Bicycling was a favorite summer pastime for both men and women in the Victorian age. According to scholar Dr. Charlotte James: “Bicycles were used for leisure by the upper classes and were a convenient form of transport for the middle and lower classes. However, bicycles came to mean much more for many women and were crucial in them gaining a level of independence. Bicycles allowed women to escape the prying eyes of their household and provided them with an opportunity to exercise. Suddenly, women were able to travel where they wanted when they wanted, giving them a new feeling of self-reliance and freedom.”

In May 1884 Clemens tried to learn how to ride a bicycle with his Hartford friend, Rev. Joseph Twichell. “Twichell & I have been breaking our necks & bones all the past 7 days trying to learn to ride the bicycle,” he wrote to a friend—“but we have acquired the art, now, & shan’t break anything more.”

Clemens was fascinated by technology and inventions and the bicycle was no exception in an era when all kinds of health benefits were ascribed to its use. His bicycle had been built by a company established in Hartford by Albert Pope, a Civil War veteran and bicycle visionary. He wondered “whether Twichell & I will beat the bicycle, or whether the bicycle will beat us.”

_We have fought the creature a couple of weeks, now, & we have honorable wounds to show for it. This morning we traveled a couple of miles, mainly up hill, —& made it derned uncomfortable for the wagons; for they could never tell just which way we were proposing to steer—& neither could we. _

Inspired by his failed attempts, Clemens penned the story “Taming the Bicycle.”