Nike indigo floral collection11/6/2023 The high cost of bicycles in the 1890s-between $25 and $50 for a new “wheel,” the equivalent of $800 to $1600 today-was prohibitive for working-class Americans. Whatever their race or ethnicity, only well-to-do Americans could afford to take up cycling. Although a few intrepid athletes had experimented with the “pennyfarthing” bicycle earlier, in the late 1880s, the introduction of the “safety” bike-featuring pneumatic wheels of the same size-vastly expanded the popularity of “wheeling.” By the mid-1890s, estimates of the number of US bicyclists ranged between 2 and 4 million. Thanks in part to the widespread adoption of the bicycle, the late nineteenth century represented a new era of “freedom & exhilaration” for American women, especially well-to-do white women like May Bragdon and her friends. ![]() The gorgeously bright moon & stars & the sense of freedom & exhilaration of the wheel’s motion!” ![]() ![]() “The still, dewy night-the out door odors-the white smooth ro. After dinner, the group mounted their bicycles and rode to Ontario Beach Park, arriving just at sunset for a performance of “Pinafore” at the pavilion, where they also relished “the stars & gorgeous moon & colored lights & flowers & sweet air!” Afterward, May and her companions returned home on their “wheels.” “After the first long hill it was simply inexpressibly fine,” May gushed in the pages of her diary that night. On August 30, 1895, May Bragdon and her friends enjoyed “a perfectly delightful day” in and around Rochester, New York.
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