THE CYCLE OF LIFE
As the bike turns 200, celebrate its birthday around the world
O n June 12, 1817, German inventor Karl Drais set off from the town of Mannheim, Germany, straddling what he called a laufmaschine, or running machine. Two centuries later, we call his contraption the bicycle.
This year, Germany and many bike-loving countries around the world — many of which proved instrumental in the development of the two-wheeled gizmo — are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the bicycle with special events.
If you want to experience where one of the modern era’s most popular and useful creations began, hop a flight to Frankfurt (from $480 round-trip from New York) and then head into the heart of Baden-Württemberg, the state in southwest Germany that borders France and Switzerland. The immaculate German railway, Deutsche Bahn ( Bahn.com), has a station inside the Frankfurt airport; for just $20, you can get to Heidelberg in less than an hour.
About 14 miles from Mannheim, the quaint town of Heidelberg makes an excellent home base for your explorations. It’s home to picturesque Heidelberg University, which, founded in 1386, is the country’s oldest higher-education outpost. Stay at the Hotel Holländer Hof (from $93;
Hollaender-Hof.de) on the banks of the Neckar river.
You can easily rent bicycles around town at VRN NextBike ( VRNNextBike.de) by downloading the company’s app or calling the phone number at each bike kiosk (if your cell phone works in Europe). As with many college towns, Heidelberg is bike-friendly but also easily traversed on foot.
The highlight is its schloss (castle) towering above the city, but don’t miss the old student jail and the Philosophers’ Way on the other side of the Neckar — though the last one is a steep climb best done sans bicycle.
The next day, hop on your ride and cycle to Mannheim, where Drais invented his running machine. This pleasant ride through the countryside can be mapped out at RadRoutenplaner ( RadRoutenplaner-BW. de), an excellent, multilingual resource for finding cycling paths through Baden-Württemberg. For starters, plug in Mannheim’s Technoseum ( www.en.Technoseum.de) as your destination.
Through June 25, this fascinating archive of German technology is hosting an exhibit called “Two Wheels, Two Hundred Years,” a comprehensive overview of the bicycle from Drais’ first model — which had no pedals — to the highwheeled penny-farthings popular at the end of the 19th century (one of which you can even mount!) and beyond.
Be sure to check out the museum’s car collection — engineer Karl Benz invented the car in Mannheim, too.
From the museum, bike into the center of historic Mannheim and visit the town’s Baroque palace ( www.Schloss-Mannheim. de) before either dropping off your bike at the Nextbike kiosk outside the main station and taking a train back to Heidelberg, or retracing your route along the banks of the Neckar.
Mannheim is going all out for the bicycle’s 200th birthday; for a complete list of events, visit Monnem-Bike.de.
Germany may be the bike’s birthplace, but it certainly isn’t the only place celebrating. Scotland is where pedals were added to Drais’ bike design in 1839. To commemorate that country’s role in cycling history, tour company Wilderness Scotland has created a new 12-day, 500-mile bike tour through all five countries that make up Great Britain and Ireland. Starting in Northern England’s Yorkshire Dales, riders explore England and Wales before ferrying to Dublin. A ride up the coast leads to Northern Ireland, then there’s a ferry to Scotland and, specifically, the small parish of Keir Mill, where the pedal bike was born. Itineraries this year are selling out, but the trip has proved so popular that numerous 2018 dates have been added (from $3,480 per person; WildernessScotland.com).
The next leap forward in the bike’s design came in Paris. The year 1865 marked the introduction of Ernest Michaux’s “boneshaker” design, which was mass-produced, launched the bicycle craze and became the blueprint for all modern bikes.
Today, Paris remains a fantastic city for bike lovers. Velib, the city’s bike share program ( Velib.Paris.
fr), has over 26,000 for rent throughout the city so that you can explore it on your own. For more structure, book a guided excursion with Bike About Tours ( BikeAboutTours.
com), which also takes visitors to Versailles as well as on day trips through the Champagne region. And, if you stay at the Solar Hotel (from $86;
SolarHotel.fr), eco-friendly accommodations in the 14th arrondissement, bicycles for guests are included in the room rate. So get pedaling!