I thought of that while riding my bike.
-Albert Einstein, on the theory of relativity

Quotes

By famous and infamous people.

With the heaps of overly specialized gear — gloves, shoes, and biking jerseys — most cyclists realize that every day on the road is Halloween. Plain and simple, it's wearing a costume each time out of the gate.…We're neon signs, stylistically impaired wonders blinding pedestrians and fooling small children into thinking that the circus has come back to town.
-Joe Kurmaskie, the Metal Cowboy: Riding Outside the Lines
The advantages? Exercise, no parking problems, gas prices, it's fun. An automobile is expensive. You have to find a place to park and it's not fun. So why not ride a bicycle? I recommend it.
-Stephen G. Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice when ask why he rides a bike.
The best routes are the ones you haven't ridden. You could pedal the same loops year after year. Many people do, literally or figuratively. But to grow, you need new rides. Risks. Turn down lanes you've long seen but never traveled. Get lost once or twice, then double back to where you started and try again
Live like this and you come to see unknown territory not as threatening, but as intriguing.

-Mark Remy, Bicycling Magazine 9/01
Predawn ride, I pass my neighbor on a run. "Why are you riding a bike?" he asks. "Running gets you in shape faster." It's not about that. It's about how riding makes me feel. The speed. Leaning into gentle curves. Charging up hills. How strong my legs feel. Riding gets me fit. But thats just luck. I don't ride to get fit.
-R. Todd Barker
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle I no longer despair for the future of the human race.
-H.G. Wells
Nothing compares with the simple pleasure of a bike ride.
-John F. Kennedy
It's something I find enjoyable. Whether it is a road bike or mountain bike or tandem bike. I enjoy riding a bike.
-Lance Armstrong
Get e bicycle. You will certainly not regret it, if you live.
-Mark Twain
I relax by taking my bicycle apart and putting it back together again.
-Michelle Pfeiffer
Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia.
-H.G. Wells
The sound of a car door opening in front of you is similar to the sound of a gun being cocked.
-Amy Webster
Never use your face as a brake pad.
-Jake Watson
I was trying to introduce myself as America's woman champion, but I said the french word "Champignon," so I introduced myself as a mushroom.
-Nancy Neiman Baranet
Refrain from throwing your bicycle in public. It shows poor upbringing.
-Jacquie Phelan
Who am I? Where am I? Oh yes-I'm at the Tour, so I should get on my bike and go. Where is my bike?
-Djamolidin Abdujaparov's first words after regaining consciousness after a crash, 1996
My grandfather told me: Always wear underpants beneath your kanzu before you mount your bicycle. Foolishly I mocked him, and now my heart is a dry ear pod. I was cycling home from the market when a terrible whirlwind blew up my kanzu, ballooning it over my face and lifting me far above the ground. I kept control but when the bike landed I sat down hard upon my testicles, squashing them against the saddle to the flatness of patties. A sharp pain ran through my entire body. Then I felt an inner peace and went into a deep sleep.
-Mzee Oposen
Bones Heal
Chicks Dig Scars
Pain is Temporary
Glory is Forever

-Patrick Aanstoots
Sussex, NJ

People like to travel: that is why the grass is greener over the fence. We are walkers --- our natural means of travel is to put one foot in front of the other. The bicycle seduces our basic nature by making walking exciting. It lets us take 10-foot strides at 160 paces a minute. That's 20 miles an hour, instead of 4 or 5... It is not only how fast you go --- cars are faster and jet planes faster still. But jet-plane travel is frustrating boredom --- at least the car gives the pictorial illusion of travel. Cycling does it all --- you have the complete satisfaction of arriving because your mind has chosen the path and steered you over it; your eyes have seen it; your muscles have felt it; your breathing, circulatory and digestive systems have all done their natural functions better than ever, and every part of your being knows you have traveled and arrived.
--- John Forester, Effective Cycling, Chapter 22
I suppose that was what attracted me to the bicycle right from the start. It is not so much a way of getting somewhere as it is a setting for randomness; it makes every journey an unorganized tour.
--- Daniel Behrman, The Man Who Loved Bicycles, Chapter 5
The world lies right beyond the handlebars of any bicycle that I happen to be on anywhere from New York Bay to the Vallee de Chevreuse. Anywhere is high adventure, the walls come down, the cyclist is a loner, it is the only way for him to meet other loners. And it works. One seldom exchanges anything but curses or names of insurance companies with another driver, the car inhibits human contacts. The bicycle generates them; bikes talk to each other like dogs, they wag their wheels and tinkle their bells, the riders let their mounts mingle.
--- Daniel Behrman, The Man Who Loved Bicycles, Chapter 6
She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life.

