I met a very clever cycle journalist last week. Not only did he start the only magazine I read regularly, a trade magazine called Bike Biz, but he has now written and self-published an interesting read all about how 19th Century cyclists changed the world for the better.

The book by Carlton Reid, aptly named Roads were not Built for Cars, sprang from his research that he did for www.ipayroadtax.com, an insightful and helpful website to the cyclist’s cause, clearly explaining with evidence how contrary to a popular belief that motorists pay to maintain the roads exclusively, the general population through centralised taxation does, ergo us pesky cyclists also pay the so-called Road tax.

I met Carlton at a talk about his new book which was organised by Cyclox, the cycle campaign for Oxford. Cyclox is clearly going from strength to strength, the organised talks are certainly becoming very popular and the room was packed at last Tuesday’s talk.

Now before the car driving, cycle bashing readers put themselves on red alert here, the thesis of the book is not car attacking. It’s simply pointing out that cycles came first and weirdly how the history books seem to have forgotten how the first motor pioneers were clearly cycle manufacturers and enthusiasts before they were seen chuffing along in the new motor technology.

The reason motoring was able to become a success and catch on so quickly was because of good road campaigns started by cyclists in the 1890s in the UK and US.

In the States, the League of American Wheelmen laid the foundation for the US highway system and in the UK, William Rees Jeffreys of the CTC helped create the modern road administration. Carlton’s book delicately dissects the political cycle movements that changed the neglected roads for better after train use had soared and left many a rural road in danger of abandonment.

This book is clearly the result of a lot of research and trips to far-flung lands, it is of historical importance and accumulates interesting evidence that substantiates the pivotal role cycling played in the history of our highways.

For today’s cyclists this book provides plenty of food for thought in our modern-day struggle against the motorcars supremacy of the road.

If you think that sounds interesting get it, read it and arm yourself with the knowledge.

The book is available in print but I am told the first run has already sold out, so if you can’t wait for the next run you can download the book on kindle or iBook’s.

If you want to get along to further interesting talks about cycling or get more involved with the struggle to maintain what little space we have left on the roads as cyclists in Oxford check out cyclox’s website at www.cyclox.org