Many people have experienced this kind of misfortune: you're merrily cycling down the road and, all of a sudden, a part of your bike comes flying off.
It could be a bit of the brakes, or the chain coming undone, or even, like in the video above, one of the wheels coming loose. It's almost certain, however, that very few of us would have the skills to keep on rolling towards the escaping wheel and not only keep our balance, but actually temporarily re-attach the wheel to the rest of the bike.
Bikes for sport, leisure, and transportation have become a household name for billions of people around the world. People either regularly use a bike, have at some point in the past done so, or even enjoy keeping up with the competitive cycling world as their choice for sport spectating. There are approximately a billion bikes currently used around the world.
More people exponentially favour bikes over motor vehicles every year, tending to prefer them because of a number of reasons: they offer easier and often faster transportation in big cities and small towns alike, they're an accessible form of a sustained physical work-out, and they hugely reduce parking-related stress. On top of that, bicycles are obviously the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation, reducing fossil fuel emissions, traffic congestion, and noise and air pollution.
Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century, with the first-ever recorded bike race taking place in 1868 in Paris, at the Saint-Cloud Park. Englishman James Moore, who had a bike with rubber tires, won that race. He also won the very first inter-city cycling race three years later, a 123-kilometre distance between Paris and Rouen.
Soon after competitive bicycle racing gained prominence, recreational cycling increased in popularity as well by the 1880s. By the late 1890s, the first bicycle that also suitable for women was developed, which American feminist Susan B. Anthony called the 'freedom machine' because she said that it was giving women 'a feeling of freedom and self-reliance'.
In 1915, a Dutch society for constructing cycle paths was founded, because people thought that the increase in motor traffic would be very dangerous to anyone cycling. They believed that cities would need separate infrastructure for cycling before very long. In other words, they were way ahead of their time!
Today, cycling is an incredibly popular sport, with many competitions taking place around the world, many of which can even cover entire countries (the most famous of these being the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia). Cycling was one of nine sports in the first modern Olympic Games, being part of the program since the Athens 1896 games. The other eight were: fencing, athletics, shooting, gymnastics, tennis, swimming, wrestling, and weight-lifting.
Give the planet, and your own health, a boost by trying out cycling if you haven't already. Who knows, maybe you'll fall head over wheels in love with it!