I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.

That which caused the many failures I had in learning the bicycle has caused me failures in life; namely, a certain fearful looking for of judgement; a too vivid realization of the uncertainty of everything about me; an underlying doubt -- at once, however, matched and overcome by the determination not to give in to it.

I began to feel that myself plus the bicycle equaled myself plus the world, upon whose spinning wheel we must all earn 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.
--- Frances E. Willard, How I Learned To Ride The Bicycle, 1895


The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community.
--- Ann Strong, Minneapolis Tribune, 1895
One of my favorite things about biking (vs driving):When I used to drive, I always drove with my doors locked...I would play my stereo, and mostly avoid any contact with other drivers on the road (just stayed in my gas-guzzling box..) But now, I ride my bike and oddly enough, I'm less afraid of all those things..And when I am at a stoplight and another cyclist is also there, I usually know their name by the time the light turns green! Its like all these walls come down and although it seems more dangerous than being in a car, I am less afraid!
--- Joni Mehler, 1995
In the past two decades, thousands of miles of trails have been paved in the United States, but many of them look as if they were designed by someone who'd never ridden a bike. By consulting more with the people who do a lot of travelling under their own power, transportation planners ought to be able to come up with imaginative schemes for making roads, paths and sidewalks more usable to them, and maybe help cut down a bit on our reliance on the automobile.
--- Trouble on the Trail, Washington Post op-ed, May 18, 1993
Shark-nosed automobiles streamed in endless caravan through the gentle acid rain, spraying one another with a film of insoluble filth, a vicious servility oozing by in grease. .... (p. 102)

"Doctor Sarvis, laboring on his bicycle up the long grade of Ninth South toward his home on 23rd East, was not unaware of the pressure of the traffic accumulating in his rear, the clamor of horns pounded by impatient fists, the motorized hatred fermenting at his back. But he thought, "Fuck 'em". Let 'em wait. Let 'em fester. Let 'em walk. Let 'em ride a bike like me, would do me and them and everybody a world of good. Cleanse our city's air, reinvigorate the blood, tone up the muscles, strengthen the heart, burn up that surplus fat, stave off arteriosclerosis, cut down on bypass operations, eliminate transplants, lower the cholesterol count, prolong lives. Yes and reduce oil consumption, slow down the waste of steel and rubber and copper and glass, free human labor and engineering skills for important work -- anything bad for the auto industry and bad for the oil industry is bound to be good for America, good for human beings, good for the land. .... (p. 107)
--- Edward Abbey, Hayduke Lives!


