"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." - H.G. Wells



"Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride." - John F. Kennedy

I ride about 60 or 70 kilometers a day, but that number will come down a bit after I get a job.

Melancholy is incompatible with bicycling.

--James E. Starrs


The bicycle is the vehicle of a new mentality. It quietly challenges a system of values which condones dependency, waste, inequality of mobility, and daily carnage. . . There is every reason why cycling should be helped to enjoy another Golden Age."

-- James McGurn, Worldwatch Institute

Those who wish to control their own lives and move beyond existence as mere clients and consumers- those people ride a bike.

- Wolfgang Sachs, For the Love of the Automobile



Cyclists are open-minded. Cyclists are egalitarian. Cyclists share a fellowship of the wheel that can overcome all political, social, racial and economic barriers. Except for recumbents.

- Ted Costantino, cycling journalist


One of my favorite things about biking (vs driving): When I used to drive, I always drove with my doors locked.  I would play my stereo, and mostly avoid any contact with other drivers on the road (just stayed in my gas-guzzling box.) But now, I ride my bike and oddly enough, I'm less afraid of all those things.  And when I am at a stoplight and another cyclist is also there, I usually know their name by the time the light turns green! It’s like all these walls come down and although it seems more dangerous than being in a car, I am less afraid!

--- Joni Mehler, 1995



The world lies right beyond the handlebars of any bicycle that I happen to be on anywhere from New York Bay to the Vallee de Chevreuse. Anywhere is high adventure, the walls come down, the cyclist is a loner, and it is the only way for him to meet other loners. And it works. One seldom exchanges anything but curses or names of insurance companies with another driver, the car inhibits human contacts. The bicycle generates them; bikes talk to each other like dogs, they wag their wheels and tinkle their bells, the riders let their mounts mingle.

--- Daniel Behrman, The Man Who Loved Bicycles, Chapter 6



I suppose that was what attracted me to the bicycle right from the start. It is not so much a way of getting somewhere as it is a setting for randomness; it makes every journey an unorganized tour.

--- Daniel Behrman, The Man Who Loved Bicycles, Chapter 5


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, Chapter 22


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

[T]he bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created:  Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon.

- Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist

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, "On Bicycling," Saturday Evening Post, 29 July 1967








Whoever invented the bicycle deserves the thanks of humanity.

- Lord Charles Beresford Miscellaneous

I'm just back from a post-lunch ride!
---Soren, 2010

I must fix up my bike this weekend and take it for a spin. I was averaging 20km a day for a while, but then my oldest son borrowed it and broke one of the pedals.