A Wheel within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle

In the early 1890's, at the age of 53, Frances E. Willard decided to learn how to ride a bicycle. She had already accomplished a great deal in life - as an educator, a temperance reformer, a women's suffragist, a feminist... but having been born with an "inveterate opposition to staying in the house," and facing what today we might call a midlife crisis and "sighing for new worlds to conquer," she decided to learn to ride a bicycle. This book is about more than just learning to ride a bike. It is about motivation and trepidation — the excitement of learning something new and the thrill of success, and the fears of ridicule, failure, and personal injury. Willard’s book is not just a factual chronicling of her learning experience, but also an insightful look into these forces that guide us.