WEBVTT - Did a Volcano Eruption Really Help Invent the Bicycle? 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.240 Welcome to Part Time Genius, the production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.600 I guess what, Well, what's that man? Go? So this 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:16.959 is something I certainly haven't thought about that often, but 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.040 it is much harder to balance on a bike that 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:22.759 isn't moving compared to one that is. I'm glad to 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:25.200 know you haven't thought about it that often, but it 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:26.960 is actually strange when you think about it, Like you 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.320 think it would be harder to balance on something that's 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:33.239 whipping along and like ten fifteen right exactly, And it 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.200 turns out the difficulty is mostly due to the fact 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:37.440 that a bike only has two points of contact with 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:39.519 the ground, like the thin parts of the front and 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.640 back wheel, and typically you need three contact points with 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:44.960 the ground to create a good base of support, and 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.199 four is actually I deal with like a table or 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.519 a bed. But what bikes lack and static stability, they 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:53.120 actually make up for in dynamic stability, which is the 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:56.320 ability to remain stable while moving forward. And it works 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.040 because a rider can maneuver the bike's points of support, 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:01.680 or in other words, the rider can reposition the wheels 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.200 as needed to keep everything nice and balanced from one 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.840 moment to the next. And the best part is riders 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.840 usually steer like this without even realizing what they're doing. Like, 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.839 that's how subtle these microadjustments are. Yeah, I was actually 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.560 gonna say, I never feel like I'm that focused on, 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:18.319 you know, like the handlebars when I'm out riding a bike. 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:20.040 It's just one of those things where your brain goes 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:24.480 into autopilot and you really just respond without thinking about it. Yeah, 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:26.040 I mean, that's one thing I realized this week. There 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:27.920 are a lot of things about bikes we don't really 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.880 think about, from how we ride them, to where they 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.560 came from to what they have to do with horses deaths. 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.360 So that's what I thought we could tackle today, all 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.040 the weird questions about bikes we never think to ask. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.120 And this is usually where I suggest we dive right in. 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:43.760 But since today's all about bikes, why don't we put 0:01:43.760 --> 0:02:08.280 on our helmets and roll out instead? Heither podcast listeners, 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:10.639 Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:13.120 always I'm joined by my good friend man Guesh Ticketer 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:15.760 on the other side of the soundproof glass. He's been 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:17.960 doing this all morning, and I gotta be honest, it's 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:22.359 pretty impressive. He's there popping yet another wheelie on his 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:26.280 office chair. That's the world's most impressive producer on one 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.919 of these wheelly chairs, Little Berlante. So, Mango, are you 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:31.560 much of a biker? I don't think I've ever seen 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:33.880 you ride a bike before. I know. It's funny, you 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:35.760 know what I was when I was a kid, Like 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:37.960 I used to have this little BMX and I'd ride 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:40.160 it around the neighborhood into the country store we had 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.400 in our town and to get candy and whatever. But 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:45.200 you know, when I hit sixth or seventh grade, like, 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:47.920 my dad got super the safety all of a sudden, 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.239 and he put this long plastic stick on the back 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:54.120 of our bike that had this orange flag at the 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.240 top of it, and he made us wear helmets and 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:58.240 and suddenly it was like, I'm good, I think I 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:02.079 can walk for me here? You did you did you 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.760 ride around much? Oh? I rode to school every single day. 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:06.359 But yeah, I was that kid. You know, we were 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.800 the first generation where some parents started making kids wear helmets, 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:12.399 you know, And so I were a helmet every day. 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:14.560 But yeah, we were definitely like these days kids don't 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.280 think that much about it, but but yeah, it was 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:19.400 a little cooler. They do a little cool. Yeah, it's 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:21.240 it's a very big different day. Some of them have 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.320 those mohawk helmets, which are just so jealous of. Yeah, 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.080 I know that the helmets really are so much cooler 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.959 with the mohawks. But let's get off my hesitation about 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:31.200 bikes because I still don't really ride that much and 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:34.400 talk about a different weird story that bikes were invented 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:38.520 because of volcano killed all the horses, right, of course. No, Actually, 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.080 I think we're gonna have to explain this one because 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.440 I have no idea what you're talking about. So today 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:46.000 we tend to think of bikes mostly as recreational items, 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:48.320 but their invention was actually a matter of necessity, so 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.600 it was a weird, tragic necessity. Here's what happened in 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.320 eighteen fifteen of volcano named Mount Tambora erupted on an 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.880 island in Indonesia, and that eruption was and still is, 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:01.960 the largest eruption in recorded history. It was so bad 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.120 that the blast all but wiped out the island's inhabitants, 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:07.560 and to make matters worse, the neighboring islands became so 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:09.920 choked with ash and smoke that tens of thousands of 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.760 people died from famine and disease in the months that followed. 