There's an interesting historical article this morning on the web. You can find the full story by clicking here, but I wanted to share the link because I thought it was interesting to read about the "bicycle craze" that hit the Southhampton area in 1896 with "reckless wheelmen terrorizing pedestrians." Apparently, people were so into bicycles that the "craze" was blamed for lowered rates of international travel that year.
One of the things that struck me about the article was the mention that the "young people" were really into bicycles at the time. I'm wondering if it was just a fad that came and left, or if that area would've seen an array of people on bikes. As I prepare to enter spring break time, I can't help but wonder if there are still people who feel terrorized by bicycles on sidewalks. It is legal to ride on them in my city (except as posted otherwise), and even though there are few places I actually ride on sidewalks in town, there are a couple of streets that I believe merit the use. Of course, I always ride incredibly slow through these areas, as I know I need to look for pedestrians.
Happy Hump Day!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
3 comments:
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Oh no! The Deadly Bicycle!
ReplyDelete“the deadly bicycle has now affected the travel to Europe. Among its enemies must be counted the steamship companies who declare that thousands of Americans will stay home this year and inspect their own country on wheel.”
You may be interested in a few Longmont-related items from the bicycle craze of the 1890's:
ReplyDeletehttp://longmontian.blogspot.com/2007/12/longmont-and-bicycle-craze-of-1890s.html
Peter, thanks for the link! I actually have seen the Longmontian blog with this post, but it's awesome to be reminded of it... especially since it's so close to home. :o)
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