by James Lynne

Created on: May 07, 2009

The 19th Century Velocipede, with its huge pedal driven front wheel, introduced bicycle racing to history. The two-wheeled velocipede, invented in the 1860s in France, is the forerunner of the modern day racing bicycle. Quite expensive by the economic standard of the day, commoners could not afford velocipedes, but wealthy sporting enthusiasts seized the opportunity to employ them in sporting ventures, giving rise to the sport of bicycle racing.

These original high-wheeled bicycles were dangerous and cumbersome with awkward braking mechanisms. The expression "breakneck speed" came into use because of disastrous accidents known to catapult riders over the monstrous front wheel of the bike when attempting to brake. Speed was generated by the size of the front wheel with attached pedals. To obtain faster speeds, velocipedes, or "velos," were designed with larger and larger wheels, often five feet in diameter, making the sport even more dangerous as a result.

Bicycle racing obtained significant popularity in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. As a result, the desire for safer designs brought about the pneumatic tire and a redesign of the bicycle. The velocipede with its high front wheel was redesigned into a bicycle with two wheels of equal size. The pedaling mechanism was moved from the front wheel to a central location between the wheels, attached to a sprocket and chain drive powering the rear wheel for speed. The safer design generated even more interest in the sport of bicycling.

In the early days of bicycle racing there were no official championship or centralized events, but nearly every town or county fair featured bicycle races. The crowds especially favored street racing over the earlier "velodrome" concept of a circular track. Often racers would travel as part of a cycling circuit from town to town. During the advent of the sport, bicycle racing was popular in Europe as well as in the United States. As it progressed from an amateur sport into a profession, sporting associations, rules, and governing agencies developed on both the American and European Continents.

Arthur Zimmerman, from New Jersey was an early American standout in the sport of bicycle racing. He was dubbed the "New Jersey Skeeter" because of his uncanny ability to pedal so fast. He won over 1000 races over the span of his career from the 1890s into the 20th Century. He was the first professional athlete to cash in on his name endorsing "Zimmy shoes" and "Zimmy

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