Episode 1 of 5
Departure from San Francisco
- When
- 22 April 1884
- Where
- San Francisco
Thomas Stevens left San Francisco on 22 April 1884 on a Columbia penny-farthing, beginning his global bicycle journey.
Stevens departed at 8 o'clock on 22 April 1884. He rode a black-enameled Columbia 50-inch 'Standard' penny-farthing with nickel-plated wheels. His handlebar bag contained socks, a spare shirt, a raincoat, and a revolver. This marked the start of his attempt to circle the globe by bicycle.
Sources
- Thomas Stevens (cyclist) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-08
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.