Why was cycling not included in the ancient Olympics?

"Necessity is the mother of invention" according to an old saying.
Bicycles were needed as soon as roads began to be built around 3500 BC.
Technology adequate to build a bike existed by 2000 BC yet the first
proto-bicycle did not appear until more than 3,500 years later. Had the
bicycle been invented earlier, world history would have been quite
different. Why did it take so long for somebody to try balancing on two
wheels?

For a closer look at this and related mysteries go to
http://home.pacbell.net/learnest/cyclops and click on "Why was cycling
not included in the ancient Olympics?"

-Les Earnest

Les Earnest wrote in message:
"Necessity is the mother of invention" according to an old saying.
Bicycles were needed as soon as roads began to be built around 3500 BC.
Technology adequate to build a bike existed by 2000 BC

Did the first high-wheel bicycles use ball/roller bearings? Somehow, I
doubt hard enough bearings existed 4,000 years ago.

Austin

On Mon, 09 Aug 2004 12:37:49 -0700, Les Earnest
wrote:

Why did it take so long for somebody to try balancing on two
wheels?

I understood that it was from the high death rate of people trying to
blow up high pressure presta tubes before chucks were invented.

Or in more formal times, charles...

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

It's well understood that the persistent Greeks fought desperately to
inflate their bicycle tires by blowing into the presta tubes, only to suffer
innumerable casualties from pulmonary embolisms. While it's doubtlessly true
that this caused a significantly increased mortality rate in the Greek
population, it's simplistic to cite this tragic outcome as being directly
responsible for the demise of the ancient bicycle. Rest assured, the Greeks
were a bold people and not so easily deterred from exploiting the obvious
advantages of the bicycle. Tragically, however, the high death count so
disrupted Greek society that the bicycle wheel was never standardized. Thus,
it remained intractably difficult for the ancient bicyclist to find a tire
that would fit a given wheel. Each presta tube was hand-made to order, and
this took so damn much time that a person had just as well run from one end
of the peninsula to the other, rather than wait.

mCrux

"Curtis L. Russell" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 09 Aug 2004 12:37:49 -0700, Les Earnest
wrote:

Why did it take so long for somebody to try balancing on two
wheels?

I understood that it was from the high death rate of people trying to
blow up high pressure presta tubes before chucks were invented.

Or in more formal times, charles...

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Maybe they should have used a Schrader valve.


--
keydates

If you've ever tried to ride a bicycle nude, you wouldn't have to ask.

-ilan


Les Earnest wrote in message ...
"Necessity is the mother of invention" according to an old saying.
Bicycles were needed as soon as roads began to be built around 3500 BC.
Technology adequate to build a bike existed by 2000 BC yet the first
proto-bicycle did not appear until more than 3,500 years later. Had the
bicycle been invented earlier, world history would have been quite
different. Why did it take so long for somebody to try balancing on two
wheels?

For a closer look at this and related mysteries go to
http://home.pacbell.net/learnest/cyclops and click on "Why was cycling
not included in the ancient Olympics?"

-Les Earnest

Les Earnest wrote in message ...

different. Why did it take so long for somebody to try balancing on two
wheels?

First of all, you should ask why didn't people try driving existing 4 wheel
vehicles using human power (pedals not the Fred Flinstone method). Now that
you mention it, the steam engine could have also been invented in Ancient
times. You can check out their technological ideas by looking up Vitruvius.

I don't quite agree with your statement about the advantage of bicycles
in military campaigns. I don't recall too much use for them in the last
world wars. I only know about Dieter http://www.andgor.com/ddieter.html

-ilan

http://rapidttp.com/milhist/vol041dm.html
http://www.bibl.u-szeged.hu/bibl/mil.../caidin_i.html
http://www.io.com/tog/milbicycles.html
http://www.greenspeed.us/wesley_clark.htm

Ilan Vardi wrote:
snip
I don't quite agree with your statement about the advantage of bicycles
in military campaigns. I don't recall too much use for them in the last
world wars. I only know about Dieter http://www.andgor.com/ddieter.html

-ilan

"Mike Schwab" wrote in message
...

http://www.greenspeed.us/wesley_clark.htm

ROFL!
A great unintentional self-parody.

"Ilan Vardi" wrote in message

If you've ever tried to ride a bicycle nude, you wouldn't have to ask.


You've never heard of the Naked Criterium?