In the 1880s, safety bicycles using chain drives were introduced. Along with the invention the Dunlop tyre, suddenly bicycles went from rich men’s toys, to be bonafide and (kind of) comfortable methods of transport. In 1895, 800,000 bikes were built in Britain alone.

A lot of those bikes were purchased by or for women. And like the invention of the postbox (women being able to send letters without the prying eyes of their father looking over the content first? Madness!), the bicycle proved to be another leap in women not having to request permission to do normal, boring stuff.

Gender Equality in Sport: 8 Things we Learned from BBC Woman’s Hour Discussion

Suddenly, a whole world full of handsome gentlemen opened up for women across the U.K. Rob Penn said it well in his BBC Four documentary on the bike: “The bicycle played a critical role in both the emancipation of women, and the subsequent expansion of the national gene pool. Young women could now travel to neighbouring villages and meet a wider circle of young men.”  … To have sexy-time with them. He’s talking about sex.