Read the excerpt from Chapter 2 of Wheels of Change . Maria E. Ward, author of the 1896 how-to book Bicycling for Ladies , characterized the promise of the wheel in glowing terms: "A bright, sunny morning, fresh and cool; good roads and a dry atmosphere; a beautiful country before you, all your own to see and enjoy; a properly adjusted wheel awaiting you, what more delightful than to mount and speed away."