SPOKES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1290, 19 November 1896, Page 27

SPOKES.

[By Sieverspur.] The Exhibition Executive have certainly struck oil with their track, as the large crowds at the initial meetings testify. Night racing is a novelty in Wellington, and so long- as it is properly managed, and the events got off to time, the public will continue to accord the gatherings their i patronage. The fourth sports meeting, | held on Saturday last, was a sociable little affair, much enjoyed by the public. The j Garrison Band greatly helps to knock monotony on the head, and puts a lot of spirit into the competitors. The officials j have settled down to their duty, and know j the value of getting the events off slick. Also, the gentleman who manipulates the massive speaking trumpet deserves a word of praise. One thing about these meetings is that they will give a great fillip to the sport, encourage riders to pay more attention to training, and induce others to join tlio local clubs and have a shot at the : prizes offered. Race riding would attain a j much higher standard of perfection in evory district if more inducement were

held out. Competition, and something to compete for, is a prime factor in the improvement of race riders.

There were more amateurs than cash men racing on Saturday night. Johnston, who won the first heat of the Exhibition Handicap (Alliance), and ran third in the final on Prince of Wales’ Birthday, annexed the three-mile roadster in the easiest possible fashion. As he had a lap and a hundred yards or so start this was not to be wondered at. Herbert followed him in. J. Young, who is the makings of a very .-rood rider, got home in the Three Mile Roadster (Union) and Two Mile Open events. He shaped very well on the holiday previously when lie scored a first and two seconds. E. N. Grove was only giving E. Castle syds in the One Mile Open, and beat him. Castle put him down in his heat all right ; but it is the final that scoops the money.

In connection with these Exhibition meetings, it might be well to observe that when the starters in heats are restricted in point of numbers, and all are eligible to start in the final, the committee ought to offer a special prize to the winners of those heats. Under existing conditions competitors don’t care how slow they go if they know they are bound to start in the final, and naturally wish to save themselves to some extent for that event. Were a prize of some kind offered it might lead to a sounder racing pace, the riders would have a plunge for the dividend, and the contests would be more interesting from a spectator’s point of view.

It is evidently the intention of Mr W. A. Thomson, the well-known,, local rider, to win all the chief road records this season. He has already possessed himself of three good ones, and in a few days he will try for the Wellington-Napier record, after which ho will go to Christchurch and endeavour to capture the 50-mile New Zealand road record. Mr Thomson’s list so far is :—Xelson-Foxhill and back, a distance of 44 miles, 2hr Timm 4Ssec, or 15mm 12sec better than the previous time -, Nelson-Picton, 100 miles, Shr, exactly two hours under the previous best time. His latest conquest was the record from Masterton to Featherston, a distance of 22 miles, in lhr Gmin. The previous time was lhr 20min. In all his riding on the road, Thomson uses an 8-1 gear, his mount being a Quadrant.

The name of O. F. Petersen appears in the great Austral wheel race handicap, with 210 yards. The limit is 320 yards. I do not know if this is the Napier rider, but I thought it quite within the bounds of possibility on reading the huge list when I f remembered that Petersen had expressed his intention of visiting the other side almost immediately. The Austral starters this year will likely be the largest number that has ever started in the world. The prize is ,£350. The meeting commences on November 28, and concludes on December 5.

F. B. Muir put up a smart local record on the Exhibition track on Saturday night, cutting down the time of F. Hunt, of Marton, for two miles (smin 1(5 2-ssec) to smiu 5 2-ssec. Brodie and Hunt paced him on a tc. idem, and A. 11. Hunt also assisted.

Cycling is gaining in popularity in Wellington judging from the number of both sexes one meets in the back streets mounting and dismounting, learner’s style, every few yards.

There were a great many accidents at the last Sydney League of Wheelman Meeting. According to one writer the list commenced in the first heat of the League Cup when W. Lyons fell and broke his collar-bone. In the Orient Plate six came to grief, and Middleton, whose left arm came in contact with the fence, was carried away on a stretcher. In another event four men toppled over without hurting themselves, and in the last race of the day nine competitors came down with a terrific crash, and Kuthgen was thrown clean over the fence, but, wonderful to relate, no bones were broken. The machines, however, were twisted about like thin wire. l'ho .smashes in at least two instances could bo traced to faulty steeling by inexperienced riders. Certainly stricter racing supervision than at present exists is necessary. It has been suggested that referees should be posted round the track perched on high stands built after the stylo of those used in lawn tennis competitions. At 100 yd intervals these officials would be able to keep a close eye on the riders, and careless compoti tors could be brought before (he Pacing Hoard without difficulty. The league took the precaution of insuring all the riders against accident, but this is small consolation for first-class men who are brought down through no fault of their own, whoso valuable machines are wrecked, and whose chances of success are shattered.

