CYCLING NOTES.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9594, 8 December 1896, Page 2

CYCLING NOTES.

"Weekly Press and Referee."

[Br Vklox.] On October 10th at the Crystal Palace, J. W. Stocks, on a safety bicycle, rode an hour's match against S. B. Macgregor and G. A. Nelson on a tandem, when the former led from start to finish, and wou by covering 29 miles 1012 yds to 29 miles 430 yds by the tandem. At Cittford Bridge, London, on October 15th, F. W. Chirm, made an attempt to lower Johnson's record of 26sec for a quarter of a mile with a flying start, and he reduced it by £sec. The Melbourne Argus, in commenting on the Amateur Bicycling Championships decided in Melbourne on November 14th, remarks :"— "The chief attraction on the cycling side was the Australasian amateur champion, W. I*. Kerr, of Sydney, a rider who has been prominent for years amongst, the trophy riders, and one who recently covered himself with distinction by boating the mile Australasian record of J. W. Parsons. Great things had naturally been expected from tha Sydney rider, and the championships, at least, were considered to be gifts to him. But he was wofully out of form, and had to submit to defeat at every oasay save,, one, and that simply a heat of the Half-mile Handicap. He is trained too fine, is stale with recordriding behind a triplet, and wants a complete rest. The only flash of his old riding ability was one in which he smothered the field in a half-mile heat, and romped home an, easy winner from the novel mark of 20yds behind scratch. ■ In the championship he was all at sea. He had not the dash necessary to bustle for position, nor the strength to battle out a finish. But while Kerr was obviously far below his true form the local men showed fine ability, and have amongst them some undoubtedly brilliaut young riders." An extraordinary finish was witnessed in a race at Cftetlemaine (Victoria) on Monday, November 9th. In the two mile event for all-comers Sutton, of Bendigo, and Woodward, of Castlcmaine, were racing neck and neck within a dozen yards of the winning post, when Woodward fell, bringing Sutton down with him. The third man, W. Blundell, to save, himself had to steer into the ropes, where he was held up by the spectators. Sutton, though badly. hurt, dragged his broken machine first past the winning post, just in front of Blundell. and some time afterwards Woodward .drawled through. and secured third place. The fourth man, Davis, of Bendigo, was 40yds behindhand thinking the race was all over he pulled off the track just as the spill took place. Seeing the accident he came again and passed the post first, but was disqualified for leaving the track. The following table shows the positions on October Ist of this year of the various cycling; countries in relation to the hour record :—

The record-breaking Englishman, G. C. Wridgway,has been fined £1 and costs by the Alcester bench for attempting to beat the Midland Fifty Miles Road Record. Wridgway pleaded guilty to the charge of fnrious riding. • If the London Cycle is to be believed, A. A. Chase is to visit Australia. The paper in question in a recent issue says: "We shall not have the pleasure of welcoming A. A. Chase home for a long time to come. From Copenhagen he has gone to Italy, whence it is his intention to sail for Australia, to take part in the approaching antipodean summer season of racing." The last annual report of the Jointless Rim Company shows that, with a capital of: 630,000, a profit of close on £12,000 has been made. The dividend will be 20%, which will absorb ,£6000; £4000 will be added to the reserve fund, while nearly £1500 i? to be carried forward. Under date October 7th, London Wlud ing says':—" Megson, Payne and Lewis will probably race on the Continent before returning to Australia, which they will do shortly. They have been the victims of much ill luck since they landed, but accept it all with a cheerfulness which makes everyone wish that it had been otherwise." There was glorious weather on Saturday for the first day of the Austral Wheel Meeting in Melbourne, and an attendance of 20,000, The International Scratch Mile resulted as follows:—Ken Lewis 1, Kuhle 2, Pither 3. 'Won after a brilliant finish by a length, in 2min 41$ sec. The heats of the Austral Wheel Race were not finished. A "qnindecuplet" is being made in America. It is practically two septets side by side, but with a single steering wheel in -the centre, which will be in the hands of the fifteenth- rider, who will do no pedalling. We can quite believe this monster tricycle, with its two rows of seven riders aside, will find ample employment for the coxswain, withoxit his having to use his energy in pedalling. The two driving wheels are to be 30ia in diam«te'« %nd the eteerer 26in.

