Why was cycling not included in the ancient Olympics?

Mike Kruger wrote:

A bigger mystery: why did the wheel never catch on in the pre-Columbian
western hemisphere?

I remember reading about this somewhere. Pre-Columbians knew about wheels,
and used them in toys but not (generally) for transportation. The main
reason was that wheels will damage a soft road surface, while foot traffic
actually improves the road surface.

Besides, who needs a wheel when you have a nice fuzzy llama?

Yet another example of the uphill struggle we have had to wage for our most
noble of sports......will it ever end?

Roger Bogda

"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

On 9 Aug 2004, Ilan Vardi wrote:


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.

Stories about bicycles in WW1 and WW2 are mostly ignored or
suppressed. Occasionally, a photo slips through the censors. An example
is a commonly (in Canada at least) printed picture of Canadian troops
leaving a landing craft at Normandy beaches, carrying bicycles. No
comment is ever made about the bicycles.

A few years ago (oops, I just checked the date and it was 30 years!!-
where have the years gone?) there was a book about the subject- BICYCLES
IN WAR by Martin Caidin (1974). Maybe it can be found in used book stores
or a library.

One reason the subject is "politically incorrect" is that bicycles
were used most effectively by "the other side". One example in the rapid
Japanese advance through south-east Asia.

Another reason is that documentaries about WW2 tend to be sponsored
by large corporations like the automobile and oil industries.

So who knows? Maybe bicycles were invented in ancient Greece/Rome
but were suppressed by the chariot industry :-)

--

David Dermott , Wolfville Ridge, Nova Scotia, Canada
email:
WWW pages: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/dermott/

David Dermott wrote:

A few years ago (oops, I just checked the date and it was 30 years!!-=

where have the years gone?) there was a book about the subject- BICYCLE=
S
IN WAR by Martin Caidin (1974). Maybe it can be found in used book stor=
es
or a library.
=20
One reason the subject is "politically incorrect" is that bicycles
were used most effectively by "the other side". One example in the rapi=
d
Japanese advance through south-east Asia.

Yes, I've got that. Probably the greatest example is the battle of Dien =

Bien Phu in 1954.

The French colonialists established a major air base in what is now=20
Vietnam (then it was called French Indochina.) The base was located in=20
a bowl-like depression, making it a sitting duck for artillery.=20
However, the brilliant French officers knew it was safe because it was=20
in the middle of trackless jungle, and there was no way for the=20
Vietnamese to get artillery into position.

They didn't reckon on General Giap's brilliance and the determination of =

the Vietnamese. They disassembled the artillery pieces and schlepped=20
the parts in on bicycles, reassembled them and c'etait tout qu'elle a=20
=E9crit for the French in Southeast Asia.

Too bad Eisenhower couldn't leave well enough alone...

Sheldon "Cyclobibliophile" Brown
+-----------------------------------------------+
| The difference between truth and fiction: |
| Fiction has to make sense. |
| --Mark Twain. |
+-----------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

Roller bearing are irrelevant -- none of the early bikes had them. The
didn't even use metal other than as fasteners.

-Les Earnest

AustinMN wrote:
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

Ilan wrote:
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).

There are reports of a series of 4 wheel vehicles using human power from
at least the 1400s and some are listed below. However, such vehicles are
much less efficient than the bicycle and deserve no future. Never mind
the crazy people who rent them at resorts these days.

-Les

1418-1419: Manumotive quadricycle designed by Giovanni Fontana, Rector
of the Faculty of Arts in Padua.

1540: Man-powered quadricycle shown in Durer engraving.

1645: Man-powered quadricycle built by Jean Theson at Fontainebleau,
France led to reward of 30 year pension from Queen of France.

~1650: Johann Hautsch, a mechanician of Nuerenburg, built a few
manumotive quadricycles.

1689: Stephan Forffler, a crippled watchmaker living in Altdorff, built
and used a manumotive tricycle.

1761: Mr. Ovenden built a man-powered carriage in England.

1779: Four-wheeled vehicle built by M. Blanchard (a balloonist) and M.
Masurier described in Journal de Paris. They demonstrated it in
courtyard of Versailles Palace.

1783: Blanchard went to Philadelphia and gave demonstrations of
man-powered carriage there on June 20 and August 26.

1805: Blanchard claimed he earlier drove Benjamin Franklin from Paris to
Versailles on man-powered carriage in 1 hour 45 minutes.

1839: "Aellopodes" 2 man pedomotive tricycle built by Mr. Revis in
London. Had 6 foot rear wheels.

1851: Willard Sawyer produced numerous well-made pedomotive quadricycles
in England.