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The wheel was invented thousands of years ago, and used for carts and wagons, but it took a long time for anyone to come up with the idea of a bicycle!

The original bicylce is said to have been developed at the end of the 18th century by a French aristocrat. It had no pedals or steering wheel however, and was pushed forward much like the most junior child’s tricycle — by pushing with your legs against the ground.

Another inventor — this time a German Baron — much improved the original design by adding a steerable front wheel. One still moved by pushing against the ground, but this version of the bicycle enjoyed some fame as a tool for getting around vast royal gardens. It was not until the 1860s, however, that pedals were added to the front wheel, creating a new means of propelling the rider forward that has remained until today.

Running machines were very popular, but the big bicycle breakthrough didn’t come until the 1860’s when a Frenchman by the name of Ernest Michaux added pedals. Since there were no gears, each turn of the pedals moved the bicycle forward only as much as the size of the wheel. To get more distance, the Penny Farthing bicycle was invented with a huge front wheel (it’s called a Penny Farthing because the relative sizes of the two wheels are similar to a penny and a farthing coin).

Bicycles have come a long way since then, with modern alloy metals for light weight, and many gears to make it possible to go faster and faster. However, the same basic design is still more or less the same.

In the late 1800’s, bicycle racing was quite popular in England and France, but it wasn’t until 1896 that the sport became an official Olympic sport, when Road Race and Track Cycling started at the Athens games. Cycling events have remained relatively constant since then, until 1996 when Mountain Biking was introduced during the Olympic Games in Atlanta.