Page 11 - PBCOctober2017

Pickwick Bicycle Club Magazine Volume 14 No.2 October 2017 @11

Mr Watty rides 150 miles on a Draisine

As members of the oldest extant bicycle club in the World, it is interesting to reflect
on the evolution of the machines we ride, the bicycles. When we consider that the wheel
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was invented in the 4 Century BC, and the first wheeled vehicle in the 3 Century BC, we
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must ask why it took 50 Centuries before two wheels were placed in line held together by
a frame with a steering mechanism and a seat between the wheels?
The answer is that the World did not understand
the concept of dynamic stability which enables a
man on a moving bicycle to obtain balance. Neither
Galileo (1564 – 1642) nor Isaac Newton (1642 –
1726), the great physicists of the scientific
revolution, failed to understand this concept. We
had to wait until 1817 when Karl von Drais, an
inventor from Karlsruhe in Germany, found that a
rider could balance his machine by steering the
The Draisine ridden 150 miles from
front wheel, and his machine, the Draisine, Nancy – Karlsruhe by Mr WaMy
Laufmaschine or hobby horse, was the first bicycle,
exactly 200 years ago.

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So to mark this historic anniversary 14 Draisine riders arrived in Nancy, France on 19
May 2017 coming from Belgium, Canada, Czech, France, Germany, Japan, USA and of
course the UK. We set off from the Place Stanislas after words of support from a
descendent of the Baron von Drais.

Our route had been carefully planned by Alain Cuvier to mainly follow canal tow-paths to
minimise hills and it was a gentle departure as we followed the Moselle river followed by
some gently rolling country roads and the end of our first day after 30 miles. Certain body
parts were feeling the strain as riders are permanently seated with no ability to relieve
pressure by standing on our missing pedals!

Our battle cry of ‘en marche’ meaning ‘we walk’ had been stolen a few weeks before by the
new French President Macron as the name for his party – we should have patented it!