CYCLING NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 11068, 21 October 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

CYCLING NOTES.

In an article entitled 'Some Continental Cyclists' in the ' Young Man,' Mr John Poster Fraser gives some interesting details' of cycling in foreign lands. France he finds more picturesque than England. He says that there is an amount of frolicsome romance introduced into wheeling there that we -don't understand, and at times, indeed, are rather shocked about. You have only to compare the cyclists you see in Hyde Park or Battersea Park with those you see on the Bois de Boulogne. The Parisian devotees of the wheel are the most picturesque riders in the world —barring, of course, the Shanghai Chinaman, who, with flowing pigtail, silken blue jackets, yellow satin trousers and shoes, tricked out with green and red bows, is both picturesque and quaint. THE GAIETY OP THE PARISIAN. In France lighter-built machines than ours are usually ridden. We affect tweed jackets ; our Gallic friends prefer jerseys, white, green, blue, claret-hued, and even striped with the tricolors. Then the Parisienne is a firm believer in the bifurcated garment. Somehow, English girls, who wear bright blouses when tennis playing, and have gorgeous flowers in their hats, always—if they are "rationally" inclined wear bloomers of dowdy snuff or dusty tint, and apparently endeavor to make themselves unprepossessing. The Parisian girl tries to make herself as pretty and as attractive in her bicycling garb as though she were going to a garden party. So the boulevards of Paris are gay with cyclists. Even the messenger boy with box containing "the latest thing in hats" swung behind his shoulder is attractive in his blue suit and gilt buttons, and, like his prototype in England, he dearly loves to go whizzing past a swaying, jolting four-wheeled cab, and impudently suggest to the fat driver that he shouldn't go to sleep. THE MILITARISM OP THE GERMAN. One of the delights of Continental cycling is the charming welcome you receive everywhere. You may not know the language, but instead of this causing confusion, it will only lead to a greater show of courtesy on the part of the people you meet. There are excellent cycling clubs in Germany. But the Teuton is a solid, serious rider compared with his Gallic neighbor. A club run is much like a military parade. The members are often in uniform, and on the highway ride four abreast. The captain is at the head, and shouts his commands like a brigadiergeneral. When a vehicle is being passed the cyclists form into twos or single file with quite a soldierlike alacrity. THE HOSPITALITY OF THE HUNGARIAN. Though the Germans are precise, staid, and dignified in their cycling, you begin to notice a difference in character as soon as you get amongst the Austrians. They have more gaiety of spirit. A German salutes you sternly; an Austrian smiles and passes a pleasantry. Then the Austrians have pretty courtesies which certainly appeal to the Britisher, if he is not too phlegmatic. When I was riding across Austria it was by no means an unusual thing to find that the daughters of the inn had been early astir, had gathered a poesy of flowers, and tied it to the handle-bars. The same good-hearted friendliness I met in Hungary. The Hungarians have good memories, and they remember that the English were their friends when they were struggling to cast off the Austrian yoke. So every Britisher who goes to Hungary on his bicycle will find warm welcomes from the Magyars. THE UNIVERSAL CYCLE. Russia is not a land to be recommended to the cyclist. But should the adventurous go so far, he will find the Russians bursting with hospitality. Though their roads are so bad, the Muscovites are as ardent cyclists as the Americans, and that is saying a good deal. In most towns there are cycling clubs, larger in numbers than you find in English towns of the same size, and there is generally a specially-built club pavilion with a track adjoining, where riders can train or race. The cycle is universal, and there is hardly a corner of the earth now where it has not been.

A serious cycling accident occurred in Thornhill square, Caledonian road, London, on August 30. A young man named Robert Bonner, of Goodinge road, stepped off the •pavement and was caught by a bicycle ridden at a fairly rapid pace by Arthur Home, of Holloway road. Both men were thrown violently to the ground, and when picked up were found to be unconscious. They were conveyed to the Royal Free Hospital. Bonner was found to have his nose broken, and several severe scalp wounds. Home,, at latest advices, was suffering from concussion and other injuries, and was in a dangerous state.