CYCLING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10731, 20 February 1897, Page 7

CYCLING.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Bicycle.-I do not know of any old-fashioned bone-shaker for sale in Duuedin. The onlymachine of that description that I know of is the original bone-shaker," the first machine manufactured in Dunedin. The machine is in the ppssession of Mr W. Melville, of Geoige ■ street, and is not for sale. There area number of machines of the old "ordinary" type ia Dunedin, and if you cars to purchase one a small sum indeed will put you in possession of a machine of this description. A small twowheeled safety, with solid tyres and* ball bearings, can also be picked ud cheap-

(By Demon, in the Otago Witness.)

—— It will be remembered by my readers that, commenting on ths riding of our representatives at the Pioneer Club meeting at Christchurch. on Boxing Day, I made some laudatory remarksontheriding of G. A. Maxwell, and went as far as to say that under certain conditions Maxwell would have about won the big race, iv which the crack riders of Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedm, and Wellington were MaxweU * ridiug in Dunedin since the Pioneer meeting nas strengthened my opinion, and his winm the Two-mile Championship of Otago on baturday afternoon puts it beyond a donbt that he is one or,the finest riders in New Zealand. He rode, a well-judged race all throngh, and when rounding the last corner he was seen fco make his' effort. Although there waa a triendliuess towards Hall and Shorland, the visitors, who were leading,, hardly a person on the ground failed to feel a thrill of excitement and a_ desire to if possible shout our young ohampion home to victory. The struggle for places was one. of the finest I have seen on a racing track, and when the numbers went up and Maxwell was proclaimed the champion, a round of cheering showed ths pleasure of .the crowd and the popularity of the rider Coming from a rider of Mr Shorland's experience and power, the remarks made ou Maxwell's riding are in excellent taste and of some weight. Or Roberts, m speaking at the smoke concert of mJVJ! 1*111? °omP<-t,itors, expressed an opinion tnat the wind had in a measure interfered with bhorlands success, and that rider in reply said n°^ bUme the wind. and.acknowledged that he had that day been beaten, and by » better rider He expressed a hope that the Dunedin Club would endeavour to send Maxwell up 4»; Wellington, as he would worthily represent the olub at the championship meeting, and he himself wanted to have another opportubity of meeting the champion in a race, There can be no doubt that Shorland was at a disadvantage in that he was riding a very high gear—lo4—against a strong wind, but he expressed a aoubt of his winning the champion-ship-even had he been mounted en a lowergeared machine. If these two riders meet afc the championship meeting on the 24fch and 27ch ot this month tbe struggle for the supremacy, will be worth a pilgrimage to see. While every sympathy goes but to Fulton in the serious accident that he met with in the Second-class Mile Race, there can be no doubt that he was not fit to ride ih a ra6e and should not have been on the track among a cr&wd of riders. He is a rider of only a few weeks' experience, and was not at all afc home in rounding the corners at a fast pace. The corner at which ne fell is a most dangerous one in a high wind, and the Caledonian ground executive might seriously consider the advisability of improving it ro some way. I was pleased to see Sulton/about during the week, and, beyond being severely bruised and cut about the head and hands, not seriously injured. I wish him a speedy recovery to perfect health and a better fortune in future races he may essay to start

Tha* the whole conduct of the meeting ou baturday was of excellent character there tiau be no two opinions, and the officials may congratulate themselves on their efforts to please fche public by putting forth an attractive programme and keeping the. ball rolling all the afternoon so that the interest in the racing should-not flag. The officials of the day were seen to advantage and carried out their duties in a business manner, but we must nofc lose sight of those who have had for the last few weeks the taßk of working up the meeting, and 1 know trom a past experience that the successful issue of a race meeting depends upon a never-flagging wotking up on the part of a small number of workers. To Messrs G Moodie, R. Crow, and A. Sullivan, the secretaries and the treasurer respectively of the meeting, is due more than a passing word of praise, and 1 hope thafc their satisfaction is ou a par with the success of the meeting. v Z — L? Sb i S-. aturd*y evening Mr R. Crow, who had .worked \ix an energetic manner for the success of Dunedin Cycling Club, was presented with a set of gold studs and sleevelinks as a mark of appreciation"of the many excellent servises rendered by him to the club. n,~7T The date ot the Nort!l otago Cycling Club 8 race meeting has been altered from the 4th of March, to the llth.

