You simply straddled it and pushed CONTINUOUSLY with your feet on the ground to give it momentum!!! Like those little children's bikes, but for adults!

This first bicycle was built in 1817 by the gentleman we see in the picture, the German inventor Karl von Drais.

It was made of wood and although it looks quite uncomfortable and tiring, you could reach speeds of 16 km/h on flat ground, three times faster than walking! IT WAS IMPRESSIVE BACK THEN, OK?!

For a while, many people believed that von Drais' invention could replace horses, which were until then the main means of transportation! (spoiler: it took another century for that to happen - of course, not with bicycles, but with cars!)