“When the spirits are
low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly
seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road,
without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.” Sherlock Holmes
author, Arthur Conan Doyle, Scientific American, 1896
“Nothing compares to
the simple pleasure of a bike ride.” John F. Kennedy
“[Commuting by bicycle is] an absolutely
essential part of my day. It's mind-clearing, invigorating. I get to go out and
pedal through the countryside in the early morning hours, and see life come
back and rejuvenate every day as the sun is coming out.” James L. Jones,
former US Supreme Allied Commander Europe
“Cycling is possibly
the greatest and most pleasurable form of transport ever invented. It's like
walking only with one-tenth of the effort. Ride through a city and you can
understand its geography in a way that no motorist, contained by one-way signs
and traffic jams, will ever be able to. You can whiz from one side to the other
in minutes. You can overtake £250,000 sports cars that are going nowhere fast.
You can park pretty much anywhere. It truly is one of the greatest feelings of
freedom once can have in a metropolitan environment. It's amazing you can feel
this free in a modern city.” Daniel Pemberton, 'The Book of Idle
Pleasures'
“Meet the future; the
future mode of transportation for this weary Western world. Now I'm not gonna
make a lot of extravagant claims for this little machine. Sure, it'll change
your whole life for the better, but that's all.” Bicycle Salesman in 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', 1969
Ned Flanders: “You were bicycling two abreast?”
Homer Simpson: “I wish. We were
bicycling to a lake.”
The
Simpsons, 'Dangerous Curves' (Episode 2005), first broadcast, 10th November
2008
“An engineer
designing from scratch could hardly concoct a better device to unclog modern
roads – cheap, non-polluting, small and silent…” Rick Smith, International
Herald Tribune, May 2006
“I began to feel that
myself plus the bicycle equalled myself plus the world, upon whose spinning
wheel we must all learn to ride, or fall into the sluiceways of oblivion and
despair. That which made me succeed with the bicycle was precisely what had
gained me a measure of success in life — it was the hardihood of spirit that
led me to begin, the persistence of will that held me to my task, and the
patience that was willing to begin again when the last stroke had failed. And
so I found high moral uses in the bicycle and can commend it as a teacher
without pulpit or creed. She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle
will gain the mastery of life.” Frances E. Willard, 'How I Learned To Ride
The Bicycle', 1895
“One of the most
important days of my life, was when I learned to ride a bicycle.” Michael
Palin
“There is something
about the miscreant cyclist that seems to get people more exercised than they
are about the misbehaving motorist … When people get into cars, their metal
encasement turns them into robots in our minds, and we're grateful to them for
any act of courtesy. We're grateful that they don't deliberately kill children,
then laugh a rasping, metallic laugh … [Cyclists] are more civic-minded than
anyone else travelling in any other manner, bar by foot. If they do run into
someone, they at least (like the bee) do their victim the favour of hurting
themselves in the process, which is why, if you had any sense, you'd save your
hatred for the motorist, who (like the wasp) injures without care.” Zoe
Williams, The Guardian, 4th February 2006
“The cyclist is a man
half made of flesh and half of steel that only our century of science and iron
could have spawned.” 19th-century author Louis Baudry de Saunier
“[On] Valentine's
Day, I'll present my beloved with a shiny bauble I bought from our favorite
store. Next I'll take my honey out for a sunset cruise, maybe to the spot where
we first got acquainted. Later, back home, I'll give my baby a bath. Then I'll
gently dry my sweetie and turn out the lights…I'm talking, of course, about my
bike…I humbly submit that my bike and I make a better team than most
relationships I've seen…Your bicycle invigorates you, strengthens you, relaxes
you, lets you vent your frustrations without interrupting, nodding off or
making judgments. Your bicycle helps you meet other people. Your bicycle always
goes where you want to go. And if you buy your bicycle a box of chocolates for
Valentine's Day, you get to eat them all.” Scott Martin, roadbikerider.com
“To possess a bicycle
is to be able first to look at it, then to touch it. But touching is revealing
as insufficient; what is necessary is to be able to get on the bicycle and take
a ride. But this gratuitous ride is likewise insufficient; it would be
necessary to use the bicycle to go on some errands…Finally, as one could
foresee, handing over a bank note is enough to make a bicycle belong to me, but
my entire life is needed to realize this possession.” Jean-Paul Sartre, 'Being and
Nothingness: an Essay on Phenomenological Ontology'
“Few articles ever
used by man have created so great a revolution in social conditions as the
bicycle.” US Census Report, 1900
“Bicycling…is the
nearest approximation I know to the flight of birds. The airplane simply
carries a man on its back like an obedient Pegasus; it gives him no wings of
his own. There are movements on a bicycle corresponding to almost all the
variations in the flight of the larger birds. Plunging free downhill is like a
hawk stooping. On the level stretches you may pedal with a steady rhythm like a
heron flapping; or you may, like an accipitrine hawk, alternate rapid pedaling
with gliding. If you want to test the force and direction of the wind, there is
no better way than to circle, banked inward, like a turkey vulture. When you
have the wind against you, headway is best made by yawing or wavering, like a
crow flying upwind. I have climbed a steep hill by circling or spiraling,
rising each time on the upturn with the momentum of the downturn, like any
soaring bird. I have shot in and out of stalled traffic like a goshawk through
the woods.” Birdwatching Author Louis J Halle 'Spring in Washington',
1947/1957
“I'll tell you what I
think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than any one
thing in the world. I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike. 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.” Susan B.
