CYCLING NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 9879, 16 December 1895, Page 1

CYCLING NOTES.

■'■': FROMptfNEftlN TO. '. I •'.•,'•/■'-• '■!■■' OByVLoiHABiAS.] . ■ •-"■(-■.:■' j -Left JDuneclin.on November 18a$7.30p.'m; ! Next day leftlat 10 30aa.mri r beautiful mornf ing; r two miles fronj ) ;'Ri|mei ! «ton.rain in torrents'; regular '-deluge, i; ; the isfeiu, Arrived' a!b r .P<amwt6n, stippßßd to gebabatbaßd changWof clothing,, George 'Searbvto tbe*e>cuevwith asuitof hia*>lothesf -Spur bumble,-ser^an^.'^lJOife', 101b. > Imagine dOib inside elfl*b«B ion a: I6st> iman; * effect' very'' lojJnsfeittawie.bjf fchM peo|>ie t '; a pleasure t<> Ssay : LeitJPftfmeirßtpn at 3.15 P.id.» Oamanx/itbat evening at 7- f r uiad^'aitoj&tabei^thfc'tbad,|oo£- the wrong ;ffiri3iig^ "?T ibyj swbpiiiy. bia accent; pi»Ted- to be a " canny wee, Scot,",. and'-he- -infownep ; nie^fi;. Mwv .pipn ! d'ye m, "kenif|t had, r yp on vewairaucb'further, in-that (3irec> tv^'iySKwttd-^on;^ M ia quite-'aay en4hutaajtt»»nxiaUj«uatterßConiReeled wM f ; C<it' ihe»''hi faof, Hied me m a w"ay"tbt» made rife feel

