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53-582: Bikecentennial '76 was an event consisting of a series of bicycle tours on the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail across the United States in the summer of 1976 in commemoration of the bicentennial of America's Declaration of Independence . The route crossed ten states, 22 national forests, two national parks, and 112 counties between Astoria, Oregon , and Yorktown, Virginia , a distance of about 4,250 miles (6,840 km). The route

106-472: A cycling holiday. The authors Roderick Watson and Martin Gray say: Hoopdriver is certainly liberated by his machine. It affords him not only a country holiday, in itself a remarkable event which he enjoys immensely, however ignorant of the countryside he may be, but also a brush with a society girl, riding on pneumatics and wearing some kind of Rational Dress. The book suggests the new social mobility created by

159-529: A dead trail, in this case most bicycle tourers simply backtrack and try another route. Examples of fictional works featuring bicycle tours include: Dandy horse The dandy horse , an English nickname for what was first called a Laufmaschine ("running machine" in German), then a vélocipède or draisienne (in French and then English), and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse , or swiftwalker ,

212-533: A delightful adventure, despite bad road surfaces, dust and lack of signposts. Husband and wife team Joseph Pennell (illustrator) and Elizabeth Robins Pennell (writer) published travelogues of their journeys framed as literary pilgrimages; they "wheeled" a tandem tricycle from Florence to Rome, attracting more attention than she was comfortable with, as possibly the first female rider that the Italians had ever seen. Journeys grew more adventurous. Thomas Stevens ,

265-472: A few days may cover as little as 200 kilometres (120 mi) and a long tour may go right across a country or around the world. There are many different types of bicycle touring: Cycle touring beyond the range of a day trip may need a bike capable of carrying heavy loads. Although many different bicycles can be used, specialist touring bikes are built to carry appropriate loads and to be ridden more comfortably over long distances. A typical bicycle would have

318-565: A form of transit that did not rely on the horse. After the eruption of Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer (1816), which followed close on the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars , widespread crop failures and food shortages resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of horses, which either starved to death or were killed to provide meat and hides. "In wartime," he wrote, "when horses and their fodder often become scarce,

371-494: A growth of organised cycling holidays provided by commercial organisations in many countries. Some companies provide accommodation and route information to cyclists travelling independently; others focus on a group experience, including guides and support for a large number of riders cycling together. A variation on this is holidays, often in exotic locations, organised in partnership with a charity, in which participants are expected to raise donation as well as cover their costs. Due to

424-528: A later date, that the bicycle had "been responsible for more movement in manners and morals than anything since Charles the Second." The bicycle gained from the outdoor movement of the 1930s. The Cyclists' Touring Club advertised a week's all-in tour, staying at hotels recommended by cyclists, for £3 10s. The youth hostel movement started in Germany and spread abroad, and a cycling holiday staying at hostels in

477-691: A leader, trained by Bikecentennial staff, who would handle the group's money and delegate chores like buying food, cooking, and cleaning up the campsite. Bikecentennial received support from the Wally Byam Foundation , Huffy bikes , Shimano , the Bicycle Institute of America, and the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. The success of the 1976 event led Adventure Cycling to map several additional bicycle routes across

530-576: A longer wheelbase for stability and heel clearance, frame fittings for front and rear pannier racks , additional water bottle mounts, frame fittings for front and rear mudguards/fenders, a broader range of gearing to cope with the increased weight, and touring tires which are wider to provide more comfort on backroads. "Ultralight tourers" choose traditional road bicycles or " Audax " or randonneur bicycles for speed and simplicity. However, these bikes are harder to ride on unmade roads, which may limit route options. Since about 2015, gravel bikes are

583-516: A new option to combine speed and unpaved road capabilities. For some, the advantages of a recumbent bicycle are particularly relevant to touring. To lessen the weight carried on the bicycle, or increase luggage capacity, touring cyclists may use bicycle trailers . For a "supported" rider, luggage carrying is not important and a wider range of bicycle types may be suitable depending on the terrain. There are many navigation apps and websites available for bicycle touring. Sometimes GPS routes lead to