Anthony, 1896
“Bicycles are the indicator species of a community,
like shellfish in a bay.” P. Martin Scott
“The more I've been
mountain biking, the more I see myself as a female. In letting your femininity
go to become a mountain biker, you actually find it more.” Niki Gudex, 'FHM
Magazine', February 2005
“To me the bicycle is
in many ways a more satisfactory invention than the automobile. It is consonant
with the independence of man because it works under his own power entirely.
There is no combustion of some petroleum product..to set the pedals going.
Purely mechanical instruments like watches and bicycles are to be preferred to
engines that depend on the purchase of power from foreign sources….The price of
power is enslavement.” Birdwatching author Louis J Halle 'Spring in
Washington', 1947/1957
“There may be a
better land where bicycle saddles are made of rainbow, stuffed with cloud; in
this world the simplest thing is to get used to something hard.” Jerome K.
Jerome, 'Three Men on the Bummel',
1900
“The bicycle is the
most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily
more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.” Iris Murdoch,
'The Red and the Green'
“The bicycle was a
perfect way of getting a lot of fresh air. We noticed that it was an
anti-stress sport because it concentrated totally on the bicycle. When you ride
a bicycle, you don't think about the new album, about how we are going to
launch it. We realised that during three or four hours on the bicycle, we were
discussing things like, 'Oh, you have new brakes', 'Oh, where did you get your
handlebars?', 'Is the saddle well adjusted?', or 'What about the pedals?' -
things that were only connected with cycling.” Maxime Schmitt, Kraftwerk
friend and collaborator, 'Kraftwerk: Man, Machine, Music' (SAF Publishing,
2001)
“Such historians as
record the tides of social manners and morals, have neglected the bicycle. Yet
would it be difficult to deny that [the bicycle] has been responsible for more
movement in manners and morals than anything since Charles the Second. Under
its influence, wholly or in part, have wilted chaperons, long and narrow
skirts, tight corsets, hair that would come down, black stockings, thick
ankles, large hats, prudery and fear of the dark; under its influence, wholly
or in part, have bloomed week-ends, strong nerves, strong legs, strong language,
knickers, knowledge of make and shape, knowledge of woods and pastures,
equality of sex, good digestion and professional occupation.” John Galsworthy, author of 'The Forsyte Saga'
“Government must help
to eliminate cars so that bicycles can help to eliminate government.” Anarchist
slogan from the Netherlands, 1970s.
“When man invented
the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of
precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent
inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body
became. Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely
beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others.
Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.” Elizabeth West,
'Hovel in the Hills'
“The bicycle is a
curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine.” John Howard
“Ordinary things
merely annoy people. Inspired hatred is one more bit of evidence that bicycles
are something great, something beyond the mundane – something worthy of grand
animosity.” Bill Strickland, 'The
Quotable Cyclist'.
