Biking is big in Leelanau. But it's nothing new.

At the turn of the 19th century, it was often reported in the Enterprise of people traveling to special events “by wheel.”

And a 1903 publication issued by the Traverse City Chamber of Commerce touted the area’s trout streams, adding that many were within “easy wheeling distances from the city.”

“Millions of ‘wheels,’ as they were called, were sold,” Michigan historian Willis Dunbar wrote, adding that “bicycle clubs” sprang up across the country.

Following the Civil War, a number of bicycles, which were to become increasingly popular, were developed, and, by the 1890s, the “bicycle craze” was in full swing.

“Cycle tours were taken and cycle clubs established almost as soon as the cycle appeared, the Pickwick Bicycle Club in London, founded in 1870, being the oldest in the world,” the Encyclopedia Brittanica related in its 11th Edition (1910).

“The organization of these clubs is largely of a social character, and a few possess well-appointed club-houses. To a great extent, they have been superseded by the large touring organizations. The Cyclists‚ Touring Club, organized as the Bicycle Touring Club, has members scattered through Europe, America, and even the East. Many other countries possess national clubs, as for instance, the League of American Wheelmen, founded in 1880, and the Touring Club de France, founded in 1895, of whose objects, cycling is only one, though the chief.”

The cyclists were early advocates of good roads, a cause later embraced by pioneer auto owners as well.

“The national president of the League of American Wheelmen in 1901 – Horatio S. Earle – was also a member of the state Senate, where he sponsored a resolution calling for a committee to report on improving highways,” Dunbar wrote. “He became so prominent in the cause of better highways that he won the nickname ‘Good Roads Earle.’”

Later, Earle was appointed Michigan’s first state highway commissioner by Gov. Earl Warner.

To promote his automobiles, Henry Ford built racing vehicles, such as “Old 999,” which was driven by Barney Oldfield. The racing automobile, instead of a steering wheel, had apparatus more like that of bicycle handlebars. That suited Oldfield just fine. He had previously been a renowned bicycle racer.

One of the earlier bicycles became known as the “ordinary.” It had a very large front wheel – up to five feet in diameter – and a rather small second wheel. It was capable of speeds up to 20 miles an hour but, and though by no means restricted to them it was most suitable for rather tall men.

One of the disadvantages of the “ordinary” was that, if one hit even a small obstacle, the rider was apt to be pitched over the handlebars and onto the road.

It was followed by what was known as the “safety bicycle,” which, by the 1890s, looked much like today’s modern bicycle.

As the automobile gradually came into general use, interest in the bicycle waned until it was primarily relegated to children, who themselves abandoned it once they had obtained a driver’s license.

But a few adults found the bicycle still useful. One of them was Julia Terry, a writer for the Leelanau Enterprise beginning about 70 years ago. Her column, “From the County Seat,” was compiled, at least in part, from observations she made while riding her bicycle around Leland, and the column heading was actually a pun. Later, she wrote “Leelanau Lookout” for many years.

In 1942 she married Fred Dickenson, who a few years earlier had built a home at Glen Lake. The following year, the couple purchased the Enterprise, and were the newspaper’s publishers for the next five years.

Terry was originally from Ohio, where the country’s most famous bicycle shop owners resided – Orville and Wilbur Wright. The Wright brothers extrapolated skills they learned working with bicycles to build the world’s first successful heaver-than-air craft in 1903.

Eclipsed by newer developments, such as the automobile and airplane, the lowly bicycle didn’t disappear altogether, although its adult users declined dramatically as the 20th century progressed. That started to change a few decades ago when bicycling was “rediscovered” by a new generation concerned with maintaining physical fitness.

Leelanau County has now become one of the favorite destinations for group touring by the new generation of – “wheelpersons?”

The once lowly bicycle isn’t “just for kids” anymore.