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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Cycling, skateboarding, rollerblading > Cycling
The bicycle has long been a part of American culture but few would
describe it as an essential element of American identity in the
same way that it is fundamental to European and Asian cultures.
Instead, American culture has had a more turbulent relationship
with the bicycle. First introduced in the United States in the
1830s, the bicycle reached its height of popularity in the 1890s as
it evolved to become a popular form of locomotion for adults. Two
decades later, ridership in the United States collapsed. As
automobile consumption grew, bicycles were seen as backward and
unbecoming-particularly for the white middle class. Turpin
chronicles the story of how the bicycle's image changed
dramatically, shedding light on how American consumer patterns are
shaped over time. Turpin identifies the creation and development of
childhood consumerism as a key factor in the bicycle's evolution.
In an attempt to resurrect dwindling sales, sports marketers
reimagined the bicycle as a child's toy. By the 1950s, it had been
firmly established as a symbol of boyhood adolescence, further
accelerating the declining number of adult consumers. Tracing the
ways in which cycling suffered such a loss in popularity among
adults is fundamental to understanding why the United States would
be considered a ""car"" culture from the 1950s to today. As a lens
for viewing American history, the story of the bicycle deepens our
understanding of our national culture and the forces that influence
it.
Four years before the inaugural Tour de France, four cyclists known
as 'Overlanders' set out on a race around Australia. On 24 November
1896 a wiry and wily bushman named Arthur Richardson left
Coolgardie for Adelaide by bicycle. Carrying only a small kit and a
water-bag, he followed the telegraph line. After much 'sweating and
swearing' on sandy roads west of Eucla, and enduring the scorching
heat, 31 days later he became the first man to pedal across the
Nullarbor. But within three years Richardson had set his sights on
becoming the first person to ride around the vast island continent,
not yet a nation, and some 18,507km. On 5 June, 1899, he left
Perth, heading north, carrying no more than a swag and a pistol. It
took courage, self-confidence, endurance and resourcefulness to
tackle such a ride. Richardson would follow dirt tracks, cattle and
camel pads and stars in the night sky as he battled thirst, hunger,
exhaustion, crocodile attack and spears from Aboriginal warriors to
realize his dream. But he also had competition...another party of
cyclists with the same ambition. New Zealand-born Brothers Frank
and Alex White and wealthy adventurer Donald Mackay from
Wallandbeen Station, NSW, were attempting the ride in a
counter-clockwise direction from Melbourne and Brisbane
respectively. Set against the fledging pastoralist empires of
pre-Federation Australia, Tour de Oz, is the extraordinarily true
story of a remarkable race to 'circumcycle' the Australian
continent - before we became a nation.
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