thing WtbAßfiy.; drenchiß?! from 1 in?4t have' pfeglnted a' ihb'st' Woeibegdrie; appcarl:"i3^^Tno^ u far frotti afrenjoyable one, and Tny view*as *o , touring wiere a rapid eha'ngov I had always imagined that toui!ing on a bicycle was a < most perfect way in M:£ich; to [enjoy oneself; bjjt all ibis had vanished now. X had serious thoughts of taking the ba,ck to Dunedip ;, biit. being very, niuc^i afraid of the " barracking " I'Wonld if | gave np and reJurped, j. continued on)toTiinij-ii.. I arrived thereat 7.43 aud ijut'iipi at the Gfosvcn'br-i-a place; ** as every traveller kn'oWaj" that is fit Jbr a kib'g. There 1 1 met Martiii the b'aptsiirt'bf 'theiTitharn< good fellow, very popular, and a man who hi respected by- «vei-yone who, knows him. Theoydists very proud pf their* new track, and they :■ have every reason to be so. It is composed of nothing clay, a splendid materialfpr the purpose—nothing better, in my opinion. It makes a very fast surface, and it also has a. good appearance. Thi,s,clay can be Obtained ironi \yaimate only, and has special properties necessary • Riders can spurt Ch'ere, ihe tradk 1 having two straights, 24ft wide bn pne 7 ind 25ft on the otker,> so that thqy start eight tidcrs abreast; and give themjroon} at;that,, ifio ,yon wiU^ that racing, men have every inducement held out to, them to visit $ is,, track. ' The. hnsipess men have subscribed largely to the list, so there, should be np apprehension on that.Bpqre., Added",to, this comes' tlie, fact a"re* Worthy Of ''their atebi, ;and' I am "quite unturned to render a visit to their city a most eDJoyablo one. Allthetime I was in Timaru it was raining heavily, So I couldn't, do much in i the way pf Bight-seeing, i However'/ ,1 jonrneyed on to' Ghri»*chnrcb, I arriving withpnt,accident or injury on the; ,2lßt,ulb. '' ~ .;: >..,- ■ „: ';" \ I oalled on the Adams, Curtis peojle, and ; ' while there I had a good look at the new- i fangled pneumatic skates—and oumberapme-: looking affairs they,. are . tpp, 'putting one } strongly iu mind pf-the irons they use to: straighten a deformed leg. They are madej to strap to the leg'as far as the calf, sc that: [pressure may be brought to bear upon the! wheels from thb'cilf to the anHe. The; wheels are pneumatics, of course, and stand from 3in to 4in high, and are nearly-on the: same principle a$ a bicycle wheel. The; foot of the skate is bujlt the same aa an! I ordinary roller skate,-With, clamps, etc. L I think it will be a .very Ipng tiina beforqi these skates gain tie ascendancy over the, bike, if they ever do. Tbey may befast on: a prepared track, or fairly so on a flit road,( but for hill work, up or dOwn, give me thej ;up-to-date bike. ' ' Dates has formed his business into a company^—2,soo shares at £l, the management, of whichhe has seoored, I hear, at a salary of £250 per anuum and a Oiird of the; ishares. Of course Christchurch is the_ bicjclfe city of New Zealand. The number of people 'who ride in this city—" hosts of them, in fact; people of every class and employment, boys:and girls, women and men, going and coming, some on business, others on pleasure"—would surprise anyone. Almost everybody is mounted here, police and tele- [ graph boys included. And yet it is most "surprising to see the number of oldfashioned giggers that are in use. At every: i turn you' will come across them—from,, the' old high ordinary to' the out-of-date safely; bone-shaker—not in ones or twos, as you; would imagine, but iu dozen?. Verily, such a state of things in this great cycling centre is to bo wondered at. 1 caught the Penguin at Lyttelton, and left for Wellington on the arriving on Sunday, November 24. Wellington is rather backward as compared with the other places I have mentioned—that is, in regard to cycling. I heard of a rather stiff swindle in connection with a sale of bicycles in this city while I Was there; An auctioneer sold some ten or fifteen machines to different people in or around the place, the machines realising from £lO to £l2. They were hardly, a day on the road when they were sent to. dock for alterations and repairs. The material in the machines was as soft as butter, so you can easily imagine what kind of. a state they would be in. Bars and bracket* twisted ! and turned out of all shape, tyres split, chains broken, elc, etc.—in fact, I think it cost the buyer as much for repairs, or nearly so, as it would to buy a serviceable machine. This should warn all purchasers to keep away from the auction rooms when they want a good machine. . Wellington has one club boasting from thirty to forty members, among whom are some.old Dunedin riders. They hold raoonr light runs, which, I believe, are very sue-" cessful as regards attendance. The roads are not of the best, being very badly metalled, which canses a rather nasty sensation when riding over them., Of course these roads are principally in the city, The country roads are viry much better. The interesting-spotfrhere are not to be compared withvthose in .Dunedin;, nor, indeed, have. they half as many, the best ones being the Lower Hutt and round the rocks to Oriental Bay. The road to Napier is very good after yotf pass the Rimutakap, a most formidable range of mountains, of whieh I suppose you have all heard. The best way, I thiuk, is .tp.avpid this climb by taking the train for eight or nine miles, till you oome to the " good going " again. This, in ray opinion anyhow, is the most pleasant way, because j it is a long run; arid for that reason a person ' should riot exhaust himself. Hugh.. Inglis,); bur pld fribnd and townsmate, hblds.the' jnprippoly of the bicycle business in Wellington. J have no doubt that before. long cycling will become a very popular pastinie in" thb windy city of the North. , Before concluding, I would strongly advise anyone who has a couple of weeks to .Spare todpthe Christchurch trip. The roada are very good and the scenery magnificent, aiadj can assure you that anyone wishing a pleasant tour could not do better" "than "select the. above - mentioned route. . .:.,...■ ',■ At the .cycling .meeting, at Newcastle L <N.S/i?s)f on SaJtordaFi events resulted as follow: ; ; INTERCOLONIAL;HALF-MILE SCRATCH, iBACE.-f Zimmerman ij-tewis 2, Payne 3. Wcai easily by.; a dozen lengths. 'TiriieiTSriinllsec.' """"•'.'". Three-mile International Scratch Race'.-t Lewis 1, MegsPS"'& Chapman 3. Won comfortably. Jirae, tfrnm 41 IrSsop, Zimmerman did not start, as he was not feeling well. ■ * 5 At; "a $$4M comfntteß; the Otago Friday, it was date of the annual. sports meeting from the 29th. inst. to the 11th January/ 1596.,; This 0 Was deemed advisable .OT.wppuof.flf-jthe_ of some pf tfte riders\at other, and because cpujd to ;tije I .meefing«^hpßtcbhrc^, , o |Tje| M<fys ..effib rnn t^e. season waj ior.riex.fc P d lh' r diay. the' ,iw<ii IwS $$ w * ?™ , A m. %\^ Wb t irpoma,w ■s&s, «Wi M n W*J ;to reined. : , m femersp^fl rjmP***%riß% $&?&*& fty regret, JSjfllxyan was unanii mousey elected Tohja place, i j