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.080 But here's the thing. The effects were even more widespread 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.320 than just that area. In fact, they were worldwide, and 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:22.440 such a massive amount of ash and sulfur dioxide had 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.400 been shot up into the atmosphere that actually blocked sunlight 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:27.880 and disrupted weather patterns all over the world for a 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.200 full three years. Wow. So this was one of those 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:34.080 massive eruptions. It actually affected the Earth's climate, the whole 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:37.320 Earth's climate. Yeah, it did so. The average global temperature 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.960 actually dropped almost a full degree after the blast, and 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:42.000 while that doesn't sound huge, it was enough to make 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.080 eighteen sixteen the coldest year on record since the fourteen hundreds. 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:48.159 It was so bad that historians now referred to eighteen 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:51.640 sixteen as the year without Summer. It's a pretty depressing 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:53.760 label for a year. But but all right, Well, what 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.000 what happened next? I guess the temperature drop and the 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.160 lack of sunlight actually led to all kinds of global 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:03.000 problems like of hers froze, crops failed, disease broke out, 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.680 and lots and lots of people and animals starved to death. 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.400 And in fact there was so little food in Europe 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.400 that the vast majority of horses and draft animals wound 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:13.760 up being slaughtered and eaten by their owners who were 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:18.159 themselves starving. And it was bleak and tragic, obviously, But 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.120 you know, if there's any bright side to it, it's 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.640 that two great creations were inspired by this dreary atmosphere, 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:29.120 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein novel and Baron Carl van dress early bicycle. 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.960 You know, I'm tempted. I've got a couple good Frankenstein 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.039 facts that I'm ready to share with you for some reason, 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.719 But but I'm gonna be disciplined. Let's stick to the 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.280 bike for today, I think. So. In Germany, this guy 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.200 Andres worked both as an inventor and also as a 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.960 forestry master for the government, and this meant that he 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:48.039 had to travel between the different parts of the forest 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:51.040 that he was in charge of, which became pretty difficult 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:52.960 once all the horses in the region had been eaten. 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:57.240 So basically Von Dreis needed this reliable, horseless way to 0:05:57.279 --> 0:05:59.480 get around, and the solution he came up with was 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.599 this two wheeled running machine, or lau machine as he 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.520 called it. His device had no pedals, and as the 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.719 name implies, the riders would actually have to run to 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.120 propel it, kicking off the ground with their feet, kind 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:12.200 of like you might on a scooter. Aside from the 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:14.359 lack of pedals, though, the design looked pretty close to 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.520 what we're used to today. It's got kind of like 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.080 the two in line wheels, a seed, a pair of handlebars, 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.640 so so fairly similar. Yeah, but it almost makes me 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:25.200 thinking like those little balanced bikes that toddlers use right totally, 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.159 so it was exactly one of those kind of this 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.440 protobike andv Andreys pattens is design in eighteen eighteen, and 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.320 soon after that other manufacturers in England and France begin 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.159 putting their own spins on the invention. So France comes 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:37.960 up with a pretty cool name for the version. It's 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:42.400 called Velocit Pede. England goes the other way. They call 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.719 their bikes Dandy Horses, which, yeah, one name is definitely 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.880 cooler than the other. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.320 it's a tribute to their horses, which you know they'd eaten. 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.360 But um, it wasn't long before the pedal list bikes 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:59.400 made their way stateside as well. I mean, if you 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:01.719 look at the timeline. One of the things that's funny 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.680 is that it takes about another seventy years to go 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:06.880 from these balanced bikes to the you know, like the 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.440 gear and chain models with pedals. Why do you think 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.960 that is? I mean, I think part of the delay 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.080 was that people were not at all convinced that it 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.880 was possible to balance on a two wheeled bike, you know, 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.000 while pedaling, and not just fall over. And so it's 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:21.640 exactly what you were talking about at the top of 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:25.360 the show. But a few decades of innovation eventually got 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.280 us there. This was by the eighteen nineties, and the 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.760 truth is the basic form of the bike has stayed 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.200 pretty much the same ever since then. But even with 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.560 better bikes and growing popularity, the cyclist of the era 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:40.800 still had a huge obstacle ahead of them, the main 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:44.160 one being that all the roads pretty much everywhere were terrible, 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.800 so they were unpaved on, even littered with holes and 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.119 easily turned into mud. So, as one New York Times 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.400 article put it, the country roads where a Martian spring 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:58.200 a sahara, and summer frozen stiff and later autumn and 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.600 a swamp wherever there was thought in winter and so 