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636-434: A patent for a two-wheeled human-powered vehicle was awarded to W.K. Clarkson of New York on June 26, 1819. However, in 1836, a fire in the U.S. Patent Office destroyed the only surviving drawings, and a prototype of the invention was never built by Clarkson. Dandy horses first appeared on the footpaths of Mannheim, Germany, in 1820. They were heavy and cumbersome, and as a result, riders preferred to operate their vehicles on

689-456: A reporter to follow them in a coach and pair, reported an "Extraordinary Velocipede Feat." Three riders set off from Liverpool to London, a journey of three days and similar to modern cycle-touring adventures, in March that same year. A newspaper report said: Their bicycles caused no little astonishment on the way, and the remarks passed by the natives were almost amusing. At some of the villages

742-556: A single speed bicycle with little more than a revolver and a change of underwear. In 2006, she described how, aged 74, she was held up at gunpoint and robbed while cycling in Russia. Eric Newby , Bettina Selby, and Anne Mustoe have all used cycling as a means to a literary end, valuing the way that cycling brings the traveller closer to people and places. Selby said, In more recent years, British adventurers Alastair Humphreys ( Moods of Future Joys ), Mark Beaumont ( The Man who Cycled

795-462: A small fleet of such wagons at each corps could be important, especially for dispatches over short distances and for carrying the wounded.” Several manufacturers in France and England made their own dandy-horses during its brief popularity in the summer of 1819—most notably Denis Johnson of London, who used an elegantly curved wooden frame that allowed the use of larger wheels. In the United States,

848-493: A sort that scandalised society but made cycling much easier. The Rational Dress Society was founded in 1881 in London. It said: The Rational Dress Society protests... against crinolines or crinolettes of any kind as ugly and deforming... [It] requires all to be dressed healthily, comfortably, and beautifully, to seek what conduces to birth, comfort and beauty in our dress as a duty to ourselves and each other. Both Hoopdriver and

901-518: A writer for the San Francisco Chronicle , set off around the world on April 22 1884, on a 50-inch Columbia with a money belt, a revolver, two shirts and a rain cape, spending two years on the road and writing articles which became a two-volume, 1,021-page book. The feminist Annie Londonderry accomplished her around-the-globe bicycle trip as the first woman as early as in 1894–95. John Foster Fraser and two friends set off round

954-526: Is a human-powered vehicle that, being the first means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, is regarded as the first bicycle . The dandy horse is a foot-propelled vehicle, powered by the rider's feet on the ground instead of the pedals of later bicycles. It was invented by Karl Drais (who called it a Laufmaschine [ German: [ˈlaʊfmaˌʃiːnə] , "running machine"]) in 1817, and then patented by him in France in February 1818 using

1007-518: Is now the biggest body campaigning for cycling and cyclists' rights in the UK. It continues to organise group touring events including day rides through its local groups and CTC holidays in many countries led by experienced CTC members. Since 1983, Sustrans has created a National Cycle Network of long-distance cycle routes including back roads and traffic-free tracks built, signed, and mapped in partnership with local organisations. Since 1980, there has been

1060-623: The Western Hemisphere . Bikecentennial's route, called the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, was developed by Lys Burden with the help of Bikecentennial staff and volunteers. The route was chosen to satisfy several requirements, such as a road surface suitable for bicycles, minimal traffic, varied terrain, historic and interesting landmarks, and access to basic services like campgrounds and grocery stores. The Bikecentennial TransAmerica Trail should not be confused with

1113-495: The 1930s could be had for £2. Roderick Watson and Martin Gray estimate there were ten million bicycles in Britain to one million cars. A decline set in across Europe, particularly in Britain, when millions of servicemen returned from World War II having learned to drive. Trips away were now, for the increasing number who had one, by car. The decline in the United States came even sooner. McGurn says: The story of interwar cycling

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1166-664: The Frenchman, Paul de Vivie (b. April 29, 1853), to found what became the Fédération Française de Cyclotourisme, the world's largest cycling association, and to coin the French word cyclo-tourisme . The League of American Wheelmen in the U.S. was founded in Newport, Rhode Island , on May 30, 1880. It shared an interest in leisure cycling with the administration of cycle racing . Membership peaked at 103,000 in 1898. The primary national bicycle-touring organization in