„777T Moore,..who was injured afc the D.C.C. sports last Saturday, is progressing favourably towards a recovery, and beyond a slight stiffness, E. R. Godward, who also fell at the meeting,'ls "is well as ever.' —-— r regret to bear that Mr J. Munro. the popular captain of the Ofcago Cycling Olub has made up his mind to leave Dunedin ' He intends to try his fortune in Western Australia, leaving Dunedin some* time in March He has taken a large amount of interest in cyclihg m-Dunedin, and will take away with him the good wishes of the members of the Otago and Dunedin Clubs.

n"T~ oi I a"t,f lPated that the Dunedin Cyclmg Club will benefit to the extent of about ±.60 over last Saturday's race meeting •—-From what I can learn, G. A.* Maxwell will not be. a competitor at the championship meeting at Wellington on the 24th and 27th mst. ; . * *

NT" 1 ™ tn^} road raoe of the Dunedin 27thTn g st :' for Saturday week, the

..* Thf re I 8 at present a serious difficulty in the way of getting the Portobello road open to oyfl"4* »* »-.reduoed rate. The condition npon which the Portobello Road Board will open the road to cyclists at a reduced rate is that the cyclists put up fences at different parts of the road where necessary. It ig estimated that the cost ot such fencing would be aboufc £200, and the officials of the Dunedin Cycling Club intend to confer with the Otago Cycling Club before a reply will be sent to the road board: It is stated that there is a probability of * race meeting being held in Dunedin at Easter. ,

„ ~T £e committee of the Duuedin'Amateur Ground Company have, I understand, written to the Duneum Cycling Club asking that body to appoint a small committee to meet the Ground Company and talk over the ways and paeans of putting the Carisbrook track in an improved condition for cycle racing. •—-The'Roxburgh Cycling Club hold a sports meeting on March 4. There are nine events on the program.me-Half-mile Dash X' CaiS'. C£ b ?* cc (°ne «!'e a-half), Wilt pft^"** Tl>ree.mile Handicap 350 yds Flat Handicap. Two-mile Goldfields Handicap, Half-mile Flat Handicap, Five-mile Handicap, One-mile Consolation' Handicapand entries close on Saturday, 20th insfc. —- Two teachers in one of our town schools have been touring the colony during the recent vacation and neither has returned to work yet Cause.: "Bikes." In granting them leave of absence some members of-.the board indulged in a little mild sarcasm. Ib one case the absentee rnetwithan accident through losing control of EH! wl : 6: I nJ he other ifc is surmised that the bike proved the stronger. It looks all very mcc and roseate to meditate op a five weeks' scorch through the country, bufc some-recent local experiences prove thafc there is all the difference possible between an afternoon's spin aud a day-to-day grmd.-Southland Times. ——• J. W. Jones, Ohristchnrch, haS succeeded m lowering the five-mile bicycle record from 11mm 45sec to llmin7sec and the 10-mile from 23mm 31sec to 22min 263*5 sec. He was paced by a triplet and a quadruplet After last winter' Porta went up to Queensland, getting a good round sum for expenses, and winniog £26 in races. Then he slipped away tp West Australia, all by himself, and the first day he raced in Coolgardie his prizes were HOsovs. The next best day he hud was at Fremantle, when four firsts brought him £125. Sundry other "jobs "in the west, such as making new West Australian records, enabled the Italian to pile up 442sovs, and this does not count the nice little "nuggets" he was given aa retainers for putting iv odd weeks here and I there—time he had no use for Anywhere, a? it i was off season aU over the east. The day after ■- Porta got back to Melbourne' he captured the | five-mi c race at St. Kilda, and on January 1 he romped away with the £50 Brassey Stakes ar.d ' the 10-mile International Scratch Race. Now ! he has blossomed into ,a champion.—A ustralasian.

-— At a meeting ofthe New Zealand Csciisfcs Alliance Mr J. C. Cusack was appointed "official representative to the Wellington Cycle Club's meeting. A letter was read from Mr T. S Konaldson, who acted a's referee in the race'ruii on the Exhibition track, Wellington, complaining of the conduct of C. Simpson ih not leaving the track when ordered to do so,' a-s he had been overlapped. He disqualified Simpson, with tbe result thafc the other riders would not ride in the subsequent races. It was decided to uphold the referee's decision, and to express regret thafc the other competitors had not sent a protest to the alliance if they felt they had a grievance. AJ member of the French Chamber of Deputies has drafted * bill for creating 25 companies of military cyclists, each company having 200 members.