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.400 the urban roads weren't really that much better. I mean, 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:06.960 they were often covered in wood planks at least, which 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.080 made riding a little bit smoother, but still you'd sometimes 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.600 have cyclists riding on the sidewalk just to get a 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.960 break from this rough ride, and so this inevitably led 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.920 to accidents where pedestrians would get knocked over, and then 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.560 people would complain that bike should be banned entirely. So 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:24.400 it was a tough time to be a bike fan 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:27.040 or a wheelman as they were called back then. How 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.680 did things get better for bikers? Well, instead of giving up, 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:33.880 these cyclists formed advocacy groups, including the League of American Wheelmen, 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:37.440 and they began advocating for paved roads throughout the country. 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.079 There are more than a hundred thousand of these people 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.559 that joined the cause, and due to the success of 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.880 their grassroots efforts, the nation got its first paved roads 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:49.160 in eight So it's really no stretch to say that 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.439 the early work of these cyclists literally paved the way 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.400 for the national highway system. I had been waiting so 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:59.040 long to be able to say that literally paved alay. 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:01.880 That's pretty incredible, both the fact and you're punning, But 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:05.000 But since we're giving the wheel men their due, let's 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:06.520 talk a little bit about the wheel women of the 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.120 day as well. Because as big as the bike craze 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.080 was in general, from a cultural perspective, it was probably 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.920 most significant to women. Before the bike came along in 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:17.600 the nineteenth century, women had been expected to travel either 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.679 on foot or on horseback or in a carriage. Um 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:23.040 they were usually accompanied by a chaperone of some kind, 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.319 and they rarely got to travel at speeds any faster 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.440 than a leisurely trot. The bike changed all of that 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:30.360 by giving women the chance to travel with a whole 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:33.280 new level of independence. It completely flipped the table on 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.960 this old fashioned view of women as the frails, slow 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.679 going gentler sex. Yeah, and I feel like I can 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:41.440 finish the story because I would imagine that newfound freedom 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.760 was met with complete approval from the public and no 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.160 no backlash. Kind of changed everything for the better forever, right, 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.559 of course, So you know, there had to be detractors, 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:53.600 and and many of them were saying that being able 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:57.040 to travel free and unsupervised might somehow corrupt the women's morals. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:59.920 In fact, that there was even a business that cropp 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.440 up to help guard against this threat. It was called 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.199 the Cyclist Chaperone Association, and according to its ad the 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.679 company provided gentlewomen of good social position to conduct ladies 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.800 on bicycle excursions and tours so nervous husbands could be 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:16.800 put to ease. But you know, it wasn't just these 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:19.199 husbands who were worried. Newspaper columnists all over the country 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:21.640 were also baffled by the sudden appearance of wheel women. 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.280 And here's what the confused editors at the San Francisco 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:29.680 Call wrote in quote, it doesn't really matter much where 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.280 one individual young lady is going on her wheels. And 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:34.760 maybe she's going to the park, or to the store 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.600 for a dozen hairpins, or to get a dollar, or 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:41.760 to get a doily pattern of somebody, or a recipe 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.240 for removing tens and freckles. Right, of course, let that 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.560 be as it may. What the interested public wishes to 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.319 know is where are all the women on wheels going? 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:54.760 You know, just one woman on an errand for I 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:56.800 guess a freckle cream is is the type of thing 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.720 you can excuse. But dozens of them traveling without knowing 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.280 where the going is something to rail against. And the 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:05.720 truth is the outcry against women riding bikes did get 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:09.439 pretty serious. So female cyclists were frequently harassed as their 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:13.120 road men and women would both taunt the riders, demanding 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.000 they go home where they belong. Some women were banned 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:20.160 from public places where male cyclists were permitted, and and 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.160 in the worst cases, the female cyclists were actually assaulted 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.040 with rocks and bricks. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.240 there's a lot more play here than just not wanting 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.120 women to ride bikes, right, Yeah, definitely, And I do 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.199 want to talk a little bit more about what exactly 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.240 was fueling that outrage, including the role bikes played in 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:37.520 the women's suffrage movement. But before we get into that, 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:53.439 let's take a quick break. You're listening to Part Time 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.200 Genius and we're talking about all the unexpected ways that 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.760 bicycles change the world. All right, mego, So before the break, 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:01.880 you were saying that all the public outcry in the 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:06.760 early twentieth century wasn't just about the bike's women were riding, right, Yeah, 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.680 So the outrage was also partly about what women wore 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:13.040 whild riding bikes. So long skirts