Bicycle Day: Tribute to a Sport and Lifestyle

In mid-April, the cycling community comes together to celebrate Bicycle Day. Find out all of the wonderful reasons to celebrate in this article.

April 19 is a special day for cycling fanatics, as it commemorates Bicycle Day. To honor it, we’ll help you learn a little more about the origin of this holiday and the current status of this sport. Don’t miss it!

Although it’s not always competitive, a lot of people like to ride bikes for fun or for exercise. To all of you, happy Bicycle Day!

Why is Bicycle Day celebrated?

In fact, this day was first established on April 19. Why? That was the day that Albert Hofmann, a Swedish chemist rode his bike from his laboratory to his home.

In fact, this was so special because, at the time, that scientist was under the effects of LSD. At that time, he was experimenting with it and analyzing its effects. Due to the hallucinations he experienced, they decided to make this day Bicycle Day.

Curiously, there’s also a holiday called “World Bicycle Day.” The United Nations actually set this as June 3. On this day, people all over the world bring awareness to the cycling community. It’s a sustainable method of transportation that doesn’t harm the environment.

Sports news

Today, cycling is one of the most popular sports. In fact, there are four types of cycling in the Olympics: route, track, mountain, and BMX.

Also, there are different competitions within each group.

• Route: individual route and time trial competitions.
• Mountain: a cross-country competition.
• BMX: an individual race and freestyle.
• Cycle speedway: individual and team speed competitions, team chase, Keirin, Omnium, and Maddison.

In addition to these, there are other types, such as trials, cyclo-cross, and indoor.

Bicycle Day celebrates an inclusive sport

Of these eleven styles we mentioned, they include female and male participants. Also, one of the main strengths of cycling is its inclusive nature. However, the only elite female competition is the Giro d-Italia.

Before, there were women’s editions of the Grand Tours, which include the Tour de France, the Tour of Spain, and the Giro d’Italia. However, the first hasn’t happened since 2009, and there were several interruptions in between. Also, the Tour de l’Aude, which would replace the women’s Spanish race, hasn’t been held since 2010.

However, in local competitions, there’s usually a space that women’s cycling deserves. In this sense, Bicycle Day can be an opportunity to demand more equality, especially in the Grand Tours.

Outstanding cyclists in recent years

Taking into account the results of these competitions, there are a few excellent cyclists. For example, there’s the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (winner of the Giro d’Italia) and the Colombian Egan Bernal (winner of the Tour de France).

For his part, one of the greatest stars is Primoz Roglic, Slovenian, champion of the Tour de Spain. Also, some people consider him to be the best in the world. Additionally, Chris Froome has a history of road cycling that we can’t ignore.

In the female edition of the Italian competition, Annemiek van Vleuten, Dutch champion, and her compatriot Anna van der Breggen, who took second, had amazing performances. Australian Amanda Spratt completed the podium. There were 143 participants in total.

Loïc Bruni and Roman Mayet (France) in men and Nino Schurter (Switzerland) stood out in mountain biking. In the women’s events, French Myriam Nicole and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, along with Romana Labounková (Czech) had great results in 2019.

Track cycling, as we mentioned, has lots of categories, but certain cyclists climbed more than one podium in the last World Cup. These were Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) and Quentin Lafargue (France) in men’s and Ashlee Ankudinoff (Australia), Lee Wai Sze (Hong Kong), and Kirsten Wild (Netherlands) in women’s.

Finally, on the BMX side, some of the world champions were Twan van Gendt (Dutch) in men’s and Alise Willoughby (United States) in women’s.

A particular Bicycle Day

Without a doubt, this year’s Bicycle Day will be a very interesting one. In fact, athletes and cycling fans have had to settle for celebrating it without leaving home and on social media.

This is because the COVID-19 quarantine keeps many people at home that normally bike outside. Now, we’re told to stay home, and that’s what most people do.

Beyond that, these spring days are the perfect excuse to rethink our way of life and add riding a bike to our daily plans. Whether to go to work or study, or as part of an exercise routine, it’s a great exercise that has lots to offer us!