1219-571: The Middle East, Turkey, western Europe, Scandinavia, then another 100,000 km across Africa, Latin America and Australia. Others attempt long voyages in exceptionally short time periods. The current circumnavigation record by bicycle is 78 days 14 hours, and 40 minutes by Mark Beaumont Noted writers have combined cycling with travel writing including Dervla Murphy , who made her first documented journey in 1963, from London to India, on

1272-635: The Richmond Road, and a lark on Putney Heath. The freshness of dew was in the air; dew or the relics of an overnight shower glittered on the leaves and grass...He wheeled his machine up Putney Hill, and his heart sang within him. Wells puts Hoopdriver in a new brown cycling suit to show the importance of the venture and the freedom on which he is embarking. Hoopdriver finds the bicycle raises his social standing, at least in his imagination, and he calls to himself as he rides that he's "a bloomin' dook " The New Woman that he pursues wears Rational Dress of

1325-408: The U.S. is now Adventure Cycling Association . Adventure Cycling, then called Bikecentennial , organised a mass ride in 1976 from one side of the country to the other to mark the nation's 200th anniversary. The Bikecentennial route is still in use as the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail. The first cyclists, often aristocratic or rich, flirted with the bicycle and then abandoned it for the new motor car. It

1378-564: The United States and Canada. The Adventure Cycling Route Network now consists of over 52,000 miles and is the largest bicycle route network in North America. Since 2014, the annual Trans Am Bike Race has used basically the same route as that used for the Bikecentennial. Bicycle touring Historian James McGurn speaks of bets being taken in London in the 19th century for riders of hobby-horses – machines pushed by

1431-412: The United States, it lasted longer. The expansion from a machine that had to be pushed to propelled through pedals on a front wheel made longer distances feasible. A rider calling himself "A Light Dragoon" told in 1870 or 1871 of a ride from Lewes to Salisbury , across southern England. The title of his book, Wheels and Woes , suggests a less than event-free ride but McGurn says "it seems to have been

1484-501: The World ), and Rob Lilwall ( Cycling Home From Siberia ) have all been on epic bicycle expeditions and written popular books about their exploits. But most bicycle tourists are ordinary people out of the spotlight. One economic implication of bicycling is that it liberates the cyclist from oil consumption. The bicycle is an inexpensive, fast, healthy and environmentally friendly mode of transport. Ivan Illich said that bicycling extends

1537-536: The Young Lady in Grey, as he refers to her, are escaping social restraints through bicycle touring. Hoopdriver falls in love and rescues her from a lover who says marrying him is the only way that she, having left alone for a cycling holiday, can save her reputation. She lowers her social status; he raises his. McGurn says: "The shift in social perspectives, as exemplified by Wells' cyclists, led Galsworthy to claim, at

1590-509: The activity's informal nature. Market research indicates that in 2006 British cyclists spent £120m on 450,000 organised cycling holidays, and a further 2.5 million people included some cycling activity in their annual holiday that year. The total economic benefit to communities visited during the nine-day long Great Victorian Bike Ride was estimated at AU$ 2 million in 2011, which does not include costs paid directly to ride organisers and ongoing benefits to towns. Sustrans estimate that

1643-560: The bike, which breaks the boundaries of Hoopdriver's world literally and figuratively. Hoopdriver sets off in a spirit of freedom, finally away from his job: Only those who toil six long days out of the seven, and all the year round, save for one brief glorious fortnight or ten days in the summer time, know the exquisite sensations of the First Holiday Morning. All the dreary, uninteresting routine drops from you suddenly, your chains fall about your feet...There were thrushes in

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1696-547: The boys clustered round the machines, and, where they could, caught hold of them and ran behind until they were tired out. Many enquiries were made as to the name of 'them queer horses', some called them 'whirligigs', 'menageries' and 'valparaisons'. Between Wolverhampton and Birmingham , attempts were made to upset the riders by throwing stones. Enthusiasm extended to other countries. The New York Times spoke of "quantities of velocipedes flying like shuttles hither and thither". But while British interest had less frenzy than in

