ABSTRACT
My early experience with the bicycle was pretty typical of those in my generation. For us, the bike was first experienced as a toy. But it was not just any toy. Although bikes were ridden mostly for fun in those preadolescent days, they also foreshadowed the possibility of autonomy. Bicycles carried us beyond the orbit of parental control into a world where we were more clearly on our own. Such rides conjured images of adulthood, making us feel older and wiser than we were.
