Lady Cycling: What to Wear & How to Ride

The late Victorian era was the early heyday of the bicycle, as the introduction of the safety bicycle brought cycling within reach of a whole new audience—including women. Fortunately for the daring lady cyclist of the 1890s, it wasn’t long before guidebooks appeared to tell her just how to set out upon this newfangled adventure. Lady Cycling presents one such book in all its humor and charm. First published in 1897, its quirky pleasures range from amusing anachronisms (“The initial cost of a machine is certainly almost as high as that of a pony”) to advice that can still help beginning cyclists today (“If nervous, or it is a bad crossing, like Regent Circus or by the Marble Arch, it is wisest, if not most dignified, to jump off”). We may have settled the question of whether cycling is an appropriate activity for ladies—to say nothing of the question of whether the corset should be shed for biking—but Lady Cycling nonetheless still offers plenty of entertainment and advice for the modern rider.