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Monday marks the official birthday of the bicycle. Two hundred years ago, Karl von Drais rode his invented two-wheeled vehicle from Mannheim to a coaching inn about five miles away, which took him a little more than an hour. Two hundred years later, there are still millions of people across the world using the two-wheeled vehicle for transport.
The bicycle is believed to be the most efficient mode of transport ever invented by humans, being more efficient than cars or a fully loaded diesel bus. In fact, the bicycle is more efficient than a fully loaded electric train powered by solar panels and wind farms. Throughout its existence, people have predicted the end of bicycles. But they refuse to disappear, as they have become vital means of transport.
Even with the onset of more modern technology, bicycles have survived. Prominent English writer H.G. Wells once said "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
(CGTN)
