Bicycle Day celebrates Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann's discovery of lysergic acid diethylamide or LSD in 1943, and the subsequent, and at times harrowing, ride home on his bicycle after deliberately ingesting a dose of the drug.
Stephen Bright from Curtin University's School of Psychology conceded it might seem a little odd to celebrate the discovery of an illegal drug, but said there was much more to LSD than many people realised.
Dr Bright said the discovery of LSD's psychedelic properties led to a new understanding of the brain, and a paradigm shift in psychiatry.
On April 19, 1943, Hofmann ingested 0.25 milligrams (250 micrograms) of the substance, which he estimated to be a small dose, but is actually about 10 times the minimum amount that produces a psychedelic effect. Between one and two hours later, Hofmann experienced slow and gradual changes in his perception. He asked his laboratory assistant to escort him home. As was customary in Basel, they made the journey by bicycle. On the way, 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.) Hofmann foresaw the drug as a powerful psychiatric tool; because of its intense and introspective nature, he could not imagine anyone using it recreationally.
Bicycle Day is an informal celebration on April 19th of the anniversary of this first LSD trip, and the psychedelic revolution in general. It is sometimes celebrated by riding a bike on psychedelics and/or in a parade, and often with psychedelic-themed festivities. 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" when he founded the first celebration at his home. 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 original intent 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.
