Unlike Lance Armstrong’s autobiography, It’s Not about the Bike, this course is ALL about the bike. We will look at bicycles from many angles: history and culture; physics and engineering; psychology and physiology; business, art and fashion. For instance, why were 19th-century feminists interested in bicycles? How do bikes inspire research into composite materials? What do elite cyclists reveal about human biology? How do American bicycle companies dominate the international market?
Course readings will demonstrate the influence bicycles have had on human society and inspire choices for your individual research. For example, we’ll analyze the meanings attached to bicycles in sports journalism (Daniel Coyle’s Lance Armstrong’s War), biographies of famous cyclists (Samuel Abt’s Champion: Bicycle Racing in the Age of Miguel Indurain), scientific research on human physiology and bicycle engineering (David Herlihy’s Bicycle: The History), and cultural studies of the impact of bicycles on human society (Frances Willard’s 1898 A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle).
Class activities may include guest speakers from business, medicine, and sports; field trips to area bike shops and local bicycle manufacturers; and viewings of the documentaries A Sunday in Hell (about road racing) and Search for the Holey Trail (about mountain biking).
