Cycling.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 80, 1 October 1898, Page 4 (Supplement)

Cycling.

j"JBy Dagonkt.] How will he Live?— An Austrian has engaged to ride on a bicycle around the world inside of two years, without money and without begging. How he i 8 to live is not stated, unless he depends on the police authorities for meals and lodging 1 . Take your Match-box. — Ladies, don't forget to provide yourselves with a few lucifers v/hen out on an afternoon spin. Darkness may fall when you are far from shops and fellow- cyclists, and the eagle eye of the law is ever on the cyclist whose light is conspicuous by its abseuce, A bicycle tea was given in England recently at a country-seat near Henley. According to a writer in the New York Sun, it was a very successful affair. _ The jrueßts all arrived upon bicycles artistically decorated with flowers. On the lawn larsre arches had been erected and twined with flowers. A company of young people, who had rehearsed for the occasion and were dressed in fancy costumes, mounted their wheels, and, to the accompaniment of music, executed intricate manoeuvres, wheeling in and out among the arches and going through graceful dance-figures. Thero was a. Maypole dance by the same bicyclists, and after that a Grretna Green race, in which the couple first covering ihe coarse, dismounting, exchanging rings, and returning to the starting - point received rings as prizes. Dozens of other tests of skill followed, among them a polo game, in which the girls played against the men, and came within an ace of winning. The programme ended with a processiou of the bicyclists and the awarding of prizes for the most beautiful wheel decorations, and then the guests attaoked the refreshments, whioii they had fairly earned. An experienced rider says that in his opinion hill climbing affords tbe best practical test of the qualities of a bicycle. Coasting contests, while showing up the bearings well, do not cover other vital parts. _ „ It has been established in the English and Scottish law courts that no constable has the slightest right on his side to upset a cyclist in order to obtain his name and address. Their power itnder the Act is to request the cyclist to dismount for that purpose, and it is optional with the wheelman to refuse to comply with the request. Th^ Scottish Cyclist trusts that cyclists will not abuse this right. During the last ten years the number of oycle factories in England has increased from 61 to over 700. It is said that W. Martin won £2000 in bets alone over his recent victory in his match with Elkea in America. The stakes were worth £700. An elastic steel chain has recently been patented. Each link is so shaped that its ordinary curved length straightens slightly under the stress induced by pedalling. On removing of diminishing the pull the links shorten again, resuming their original curvature. The inventor claims that the elasticity of his chain is sufficient to compensate for inequalities of the road and variations of foot pressure, and that in this way more constant driving force than usual is ensured.