“When I was a kid I
used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord
doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.” Emo Philips
“A bicycle does get
you there and more And there is always the thin edge of danger to keep you
alert and comfortably apprehensive. Dogs become dogs again and snap at your
raincoat; potholes become personal. And getting there is all the fun.” Bill
Emerson
“When I see an adult
on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” H.G. Wells
“The bicycle is just
as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can
dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community.” Ann
Strong, Minneapolis Tribune, 1895
“I took care of my
wheel as one would look after a Rolls Royce. If it needed repairs I always
brought it to the same shop on Myrtle Avenue run by a negro named Ed Perry. He
handled the bike with kid gloves, you might say. He would always see to it that
neither front nor back wheel wobbled. Often he would do a job for me without
pay, because, as he put it, he never saw a man so in love with his bike as I
was.” Henry Miller, 'My Bike and Other Friends'
“I won't pretend I've
read much Heidegger (or any, in fact), but I'd like to think Martin had just
spent a happy half-hour in Freiburg's bike shop when he was struck by “the
thinginess of things”. There it is, a cornucopia of exquisitely machined
alloys, lustrous carbon-fibre frames, and innumerable form-fitting garments in
hi-tech fabrics. Things don't much thingier than this.” Matt Seaton, The
Guardian, September 14th 2005
“The hardest part of
raising a child is teaching them to ride bicycles. A shaky child on a bicycle
for the first time needs both support and freedom. The realization that this is
what the child will always need can hit hard.” Sloan Wilson
“The bicycle is
already a musical instrument on its own. The noise of the bicycle chain, the
pedal and gear mechanism, for example, the breathing of the cyclist, we have
incorporated all this in the Kraftwerk sound…When your bike functions best, you
don't hear it – it's silent, there's no cracking, just shhhh – you're gliding.
It's the same when you're in good shape and you're in form and you're riding
your bike, you hear nothing – maybe just a little bit of breath.” Maxime
Schmitt, Kraftwerk friend and collaborator, 'Kraftwerk: Man, Machine, Music'
(SAF Publishing, 2001)
“It is by riding a
bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat
up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are,
while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such
accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a
bicycle.” Ernest Hemingway
“When Cameron's
Conservatives come to power it will be a golden age for cyclists and an Elysium
of cycle lanes, bike racks, and sharia law for bike thieves. And I hope that
cycling in London will become almost Chinese in its ubiquity.” Boris
Johnson, The Guardian, March 18, 2006
“[A bicycle is] an
unparalleled merger of a toy, a utilitarian vehicle, and sporting equipment.
The bicycle can be used in so many ways, and approaches perfection in each use.
For instance, the bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created:
Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand
miles per gallon. A person pedalling a bike uses energy more efficiently than a
gazelle or an eagle. And a triangle-framed bicycles can easily carry ten times
its own weight – a capacity no automobile, airplane or bridge can match.” Bill
Strickland
“The bicycle is the
noblest invention of mankind.” William Saroyan, 'The Noiseless Tenor'
“I live and breathe
bike transportation. Does that make me a granola-crunching, world-saving
utopian? Actually, my riding has a lot to do with what's good for me. Riding
makes me healthy. It saves me time. It makes me feel good and gives me energy
to do more in life. Of course, getting around by bike is a green thing to do.
And altruism does have its rewards. Frankly, I wouldn't mind saving the world.
Makes one want to crunch some granola.” US bike builder Joe Breeze,
VeloNews, 2005
“I'm a cyclist not
simply in the sense that I ride a bike, but in the sense that some people are
socialists or Christian fundamentalists or ethical realists – that is, cycling
is my ideology, a system of thought based on purity and economy of motion,
kindness to the environment and drop handlebars, and I want to convert others.”