The big event at the above meeting was the rather long 25-mile race, which included Jc7 ( .) for lap winners. Per the first 15 miles it was a most exciting contest. As Mead- < ham, Middleton, Parsons, Lewis, McCombe [ and the rest swept into the straight, sprinting to the post, the interest could not have been better maintained, and left nothing to ' be desired. It was one series of flashes, hut during the second half McDonell and Body went to the front, and, by a system of I well-judged pacing, soon gotawav Irom the bunch, which had been reduced toa mu 12, went clean away, and finally overbear- - l,; '- remainder of the competitors. t» u ‘ nice then possessed the only interest * bat. came of an anticipated brilliant finish between the two leaders. The Annumm proved the better man, and, coming with those i wonderful sprints of his, won by a <:.■ uple . of lengths. It was expected that the I winner would ride a good race, but the eff forts of Body came as a surpr.so, and ho

richly deserved the <£24 lap prizes and the second money. The third place Ken Lewis (Victoria) filled, and he also came with a meritorious sprint. Another whose riding is well worthy of special mention is Chapman, who pocketed <£l3 for laps. Unfortunately the severe fall experienced by Walne, Middleon, Carpenter and Mclnnes robbed some of the interest from the event. Three, if not the four, were expected to have an excellent show.

The Victorian League recently had under consideration the qualification of W. Martin, for striking |A. B. McDonell at Adelaide. Martin wrote asking the league to take a lenient view of his case, lie ad-

mitted being, to a certain extent, in the wrong, but his life was endangered by McDouall's reckless riding, and the same thing happened in Sydney, lie had written to the South Australian League, apologising, and asking them to remit one month of the disqualification. The Racing Board recommended the,endorsement of the disqualification, and the report was adopted by the Council.

Megson, Lewis and Payne will arrive at Adelaide the first week in December.

The trustees of the Melb. exhibition track intend spending <£(3oo on it.

The American trade is evidently passing through a crisis similar to that which caused so many failures in 1893. Already over 300 firms have gone under, and it is expected that a good many more will follow. It has been a year of over-production on the other side of the Atlantic, and coining with a late opening for the riding season, and finishing with a Presidential election, credit has been simply ruined.

The track and grounds in Glasgow on which the International Cyclists’ Association championships are to bo held, next year are estimated to cost some £17,000.

Cycling schoolmaster (to pupil) What is a pedestrian, Johnny Jones ? Johnny Jones : A feller wot makes a row when he is knocked down by a bicyclist, sir.

It will interest cyclists to learn, on the authority of M. Bouny, who recently presented a memoir to the Paris Academy of Science on the measurement of the work expended in driving a bicycle, that to double the velocity required triple work and more. He measured the work done by a pedal of special construction, containing two dynamometers, arranged so as to register the force exerted in two directions at right angles to each other, and also so as to take into account the effect produced by the deviations of the pedal from the horizontal plane.

Walking over Niagara Falls on a wire being a dead sensation, a young man has decided to do something more exciting and hazardous. A wire is to be strotened from shore to shore, and he proposes to cross it on a bicycle. As even this might not bo dangerous enough, the cyclist lias determined to undertake the journey at midnight, and the wire is to be illuminated by electricity. The man will wear on his head a circle of incandescent flames, to light which the current will be made to pass by means of the steel wheels and a wire to the lamps. —Next, please !

The Wairarapa Cash Cycling Club holds a'five-milo road ivtco, from Masterton to the Waingawa river and back on the 26th insfc.

The principal event to he decided at the Christchurch Cycling Club’s meeting on December 10th will be endowed with ASO.

It speaks well for the growing usefulness of the military cyclist that in the reports of both the French and the German army manceuvres special stress is laid on the admirable work done by the cyclists. 1 n the French operations the cyclists division was wholly mounted on the folding bicycle, invented by Captain Gerard, which is reported to have come through a trying ordeal with the greatest success. It is said that wh- — the men came to any obstruction tha., necessitated a dismount they only took fifty seconds to fold their machines and carry them on their backs over the obstacle, while the unsliugiiig, unfolding, and remounting of the machine on the other side was accomplished in another forty seconds. r J his would seem to indicate that Captain Gerard was not quite such a fool about his invention as some people professed to believe.

A shipment of single-speed bicycles _ made by the well-known gunmakers I. Itolbs and yon, lias been imported by the Collier Cycle Company, who are solo agents lor New Aealand. The .shipment comprises light and l ull roadsters and ladies’ bicycles, and superiority of finish they are hard to beat. The prices asked are exceedingly low, the reason being, it is understood, that the directors of the Company wish to get a few placed on the market, and arc thus offering the fiist shipment at a low figure. Intending 1)u 3 e 1 s mity inspect the shipment at the Collier Cycle Company’s business place, *3S, .LainbuOn fpiuy.