Such races helped to promote the concept of the ‘New Woman’ - someone who of course would use the bike practically from day to day. Women’s cycle racing was in fact one of the first uses of sport and sex used to sell products to a new audience.

Like much of the book it helps to remind us that cycling was a ‘hard nosed’ commercial activity and was unchallenged as the fastest way to travel on the road for many years. Following on from this is ‘The Flaneur on Wheels’. (I didn’t know what one was until I read the book either!). This deals with the often neglected period between 1900 and 1920 and deserves commendation for it’s overview of the industry and social mores. ‘Men women and the Bicycle’ looks back to the 19th century and has some intriguing tales of early attempts to improve the image of cycling.

For those that like to look at where we are now, the chapters ‘Barriers to Cycling’, ‘Hell is Other Cyclists’, ‘Fear of Cycling’ and ‘Bicycle Messengers’ give plenty of food for thought. Dave Horton’s chapter on ‘fear’ reminds us that the safety industry has a vested interest in making cycling appear more dangerous than it actually is. Compare and contrast with the earlier years when people took to the streets on bikes without adequate brakes! ‘Bicycle Messengers’ is an example of how apart from society one part of cycling appears to be.

For those that like to dream and consider what the bike is now and may be in the future, ‘Bicycles don’t evolve’ is a great overview. This looks at where one form of transport ends and the other starts. It examines the current relationship of bikes to motorcycles, cars and velomobiles. The topic of how different means of transport work and how they are perceived is something that is rarely looked at in such detail. The whole world of human powered vehicles is covered well, pointing out that velomobiles are not simply ‘pedal cars’ or bikes with bodywork but a category in their own right that are continuing to be developed.

This chapter considers the use of power assisted vehicles and whether we should re-asses the relationship between the different means of personal transport available. The diagrams here are good and challenge the belief by some people that the bike is obsolete and an anachronism. As with much of the book you’ll find yourself making connections to other chapters. The question of developing other types of vehicle was already a topic for the 1902 Scottish Bicycle Show in an earlier chapter. The programme for this event promised “this year the motor bicycle. the motor tricycle and a full complement of motor cars have been brought together with the charm of absolute novelty”.

Finally I’ll return to the book’s first chapter ‘Cycling the City’. This deals with the abstract notion of ‘place’ that each cyclist feels and how they view their environment from a bike. There is much pleasure shared on how riders ‘feel’ about their routes. The conclusion reached, however, is that a person on a bike looks at things differently from each other as much as from the view of someone driving a car. Cycling is a very individual means of getting about and has less ‘consensus’ maybe than that of powered vehicle users which define the traffic ‘norms’ in many cities.

All in all the book is an insightful read that leaves one feeling positive about the future, with a good look at the past and how cycling has fitted in. It’s worth remembering too that whatever the pastime or form of transport there will always be people that will misuse it and those that will want it banned. ‘Souped up’ cars are merely a contemporary version of the anti-social road behaviour that started in our streets with ‘Scorchers’ speeding on high wheelers around 1880!

Recommended reading for those that like to see how cycling was at the centre of much technological and social change in the past and how it may become so again in the future.

.david gardiner

Cycling and Society is part of Ashgate’s ‘Transport and Society’ series and is available to order
online from www.ashgate.com