Taming the Bicycle

In Taming the Bicycle, Mark Twain turns the simple act of learning to ride a bicycle into a hilarious and surprisingly relatable adventure. With his trademark wit and self-deprecating humor, Twain recounts the bruises, frustration, public embarrassment, and hard-earned triumphs that come with mastering the “modern” machine of the late nineteenth century.

Originally published in 1884, this short comic essay captures both the excitement of a new invention and the timeless experience of struggl...