Bicycle.

Most human inventions are quite obviously born from our species. That is, if we stumbled across an artifact for the first time, its artificiality would be immediately obvious. The objects we often use in the world -those we have made for ourselves- either look like the appendage that wears it, or at least it is instantly evident which limb wields it. A shovel looks like an arm; a trowel looks like a hand. The bicycle however, is another thing entirely. A product only possible thanks to the Industrial Revolution’s ability to press  steel into workable shapes, the bicycle looks utterly un-natural, totally man-ufactured. And yet, it looks nothing like us. The two wheels are necessarily round, unlike the two straight & jointed legs that ultimately fuel them. Whether curved around the hands like on the modern road racer, or a simple rod which the fingers clench, the so called ‘handlebars’ posses none of the intricate dexterity their namesakes are capable of.

How utterly alien the bicycle looks. In his book Pale Blue Dot, Carl Sagan asks ‘Is There Intelligent Life on Earth?’, imagining a look-but-don’t-touch species observing us from orbit & postulating that cars were the dominant species. The developed areas of our world, visible from space, seem almost entirely devoted to the harsh right angles & hardened materials of the automobile. Sure, the observing alien species could postulate on the smaller ‘parasites’ that seem to periodically enter & exit these larger vehicles. Perhaps they’d even conclude that the locomotion of these metal mechanical monsters was somehow dependent on such symbionts. But they’d almost certainly assume that these motorcars were running the show. Not just that the developed world had been built for these motorcars -which in many ways is true- but that it had been built by them. And yet, zipping between these cars is the bike. Not a man inside a vehicle but mankind as vehicle. The bicycle is man as machine. Form as function. The bicycle evades the 90-degree gridlock of the city, the bumper-to-bumper stop/start of alternating lights at each & every intersection. The bicycle circumvents the paradox that rush hour traffic typically spells slowing to a standstill. The car’s momentum is all tied up in its mass; its power is bound to its bulkiness. A car may be travelling fast but it cannot stop fast; it cannot turn quickly. The cyclist, moment-by-moment, has infinitely more options open to them. At any given time, the cyclist can feel the force of these potential directions in their palms: with every turn of the crank, the downward force of each pedaling thigh exerts a little pressure on the opposing handlebar.

Since we stood upright, human evolution has largely been about our achieving verticality. With each generation we grow collectively taller as general nutrition rates improve. As our cities expand, they also grew upwards. We walk upright. We sit upright. We work upright. We drive upright. But we ride furled forward, both our faces & bodies projected towards our immediate destination. The bike is not only about being horizontal but about forward momentum. One cannot physically go backwards on most models of  bicycle. More to the point, if a bike is not itself moving forward –if it is not performing the perpetual motion it was made for- it collapses in a heap. Like walking or running, cycling is simply a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. In the enclosed air-conned ecosystem of your own car, your bubbled thoughts will revolve around your own little world. Whilst riding a bike, your thoughts become cyclic. A similar headspace to what joggers call ‘The Zone’, this ‘clearing of the head’ is the predominant reason many people run. The difference between this and cycling is that the cyclist doesn’t have to keep breaking through what marathon runners call ‘hitting the wall’, because the bicycle makes no ongoing impact with the pavement. The reason it is easier to cycle a certain distance than it is to run the same is due to our human ingenuity. The efficiency of gear ratios. The invention of the wheel.  The industrial applications of ball bearings. But the efficiency of the thing, the virtue that makes it almost elegantly organic, is how utterly self-sustaining the circular motion of the bicycle is. The more you pedal, the easier it becomes to pedal, and so the faster you can pedal. Each footfall brings the next foot up. Once you reach a certain speed, it becomes effortless. The industrial mechanism takes care of itself. That’s why you never forget, once your body has learned how to go through the motions. One of the benchmarks that brought on human civilsation was the invention of the wheel, crudely shoving fallen logs under a rolling slab of slate. Since that time, some whisper of the bicycle must have lain dormant in mankind’s mind. The dream of a machine fueled so efficiently, so effortlessly. Flung forever forward by nothing but the very being it carries.

/mr_metaphor.