It’s therefore no wonder, with all this sexual autonomy on offer, that there was reaction against women riding bicycles. In 1891, a journalist at the American paper Sunday Herald wrote the following: “I think the most vicious thing I ever saw in all my life is a woman on a bicycle–and Washington is full of them. I had thought that cigarette smoking was the worst thing a woman could do, but I have changed my mind.”

So why did people have such a problem with women cycling? Well, these ladies were cheeky enough to cycle outside, in public. Shock horror. And even if they didn’t see themselves as symbols of emancipation, their very public display of their freedoms was perceived as a challenge to the ingrained and patriarchal social order.

Where were all the Ladies at the Etape Cymru?

“The Bicycle is the devil’s advance agent, morally and physically in thousands of instances.” So ingrained was the notion that women should not be given independence, that it was a woman  – Charlotte Smith in 1891 – who said the above.

Traditional aspects of society pushed against these advances. The ‘New Woman’, who wore less restrictive clothing and rode a bicycle, became a satirical figure that was ridiculed in the media, particularly in the U.S. These women were seen to be abandoning their husbands, children, and a more traditional way of life. The relaxed clothes they wore were obviously indicative of their status as prostitutes. Obviously.