“High wheeling” in historic Frederick

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Bicycle enthusiasts gathered in historic downtown Frederick to show off their “high wheel” bicycles and compete in the Frederick Clustered Spires High Wheel Race. The one-hour criterium race took cyclists around a course that is 0.4 miles long.

The bicycle design, from the late 1800s, is also called an “ordinary” or a “penny-farthing” because it resembles a British penny and farthing coin. Some of the bicycles in the race are original. Others are built recently using the same distinctively large front wheel and small rear wheel design.