Muscle on WheelsThe majestic high wheel bicycle, with its spider wheels and rubber tires, emerged in the mid 1870s as the standard bicycle. A common misconception is that, bound by Victorian dress and decorum, women were unable to ride it, only taking up cycling in the 1880s with the advent of the chain driven safety bicycle. On the contrary, women had been riding and even racing some form of the bicycle since the first vlocipdes appeared in Europe early in the