Three inch tyreswill.be used, and a 168 in gear. | A. A. Zimmerman offers to race any rider in Amerioa for a £1000 purse. He does not consider he is one whit inferior to Gardiner, , Bald, Johnson, Sanger and Co., and many others are of the same opinion. The rest Zimmerman has had since the first of this year, when he raced on the Melbourne Cricket Ground, wae merely what he was entitled to after all the racing he indulged in before. j From the " t'other side " (says a London , writer) I hear that some idiot is going to cross Niagara on a bicycle over a wire chai'ged with a strong current of electricity. The current will travel through the machine J wires to lamps spreading over his body to illumine his path, and the ride will be undertaken at night. The only protection to the daring rider will be rubber coverings to the seat, handle bars and pedals, and should his body come in contact with tho wire it means a terrible death for him. I The best and handiest means to locate a | tyre-puncture is a bit of common soap carried , in the pocket. Water is not always avail- i able in quantity to fill the tyre and locate by leakage, but if the tyre is rubbed with soap and squeezed, a soap-bubble at once forms where the slightest puncture is, and . repair is easy as falling off a roof. Sydney Bulletin says of Wally Kerr:— He thinks Christchurch, M.L., with' its beautiful roads, a cyclist's paradise ; but for t a real comprehensive tour Tasmania comes first with its scenery* roads, fruit—and girls. Kerr goes to England next March to race, against the English amateurs, and he hopes to do well there, since he has always found a cold climate suit him better than a hot otic ; he has always'raced better in his native winter than in summer. ( In England, too, he. will have the tune and opportunity to train systematically. Training, so far, he has believed in one ride daily, one walk, one quarter hour's dumb-bell exercise, one short swim, one sun-bath on a beach ; three I square "meals. » ' It is said that five triplets will shortly j arrive in Australia to pace J. W. Parsons, j They are of French manufacture, and j Parson's own property, with Such facilities ' the Victorian .should, have no difficult in I cutting existing Australian records to pieces. W. Martin, now under suspension, has | written to the secretary of the West Australian Cycling Club, asking if a race meeting would be organised if he undertook a trip to the weet. "In view of the only partial successes of recent meetings (says a Sydney writer) it is unlikely that the W.A. Cycling Club will organise any more until the new year. The South African mile record is a long way ahead of the Australian. From a i standing start and paced by a triplet, C. E. ! Osmond has covered the mile in lmin 56fsee on a 3£ lap track. W. A. Thomson, of Oamaru, who Set out: from Wellington on November 23r d to break the bicycle record to Napiei", achieved the feat. He started at midnight, and arrived at twelve minutes past six, making the time 18 hours 12 minutes. Wakeman's previous record was 21 hours 2 minutes. In the test race in the Auckland Domain last Thursday for selecting a cycling representative for the Wellington and Christchurch- carnivals there were six competitors. A. J. Campbell did seven miles in 14min 17$8gc. He leaves on the 7th of December. The test was made under the auspices of the Auckland.Cycling Club.

Country. England Prance Denmftrk America Belgium Sermany Italy Austria Australia Africa Switzerland Kossia Spain Holland JJider. Mis Yds. J. \V. Stocks 31 548 T. Linton 30 197 A. A. Chase 23 1500 J.Michael 27 1690 J.Michael 27 493 J. Michael 26 1547 Fischer 26 752 - Haderer 26 544 W. Martin 26 3S0 ' Greathead 26 36 • Portier 25 938 . Purefeoff 24 1510 24 1396 Witterveen 24 827