Not long since a lieutenant in tha Guards was out on his bicycle at Hendon, when he saw a passing horseman, whom he knew to be a recent deserter. The recognition was mutual, and the horseman put spurs to his mount and fled. Not to be denied, the lieutenant also put on the pace, and after a long chase through Hendon, Neagden, and Cricklewood he ran his man to earth afc Harlesden, where be hauded him over to ft policeman,

- — The Egyptians are takiug up cycle racing m dend earoest. A recent Sunday meeting at the Union Vclocipedique of Cairo brought to the poat Omar Cherif, Ahmed Abdel Aziz, and Abdel Kamel, all true descendants of Potiphar and Rameses. An American paper also chronicles the winning of an Omaha road race by one Lone Wolf, a Sioux youth; while who in Melbourne, does not remember the exploits of Ah Geap, tho Chow champion. For the honour oE Australia it is to be hoped that an aboriginal champion will soon come to the front. King Billy on a bike, with his copper name-plate where cyclists wear their numbers, would be a sight for the Rods.—Sportsman. New York has 21,000 members in the Lsague of American Wheelmen, 17,000 of whom have joined within the lasfc couple of years. Michael and the party he h%s been with had broken 119 American and 25 world's records up to November 24. The speedy little Welghman was responsible for fche majority of them.

Hale, the winner of the six days' competition at. New York, has been makiug records and winning races for 13 years. . Tbe Cyclist gives the following particulars of one of the most remarkable cycling feats on record which was recently achieved by the little Welsh wonder, James Michael :— "At the Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee, United States, America, • 2lßt j-Novcmber, Michael, further increased the mileage of the American hour record, covering 29. miles 1283 yards. His ride is certaiuly the most remarkable of any undertaken, and speaks volumes for his pluck and .determination. It was l&te in fche afternoon when ho started—the dusk of the evening had already begun to cast its shadows round. It grew darker and darker, and when it became necessary to have some light turned on it was then discovered thafc the: electric current could nofc ba turned on until 6.30. A predicament light must be' provided or the ride abandoned. Finally, several lights that fringe the building were turned on, bufc proved worse than none, as' tbey cast shadows of the posts dii to the track. .The best had been provided for the time being, and Michael continued; his ride iii circumstances that would have made less courageous riders give up in fear. Miles in Imin sSf.sec, Imin 57 3*s3ec, up to 2min s|sec, were reeled off, the average being 2min l-|sec, and, notwithstanding the serious obstacle referred to, the staunch little fellow added 1 mile 1353 yds to his previous record, made at Manhattan Beach, New York. Five triplets and two tandems were used in the pacing, larger machines being abandoned on account of-dark-ness at the turns. Michael's times for the ride by miles are as follow 3•— Times. Times Miles. Mm. ' Sec. Miles. Miu. Sec 1 ... 1 562-5 16 ... 32 30 | I ... 3 51 17 ... 34 .14 •j - 5 .56 . 18 ... 38 16 i ~ I 56 10 - 38 18 3-5 5 — 9 5-> E0 ... 40 "1 6 ... 11 55 21 ... 42 or I - » |5 22 ... 44 22 8 ... 15 5y 23 ... 46.. 2325 ,2 — I? 57 24 .., 43 24 10 ... 19 571-5 25 ... 50* SOll ... 22 0' 26 "..." 52' 31 ■I. 2 - 24 2 27 ~, 54 3*2 }f - 26 ,3 28 ... 56 352-5 " - 2S 5 29 ... 58 36 15 ... 30 61-5 . ' One hour : 29 miles 1283 yards. Michael rides a World wheel, fitted with Morgan and Wright tyres,, and a Simpson chain." lorn Liuton's 31, miles record on the Catford track might have been in daiiger bufc for the disadvantages under which Michael laboured. —— One of the sensations in Ireland iately was the visit of Baby Bliss to Belfast and Dublin. Tbe ponderous American gentleman, who scales 35st 121b, attracted a big crowd to follow at his heels whenever he walked abroad. .Vhen he rode through the streets on his light safety the public were thunderstruck, and regarded the quaint sight with awe and wonder.

— - It has been computed that the cyclists of America reach the eoormous total of 4,000,000. Chicago itself, which ia never behind in the patter oE appropriating big slices, lays claim to of this far-spreading crowd. No wonder it is being affirmed on every side that cyclists are getting a power in the land ! This explains how a proposed member tor one of the constituencies in the States got defeated by a, big majority—the only one of his party to . get the "chuck." Ho was foolish enough to proclaim his antipathy to the " good roads" movement, so the cyclists saw he should have no voice in the matter. '

..— ~ 0a winning the six days' race in Madison square Garden, New York, Hale was offered £50 a week for exhibition riding. His manager snapped the offer. Hale himself waß incapable of understanding anything at the time. .'..-"..

—— The posfcal authorities in Berlin are making an extensive trial with: carrier tricyples for the delivery of letters and parcels. It is probable that these machines will be very largely used should the experiments turn out satisfactorily.

—— At Johannesburg a cyclihg carnival wai recently held which resulted in a sum of £1200' being handed to the local hospital. _ An Adelaide cablegram states that the League of Wheelmen's International Scratch Mile Kace resulted as follows :—Porta 1, Relph 2, Megeon -3. Won by three lengths in 2miu Martin retired. Lesna did an exhibition 10 miles in 20min 7sec.