1749-443: The country. I pictured thousands of people, a sea of people with their bikes and packs all ready to go, and there would be old men and people with balloon-tire bikes and Frenchmen who flew over just for this. Nobody would shoot a gun off or anything. At 9 o'clock everybody would just start moving. It would be like this crowd of locusts crossing America. The ride eventually ran from Astoria, Oregon , to Yorktown, Virginia , site of

1802-403: The entire length of the trail. Most of the participants rode in prearranged groups of 10 to 12 with a group leader, while about a quarter rode solo. The riders were essentially self-contained; they carried camping gear, food, and other necessities in panniers on their bicycles. Bikecentennial had been a 501(c)(3) nonprofit since 1974, and after the 1976 event the organization lived on to serve

1855-420: The feet rather than pedaled – outspeeding stagecoaches . "One practitioner beat a four-horse coach to Brighton by half an hour," he says. "There are various accounts of 15 to 17-year-olds draisienne -touring around France in the 1820s. On 17 February 1869 John Mayall, Charles Spencer and Rowley Turner rode from Trafalgar Square , London, to Brighton in 15 hours for 53 miles. The Times , which had sent

1908-501: The first British settlements; 4,100 rode, with 2,000 completing the entire route. It defined a new start for cycle-touring in the United States and led to the creation of Adventure Cycling Association . Adventure Cycling has mapped routes across America and into Canada, many of the rides taking up to three months to complete on a loaded bicycle. In Britain, the Cyclists Touring Club grew to 70,000 members by 2011 and

1961-724: The industrial world. The post-war peace was to lay the bicycle low. However, between 1965 and 1975 the U.S. experienced a bike boom . In 1976, to celebrate the bicentennial of the founding of the United States, Greg Siple, his wife June, and Dan and Lys Burden organized a mass bike ride, Bikecentennial , from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Siple said: My original thought was to send out ads and flyers saying, 'Show up at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco at 9 o'clock on June 1 with your bicycle.' And then we were going to bicycle across

2014-630: The name Bikecentennial a few months later as Hemistour progressed through Mexico . Siple had founded an annual bicycle tour called the Tour of the Scioto River Valley (TOSRV) in Ohio with his father in 1962. During a break from Hemistour, Dan Burden became severely ill and had to drop out. He and his wife, Lys, focused on building the Bikecentennial event while the Siples continued their tour of

2067-456: The needs of traveling cyclists, developing more routes and making maps. Bikecentennial changed its name in 1993 to Adventure Cycling Association . A 1976 bicycle tour across the United States was conceived by Greg Siple in 1973 while he, his wife June, and Dan and Lys Burden were riding an 18,000-mile bicycle tour, called Hemistour , from Anchorage, Alaska , to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina , to promote bicycling and hosteling . June Siple coined

2120-405: The rise of hospitality exchange services from the nineties on, cycle travelers like other travelers got the means to better organize their stays at local hosts. The hospitality exchange website Warm Showers , which is specialized for cycle travelers started in 2005 and has over 100000 members worldwide today. The scale of bicycle touring and its economic effects are difficult to estimate, given

2173-825: The similarly named Trans America Trail (TAT), a mostly off-pavement, 5273-mile (8486-km) motorcycle route between the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Port Orford, Oregon , that has become popular with mountain bike riders. The route crosses the Continental Divide nine times in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. The TransAmerica Bicycle Trail was inaugurated on May 14, 1976. The TransAm groups, those riding coast to coast, set off from trailheads at either Astoria, OR, or Yorktown, VA, while other groups riding shorter tours set off from trailheads inland. The prearranged groups consisted of about 10 to 12 riders including

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2226-462: The smooth pavements instead of the rough roads. Their interactions with pedestrians caused many municipalities worldwide to enact laws prohibiting their use, and in New York City, a law was passed that banned dandy horses from all footpaths and public places. Later designs avoided the initial drawback of this device when it had to be made to measure, manufactured to conform with the height and

2279-529: The term vélocipède . It is also known as a Draisine ( German: [dʁaɪˈziːnə] in German, a term used in English only for light auxiliary railcars regardless of their form of propulsion), and as a draisienne ( French: [drɛzjɛn] in French and English. In English, it is also sometimes still known as a velocipede, but that term now also has a broader meaning . The dandy-horse

