SPOKES.

New Zealand Mail, 3 December 1896, Page 72

SPOKES.

[By Silverspuk.]

The Exhibition Executive are now holding sports meetings with great frequency, and they attract good audiences. The Onemile Open Handicap on Wednesday night was won by O. Gardner from G. H. Goodall. The scratch man, A. C. Forbes, who comes from Palmerston North, was the victim of a fall. T. M. Lucy was only just beaten in the Three-mile Open Handicap by E. Fitzgerald, who was in receipt of only five yards, the time being 7.47. In the next event Gardner had a lap start, which was too much for the remainder, and he won with ridiculous ease. The four miles were cut out in 13.10 2-5. H. Peacock was second. Forbes started on a roadster, but, game as he was, he £ad no possible chance. In the One-mile OpSn E. Fitzgerald had a good race with L. T. Herbert, who got beaten. There was a good field of seven, and Hunt fell in the first lap. Gardner had a very easy win in the Three-mile Open Handicap. His start was too much for Goodall, who raced second. The last event was the Five-mile Open, in which C. W. Johnston had a lap and 107 yards. This was really the race of the night, Johnston getting home in 13.13 from E. Fitzgerald and F. Castle. Muir, Lucy and Herbert were the other starters.

Mr W. Poole, secretary of the Nelson A.A. and C.C., has received from Mr G. M. Mathieson, of the Masonic Hotel, Havelock, an oiler of two medals, one for the best and the other for the second best times made by cyclists in the ride from Nelson to Havelock. The only stipulation made by Mr Mathieson is that the competition is open to amateur riders only. Mr Mathieson offers to provide every facility for having the various times correctly taken, &c., and states that the road is in splendid condition just now.

The chain of a cycle may be a very dangerous article to meddle with, and the practice so often adopted of cleaning the chain by making the chain revolve rapidly and holding the rag or whatever it may be against the chain may lead to a serious accident by its catching on the chain and suddenly drawing the hand between the chain and the cogs. Some serious accidents have resulted from this simple cause. A curious accident recently befel a boy through getting his foot jambed in this way. He kicked with his bare feet at a passing cyclist, and his toe was caught by the chain and torn out, necessitating amputation of the foot.

Either Porta’s riding is not hold in very high esteem in West Australia or they have some splendid riders over on the goldfields, as Porta, who has beon fairly successful in the colony, is put on the 100yds mark in the Licensed Victuallers’ event at one meeting.

C. W. Bennett, of Australian cycling fame, is back from England, his birthplaco. He says he is sorry he ever visited the world’s retail shop again : “It’s the home of drizzle, dreariness and dirt; thank God for the Australian sunshine.” He saw the trio Megson, Payne and Lewis cycle themselves into public ridicule. The climate depressed them to death, says Bennett. “ One day when the sun by some strange caprice shone really warm, the three met Michael, the Welsh wonder, on the road ; and they gave Michael all he "wanted. But when it came to racing on the track they failed pitifully. I saw them and I prayed for the earth to open and swallow me. I couldn’t have imagined them showing with such utter feebleness. It’s the climate, the English climate; after Australia it’s a plagrie. “ Compared • with the circumstances of English cycling, our racing here is as pure a; a lily. The •i riders are above our men in social status, but the jobbery and trickery winked at upon the tracks would make the wickedist Australian cyclist tremble. The big monopolists who run pacing teams can make" this or that man win at pleasure. The pacing there is the art of cycling arts. A man well-paced is picked up by quad after quad without a jar, without a tremor, without a suggestion of variation in gait, and he is drawn along at a swiftly uniform pace which will almost pull him to victory in spite of himself. But.if they don’t want a man to win, they’ll pace him atrociously; they’ll slow down, they’ll jump away, they’ll rush in a sprint and leave him broken up and stone-blind with exertion. Given our men here fit and well, and the Englishmen fit and well, I think our fellows would come out of the contest with great credit.

A cyclist complains to a Nelson paper that on no less than three occasions lately has his bicycle been removed from the place where it was left by him, and he has had to proceed home on foot. Twice

the matter has been given into the hands of the police, who were able to return the machine, but were not successful in discovering by whom removal had been made. The practice seems to be that the bicycle is taken away, and someone has the benefit of a cheap ride, and then leaves the machine at a spot other than that it was removed from so as to avoid detection. There is a good deal of risk about these sort of pranks if the joker is discovered.

The Feilding Cycling Club’s lantern parade the other night was a successful affair. Some of the bicycles were finely' decorated. The principal streets were traversed by the paraders, headed by Mr Mingins, and the Feilding brass band performed in the Square, where the cyclists went through a number of evolutions.

