Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance

(NYTBR) O to be young and biking in Ameri­ca at the close of the 19th century and have nothing to worry about, except perhaps the roads (which were an issue only if they were good: on the big-wheeled “boneshaker” bikes, as one cycling reporter put it, “the element of safety is rather distasteful to a good many riders who prefer to run some risk, as it gives zest to the sport”)! O to ride when cyclists were called wheelmen, Bicycling World covered bike races as if they were moon launches and spectators cheered on men in short-legged pants and caps that — wait! — looked a lot like what that guy on the G train in Brooklyn was wearing the other day! O to ride between bicycling meccas like Pittsburgh and Buffalo, at a time when America was embracing travel and just setting out, like bicyclists, into the wide world! Continued

Image: Bicycling, Gobi desert by Eric Pape, 1894. (Library of Congress)