2332-462: The total value of cycle tourism in the UK in 1997 was £635m and they forecast £14bn for the whole EU by 2020. Among examples of current activity given by Sustrans are 1.5m cyclists using the 250 kilometres (160 mi) Danube Cycle Route each year and 25% of holiday visitors in Germany using bicycles during their visit. Bicycle touring can be of any distance and time. The French tourist Jacques Sirat speaks in lectures of how he felt proud riding round

2385-434: The usable physical environment for people, while alternatives such as cars and motorways degrade and confined people's environment and mobility. The website crazyguyonabike.com includes thousands of rider-generated journals of cycling tours globally. Distances vary considerably. Depending on fitness, speed and the number of stops, the rider usually covers between 50–150 kilometres (31–93 mi) per day. A short tour over

2438-661: The world for five years – until he met an Australian who had been on the road for 27 years. The German rider, Walter Stolle, lost his home and living in the Sudetenland in the aftermath of World War II, settled in Britain and set off from Essex on 25 January 1959, to cycle round the world. He rode through 159 countries in 18 years, denied only those with sealed borders. He paid his way by giving slide shows in seven languages. He gave 2,500 such shows at US$ 100 each. In 1974, he rode through Nigeria , Dahomey , Upper Volta , Ghana , Leone , Ivory Coast , Liberia and Guinea . He

2491-592: The world on safety bicycles in July 1896. He, Edward Lunn and F. H. Lowe rode 19,237 miles, through 17 countries, in two years and two months. By 1878, recreational cycling was enough established in Britain to lead to formation of the Bicycle Touring Club, later renamed Cyclists' Touring Club . It is the oldest national tourism organisation in the world. Members, like those of other clubs, often rode in uniform. The CTC appointed an official tailor. The uniform

2544-454: Was a dark green Devonshire serge jacket, knickerbockers and a "Stanley helmet with a small peak". The colour changed to grey when green proved impractical because it showed the dirt. Groups often rode with a bugler at their head to sound changes of direction or to bring the group to a halt. Confusion could be caused when groups met and mistook each other's signals. Membership of the CTC inspired

2597-402: Was a two-wheeled vehicle, with both wheels in line, propelled by the rider pushing along the ground with the feet as in regular walking or running. The front wheel and handlebar assembly was hinged to allow steering. The dandy horse was capable of more than doubling the average walking speed, to around 10 mph (16 km/h) on level ground. Drais was inspired, at least in part, by the need to develop

2650-416: Was characterised by lack of interest and a steady decline... Cycling had lost out to the automobile, and to some extent to the new electric transport systems. In the 1930s cumbersome, fat-tyred 'balloon bombers', bulbously streamlined in imitation of motorcycles or aeroplanes, appealed to American children: the only mass market still open to cycle manufacturers. Wartime austerity gave cycling a short reprieve in

2703-467: Was chosen to take cyclists through small towns on mostly rural, low-traffic roads. About 4,100 riders participated in the event, representing all 50 states and many foreign countries. Several route options were available to the participants, ranging from an 82-day, 4,250-mile cross-country trip to a more modest 12-day trip through the Rocky Mountains. Roughly 1,750 cyclists were signed up to ride

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2756-557: Was robbed 231 times, wore out six bicycles and had five more stolen. Heinz Stücke left his job as a die-maker in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1962 when he was 22 — three years after Stolle and is still riding. By 2006 he had cycled more than 539,000 km (335,000 mi) and visited 192 countries. He pays his way by selling photographs to magazines. From Asia, Gua Dahao left China in May 1999 to ride across Siberia,

2809-571: Was the lower middle class which profited from cycling and the liberation that it brought. The Cyclist of 13 August 1892 said: "The two sections of the community which form the majority of 'wheelmen' are the great clerk class and the great shop assistant class." H. G. Wells described this aspirant class liberated through cycling. Three of his heroes – in The History of Mr Polly , Kipps and The Wheels of Chance – buy bicycles. The first two work in drapery shops. The third, Hoopdriver, goes on

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