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50 inspirational cycling quotes – BikeRadar.com


It’s amazing what people can come up with while on two wheels. Here’s a selection of some of the most interesting and insightful quotes on the subjects of bikes and cycling.

Ann Strong inspirational cycling quote

“The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community.” — Ann Strong, US author
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“You can say that climbers suffer the same as the other riders, but they suffer in a different way. You feel the pain, but you’re glad to be there” – Richard Virenque, retired French pro racer

“[T]o me it doesn’t matter whether it’s raining or the sun is shining or whatever: as long as I’m riding a bike, I know I’m the luckiest guy in the world.” Mark Cavendish, British pro racer

Susan B Anthony inspirational cycling quote

“The bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world.” — Susan B. Anthony, US women’s rights activist
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“Riding a bike is everything to a cyclist. The friendship and camaraderie you have with other cyclists… to a cyclist, it was the be-all and end-all of your life.” — Tommy Godwin, English long-distance cyclist

Bill Nye inspirational cycling quote

“Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There’s something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym.” — Bill Nye, US scientist
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“Embrace your sweat. It is your essence and your emancipation.” — Kristin Armstrong, American cyclist

“The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine.” — John Howard, US cyclist

Danny MacAskill inspirational cycling quote

“If you do something right the first time, then it’s not hard enough.” — Danny MacAskill, Scottish trials legend
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“It is the unknown around the corner that turns my wheels.” — Heinz Stücke, German long-distance touring cyclist

“Don’t buy upgrades, ride up grades.” — Eddy Merckx, Belgian pro racer

Desmond Tutu inspirational cycling quote

“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realise fishing is stupid and boring.” — Desmond Tutu, South African cleric
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“As long as I breathe, I attack.” — Bernard Hinault, French cyclist

“Truly, the bicycle is the most influential piece of product design ever.” — Hugh Pearman, British author

Doug Bradbury inspirational cycling quote

“The best rides are the ones where you bite off much more than you can chew, and live through it.” — Doug Bradbury, MTB pioneer
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“The cyclist is a man half made of flesh and half of steel that only our century of science and iron could have spawned.” — Louis Baudry de Saunier, 19th-century French author

Dr KK Doty inspiration cycling quote

“Cycl[ists] see considerably more of this beautiful world than any other class of citizens. A good bicycle, well applied, will cure most ills this flesh is heir to.” — Dr K.K. Doty, 19th Century New Yorker and cycling evangelist
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“You always know when you’re going to arrive. If you go by car, you don’t. Apart from anything else, I prefer cycling. It puts you in a good mood, I find.” — Alan Bennett, British playwright 

“When my legs hurt, I say: ‘Shut up legs! Do what I tell you to do!’” — Jens Voigt, German cyclist

Eddy Merckx inspirational cycling quote

“Ride as much or as little, as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” — Eddy Merckx, Belgian pro racer
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“The bicycle is the most civilised conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.” — Iris Murdoch, Irish author

“Learn to ride a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live.” — Mark Twain, US author and humourist

Emo Philips inspirational cycling quote

“When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn’t work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.” — Emo Philips, US comedian
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“Life is like a 10-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.” — Charles M. Schultz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip

“Bicycles are almost as good as guitars for meeting girls.” — Bob Weir, Grateful Dead singer, songwriter and guitarist

Ernest Hemingway inspirational cycling quote

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.” — Ernest Hemingway, US author
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“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author

“Crashing is part of cycling as crying is part of love.” — Johan Museeuw, Belgian cyclist

Grant Petersen inspiration cycling quote

“Think of bicycles as ridable art that can just about save the world.” — Grant Petersen, bicycle designer
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“You are one ride away from a good mood.” Sarah Bentley, British cyclist

“As a kid I had a dream — I wanted to own my own bicycle. When I got the bike I must have been the happiest boy in Liverpool, maybe the world. I lived for that bike. Most kids left their bike in the backyard at night. Not me. I insisted on taking mine indoors and the first night I even kept it in my bed.” — John Lennon, British musician

Greg LeMond inspirational cycling quote

“It never gets easier, you just get faster.” — Greg LeMond, US cyclist
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“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.” — Arthur Conan Doyle, British author

“One of the most important days of my life, was when I learned to ride a bicycle.” — Michael Palin, British actor

James E Starrs inspiration cycling quote

“Melancholy is incompatible with bicycling.” — James E. Starrs, US book editor
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“The bicycle is the noblest invention of mankind.” — William Saroyan, Nobel prize winner

“If you brake, you don’t win.”Mario Cipollini, retired Italian pro racer

HG Wells inspirational cycling quote

“Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the human race.” — H.G. Wells, English author
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If constellations had been named in the 20th century, I suppose we would see bicycles.Professor Carl Sagan, US scientist

“Life is like riding a bicycle. In order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.” — Albert Einstein, genius

John F Kennedy inspirational cycling quote

“Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike.” — John F. Kennedy, former US President
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“Those who wish to control their own lives and move beyond existence as mere clients and consumers — those people ride a bike.” — Wolfgang Sachs, German author and academic

“A bicycle is the finest mode of transport known to man.” — Adam Hart-Davis, English inventor

Michelle Pfeiffer inspirational cycling quote

“I relax by taking my bicycle apart and putting it back together again.” — Michelle Pfeiffer, US actor
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“Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.” — Helen Keller, US political activist

“When you ride a bike and you get your heart rate up and you’re out, after 30 or 40 minutes your mind tends to expand; it tends to relax.” — George W. Bush, former US President

Scott Stoll inspirational cycling quote

“A bicycle ride around the world begins with a single pedal stroke.” — Scott Stoll, US author and cyclist
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“Whoever invented the bicycle deserves the thanks of humanity” — Lord Charles Beresford, British MP

“Bicycles are the indicator species of a community, like shellfish in a bay.” — P. Martin Scott

Steve Larsen inspirational cycling quote

“You can’t get good by staying home. If you want to get fast, you have to go where the fast guys are.” — Steve Larsen, US cyclist
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Have we missed a classic? Make sure you add it to the comments at the bottom of this article.