THE WHEEL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1179, 5 October 1894, Page 27

THE WHEEL.

SPOKES, Ey “Cyclometer.” I have received instructions "from the Editor of the Mail to “cut down” my “ Spokes ” this week, on account of the iatge amount of space taken up by other news; In consequence of this I must be brief, and confine myself almost exclusively to local matters. The Wellington Cycling Club opened the season last Saturday afternoon, and a most enjoyable run took place from Lambton quay to Island Bay, where a 15 minutes’ halt was called. From thence the route continued round Evans Bay and Oriental B&y, terminating at Courtenay place. At the starting point, Martin’s Fountain, there were 30 cyclists present, including a few unattached wheelmen, and the number swelled to 40 before Island Bay was reached. The attendance would have been larger had not the Wellington v. Wairarapa football match at Petone tempted some of the wheelmen to that suburb. The run, which was under the direction of Mr Christie, the captain of the Club, attracted a great deal of attention from pedestrians as it passed through the City.

During the interval in the run on Saturday I observed Mr Chegwidden, the energetic secretary of the Club, busy enrolling intending members. At another time I shall have something to say about the advantages to be derived by wheelmen joining a cycling club.

The membership of the local Cycling Club now numbers 60, and I anticipate seeing it raised to 80 before the season closes. The programme of club runs and races will be issued during the course of next week, and as the Club have a large number of trophies to allot, I believe the coming season will be a very successful one.

The glorious weather on Sunday induced a large number of cyclists to take a run into the suburbs. The majority made for Porirua, the roads in that direction being in very good order. *:■

Have the local club allotted a trophy for fancy or —I may as well speak my thoughts —foolish riding ? During,the run on Saturday a few of the riders performed some exceedingly absurd antics while endeavouring to ride over newly-laid metal. This may be very satisfactory from the tyre manufacturers’ point of view, but cyclists who indulge in this practice have more money than sense. '■ ..'j ivWf'V-’T This being ’Frisccß'hMil week, the Mail goes to press on Wednesday evening, consequently I am unable'To say much about the entries for the various events on the programme of the Eight Hours Demonstration sports, which were advertised to close on the 3rd inst. The sports take place on the 10th, and the bicycle events will be run under the New Zealand Alliance rales.

Muir is training hard for the above events, and if he starts I fancy he can win the Eight Hours Demonstration Bicycle Handicap.

Brand and Herbert have secured more suitable mounts than they had last year, and if they enter I shall expect to see them close up in these events.

I understand the cup presented to the Wellington Cycling Club by the Quinton cycle makers has been allotted to the Club Twenty-mile Championship Road Race, and is to become the property of the member who wins this race twice in succession or three times at intervals.

By a collision between two cyclists in Sydney street on Tuesday afternoon a ridei named Whittaker had a thumb broken.

While the Wairarapa train was travelling between the Wellington and Te Aro stations on Tuesday night it ran over a bicycle which was lying on the track. The train was pulled up, when it was found that the machine had been smashed to atoms, but although a long search was made for the owner, no trace of one could be found. It is suggested that the owner had left his bicycle somewhere and that it had been placed where it was found, at the foot of Taranaki street Extension, by some practical jokers.

A few days ago I was shown by a local cyclist an ingenious contrivance for recording distances travelled by wheelmen. This handy little instrument was made from a cheap watch, and is very useful for touringpurposes. The main-spring of the watch is wound up in the ordinary manner, and one winding sufficed to register close upon 400 miles. The hands of the watch are retained, the only alteration being in. the escape wheel and the re-figuring of the face. The rider has tested it, and finds that it works veijy accurately.

Mr J. O. Shorland, of the Pioneer Bi- '• cycle Club, rode from Christchurch to Hurunui and back, a distance of 114 miles, on Saturday in 7h 47mm, lowering previous records by over an hour. Mr Shorland is a cousin of the English cycling champion for long distances, F. W. Shorland.

At the annual meeting of the Auckland Amateur Athletic and Cycle Club the Earl

of Glasgow was elected patron, and Mr Jas. Coates president.

The Parisian lady cyclists, who attire themselves as near as possible to the modern ballet girl’s “ dress” (for the want of a more suitable word), have been warned by the Prefect of Police that their costumes infringe the law against women wearing men’s clothes.

Messrs T; G. Allen and W.L. Sachtleben, the two American wheelmen who have recently crossed Asia on bicycles, are writing an account of their adventures, the fiist instalment appearing in the May number of the Century Magazine. The distance covered by them was 15,044 miles, and with them they carried a Kodak, with which over 2000 photographs were taken.