clubs, Good Roads associations, L. A. W. and unattached wheelmen.
It was not intended as an ornamental parade and the decoration of wheels was discouraged, but a few flags and flowers managed to get into the procession, particularly among the spokes of the wheels ridden by women. Noticeable as a feature of the day was the prevalence of bloomers. The advanced costumes were fully as numerous as the skirts and they got more applause.
There could not have been a prettier sight than the seemingly endless procession wheeling down the splendid path under the flags between the green lawns. It was no wonder the paraders swung their caps and cheered all the way.
"I wonder what a bicycle would look like equipped with all the accessories that are advertised!"
The Wheel has undertaken to gratify the curious. The illustration shows just how a wheel would look under the conditions stated. The picture is not overdrawn. Every accessory that is shown is actually on the market and offered for sale. Enumerated they are as follows: Lamp, bell, pneumatic brake, double handle-bar, canopy, camera, luggage carrier, waterproof cape, watch and watch holder, match box, speed Indicator, cyclometer, fork pump, continuous alarm (on front axle), balancer, cradle spring, child's seat, anatomical saddle, back support, rubber, mud-guards, handle-bar buffer, tool bag, tourists' case, spring pedals, toe clips, portable stand, changeable gear, gear case and temporary tire repairer. Twenty-nine articles in all. The Wheel
