As the Red Hot Chili Peppers already sing in the "Bicycle Song"How could I forget to mention the bicycle is a good inventiona lot of people really do forget about that and completely underestimate the transport capabilities of bicycles.
But GEO (a publishing house in Germany for popular scientific magazines) did not forget to mention the bicycle in the list of the 100 most important inventions in the GEO Kompakt magazine, number 18. According to them, the French mathematician Jacques Ozanam was the first to ask in 1694 for "a carriage that can be driven without horses". It took a while though, until the first bicycle was realized -- and the first ones didn't have pedals. In 1817 Baron Karl von Drais introduced his "Laufmaschine" (in English "running machine" or dandy horse). They say that it is controversial who invented the first bicycle with pedals. Apparently it was Pierre Lallement, who was cycling through Paris in 1863.
But well, who cares who invented the bicycle? Nowadays about 1.4 billion bicycles are in use (compared to about 800 million cars and trucks). You guys know why the bicycle is so successful, others yet have to rediscover that again ;-).
It doesn't really fit in here, but as I just read it: The fastest cyclist so far was the Canadian Sam Whittingham in 2008 -- with his recumbent bicycle he reached 132.5 km/h (82.33 mph). Isn't that amazing?
