Cycling is the act of riding a bicycle, using your legs to push pedals that turn the wheels and propel you forward. When you go cycling through your neighborhood or ride your bike to school, you're experiencing one of the most efficient forms of human transportation ever invented.

Bicycles appeared in the 1800s and quickly transformed how people traveled. Before cars became common, cycling gave ordinary people freedom to travel dozens of miles in a day under their own power. Today, people cycle for transportation, exercise, sport, and adventure. Professional cyclists race in events like the Tour de France, covering over 2,000 miles in three weeks. Mountain bikers cycle on rugged trails through forests and over rocks. Others simply cycle to work or school because it's faster than walking and doesn't require fuel.

As a verb, cycle can also mean to move through a repeating pattern or circle. The water cycle describes how water evaporates, forms clouds, falls as rain, and evaporates again. When a washing machine completes its wash cycle, it has gone through all its programmed steps and returned to the beginning. Scientists talk about life cycles of organisms and business cycles in economics, both describing patterns that repeat over time.