Read the excerpt from Chapter 3 of Wheels of Change .In the 1890s, riding a bicycle in traditional clothing could be hazardous to a woman's health. Witness this all-too-typical account of a female cyclist whose adventure came to an abrupt end: "The wind was behind me, the road good, with just the least bit of down-slope, and I was skimming along like a bird, when there was an awful tug at my dress and a cracking sound," recalled the unnamed woman, who was quoted in the journal Sporting Life in October 1891. "Before I knew what was the matter I found myself lying in the road with the safety on the top of me.”