Happy Bicycle Day, Albert

Albert Hofmann, the scientist best known for synthesizing LSD passed away yesterday, at the age of 102 years old.

You may be thinking, "What does this have to do with cycling?" Well... back on April 19, 1943, Albert Hofmann took his first intentional experimental dose of LSD. Along with his assistant, Albert rode his bicycle home while flying high as a kite.

"After ingesting the substance Hofmann was struggling to speak intelligibly and asked his laboratory assistant, who knew of the self-experiment, to escort him home on his bicycle, due to the lack of available vehicles during wartime restrictions. On the bicycle ride home, Hofmann's condition became more severe and in his journal he stated that everything in his field of vision wavered and was distorted, as if seen in a curved mirror. Hofmann also stated that while riding on the bicycle, he had the sensation of being stationary, unable to move from where he was, despite the fact that he was moving very rapidly."

Read more about "Bicycle Day" on Wikipedia.

Wherever you are now, Albert, we hope you have a wonderful (belated) Bicycle Day.

Image by SiLvEr_SuRfEr on Flickr.