Journalist Robert Hanks, The Independent, 15th August 2005
“A bicycle is a bit
like a guitar in that they are both inert objects that only come alive and
flourish when put in contact with a human being. Both have the ability to
concentrate the mind. Just as when you are performing, you tend to lose
yourself when you are on the bike. For those precious hours that you are in the
saddle, nothing else matters except the bike and the road ahead.” Spandau
Ballet's Gary Kemp, The Ride Journal, issue 3, November 2009
“I relax by taking my
bicycle apart and putting it back together again.” Michelle Pfeiffer
“People like to
travel: that is why the grass is greener over the fence. We are walkers – our
natural means of travel is to put one foot in front of the other. The bicycle
seduces our basic nature by making walking exciting. It lets us take 10-foot
strides at 160 paces a minute. That's 20 miles an hour, instead of 4 or 5… It
is not only how fast you go – cars are faster and jet planes faster still. But
jet-plane travel is frustrating boredom – at least the car gives the pictorial
illusion of travel. Cycling does it all – you have the complete satisfaction of
arriving because your mind has chosen the path and steered you over it; your
eyes have seen it; your muscles have felt it; your breathing, circulatory and
digestive systems have all done their natural functions better than ever, and
every part of your being knows you have traveled and arrived.” John
Forester, 'Effective Cycling'
“Whoever invented the
bicycle deserves the thanks of humanity.” Lord Charles Beresford
“[Cycling] is easily
the quickest way around central London, faster than bus, Tube or taxi. You can
predict precisely how long every journey will take, regardless of traffic jams,
Tube strikes or leaves on the line. It provides excellent exercise. It does not
pollute the atmosphere. It does not clog up the streets.” Newscaster Jeremy
Paxman
“My whole day is
built around meetings that can be achieved around bike rides. My contract
actually offers me a free car from my home to my office and back, but I suppose
I am addicted to cycling.” Newscaster Jon Snow
“In the context of
the great debates about identity politics – are you gay or straight,
nationalist or republican, British or English and so on – I would ask, “Do you
ride a bike?” I love everything about the machine – the sensation of the tyres
on the road, the mobility – and I love the fact that you have this intimate
relationship with the elements, and the landscape.” Beatrix Campbell
“Cyclists…are the
gods of the road.” Actor, Nigel Havers, The Daily Mail, 13th June 2006
“Cycle tracks will
abound in Utopia.” H.G. Wells
Zen proverb:
“A Zen teacher saw five of his students returning from the market,
riding their bicycles. When they arrived at the monastery and had dismounted,
the teacher asked the students, “Why are you riding your bicycles?”
The first student replied, “The bicycle is carrying this sack of
potatoes. I am glad that I do not have to carry them on my back!” The teacher
praised the first student. “You are a smart boy! When you grow old, you will
not walk hunched over like I do.”
The second student replied, “I love to watch the trees and fields pass
by as I roll down the path!” The teacher commended the second student, “Your
eyes are open, and you see the world.”
The third student replied, “When I ride my bicycle, I am content to
chant nam myoho renge kyo.” The teacher gave his praise to the third student,
“Your mind will roll with the ease of a newly trued wheel.”
The fourth student replied, “Riding my bicycle, I live in harmony with
all sentient beings.” The teacher was pleased and said to the fourth student,
“You are riding on the golden path of non-harming.”
The fifth student replied, “I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle.” The
teacher sat at the feet of the fifth student and said, “I am your student.”
Ivan Illich, 'Toward a History
of Needs', 1978:
“Man on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than the pedestrian,
but uses five times less energy in the process. He carries one gram of his weight
over a kilometer of flat road at an expense of only 0.15 calories. The bicycle
is the perfect transducer to match man's metabolic energy to the impedance of
locomotion. Equipped with this tool, man outstrips the efficiency of not only
all machines but all other animals as well.
“Bicycles are not only thermodynamically efficient, they are also cheap.
The cost of public utilities needed to facilitate bicycle traffic versus the
price of an infrastructure tailored to high speeds is proportionately even less
than the price differential of the vehicles used in the two systems. In the
bicycle system, engineered roads are necessary only at certain points of dense
traffic, and people who live far from the surfaced path are not thereby
automatically isolated as they would be if they depended on cars or trains. The
bicycle has extended man's radius without shunting him onto roads he cannot
walk. Where he cannot ride his bike, he can usually push it.
“The bicycle also uses little space. Eighteen bikes can be parked in the
place of one car, thirty of them can move along in the space devoured by a
single automobile. It takes three lanes of a given size to move 40,000 people
across a bridge in one hour by using automated trains, four to move them on
buses, twelve to move them in their cars, and only two lanes for them to pedal
across on bicycles. Of all these vehicles, only the bicycle really allows
people to go from door to door without walking. The cyclist can reach new
destinations of his choice without his tool creating new locations from which
he is barred.
“Bicycles let people move with greater speed without taking up
significant amounts of scarce space, energy, or time. They can spend fewer
hours on each mile and still travel more miles in a year. They can get the
benefit of technological breakthroughs without putting undue claims on the
schedules, energy, or space of others. They become masters of their own
movements without blocking those of their fellows. Their new tool creates only
those demands which it can also satisfy. Every increase in motorized speed
creates new demands on space and time. The use of the bicycle is self-limiting.
It allows people to create a new relationship between their life-space and
their life-time, between their territory and the pulse of their being, without
destroying their inherited balance. The advantages of modern self-powered
traffic are obvious, and ignored.”