Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live. – Mark Twain

Garry Winogrand, [Woman riding bicycle] from Women are Beautiful, 1975 (257.1984)

Most bicyclists in New York City obey instinct far more than they obey the traffic laws, which is to say that they run red lights, go the wrong way on one-way streets, violate cross-walks, and terrify innocents because it just seems easier that way.  Cycling in the city, and particularly in midtown, is anarchy without malice.

— Author unknown, “Talk of the Town,” The New Yorker, June 9, 1986

Robert Capa, [Boys on bicycles discussing the Tour de France bicycle race, Paris], July 1939 (2488.1992)

When I go biking, I repeat a mantra of the day’s sensations:  bright sun, blue sky, warm breeze, blue jay’s call, ice melting, and so on.  This helps me transcend the traffic, ignore the clamorings of work, leave all the mind theaters behind, and focus on nature instead.  I still must abide by the rules of the road, of biking, of gravity.  But I am mentally far away from civilization.  The world is breaking someone else’s heart.

–Diane Ackerman

Danny Lyon, Beekman Street, Sunday morning; Ginco, Tonto, Frankie, John Jr., and Nelson, after exploring the buildings, 1967 (2010.116.21)

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. — John F. Kennedy

Helen M. Stummer, Transcending, April 21, 2002 (2009.47.4)

A bicycle ride is a flight from sadness. — James E. Starrs

Weegee, Josephine Barricini, Vine St., Hollywood, Cal., ca. 1953-55 (6130.1993)

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. — Albert Einstein