Celebrate Bicycle Day: Psychedelic Books, Posters, and Apparel

April 19, 1943. Basel, Switzerland. Sandoz chemist Albert Hofmann ingests 250 micrograms of ergot derivative number 25 and, wartime gas rationing being what it was, pedals home on a bicycle with his assistant. Somewhere between the lab and his front door, Hofmann became the first person in history to intentionally take an acid trip. Every April 19, the world observes Bicycle Day.

The line from that ride to everything Relix covers is shorter than people think. Hofmann's discovery moved through Sandoz, through Army and CIA research, through a Palo Alto vet named Ken Kesey, who volunteered for one of those studies and walked out with a prescription pad full of ideas. Kesey, Cassady, Foster, Babbs, and the rest of the Pranksters packed the bus. The Acid Tests put the Warlocks on the bill, the band that became the Grateful Dead two weeks later. The rest is the magazine.

This is the Relix Bicycle Day aisle. Killer Acid's foil editions of the Dead's 2/21/1971 Capitol Theatre show. Signed Cronies by Ken Babbs. Paul Foster's '95 Prankster memoir. Acid Test throwback tees. If it traces the thread, it's here.