SPOKES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1191, 28 December 1894, Page 26

SPOKES.

By "Cyclometer."

Lucy,: Brand, Avery and L. T. Herbert are putting in plenty of work at the Basin Reserve, in view of the cycling eyeiits- at the Caledonian sports on New Year's Day. Muir has been conspicuous by his absence.

On Tuesday next bicycle races will be held from one end of the Colony to the other—at Auckland in the North, and at Inyercargill in the South. Cycling races will be prominent in the Caledonian Societies' sports at Wellington, Oamaru and Dunedin (three days—January 1,2 and 3), and there will- also be races at Christen inch, Dunsandle and Darfield.

The Auckland Amateur Athletic Association , have selected E. Reynolds and Surman to represent Auckland at the Championship Meeting at Napier, which takes place on the 22nd and 23rd of February. W. W. Pilkington will also be sent if he can do certain time tests which the committee have set him.

A deputation from the New South Wales Cyclists' Union recently waited on the Mayor of Sydney with reference to the by-law which has lately been enacted compelling cyclists to carry lights on the front and back of their machines. The Mayor promised that if one light was carried he would not enforce the by-law.

Cyclists and intending cyclists should read Mr Fear's advertisement at the head of this column. He asserts that the only breakage in the Raglans sold by him during the 1893-4 season was one spoke. Mr Fear has just landed another largo shipment of these popular cycles, which can be inspected at. his shop in Willis street. .

A local cyclist started out early on Sunday morning with the intention of spending his Christmas holidays in the Wairarapa. The gentle undulations of the Kaiwarra-Petone road, however, proved too much for his pneumatic, which collapsed just before reaching Petone, with a report which made the cyclist think someone Wcis shooting near at hand. He was soon disillusioned, and with a sorrowful countenance he retraced his steps to town, with the intention of making another start next day after his tyre had. been repaired, while his companion continued his journey.

It is estimated that there are close on 6000 cyclists in Toronto, and, owing to the rapidly increasing numbers, by-laws are being enacted with the view of regulating their speed. Cyclists will probably not be allowed to exceed a speed of ten miles an hour within a certain radius.

A good story is going the rounds about L. A. Simpson, the Parramatta rider. He was taking part in an argument as to whether the air in the pneumatic tyres of a bicycle would keep the machine afloat in the water, in which he maintained that it would. To clinch the matter the party adjourned to a stream, where Simpson, with the utmost confidence, pitched his machine into the water. One report states that he is still fishing for it, while another says he recovered it in about ten feet of water.

Cycling is extremely popular in America both as a pastime and as an important factor in business, but it has been left to Dr Hammond, of New York, to utilise the wheel as an agency for restoring the mental equilibrium of lunatics. In the first instance a female patient was taken in hand with the view of teaching her to maintain her balance on a bicycle, but her bites and her struggles proved, too much for the

r attendants "who were instructing her, and it ended —as is usually the case —in the woman having her own way. A male subject proved more tractable, and he now rides along gazing up into the heavens, until he in brought to things earthly by coming into contact, with an obstacle in the way. "'Cyclometer " has met riders in New Zealand whose eyes might well follow the direction of that lunatic's for all the use they make of them while riding. Whether Dr Hammond's experiment will prove a success remains to be seen. Zimmerman has abandoned his intention of visiting Australia, and has sailed for America. It is rumoured that he intends retiring from the track, and that, having lost his "extra large size " heart, he contemplates matrimony.

It is said that in Vermont, Ulster County, on the route between the Hudson River and Lake Mohonk, there is a hill down which it is impossible for cyclists to ride without pedalling. The road is a good one, and bicycles will run up the hill much easier than they will run down. The only solution is that there must be some strong magnetic attraction at the top of the hill.

. My notes last week were a chapter of accidents, and it would perhaps .have been better had the following recipe for an embrocation for -sprains, bruises, relaxed muscles, &c, been published with them : Beat up one raw egg, add to it 2oz of turpentine, a quarter of an oxmce of spirits of wine, a like quantity of spirits of camphor, and half a pint of vinegar. .

A " cycle cab " has been seen in London. It resembles a hansom, the owner sitting inside, while one servant in front and another behind work the wheels with their feet. <•'.'■• -