MegaSack DRAW - 6pm Christmas Eve - LIVE on our YouTube Channel
I'm reading a fabulous book "The Bridgers - the story of the men who built the Forth bridge"
Chapter 1 and this nugget is dropped in.
in 1883 Charles Henry Farley Cox cycled the 393 miles from Norwich to Queensferry on his penny farthing to take on a new job as foreman responsible for electrical installations on the bridge; he took three weeks to make the journey. Eighteen months later he was back on his penny farthing heading home
8)
Cool made 'em tough in them days.
Good effort - though I'm guessing he did that for the fun of it, not because he had to - they had trains back then.
Surely all early bikes were "utility" bikes since there was no sport to compete in and they were largely purported to be replacements for the horse, which was a utilitarian mode of transport?
Penny farthings were racing bikes.
Big gearing innit.
[url= http://www.bicycle-and-bikes.com/thomas-stevens-penny-farthing.html ]Around the world on a penny farthing bicycle[/url]
In 1884, Englishman, Thomas Stevens became the first person to cycle across North America. Mr Stevens cycled (and sometimes walked), his big-old penny farthing from San Francisco to Boston.His handle-bar bag only contained fresh socks and an extra shirt. He also packed a mackintosh (that doubled as bedroll AND tent), and a 38 Smith and Wesson.
Outing, a leading sports magazine of the day, had committed themselves to sponsoring Thomas Stevens' penny farthing endeavour.
It was a MIGHTY effort, ladies and gents.
Just imagine riding across 3700 miles (5,954.57 km) of rough wagon trails, railroad ways, canal towpathsand irregular public roads on an unstable, uncomfortable old HIGH-WHEELER!!Thomas was admired ... and enthusiastic members of local bicycle clubs turned out to cheer him on as he passed through their towns.
Thomas Stevens completed his adventure on August 4, 1884.
Having tasted success, Stevens then went on to become the FIRST man to cycle around the WORLD on a BICYCLE
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Yah boo to all our softy modern gear and planning....
there was plenty of sport in cycling years ago.poly - Member
Surely all early bikes were "utility" bikes since there was no sport to compete in and they were largely purported to be replacements for the horse, which was a utilitarian mode of transport?
the 1897 world cycling championships were held at celtic park, lots more events were held in various years. Here's the Irish/Scottish meeting at Celtic Park in 1893
[img] http://image.wikifoundry.com/wiki/Cycling+at+Parkhead+1893/image/1R7phad9nGf0pGYSwU9dlfA==342015/GW655H595 [/img]
More info here. http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/Celtic+Park+-+Cycling
