# 53 bicycles: A lateral thinking puzzle **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 9, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868 "2017-07-09T19:51:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 90
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1781 "2017-10-06T01:48:50Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Was it bullfighting? > > Was it horse-riding? **No to both**. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1782 "2017-10-06T02:02:52Z")
Was it a dead animal? Was it from an extinct species? Was it [President Jefferson](https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/jefferson-primer/thomas-jefferson-paleontologist)? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1783 "2017-10-06T02:04:03Z")
Was the animal a domesticated water buffalo? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1784 "2017-10-06T02:49:54Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Was it a dead animal? > Was it from an extinct species? > Was it [President Jefferson](https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/jefferson-primer/thomas-jefferson-paleontologist)? Was it a dead animal? **No.** Was it from an extinct species? **No.** Was it President Jefferson? \*\*Yes \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1785 "2017-10-06T02:50:57Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Was the animal a domesticated water buffalo? **No.** ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1786 "2017-10-06T06:48:57Z")
Is it at all connected to Jefferson’s studies of palaeontology? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1787 "2017-10-06T07:04:16Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Is it at all connected to Jefferson’s studies of palaeontology? **No.** ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1788 "2017-10-06T10:40:52Z")
All right. President Jefferson had a hooved animal native to Europe, not normally domesticated in the US, and failed to confine it. Because of his failure, a boy died. 1. Was it a reindeer? 2. Some other sort of deer? 3. Some sort of sheep? 4. Some sort of goat? 5. Did Jefferson enjoy reenacting Christmas, and one night after too much eggnog at the Children’s Christmas Party he hitched a sleigh to a team of reindeer on the White House roof and rode them off, mistakenly believing they could fly, and the lead reindeer fell out of the harness and onto a boy? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1789 "2017-10-06T12:49:19Z")
Was the animal a pig? A boar? (Pigs & boars are not normally kept as pets.) A camel? Is the animal native to Western Europe? Is the animal native to Eastern Europe? Is the animal native to Northern Europe? Is the animal native to Southern Europe? Was the animal a stag deer? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1790 "2017-10-06T14:11:28Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > All right. President Jefferson had a hooved animal native to Europe, not normally domesticated in the US, and failed to confine it. Because of his failure, a boy died. > > 1. Was it a reindeer? > 2. Some other sort of deer? > 3. Some sort of sheep? > 4. Some sort of goat? > 5. Did Jefferson enjoy reenacting Christmas, and one night after too much eggnog at the Children’s Christmas Party he hitched a sleigh to a team of reindeer on the White House roof and rode them off, mistakenly believing they could fly, and the lead reindeer fell out of the harness and onto a boy? \*\*Yes to sheep \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1791 "2017-10-06T14:12:43Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Was the animal a pig? A boar? (Pigs & boars are not normally kept as pets.) > A camel? > Is the animal native to Western Europe? > Is the animal native to Eastern Europe? > Is the animal native to Northern Europe? > Is the animal native to Southern Europe? > > Was the animal a stag deer? \*\*Yes to Northern Europe. No to the rest. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1792 "2017-10-06T14:15:42Z")
As a sidenote to the discussion of presidential pets, there have been some odd ones - Jefferson had two bear cubs, John Quincy Adams had silkworms and an alligator (Hoover had \*\*two \*\*alligators!), Benjamin Harrison had opossums, Martin van Buren had two tiger cubs (which Congress made him give to a zoo) and Calvin Coolidge had two lion cubs and a bobcat. Theodore Roosevelt had a freaking menagerie, including a small bear (of course), a lizard, a snake, a rat, a badger, a pig, an owl, a one-legged rooster and a laughing hyena as well as an assortment of more usual pets. By the way, [here’s the sheep story](http://modernnotion.com/thomas-jefferson-had-an-attack-sheep-that-actually-killed-a-boy/). Jefferson was into animal husbandry and some sheep can indeed be bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1793 "2017-10-06T14:24:28Z")
Here’s an easy one, but one which has the virtue of being true. Every day (or every day that I commute to work) I leave my house and walk ten minutes to the train station. The journey is entirely downhill. I get on the train and travel to the same destination station. In the evening I get back on at the station I got off at in the morning and take the train back home again. I leave the station and walk ten minutes to my house. The journey is entirely downhill. How is this possible? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1794 "2017-10-06T14:25:16Z")
Yes! Good job all putting this bizarre forgotten history tidbit together. But is it true? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1795 "2017-10-06T14:32:48Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Yes! Good job all putting this bizarre forgotten history tidbit together. But is it true? According to that site it’s recounted in the journal of one of Jefferson’s friends, another person reported being seriously injured by it and Jefferson reported that the ram had killed several other sheep and that he had had to destroy it. So it’s certainly plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1796 "2017-10-06T15:30:09Z")
Are the inbound and outbound tracks at the same height? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1797 "2017-10-06T15:33:26Z")
Do you live between two stations that are a 20 minute walk apart? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1798 "2017-10-06T16:37:46Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Here’s an easy one, but one which has the virtue of being true. The first station, the one which you use first thing in the morning, is not the same as the last station, the one from which you alight at the end of your evening journey, which is probably one or two stops further up the line. IIRC you live in S London and work centrally; London sits in the Thames Valley so the farther you go from the river, the higher you rise. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1799 "2017-10-06T19:50:03Z")
> [@](#): > > The first station, the one which you use first thing in the morning, is not the same as the last station, the one from which you alight at the end of your evening journey, which is probably one or two stops further up the line. Probably just one stop further up. If it were two stops up, then he’d probably take the stop between them instead of either. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2017, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1800 "2017-10-07T08:10:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Probably just one stop further up. If it were two stops up, then he’d probably take the stop between them instead of either. Depends upon if the line curves. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868.md?page=89) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868.md?page=91)