and dresses post as 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:15.400 a safety risk for female cyclist because they could get 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.719 caught in the bike chains and spokes. And in light 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:21.760 of this, the modest fashion of the Victorian age, it 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.280 all started to give way, and all of a sudden, 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.320 women were, I guess, taking up the scandalous practice of 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:30.880 wearing ankle bearing bloomers in public. This was an appalling 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.760 development for some people, and in fact, one US newspaper 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.319 referred to the bloomers as a gateway garment. Man. I mean, 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.840 it starts with wearing bloomers, but the next thing, you know, 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:41.840 like she's moved on to book learning, you know what 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:45.520 I mean. It's dangerous, I know, And when you think 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.240 about it, all that kind of criticism really just proved 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.160 the level of cultural impact the women's movement was having. 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:53.679 And probably the best example of that is the bicycle 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.560 actually became a symbol of women's rights. This was both 0:12:56.600 --> 0:13:00.200 with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Katie Stanton there is 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:04.160 credited as saying that women were quote riding the suffrage 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.240 on the bicycle. I mean that was literally the case, though, right, 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:09.679 I mean suffragettes relied on bikes when they were out 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.800 campaigning for the vote. They might not have won nearly 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.440 as much support as they did without bikes to help 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:18.400 them reach all these people. Yeah, that's true. In fact, 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:20.719 The Atlantic ran this great article a few years ago 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.480 about just how much of a game changer bikes were 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.439 for women. It closes on this really beautiful sentiment that 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:29.040 I wanted to share. It's from the author, Adrian le France, 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.120 and this is what she writes. Quote, Imagine what it 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.520 must have felt like in an age when American women 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:37.320 were still decades from the right to vote and inundated 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.080 with men's opinions about their ankles, for a woman to 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:43.080 go outside, hop on her bicycle and ride as fast 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.400 as she could wherever she wanted, leaving the rest of 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.040 the world wondering where she might go next. Yeah, I mean, 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.720 maybe she's out looking for freckle cream and but but 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.880 maybe she's not. It's it's still really a mystery. But 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.559 let's talk about another public good that bikes are good for, 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:01.679 which is they make perfect ambulances for jested cities. So 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:04.080 one of the first people to demonstrate just how effect 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:06.240 of a bike ambulance unit could be was this guy 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.640 named Tom Lynch. And so what's interesting is that Lynch 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:13.679 is a pro BMX rider turned London ambulance driver. This 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:15.320 really isn't that long ago. This was back in the 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:19.200 eighties and nineties. Lynch was basically the Tony Hawk of BMX. 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:21.760 But he got a little bit older. He wanted what 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:24.960 he considered, you know, a normal job, and for Lynch 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.040 that meant training with the London Ambulance Service and becoming 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.920 a licensed e m T, which he did in But 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:34.680 the more time Tom spent stuck in traffic on his 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:37.440 way to a call, the more frustrated he became. So 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:40.040 he often told his colleagues how much faster they'd be 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:42.760 able to respond to calls if only they could use 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.880 bikes instead of vans. No one else thought much of 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.320 this idea, but Tom kept pushing it until finally, in 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.400 Tom got permission to launch a trial version of the 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:56.920 Ambulance Cycle Responsive Unit or c r U, which is 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.360 just a great idea. Yeah, I love that. He finally 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:01.880 just kind of where everyone down by by talking about 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:03.720 it all this time. Yeah, so you know. Anyway, Tom 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:06.160 used his connections in the bike industry to make sure 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.360 all the top gear was on hand for his big 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:10.920 trial run, and he loaded up his bikes with all 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:15.040 sorts of customized equipment including a siren, special medic bags 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.480 and there was this fifty pound defribrillator, which are much 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.160 lighter these days of course, And so you know he 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.360 set up the system, like what are his metrics for success? 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.720 They like, well, what's the goal of this exactly? Well, 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:30.760 basically to be able to successfully answer nine calls in 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.680 the West of London. And if you asked Tom, he 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:35.640 says that he could tell early on that the new 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.200 approach was definitely going to work. He told one interviewer, 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:41.640 I was based around the West End and the calls 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.520 were coming in and I was doing my best to 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:47.360 ease pressure on the ambulance cruise. I would race two incidents, 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.760 flying past traffic, cycling where motor vehicles couldn't go, and 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.360 getting to patients quickly. I went to five incidents within 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:58.680 one hour. I treated patients, canceled the ambulances and used 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:03.400 other medical centers as opposed to the accident and emergency. 