Ciudad Ciclista

Un anuncio de The Victorian Society in America

“COME RIDE WITH ME”
THE STORY OF BICYCLES IN VICTORIAN TIMES
Monday, October 16, 2006 – 8:00 PM
Montclair Women’s Club, 82 Union Street, Montclair, NJ
Refreshments Served
Members – Free ||| Guest Fee $10.00
Gary Sanderson is an active Wheelman who enjoys riding long distances on his high wheel bicycle from the 1880’s: He just completed riding from Boston to New York City to publicize the first ride around the world in 1894 by Annie Londonderry, a Jewish mother from Boston. His program, illustrated with slides and a real antique bicycle, will show how the bicycle developed, and discuss the impact of bicycles on the Victorian social order of the day.

Bicycles were invented at the beginning of the 19th century, and these machines were perfected in the Victorian age, including innovations such as direct drive, pneumatic tires and multiple gears. The high wheelers (the wheel as large as your leg length would allow) cost an average worker six months pay and required the skills of an acrobat. It is difficult to imagine, but bicycles were the first true freedom machines, and they played a most important role in the beginning of women’s liberation. The bicycle craze killed the bustle and the corset, boosted the popularity of Betty Bloomer’s bloomers and promoted “common-sense dressing” for women. Susan B. Anthony said “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.”