When I was sick, I didn't want to die.
When I race, I don't want to lose.
Dying and losing, it's the same thing.
--- Lance Armstrong
People do not 'drive' cars, they steer them.
People do not 'ride' bicycles, they drive them.
--- A. N. Mouse (submitted by Mark Atkins)
In the prehuman environment much of that carbon removed from the atmosphere by green plants was locked safely away in the earth, where it could not be returned to the air by respiration. Disregarding his own need for a nearly carbon-free atmosphere, man perceived the deposits of coal and petroleum not as safe underground storage of natural pollutants, but as 'fossil fuels'; he set about eagerly unearthing them to fulfill his growing demand for energy.
--- William R. Catton, Jr., Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change, p. 99
From an airplane above an American city, the only human activity visible was the movement of cars. [....] From a closer view, the movement and noise of cars dominated the urban landscape. In human minds routes and the vehicles that connected them often seemed more compelling than the places the routes supposedly served [....] At any given moment, a vast part of the population was busy manufacturing or repairing cars, or servicing cars through highway and street work, gas stations, police forces and courts, licensing and taxing bodies, insurance companies, hospitals, morgues and mausoleums. Everything considered, the automobile consumed well over an eighth of all the productive capacity of the American economy [....] Drivers thought of their vehicles merely as convenient (though increasingly expensive) machines to convey them from place to place. But cars inevitably functioned also as parts of the biosphere. In each one, a powerful internal combustion engine turned over insatiably, gulping in several gallons of gas per hour, mixing it with large quantities of air, and expelling the polluted air exhausts, like one long, continuous, carcinogenic fart. So markedly did the voracious cars out-breathe humans that there was no particle of air in metropolitan areas that had not previously passed through the cylinders of at least one car, and bore in the noxious gases and particulates that it carried the traces of that passage.
--- Ernest Callenbach, Ecotopia Emerging, p. 77-78
A man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle.
-Vique
A man needs a bicycle between his legs like a woman needs a fish.
-Wehr Reich
All Bicycles weigh 50 pounds; A 30 pound bicycle needs a 20 pound lock. A 40 pound bicycle needs a 10 pound lock. A 50 pound bicycle doesn't need a lock.
-Bicycle Law
Life is like riding a bicycle. You don't fall off unless you plan to stop pedaling.
-Claude Pepper
I loath people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves.
-August Strindberg
I love riding with women. There's no snot blowing, spitting, or dirty jokes. Well I guess there is, but it's more fun when you're the one doing it!!
-overheard at a BOMBB Squad (all-women) ride
To ride a bicycle properly is very much like a love affair; chiefly is is a matter of faith. Believe you can do it and the thing is done; doubt, and for the life of you, you cannot.
-H.G. Wells, The Wheels of Chance
Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman on a wheel. It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self- reliance.
-Susan B. Anthony, New York World, February 2, 1896
(The term "loose woman" originated with the dawn of women on bikes and their desire to ride corset free- Terry catalog)
Consider a man riding a bicycle. Whoever he is, we can say three things about him. We know he got on the bicycle and started to move. We know that at some point he will stop and get off. Most important of all, we know that if at any point between the beginning and the end of his journey he stops moving and does not get off the bicycle he will fall off it. That is a metaphor for the journey through life of any living thing, and I think of any society of living things.
--- William Golding (1911-93), British author. "Utopias and Antiutopias," address, 13 Feb. 1977, to Les Anglicistes, Lille, France (repr. in A Moving Target, 1982).
If all feeling for grace and beauty were not extinguished in the mass of mankind at the actual moment, such a method of locomotion as cycling could never have found acceptance; no man or woman with the slightest aesthetic sense could assume the ludicrous position necessary for it.
--- Ouida [Marie Louise de la Ramee] (1839-1908), English novelist. Critical Studies, "The Ugliness of Modern Life" (1900).
The gross and net result of it is that people who spent most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycle as a result of the interchanging of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in these parts who nearly are half people and half bicycle.
--- Sergeant Pluck, expounding on The Atomic Theory, in "The Third Policeman," by Flann O'Brien.
Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain-at least in a poor country like Russia-and his vanity begins to swell out like his tyres. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect.
--- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), Russian revolutionary. The History of the Russian Revolution, vol. 2, ch. 7 (1933).
"When man invented the bicycle, he reached the peak of 
his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and 
balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike 
subsequent inventions for man´s convenience) the more 
he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once 
was a product of man´s brain that was entirely beneficial 
to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to 
others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle."
Elizabeth West 

"The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of 
transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart."
Iris Murdoch 

"I love the bicycle. I always have. I can think of no sincere, decent human 
being, male or female, young or old, saintly or sinful, who can resist the bicycle."
William Saroyan 

"When I go biking I am mentally far far away from civilization. 
The world is breaking someone else's heart."
Diane Ackerman 

"If the wind is not against you, it is not blowing."
James E Starrs 

"I never want to abandon my bike. I see my grandfather, now in his seventies 
and riding around everywhere. To me that is beautiful. And the bike must always 
remain a part of my life."
Stephen Roche 

"Like dogs, bicycles are social catalysts that attract a superior category of people."
Chip Brown 

"You never have the wind with you - either it is against you or you're having a good day."
W. Somerset Maugham 

"Whoever invented the bicycle deserves the thanks of humanity."
Lord Charles Beresford 

"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, quite so worthwhile as simply messing 
about on bicycles."
Tom Kunich 

"Don't buy upgrades, ride up grades."
Anonymous 

"It is no longer a beast of steel . . no it is a friend . . it is a faithful 
and powerful ally against one's worst enemies. It is stronger than anxiety, 
stronger than sadness. It has all the power of hope."
Maurice Leblanc 

"Since the bicycle make little demand on material or energy resources, contributes 
little to pollution, makes a positive contribution to health and causes little 
death ro injury, it can be regarded as the most benevolent of machines."
Stuart S Wilson 




