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Bicycle Day (psychedelic holiday)

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Not to be confused with the United Nations designated World Bicycle Day.
Bicycle Day
Denver Bicycle Day Parade in 2019. A psychedelic enthusiast wears a lab coat honoring Dr. Hofmann.
TypeSecular & Spiritual
CelebrationsConsumption of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or other psychedelics, riding a bike, organizing a bicycle parade, microdosing, psychedelic-themed festivities
ObservancesHonors the anniversary of the first ever intentional acid trip, undergone by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann on April 19, 1943, in Basel, Switzerland, and the impact of the psychedelic revolution for science, medicine and human evolution
DateApril 19
Next time19 April 2025 (2025-04-19)
FrequencyAnnual

Bicycle Day is an unofficial celebration on April 19th of the psychedelic revolution[1] and the first psychedelic trip on LSD by Dr. Albert Hofmann in 1943, in tandem with his famous bicycle ride home from Sandoz Labs.[2][3] It is commonly celebrated by ingesting psychedelics and riding a bike, sometimes in a parade,[4] and often with psychedelic-themed festivities.[5] The holiday was first named and declared in 1985 by Thomas Roberts, a psychology professor at Northern Illinois University,[6][7] but has likely been celebrated by psychedelic enthusiasts since the beginning of the psychedelic era, and celebrated in popular culture since at least 2004.[8]

History

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On April 19, 1943, Albert Hofmann ingested 0.25 milligrams (250 micrograms) of LSD. Between one and two hours later, Hofmann experienced slow and gradual changes in his perception. He asked his laboratory assistant to escort him home. Due to wartime restrictions on automobile use, they made the journey by bicycle. On the way, Hofmann became anxious as objects in his field of vision wavered and distorted as if seen in a convex mirror. Upon arriving home, Hofmann's condition rapidly deteriorated as he struggled with feelings of anxiety, alternating in his beliefs that the next-door neighbor was a malevolent witch, that he was going insane, and that the LSD had poisoned him. When the house doctor arrived, however, he could detect no physical abnormalities, save for a pair of widely dilated pupils. Hofmann was reassured, and soon his terror began to give way to a sense of good fortune and enjoyment, as he later wrote:

... Little by little I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me, alternating, variegated, opening and then closing themselves in circles and spirals, exploding in colored fountains, rearranging and hybridizing themselves in constant flux ...

The events of this first LSD trip, now known as "Bicycle Day", after the bicycle ride home, proved to Hofmann that he had indeed made a significant discovery: a psychoactive substance with extraordinary potency, capable of causing significant shifts of consciousness in incredibly low doses. (The term trip was first coined by US Army scientists during the 1950s when they were experimenting with LSD.)[9] Hofmann foresaw the drug as a powerful psychiatric tool; because of its intense and introspective nature, he could not imagine anyone using it recreationally.[10] Bicycle Day is increasingly observed in psychedelic communities as a day to celebrate the discovery of LSD.[11][12][13]

The celebration of Bicycle Day originated in DeKalb, Illinois, in 1985, when Thomas B. Roberts, then a professor at Northern Illinois University, invented the name "Bicycle Day"[a] when he founded the first celebration at his home.[14] Several years later, he sent an announcement made by one of his students to friends and Internet lists, thus propagating the idea and the celebration. His intent at the time was to commemorate Hofmann's original, accidental exposure on April 16, but that date fell midweek and was not a good time for the party, so he chose the 19th to honor Hofmann's first intentional exposure.[14][15][16]

Notes

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  1. ^ Dr. Hofmann asked Roberts why he had called it Bicycle Day instead of LSD Day: "I told him that the bicycle was a more concrete image than a chemical structure, and in America there is a famous poem that marks the start of our revolution in 1775 that makes a parallel with his ride..."[14]

References

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  1. ^ Coffey, Rebecca. "Bicycle Day And the 1962 Harvard Experiment That Showed Psilocybin Can Create Lasting, Positive Spiritual Change". Forbes. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  2. ^ "On This Infamous, Trippy Ride on April 19, 1943, Albert Hofmann Became the Godfather of Psychedelics". Bicycling. 19 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  3. ^ Smith, Darren “HarpDaddy” (17 April 2019). "April 19 is Bicycle Day: Still breaking the stigma of LSD, 76 years from Dr. Hofmann's magical ride". The Anchorage Press. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  4. ^ "4th Annual Bicycle Day Bicycle Parade". Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies - MAPS. 3 April 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  5. ^ "April 19 Bicycle Day Celebrates First LSD Trip". Green Market Report. 18 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  6. ^ Schwarcz, Joe (13 May 2023). "Bicycle Day Commemorates Historic Acid Trip". The Gazette. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  7. ^ "Bicycle Day". Catalyst Magazine. 11 May 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-05-11. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  8. ^ "Google Trends". Google Trends. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  9. ^ Lee, Martin A. (1985). Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, The Sixties, and Beyond. Grove Press. p. 39. ISBN 0-802-13062-3.
  10. ^ "LSD Discovery-Albert Hofmann + Hofmann at 99 years". Skeptically.org. Archived from the original on January 8, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
  11. ^ DeAngelo, Andrew. "Bicycle Day: Honoring The Onset Of The Psychedelic Revolution As It Zooms Across The Globe". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2022-04-19. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
  12. ^ "Bicycle Day Returns to San Francisco April 19th, Feat. Emancipator, Desert Dwellers & Many Others". CULTR. 2022-04-04. Archived from the original on 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
  13. ^ Smith, Darren 'HarpDaddy' (19 April 2021). "Tuesday is 420, but today is Bicycle Day". The Anchorage Press. Archived from the original on 2022-07-26. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
  14. ^ a b c McMillan, Trisha (30 March 2013). "Bicycle Day". Catalyst Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  15. ^ Calderon, Trina (19 April 2018). "Flashback: LSD Creator Albert Hofmann Drops Acid for the First Time". Rolling Stone.
  16. ^ Thomas B. Roberts. "Bicycle Day, April 19th". Archived from the original on 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
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