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two wheels good - the history and mystery of the bicycle. jody rosen. bodley head hardback. 396pp illus. £25

eastern philosophies contend that an object is not inherently that which we mankind may have decided to name it. in other words, a tree (for example) contains no specific tree-ness, and were it actually a sentient being, it would be blissfully unaware of its designation. better examples might be cows or sheep, animals that occasion much discussion within the sunday morning peloton, particularly when they appear on the road in front of us. neither animal is aware of their human originated designation, which would presumably explain why, on my morning walks, when i offer a "morning, sheep" to those in the fields, they seem particularly non-plussed.

we can but wonder whether those animals and plants have taken the time to apply names to us. that being the case, we too remain quite unaware of the nature that has been bestowed upon us.

and to briefly return to my original tree example, though the english speaking peoples of the world will recognise precisely to what that word refers, spaniards think of it as an arbol, the french see an arbre, and the chinese walk through forests of shùs. there may well be a wide variety of words for a bicycle across the many world languages, but drill down a little further and you learn that, whatever you choose call it, the bicycle means different things to different people, even those of similar nationality.

american author, jody rosen has explored those many definitions of what a bicycle means to all manner of different people, including, in chapter 13, 'personal history'.

"A cycling life begins in a blaze of glory. For hours or days or weeks, you still don't know how to ride a bicycle. [...] Then, suddenly, you are breezing along a road that stretches towards a limitless horizon."

it's not too hard to infer from the book's title, that mr rosen is much in favour of the bicycle, in all its many forms and appearances. to that degree, in common with probably every other cycling book in existence, it could be seen as preaching to the converted. i harbour great suspicions that those who could care less about the bicycle will probably head straight to the graphic novel section in waterstones, bypassing the cycling section. however, recognition of this particular set of circumstances, does not, or should not, detract from the book's excellent value to those of us who truly believe that two wheels are, in fact, good.

the author's prologue pays testament to the exotic advertising that featured in the bicycle's early years, where it was often associated with surreal astronomical properties, subsequently resurfacing in the mid-twentieth century when bicycles bore space-age names, such as 'skylark, skyliner, starliner, spacelander...; i'm sure you catch the drift. by précis-ing some of the landmarks in the early development of the bicycle, mr rosen sets us up for that which follows in the next 300+pages.

he even pays tribute (if indeed that is a suitable word) to those for whom the bicycle is one that effectively goes nowhere. from the humble exercise bicycle, many of which end up as oddly-shaped clothes horses left unceremoniously in a corner. somewhat dramatically, he begins that particular chapter with "A pair of exercise bicycles are resting 12,500 feet beneath the North Atlantic Ocean, about 370 miles south-southeast of Newfoundland." this is a reference to exercise bikes illustrated aboard the RMS Titanic. the chapter even identifies the last two passengers to make use of the machines prior to the ship sinking below the surface (charles duane williams and his son, r. norris williams).

in a commendably brief chapter, mr rosen introduces the reader to south african born jonathan goldberg, he who trademarked the concept of spin classes, subsequently adopted and transfigured by 'soulcycle'. these entrepreneurs "...pitched SoulCycle as a 'cardio party', with 'rockstar instructors', leading riders who move in unison as a pack to the beat." though he subsequently mentions the oft advertised peloton bike, he gains my utmost admiration by omitting any reference to zwift.

i do heartily approve of a bicycle book that omits the latter, but finds room to mention frank zappa.

and then there's the ubiquitous scot, danny macaskill, who appears in a chapter aptly entitled 'balancing act'. for the berneray born showman, the bicycle is far more of a tool than one of objectification, of speed, or means of transport. macaskill, through a series of well-produced and filmed youtube videos (his video of riding the ridge on skye, has racked up over 78 million views) has demonstrated just what can be done with a machine that most of us approach in an entirely different manner.

"By the time Danny was five years old, he was a familiar figure in Dunvegan, a little boy on a bicycle that he manipulated with startling ease, as if it was an extension of his limbs."

following a chapter-long exploration of the history of 'trick cycling', the author, in retrospect perhaps foolishly, joins danny on a bike ride near glasgow, during which he exceeds his own abilities and performs an over-the-bars display all of his very own. "I'm a wee bit worried, " he said, "that you're going to kill yourself."

as mentioned above, despite the likelihood that 'two wheels good' is a series of dissertations geared heavily towards the enlightened, it is arguably all the better for it. there are no vain attempts to persuade the none-believers that we're right and they're wrong, just a smidgeon less than 400 pages in celebration of everything the bicycle is, and almost nothing concerning what it isn't. the variety of those dissertations is wide and entertaining; rosen has an enthusiasm and a clarity of purpose that is hard to ignore, but a joy to absorb. if you are a cyclist of any particular flavour, or even none of the above, this will teach you more about the bicycle than you never realised you didn't know.

friday 18 november 2022