"A road rider who is not practiced is merely an athlete on a bike, 
half-educated, a pedaler - not a complete cyclist."
Maynard Hershon

"Really steep climbs are not my forte, so I always dread that lowest gear 
because I figure, god, I'm doomed."
Juli Furtado 

"Cycling is just like church - many attend, but few understand."
Jim Burlant 

"The grace and charm of the bicycle lend added warmth and contour to 
the persons of the lovers it joins."
James E Starrs 

"Smooth, predictable riding when you're in a group isn't just a matter 
of style. It's survival."
Geoff Drake 

"Marriage is a wonderful invention; but then again, so is a bicycle repair kit."
Billy Connolly 

"Just go steady and hard up all the hills. People don't mind riding 
fast and slow, fast and slow, but they hate a hard, steady pace."
Heidi Hopkins 

"People are screaming and the next thing you know you're going too hard. 
You're out of the saddle sprinting up a hill or something and because of 
the cheers you don't feel a thing until you get to the top. Then you pay."
Alison Sydor 


"But the fact is that I wouldn't have won even a single Tour de France without the lesson of illness. What it teaches is this: pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever." -- Lance Armstrong in Every Second Counts, chapter 1. "It never gets easier, you just go faster." -- Greg LeMond "Cats don't like riding on a bicycle....no matter how much duct tape you use." -- Anonymous "How fast can you go downhill?" "Pretty fast" "Well, you better ride like you stole something 'cause you are about to win a stage in the Tour de Fance" -- Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis. Unfortunately, this German guy messed up the plan. "What's with these recumbent bicycles? Listen, buddy, if you wanna take a nap, lie down. If you wanna ride a bike, buy a >#*%^* bicycle." –- George Carlin "The hardest part of raising a child is teaching them to ride bicycles. A shaky child on a bicycle for the first time needs both support and freedom. The realization that this is what the child will always need can hit hard." -- Sloan Wilson "Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes,it has not died out." -- The Daily Telegraph (1877) "A bicycle does get you there and more and there is always the thin edge of danger to keep you alert and comfortably apprehensive. Dogs become dogs again and snap at your raincoat; potholes become personal. And getting there is all the fun." -- Anonymous "The bicycle has a soul. If you succeed to love it, it will give you emotions that you will never forget." -- Mario Cipollini, on why he retired, then unretired to win the 2002 World Championship "It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle." -- Ernest Hemingway "Work to Eat. Eat to Live. Live to Bike. Bike to Work." "Given the remarkable growth in support for gays and lesbians, I think there is a chance that recumbents might someday be accepted." -- RAAM rider, 2005 "Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle." -- Helen Keller "The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart." -- Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green "When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking." -- (Sir) Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes), in the January 18, 1896 issue of Scientific American Magazine "Finishing a ride is mandatory. Finishing a ride fast is optional." "The reward for riding up hill, is the fun of riding down them." "Wind is just a hill in gaseous form." -- Barry McCarty "Bicycles have no walls." -- Paul Cornish "The bicycle is a curious vehicle. It's pasenger is it's engine." -- John Howard "You never have the wind with you. It is either against you or you are having a good day." -- Daniel Behrman, The Man Who Loved Bicycles "Cycling is unique. No other sport lets you go like that - where there's only the bike left to hold you up. If you ran as hard, you'd fall over. Your legs wouldn't support you." -- Steve Johnson "All creatures who have ever walked have wished that they might fly. With highwheelers a flesh and blood man can hitch wings to his feet." -Karl Kron, Ten Thousand Miles on a Bicycle "When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me." -- Emo Phillips "Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use." -- Charles M. Schulz "Sometimes the pain of quitting can be worse than the pain of going on." -- Anonymous "I would rather ride my bike with a headwind, then to drive my car in heavy traffic on downtown street." -- Tobias "The world is my church, the wind in my ears is the choir and my handlebars are the alter I pray at." -- zcubed "Too often I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen." -- Louis L'Amour, novelist (1908-1988) "If Huffy made an airplane, would you fly in it?" "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive" "Mend Your Fuelish Ways" "Irritability means too much on your mind and not enough bike riding" -bumper sticker "Burn Carbohydrates, Not Hydrocarbons" "Brains before Beauty, Wear your helmet!" "This is your interview." -- Cadel Evans, tossing his crushed and cracked helmet to a journalist after finishing stage 9 bruised and blooded from a high-speed crash during the 2008 TdF.

Last update July 17, 2008