Category: Blog posts

by Tom Ewing October 9, 2025 In downtown Damascus, cyclists on Route 76 pass a stencil drawing of a bicycle with the accompanying text: “Share the Road.” The painting is on a building next to the Trails ARTware store, 100 E. Laurel Avenue, and is part of the Damascus Art Trail. Ever since the original…

October 2, 2025 By Tom Ewing In a week when media attention is focused on activity (or inactivity) in the US Congress, it seems a fitting time to revisit one of the most famous photographs in American cycling history. Entitled, “A Perilous Ride,” this 1884 photograph by the Platt Brothers depicts Will Robertson riding down…

September 25, 2025 by Tom Ewing In late September 2025, bicyclists lined up to open a 4.8 mile section of the Fall Line Trail south of Ashland Virginia. This section is part of a projected forty plus mile bicycle route that will connect communities from Petersburg in the south through Richmond to Ashland in the…

September 18, 2025 The death of Robert Redford this week is a reminder that this actor appeared adjacent to two of the most memorable appearances of bicycles in Bikecentennial-era films. In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), co-star Paul Newman rides a bicycle with co-star Katharine Ross perched on the handlebars, while the memorable…

September 11, 2025 by Tom Ewing “What’s the most hazardous consumer product? If you guessed ‘bicycles,’ you’re right.” These sentences opened an article, “An Appeal to the Consumer,” published by Extension Agent Lynn Huckabee in June 21, 1978 in the Danville, Virginia newspaper, Commercial Appeal. After stating that the bicycle was ranked first of one…

By Tom Ewing September 4, 2025 In 1976, Nancy Haldeman quit her job at the US Library of Congress to ride her bicycle across the United States. After three years as a book lister, Haldeman was cutting her ties with the Washington area for the opportunity “to see America almost the way the settlers saw…

August 28, 2025by Tom Ewing Bruce Springsteen’s album, Born to Run, was released fifty years ago this month. The album release was preceded by extensive publicity, including the photographs on covers of both Time and Newsweek, and impressed critics and delighted fans. Although Springsteen is more commonly associated with automobiles (the topic of many songs)…

by Tom Ewing August 21, 2025 A new bicycle repair station opened in August 2025 along Bicycle Route 76 in the community of Palmyra, Virginia. This station provides tools, a picnic table, and an information guide all under a sheltered space. Located just a few yards from Route 76, the station is easily visible from…

by Tom Ewing August 14, 2025 Fifty years ago, American Arthur Ashe won the Wimbledon tennis championship in a match that demonstrated the qualities that would define his life and legacy: athleticism, determination, intelligence, patriotism, and professionalism. This victory in July 1975 has been recognized as one of the great tennis matches of all time…

August 7, 2025 by Tom Ewing In the summer of 1775, Virginians paid close attention to growing challenges to British royal power in the colonies, including the building of an army in the vicinity of Boston. The July 28, 1775 issue of the Virginia Gazette included this stirring prediction from a Virginia delegate to Philadelphia’s…