Deep roots in bike-riding

[darkemeralds]

(Crossposted to darkemeralds)

I thought the community might enjoy this photo, circa 1895 (maybe?), of my great-grandmother Gertrude Cone and her elegant ladies' bicycle at the side of the Willamette River in Portland.

Comments

[darkemeralds]

Thanks. I can only imagine how pioneering Portland must have been in 1895.

[n6vfp]

It probably was a challenge to be a woman who was a cyclist. As this was years before automobiles made the scene it was quite a thing to use a bicycle.

[darkemeralds]

I believe the bicycle was seen as the greatest liberator of women up to that time. I can imagine that that posed something of a threat.

Gertrude there would be on the brink of having grandchildren before she got the right to vote. Hard to believe now, isn't it?

[n6vfp]

We have come a long way in the journey, but we have miles to go. Yes, I look back at this and think these people were true pioneers.