A closer look
Karl Drais invented the first two-wheeled, human-powered vehicle in 1817, but this early version of the bicycle had no pedals, chains, or brakes. Known as a Laufmaschine or dandy horse, riders had to sit on a wooden frame and physically push themselves along the ground with their feet, looking exactly like toddlers riding modern training bikes. Drais created this contraption because a massive volcanic eruption in Indonesia had caused a global crop failure, leading to the starvation of horses and a sudden need for alternative transportation. People were so desperate to get around without horses that they gladly strapped a wooden plank between two iron-rimmed wheels and Flintstoned their way across cobblestone streets. It was an incredibly bumpy, uncomfortable nightmare that destroyed shoes and bruised tailbones, but it laid the foundation for the sleek carbon-fiber road bikes that middle-aged men in overly tight spandex use to block traffic on Sunday mornings today
