Bike Day

Actually, some people consider the 19th as Bike Day, but what the hey...

AH: “Last Friday, April 16, 1943, I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring); I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.”

From Bruce Eisner's Vision Thing: Three days later, on April 19, 1943 at 4:20 PM, Hofmann took the first planned trip. He took what he thought would be the smallest amount that would be noticeable - which was 250 micrograms or about one four thousandth of a gram.

AH: "By now it was already clear to me that LSD had been the cause of the remarkable experience of the previous Friday,for the altered perceptions were of the same type as before, only much more intense. 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. Finally, we arrived at home safe and sound."









Albert in German



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Bonzi on a bike

Alfred Jarry: a Cyclist on the Wild Side