The bicycle track in Moscow is one of the best in Europe, and one of the most modern things about the old Russian capital. It is situated on the plain of Hodinsky, where the recent great loss of life occurred. The track is less than three laps to the mile, all of cement, with steep banking at the turns, and a system of electric timing which, indifferently successful at Paris, works like a charm in Moscow. There are more than 4000 cyclists in the city and two large clubs. The developement of cycling in Russia is wonderful, considering that the roads are horrible —rutty, stony, hilly, and frequently covered with the miserable pave, that despair of European wheelmen.

Professor Rontgen, the discoverer of the X rays, is a cyclist.

Cycling has spread through the Venetian province with wonderful rapidity. The wide and smooth roads which exist in North Italy, and which are carefully maintained in a good condition at the expense of the State, are covered with cyclists.

The bookmaking element was pretty conspicuous at the last Sydney League’s meeting, and after the running of the third heat in the wheel race there were complaints on all sides of the absence of one “ book ” who had laid long odds concerning the winner’s chance. This is as it should be and is about the only way to stop betting.

A New Plymouth cyclist has been fined for wheeling a bicycle along a footpath.

Jimmy Michael, the Welsh wonder, is touring America, and a great trainer in the States, by name Dave Shafer, speaking of him says : —“ He is all they say of him, and more. Why, two such men as Michael would not make a man the size of Tom Cooper. He is a wonder. In that ride of his at Buffalo, when he did a mile in lmin 52sec, ho simply did not ride at all. On a strange wheel, and with an 88 gear, he sat up straight and called ‘ A little faster, please,’ all through the ride. Why, he never exerted a muscle all the time, and seemed as though just out for play. Johnson rode his half mile and worked hard all the time, but little Michael did not seem to make any effort in catching pace. When he dismounted, I asked him if it was easy, and he replied, Must a bit awkward on a new wheel, and the gear was a trifle small.’ And that lad was riding an SS gear and weighs ninety-eight pounds, yet looked as though he could stand a lmin 50sec clip for an hour. Mind you, he had not been on a wheel for two weeks at least.”

A relay ride of great magnitude has just been completed. The journey undertaken was across the American continent, from ocean to ocean, a distance of |OOO miles. The first relay of couriers started from San Francisco on the 25th August, amidst tho greatest enthusiasm on the part of the immense crowd assembled to see them oil' ; relays were arranged along the road, tho riders going by pairs. The task was ultimately successfully accomplished in 15 days 20 minutes, making an average of 13 miles an hour. Considering that the ride was over mountains and rocky roads, down narrow canyons and through suowsheds, along sandy plains and alkali deserts, and that sometimes the cyclists had to ride along the railway ties, whilst at other times the mountain slopes were so steep they could scarcely ride with safety, the rapidity with which the packet was delivered is simply astounding, and is justly exciting the attention of high military authorities as an important factor in warfare. Four hundred machines were used in the ride.

Judge: What’s the charge against this man? Court Officer 3210: Tho Suburban Cycling Squad brought him in, your Honour. He was found wandering in the outskirts. When asked what he was looking for he said sidewalks. Judge : Great Caesar ! Doesn’t ho know wo have no use for sidewalks during the last 20 years? Where’s his wheel? Officer: He has no wheel, your Honour. Judge: No wheel? What is he, anyway? Officer: Ho says he s a a pedestrian, your Honour. Judge: Put him in the padded cell until I can commit him.— Wheel.

It is said that five triplets will shortly arrive in Australia to pace J. W. Parsons. They are of French manufacture, and Parson’s own property. With such facilities the Victorian should have no difficulty in cutting existing Australian records to pieces.

A West Australian correspondent writes : Miss O’Meagher, a Menzies cycliste, thinks nothing of riding between that town and Coolgardie. Tho other day she covered the journey—a little over 90 miles—in about nine hours, and attended a ball in the evening.

A tandem bicycle can now be made from two ordinary machines whenever the riders so desire. There need be no more walking long, weary miles, carrying a broken wheel,

nor need the wheelman or woman who meets with any of the ordinary mishaps of the road despair. Nor will it be necessary for the sociably inclined to ride alone in future for lack of a tandem. An invention has just been perfected by means of which any good Samaritan of the road may attach his unfortunate brother’s wheel to his own, and all the world may ride tandem if it chooses. An attachment has been devised which enables you in a few minutes to make a tandem from any two bicycles, regardless of their make, height, or gear.

The apparatus which accomplishes so much is simple in the extreme. The lower part consists of a fork, with springs to connect the rear axle of the front bicycle with the bottom bracket of the rear bicycle. The front wheel can, if desired, be entirely removed from the rear bicycle. The upper part of the connection consists of two tubes, which telescope, and connect the saddle-post of the front bicycle -with the stem of the handle-bar of the rear bicvcle.

A bic3'de ambulance, which has just been invented in Chicago, has four wheels, and it takes two men to run it. The bed on which the person to be carried is placed is suspended on springs between the two riders. With pneumatic tyres and caie'ully adjusted springs, an injured person can be conveyed rapidly over ordinary pavements with little jar or danger. The weight of the ambulance is notgreatand two riders can propel it with all necessary speed.