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.520 And that last part is really the key in all 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:07.520 of this, Like the bike ke mt s free up 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:12.040 ambulances to respond to the calls that actually require hospital treatment, 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.760 not just the on site care. Yeah. Super interesting and 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.040 and one group that benefits from this big time is 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.360 their heart attack victims, like where every second you're not 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.360 breathing counts so much and so it really helped a 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.600 ton on that front. So where does the cycle crew 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:28.920 operate is it? Is it mainly like a London thing 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:31.520 or has it expanded? No, the unit Tom found that 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.880 is now composed of several teams that operate all over London. 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.280 More than a hundred paramedics and train volunteers are involved. 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.440 But other similar teams have started popping up in major 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.880 cities across Europe, some of the US, even China and Japan. 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.440 So each of those cycle response teams now responds to 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.080 thousands of calls every year and it's all because of 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.920 big hearted BMX or just couldn't stand being stuck in traffic. 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:57.520 I love that. Well. I know we wanted to cycle 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.320 back and talk about the neuroscience behind biking, but that 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:02.600 was such a feel good story. I just want to 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:04.199 bask him to glow for a minute. Why don't we 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.040 take another quick break and then we can jump right 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:22.080 back in. Welcome back to part time Genius. Okay, well, 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.760 so today's show is clearly all about bicycles, but nonetheless 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:27.760 I have to tell you about something amazing. I found 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:32.119 out about this week and it's all about unicycles. You know, 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.080 this is a bike episode, so I'm not I'm not 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:38.239 sure that a little Franken Sein facts no unicycle is 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:41.639 definitely shaking his head. But actually because he's doing that, 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.200 I kind of like breaking Lowell's rules. So if you insist, 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:48.439 let's hear the story. Okay, So here's my fact. Unicycles 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:52.399 have basically become a cornerstone of Japan's educational curriculum. Is 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.080 Japan like really into clowns or something? I've just somehow 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:57.679 never noticed this. How did that happen? I don't know 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:01.520 that there are any countries that are still really into uh. 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.719 In Japan's case, the really feel is that unicycling can 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:06.879 be a good way to teach and improve both motor 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:10.520 skills and balance, and the idea to use unicycles and 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:12.840 schools with the result of a series of studies done 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.800 in Japan in the nineteen eighties, I guess researchers found 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:18.040 that children who learned to ride a unicycle were more 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:20.680 successful at school and in their home lives than children 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:23.040 who didn't. It's pretty interesting. So did they figure out 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:25.000 why that would be the case. I guess the leading 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:28.120 theory is that it's because the high level of concentration 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:30.600 that it takes to to ride a unicycle like that 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:32.960 kind of focus engages a different area of the brand. 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:36.480 Then then other physical activities, including biking. So based on 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:40.520 these findings, Japanese schools started teaching kids to ride unicycles. Yeah, 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:44.040 I guess the Ministry of Education added unicycling to the 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:47.159 p curriculum in all of the country's elementary schools. But 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:49.960 Japan's schools aren't the only place you actually find this today. 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:52.840 They're unicycle programs and schools across the US and and 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:55.399 more and more educators are starting to see unicycles as 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.440 a tool not just for brain development but for character development. 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:02.240 So you think about people like the psychologist and Angela Duckworth, 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:05.040 who who talks about like the most important metric for 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:08.639 a person's successes is grit um, because that's kind of 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:11.040 what makes you keep trying when you fail instead of 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:14.720 giving up. So riding a unicycle is so unnatural and 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.680 so awkward and hard that the kids in these programs 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:19.840 fall off dozens of times before they finally start to 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:22.440 get it. And it's sort of like thought to reinforce 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.320 that perseverance. Yeah, it kind of reminds me of that 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:27.879 famous Samuel Beckett quote. I think it was try again, 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:32.200 fail again, fail better. But a speaking of well known phrases, 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:34.840 you know the old cliche about how once you've learned 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:38.040 to ride a bike, you never forget right. Well, it 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:40.480 was always a strange saying to me because it seemed 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:43.199 to imply that riding a bike is super simple, like 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:45.520 you could pick it up any time in life and 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.399 just nail it without practice. But the truth is that 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.040 riding a bike is incredibly complex as a task. So 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:56.080 according to the author and world class endurance athlete Christopher Bergland, 0:19:56.560 --> 0:20:00.479 riding a bike quote requires seamless coordination, dexter and an 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:04.840 intuitive ability to subconsciously calculate algorithms that take into the 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:08.720 account the forces of gravity, velocity, and momentum. Makes me 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:10.720 feel so smart that that it can ride a bike 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:12.920 no one that I'm doing all of this. Yeah, I mean, 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:14.680 as we talked about at the top, there's a lot 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:16.560 that goes into it that that we don't even think about. 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:19.200 So in that sense, it's not that riding a bike 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:21.520