Bicycle Day (April 19): The First Acid Trip in Human History 🚲 🍄
Bicycle Day (April 19): The First Acid Trip in Human History 🚲 🍄
Bicycle Day is a celebration of psychedelics — remembering the day the legendary Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann took the first intentional dose of LSD in human history.
Today is Bicycle Day — an unofficial holiday celebrated every April 19th by psychonauts around the world. It’s a day to celebrate the unique value psychedelics have brought to us over the years.
The history behind this holiday — which is not to be confused with the official World Bicycle Day on June 3rd — dates back to 1943, when a chemist working for Sandoz, Albert Hofmann, decided to intentionally dose himself with 250 micrograms of LSD-25.
Here’s how it all went down
In 1938, Albert Hofmann was developing a series of new analeptic drugs (drugs used to restore a person's health or strength). He systematically altered the structure of a chemical class called ergolines, which were extracted from the ergot fungus (Claviceps purpurea). His goal was to create new medicines to treat disorders of the lungs and circulatory system.
One of the compounds he created was dubbed LSD-25. LSD stands for lysergsäure-diethylamid — which is the German name for lysergic acid diethylamide (LAD). Just like any of the other compounds Hofmann created during his research, LSD-25 was tested on mice first to determine its effects.
When the drug didn’t perform as intended, Hofmann and his team at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals shelved the substance and moved on — ultimately creating dozens of other compounds over the years.
LSD-25 sat on the shelf, collecting dust. It could have easily been forgotten forever, but it was miraculously rediscovered five years later.
In 1943, Hofmann dug through some of his old stock and decided to give LSD another try. There was something about this substance he was drawn to, so he decided to create a fresh batch to run more tests. As he was synthesizing this new batch, it's believed some of the drug came in contact with his hands. LSD is exceptionally powerful, so even the trace amount that managed to absorb through the pores in his skin had a noticeable impact on his consciousness.
Hofmann recorded in his journal at the time that he felt slight intoxication, an altered perception of time, feelings of euphoria, and unusual feelings of introspection.
This mysterious substance piqued his interest. How could such a small amount of the drug coming in contact with his hands produce such a profound change in his mental state? What was this stuff? What was it capable of?
Like any good scientist, Hofmann couldn’t leave these questions unanswered. He had to run a proper test.
From the animal studies he performed on the drug in the past, he knew it was not going to kill him or make him sick — so he set up an experiment using himself as the guinea pig. Hofmann brought in his lab assistant to help him document the experiment and watch over him throughout the experience.
On April 19, at approximately 4:20 pm, Hofmann dosed himself with 250 micrograms of LSD-25.
Within an hour, the drug started to take effect. He decided to leave his lab and ride his bike home. At the time, there was a ban on the use of cars because of the ongoing World War II.
Hofmann jumped on his bike and started pedaling.
For some context, 250 micrograms is a very strong dose of acid — especially for someone who has no experience with the drug whatsoever. The ensuing trip Hofmann experienced would change history forever.
Hofmann recorded the events of his trip in his memoir LSD: My Problem Child.
“I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors.”
Here’s another entry from his book:
“I had to struggle to speak intelligibly. I asked my laboratory assistant, who was informed of the self-experiment, to escort me home. We went by bicycle, no automobile being available because of wartime restrictions on their use. On the way home, my condition began to assume threatening forms. Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me that we had traveled very rapidly.”
Not all of Hofmann's experience was enjoyable; he reported a great deal of fear during the experiment:
"I was seized by the dreadful fear of going insane. I was taken to another world, another place, another time. My body seemed to be without sensation, lifeless, strange. Was I dying? Was this the transition? At times, I believed myself to be outside my body and then perceived clearly, as an outside observer, the complete tragedy of my situation. I had not even taken leave of my family (my wife, with our three children, had traveled that day to visit her parents in Lucerne). Would they ever understand that I had not experimented thoughtlessly, irresponsibly, but rather with the utmost caution, and that such a result was in no way foreseeable? My fear and despair intensified, not only because a young family should lose its father, but also because I dreaded leaving my chemical research work, which meant so much to me, unfinished in the midst of fruitful, promising development. Another reflection took shape, an idea full of bitter irony: If I was now forced "to leave this world prematurely, it was because of this Lysergic acid diethylamide that I myself had brought forth into the world."
He wrote the next day that he still felt euphoric and optimistic about his experience, and he noted that the LSD “spoke to him.” The drug reportedly told him that he had discovered something extraordinary, something that would open people’s minds and make them introspective and at one with the world. However, the drug also noted that it could be dangerous in the wrong hands and that it would be largely misunderstood by many.
Now, over 80 years later, Hofmann’s assumptions have proven to be profoundly accurate. Here are some reflections Hofmann wrote in his book about the impact of LSD over the years:
"This joy at having fathered LSD was tarnished after more than ten years of uninterrupted scientific research and medicinal use when LSD was swept up in the huge wave of an inebriant mania that began to spread over the Western world, above all, the United States, at the end of the 1950s. It was strange how rapidly LSD adopted its new role as inebriant and, for a time, became the number-one inebriating drug, at least as far as publicity was concerned. The more its use as an inebriant was disseminated, bringing an upsurge in the number of untoward incidents caused by careless, medically unsupervised use, the more LSD became a problem child for me and for the Sandoz firm."
What Are We Celebrating? What’s the Significance of Bicycle Day?
Psychedelic drugs are a class of their own. They’re separate from what we might consider “party drugs” and are entirely distinct from alcohol or marijuana. Psychedelics allow users to uncover hidden or suppressed aspects about themselves that interfere with their ability to think clearly, feel happy. They may even help break the cycle of unconscious and destructive tendencies.
Those who celebrate Bicycle Day commemorate LSD (and other psychedelics) for its mind-opening capabilities, not the euphoria or the “high” it creates.
Bicycle Day is a celebration of drugs on the surface, but for psychedelic users, it’s a means of celebrating the compound that helps them cope with and understand themselves on a deeper level.
How Do People Celebrate Bicycle Day?
Like tripping on LSD, celebrating Bicycle Day is a personal experience for most people. While 4/20 is often celebrated by consuming cannabis with friends and fellow marijuana users, Bicycle Day is often spent tripping in privacy or experiencing psychedelic-related art, music, or movies.
But you don’t need to take psychedelics to celebrate all that Bicycle Day represents.
Getting together with friends and fellow psychonauts to enjoy good music, engaging conversations, or thought-provoking workshops are all activities in the spirit of what Bicycle Day represents.
One of the best ways you can celebrate this (unofficial) holiday is to spend some time learning about what these substances bring to the table and how we can use them with respect and responsibility to make our lives and the well-being of society better.
Some of the ways people celebrate Bicycle Day include:
Take psychedelics (responsibly)
Take time to learn about psychedelics, philosophy, and spirituality
Watch psychedelic-inspired movies (such as 2001, A Space Odyssey)
Read psychedelic-inspired books (like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
Explore psychedelic-inspired artwork (look into Alex Grey, Pablo Amaringo, or Lee Conklin)
Listen to psychedelic-inspired music (Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, & The Beatles are a good place to start)
Go hiking, camping, or spend time in nature
Meditate or practice other mindfulness practices
Check out local Bicycle Day festivals or celebrations hosted around the world
Learn About LSD
Microdosing LSD: A Controversial Practice with Promising Results
The Story of LSD: Its Inventor & Fun but Now Questionable History
Magic Mushrooms vs. LSD: Key Similarities & Differences Explained
Other Lysergamides
Enjoying the Trip? 🍄
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