A bicycle is a two-wheeled vehicle that you power by pushing pedals with your feet. The pedals turn a chain, which spins the back wheel and moves you forward. You steer with handlebars and keep your balance by moving at a steady speed.

Learning to ride a bicycle is one of those childhood milestones that feels impossible until suddenly it clicks. At first, you wobble and tip over. Then one day, you're pedaling down the sidewalk with the wind in your face, and it feels like flying. Once you learn, your body never forgets how to balance on those two thin wheels.

Bicycles are elegant machines: simple, efficient, and requiring no fuel except your own energy. A person on a bicycle can travel three or four times faster than walking while using less energy per mile than any other form of transportation. Communities around the world rely on bicycles for transportation, exercise, and recreation. Some cities have thousands of bicyclists commuting to work or school every day.

People sometimes shorten bicycle to bike, and a person who rides one regularly is a cyclist or bicyclist.