The modern bicycle owes its existence, in small part, to one of history’s greatest natural disasters: the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia, one of the largest volcanic events in recorded history. The eruption killed tens of thousands of people directly and many more through the famine and disease that followed. The massive quantities of ash blasted into the atmosphere lowered global temperatures by an average of about 5.4°F (3°C), triggering the “Year Without a Summer.” Crop failures spread across Europe, and in Germany the decimated oat harvest meant that horses, the primary means of transporting both people and goods, starved or were slaughtered for their meat.

Into this crisis stepped German inventor Karl Drais, who devised the Laufmaschine (“running machine”), a two-wheeled, pedal-less vehicle that, apart from its size, was virtually identical to the balance bikes toddlers use today to learn how to ride.

Eventually the skies cleared, temperatures rebounded, and horse populations recovered. The Laufmaschine’s moment proved fleeting, but for a few years the machine was all the rage. In England, where it became a favorite of the wealthy, fashion-conscious set, it earned the nickname “dandy horse.”

After the dandy horse came the boneshaker, which added pedals but, true to its name, rode on wooden wheels with iron tires. Its replacement, the penny-farthing, was notoriously dangerous, sending riders tumbling headfirst over the handlebars and prompting its successor to be christened the safety bicycle.

With its compact diamond frame, chain drive, similarly sized wheels, and pneumatic tires, the safety bicycle was an immediate success. It became one of the first mass-produced consumer products and ushered in the bicycle craze of the 1890s. Wheelmen’s restaurants sprang up to serve the growing ranks of cyclists, offering weary riders a place to rest, refuel, and swap stories after a day’s ride. One of them stood at the intersection of Jamaica and Myrtle Avenues in Richmond Hill, in the very building that today houses the Sala Evangélica de Jamaica.