7 secrets of the bike: What 'The Bicycle Book' taught me

I spent a happy few hours over the Easter weekend absorbed in Bella Bathurst's 'The Bicycle Book'. Here are just 7 secrets of the bicycle from the many in this intriguing book: 

1. The bicycle has played its part in gender equality
In the early 20th century, after having a baby and a bit of training on the River Thames, Zetta Hills pedalled from England to France - that's across the sea - on a bike attached to a couple of planks of wood.

2. The bicycle has been an instrument of war
Britain's Dirty Tricks Brigade in the second world war turned bike pumps and oil cans into bombs. And at the D-Day landings a handful of soldiers carried fold-up bikes. Many were quickly abandoned. Two wheels don't work too well on sandy beaches.

3. Aeros are not just bars made of bubbly chocolate
They're also a type of handle bar you see on a serious looking bike, pointing forward like the horns of a charging bull. Mug up on Bathurst's concise glossary to impress nerdier cycling chums.

4. Some say time in the saddle can affect your sex life
There's research suggesting sustained pressure from a saddle on the perineum can affect blood supply and nerve function. Try not to picture the result but instead focus on the general health benefits of cycling. Still, I might just check out noseless saddles if I'm going to take part in Friends of the Earth's Big Green Bike Ride next year (details soon).

5. US bike sales in the 1890s hit piano sales
The popularity of the bicycle seems to be, well, cyclical. Britain had 11 million regular cyclists in the 1950s and just 2.3 mn by 2001. But by 2008 we were up to 3.2 mn and in London the number had doubled. Bathurst doesn't think public policy has had much to do with the recent upward trend. My transport campaigning colleagues might have something to say about that.

6. India has almost as many bikes (45 million) as cars (49 million)
But the trend seems to be towards the internal combustion engine. It's estimated there will be 200 mn more cars in India by 2025. "People don't usually aspire to bicycles," writes Bathurst about India. "They aspire to cars or motorbikes." How strange is that?

7. I am not alone
As a long-time cyclist in London I feel I have a right to a place on the street - to make myself seen, steer clear of stationary traffic, take up a prominent position in the road, that sort of thing. So I was chuffed to read about cycling guru Patrick Field's idea of 'being permitted to take up exactly as much room in this world as you need'.

If you don't love bikes you might think this book isn't for you. But the thing is it's not really about bikes, it's about people. It happens to focus on people who spend a lot of time with bikes, building them, riding them, falling off them, and getting back on.

But it's not just about them. Because although Bathurst claims not to have a political or environmental agenda (and strikingly she doesn't discuss the Critical Mass movement) this elegant and humane book is really about all of us - and where we're heading.

If you buy The Bicycle Book from The Book Depository, Friends of the Earth receives a donation.

Adam Bradbury, Publishing & New Media Team