Student blog posts from the Great VCU Bike Race Book

Damian, Katey

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Virginia Commonwealth UniversityVCU Scholars CompassGreat VCU Bike Race Book Student Blog Posts Great VCU Bike Race Book2015Cycling Through History: Making an AmericanSport 1880-present, Blog 2Katey DamianVirginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/bike_studentPart of the Higher Education CommonsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA4.0) License.This Blog Post is brought to you for free and open access by the Great VCU Bike Race Book at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted forinclusion in Great VCU Bike Race Book Student Blog Posts by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, pleasecontact libcompass@vcu.edu.Downloaded fromhttps://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/bike_student/5511/24/2016 Damian – Cycling Through Historyhttps://rampages.us/bikehistory/2015/09/25/damian/ 1/8DamianHow have the reasons for cycling changed over time?The heyday of the bicycle occurred during the late nineteenth century.Although steam engines had already revolutionized travel through the adventof the railroad, the American public discovered that bicycles provided not only apersonal method of convenient transportation but also a means of recreationand sport that encouraged health and competition. Bicycles originally wereintegral to both personal transport and social leisure, but the rise of theautomobile age reduced the public’s reliance on cycling. Since then, bicycleshave made several comebacks, providing utility in times of need but alsocontributing to a national desire for recreation and sport, harkening back to thegolden age of cycling. The reasons for cycling have thus evolved from transportand necessity to leisure and recreation, going through each phase several timesas the needs of the public changed throughout the World Wars, the GreatDepression, and the suburbanization of society during the Cold War era.The early decades of the twentieth century witnessed the rise of theautomobile for personal transportation, providing independence for thoseunable to afford a horse. Although many traditionalists decried the automobilecraze for negating the pleasures of riding horses and bicycling, journalists likeE.S. Nadal acknowledged that once an invention becomes essential, it ceases tobe interesting, so the automobile becoming essential could actually encouragebicycling for leisurely escape from gas engines. (Future of the horse, 1900)Unfortunately for the bike in the pre-World War I era, the dangers of speedingautomobiles in the cities (Cornell, Bicycles and Policing, 1912) and the terribleroad conditions, which had never been improved since the horse and buggydays and were continually deteriorating from automobile use (Fisher, Bikes andC YC L I N G  T H R O U G H  H I S TO R Y MENU11/24/2016 Damian – Cycling Through Historyhttps://rampages.us/bikehistory/2015/09/25/damian/ 2/8Health, 1912) limited their utility. Leisurely use of the bicycle had greatlydeclined, but the advent of gas restrictions on Sundays and the occasional gasshortage during the First World War did cause some to go back to the bicyclefor utility purposes.After World War I, the nation experienced an economic boom, and theautomobile became essential and ubiquitous for personal transportation.However, during the 1920s, a resurgence in leisurely sport and recreationoccurred, bolstered by the automobile allowing quick transportation to golfcourses and biking trails further out from the cities. Because bicycles were nolonger necessary for transportation, their appeal and novelty increased. (Poore,Sporting Events, 1928) The rise of Women’s Rights also encouragedindependent women to ride bikes. Safety regulations and innovations alsoencouraged bicycling, and many of the badly damaged road conditions wereimproving. However, the Great Depression of the 1930s hindered much of thisprogress. Instead, the bicycle was again a means of personal transportation forutility, as many could no longer afford to buy or maintain automobiles in theÖnancial crisis. (Robbins, Bicycle Comes Around, 1933) As the Depressionwaned in the late 1930s, the role of the bicycle changed again as youthembraced the inexpensive means of leisure and competition they provided.From the late 1930s onward, the bicycle was often no longer viable as a meansof transportation within the cities, as automobile trafÖc rendered themexcessively dangerous. However, they achieved a resurgence in popularity forrecreation that has arguably continued to this day. Marshall Sprague wrote in1938 of numerous cycle clubs, mostly made up of young people, who travelledto areas outside of the cities in groups to socialize and ride around. A culture ofillegal bike racing also re-emerged, with youth meeting up at secret locationsearly in the morning to stage races. (Sprague, Bicycle Army, 1938) Here, theautomobile helped popularize bicycling, as transportation out of the cities waseasier than ever. By 1940, there existed 240 youth hostels, mostly in rural areas15-20 miles apart, and many young people took advantage of the low costs ofthis form of travel to set out on bicycling adventures across the country and11/24/2016 Damian – Cycling Through Historyhttps://rampages.us/bikehistory/2015/09/25/damian/ 3/8meet new people. (Preston, Youth Goes Hosteling, 1940) The Girl Scoutsorganization helped to promote an interest in transportation and cycling foryoung women, while also campaigning for better bike safety awareness.(Parker, Girl Scouts and Cycling, 1940) Sunday joyriding had become a popularAmerican pastime, but oil supply problems abroad caused the Federalgovernment to ask people to stop driving for pleasure. Cycling was encouragedand embraced as an alternative means to get out and about on the weekends.(Gasless Joyriding, 1941) Along with continued petitions for better roads, manybegan encouraging building bike lanes along roadways to create a safe means ofreturning the bicycle to an everyday method of transportation. (William PierceRandal, 1942) However, in most areas bike lanes did not take off, relegating thebike to recreation and sport again, especially in the emerging suburban areas.In the 1960’s and 70’s weight gain became a larger issue as more and more men,women, and children became overweight. Many of these issues were caused bysociety’s shift to living in the suburbs and commuting to the city, reducing thetime spent walking to work and encouraging quick consumption. This hadbecome such a problem that The Bicycle Institute of America posted an articleabout how riding a bike can help with weight loss. It was said that riding a bikeevery day for an hour or two can burn 600 calories an hour, slim the hips, andstrengthen the calves and thighs and reduce the waist. (Bicycles are urged asaid to Slimming, 1963) As exercise became a common modern day obligation,bicycles offered a form of freedom that did not feel like hard work for manychildren and adults. (Anne Fremantle, Everyone, 1974) Due to the universalindulgence introduced by the car and the sedentary lifestyle they caused formany, setting away speciÖc time for exercise became important. (UlickO’Connor, Exercising Can Be Beautiful, 1977) After many studies werepublished the beneÖts of exercise and its aid on prolonging life became moreknown by the general public. Although bicycling did not become the mostpopular method of losing weight, bike riding did involve into a family activityand a highly competitive sport.11/24/2016 Damian – Cycling Through Historyhttps://rampages.us/bikehistory/2015/09/25/damian/ 4/8September 25, 2015 In UncategorizedThe reasons for embracing the culture of bicycling have gone back and forthsince the 1890s, Örst providing independence through the utility of personaltransportation, then as a source of leisure and recreation, and Önally as a hybridof both, allowing youthful independence and a source of exercise but stillproving useful in times of struggle and gas shortages. Recreational biking hasretained its popularity, while a recent revival in the last few decades of bicyclingas transport has provided an economical means to get around cities for younggenerations.←  P R E V I O U S  P O S T N E X T  P O S T  →Leave a ReplyCOMMENTNAME *EMAIL *

Cycling Through History: Making an American Sport 1880-present, Blog 2

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Cycling Through History: Making an American Sport 1880-present, Blog 2

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