Bicycling

Bicycling. A Two-Wheeled Revolution. , The Bicycle Craze , When the bicycling craze swept the country in the 1880s, the South Coast was not left behind. By 1887 the Santa Barbara Wheeling Club was established. Avid local cyclists began organizing elaborate bicycle outings. After the Southern Pacific Railroad established train service between Ventura and Santa Barbara in 1887, cyclists from the two towns would socialize back and forth, riding one way and then taking the train home. , Bicycling also became a practical mode of transportation for the working man, and it increased the independent mobility of women. The bicycle craze killed the bustle and the corset and instituted "common-sense dressing" for women. Bloomers became all the rage by 1894. , , The Good Roads Movement , From the late 1870s and on through the 1920s, bicycle enthusiasts lobbied for improved road conditions. The League of American Wheelmen (LAW), formed in 1880, became a national organization that enlisted the help of journalists, politicians, and engineers to improve the country's roadways for bicyclists. The movement gained national prominence when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Aid Road Act on July 11, 1916. Ironically, the group's efforts set the stage for the rise of the private automobile.