Road Work

I hit a rather substantial bump on the ride home yesterday.  It was one of those that just pops up out of no where and you can't do anything but go over it. It hurt, right up to the base of my skull. So, much so that I exclaimed rather loudly.  As I recovered, I wondered what that would have been like on a different bicycle. The Varsity (which I was on) absorbs the average jolt rather well. The FX, not so much. That giant Trek I sold last year rode like a Cadillac. My mountain bike handles the bumps much like the FX does, if slightly more forgiving.

It got me thinking. Today, one can purchase a bicycle designed for your utmost comfort. There's suspension in the fork and in the post, cushy grips, and big gel saddles. Theoretically, you won't feel a thing. But, way back in the day, bicycles were far from comfortable and roads weren't what know them as.

Take a look at this early Velocipide, the Dandy Horse, for example:

Now here is picture of your average road conditions in the cities of the US (this happens to be Saginaw, MI) during that time:

Can you imagine bumping along this road, swinging your legs for momentum with nothing but a hard wooden seat beating up on your sensitive areas? No, thank you! No wonder the dandy horse didn't catch on!

The next design up-grade was the aptly named "boneshaker" who's major improvement was the pedals directly attached to the front axle.

Sure, the efficiency of the machine was greatly improved by the new pedals, but now you had to learn to balance on the same bumpy and uneven roads! Even by the time the penny farthing was invented, the roads were still a mess.  So, not only were you getting jostled and having to balance in uneven conditions, but now you were much higher off the ground!  No wonder the ride often ended up like this!

As fun as riding a bicycle was, you ended up with a nasty headache at the very least.  Even after the modern bicycle came on the scene, the rides still weren't smooth.  Of course, John Dunlop developed the first pneumatic tire for his son who was sick of the nasty headaches the rides gave him, but that still didn't solve the problem.

Cyclists all over the country realized it wasn't design flaws of the bicycles that caused the rough rides, it was the roads!  So, in 1880 enthusiast and early cycling advocates formed the League of American Wheelmen.  The League lead the efforts for national road improvements known as the Good Roads Movement.  They not only emphasized the needs of cyclists but also the needs of rural communities and farms.  Everyone needed reliable roads.  Beginning in New Jersey, the campaign to replace the old rutted roads with well drained, paved ones caught on.  With the invention of the automobile, the need for smoother traveling surfaces became a hot issue.  In time, it led not only to construction improvements, but also the development of the National Highway System with the passage of the Federal Aide Road Act of 1916.  The boom in road building continued well into the 1920's.

This quote from Horatio Earle sums it up rather nicely, "I often hear now-a-days, the automobile instigated good roads; that the automobile is the parent of good roads. Well, the truth is, the bicycle is the father of the good roads movement in this country."


So, the next time some driver says you don't belong on the road, just remember, if it wasn't for cyclists that lovely road drivers think they own wouldn't exist.  


So, there!