Tuesday, May 29, 2012

1895, 2012

having just returned from durango, where I rode my bike--along with thousands of others--to silverton, colorado (incorporated in1885), I thought I'd share some thoughts about bicycling written about the same time silverton was coming to life.  some things remain fairly constant, don't they?


I began to feel that myself plus the bicycle equaled myself plus the world, upon whose spinning wheel we must all learn to ride, or fall into the sluiceways of oblivion and despair.  That which made me succeed with the bicycle was precisely what had gained me a measure of success in life -- it was the hardihood of spirit that led me to begin, the persistence of will that held me to my task, and the patience that was willing to begin again when the last stroke had failed.  And so I found high moral uses in the bicycle and can commend it as a teacher without pulpit or creed  She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the master of life.


frances e. willard, how I learned to ride the bicycle, 1895

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