CYCLING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11197, 20 August 1898, Page 7

CYCLING.

"■;. ' (B* DMION, IN TUB OTAGO WITNESS). ■'; -many days of vile weather there c'h&\'\q6'^e'.^Tfii^'SWurday and though the ■ 'roads "';t)i«bugV"-Gjeeii,: Island- and Caversham. ~ *a*e.HA^^b&^iiat;.-\i^uid state, further south vfche, surface: is.; good.; and fit for enjoyable fricling/v'ii^qser^W.'inders who went out at ■ $ev^eek:'ena'rep'3rt'ii pleasant spin. ■ has resigned his position pfj secretary and 'treasurer to the Winton 'Cycling;! Club.: The/resignation was accepted , ,with,'regret;'.arid a vote of thanks passed to "Mr BiW iot past services. It was also de-, , oided(ihat;h'e be made a life member of the j : :iP/'Mqpre : was appointed secretary j and. treasurer for' the ensuing period x>f the . 1 s"ea£bri'.•:•;..,' -; .......■'•■' -'. •■ ■ .'■>- ■—-.An interesting match between a cyclist aiid'a; pedestrian took place at the Brisbane •amateur,. race. meeting... The.. N.S.'W. crack, : Gharli,e J[jew,:met and defeated J- Button, a ] pedestrian, bf Bi-isbane, over 100 yards; The race was from a standing start, with the wind behind, New winning by two yards" in * , 9 3-ssec. ''.'. . ,'.,_{ The Irish Cyclist has been collecting ' figures as to the average number of punctures a cyclist may expect, and comes'to .the, con- I elusion, that under normal conditions , the | average is one puncture for every 2000 miles travelled, but, as. with all averages, the facts are spread, out on either side of this figure, < and some cyclists will not deriye ; much-Con- j solation from it. In two quoted caßesI'one ..rider has/ travelled -24,000 miles, or 13...times the average,.' withbiit a ' piincture,' _ while ( another has had' 93 punctures withity/the ; average mileage. The first batch of .the English N.C.U. championships were' decided at Norwich:, on Saturday,. June 25. The events down for decision-were the Five ; MileftJPr^fessiona.l. and I the Five v and Twenty-rive?; Miles Amateur i Cha'mp'iohshipg; :" Sleyers,'" 'the:: 'Dutch '"crack; cleverly Won' 'the; former, A." S.: Ingram, aO: counting for the* five miles. /.-:■' '< . .Amste.rdarn, ; on.,Ju'ne ,26,.M.^C0r,- [ dang,-•.decisively:.beat. ;the middle distance j crack, Bonhours, in a 100 kilometres ..paced i match, by about two.miles. '*~ ■"-■ ''; ". . [ —— The moitj unlucky man that'has, raced • in Scotland this year' is assuredly Ci Barden (says'the Cyclist). 'At Celtic Park on Saturday afternoon in his Heat1 of, the half-mile handicap he ,was "sent away too "s,pqn by his [ pusher-offj and had to.come back. No'sooner ; had he got rightly away ,agaiii: than his chain ; wheel went. .wrong, and Jie had-'.tp retire: , Again, in the final of the:mile, after getting > into a good position, a lap and a-half to go, j his cliain snapped, throwing him "out.of the ? race. The field was travelling fast at the time, and had Bnrden hot showed'the greatest coolness, more than half ; a dozeii riders might have been involved in a,, serious smash. ——The .figures in relation* to. ; the Grand Prix de Paris of last -y_ear have been pub-' lished* and are interesting! as' showing the steady growth in the attendance of paying spectators since the' year 1895,'';wheni: this animal meeting was inaugurated. The total receipts last j/ear were - 23,077f: the figures for 1896 were 21,338f; and for 1895 14,'22ff (a franc is 94d)..^This shows'ihat the: Parisian ! public, at any rate, are .not wavering in their allegiance to cycle racing,v and will always be. ready to pay where the sport provided, is of.'the best,' but' it miist iipt be secoild-rate. Is it hot, says an exchange, the came in England? .' .; ■ '.", ;■' .- ./: ■•'• '■'■'_" —-Chirm was showing.up so well early in the- season that it was not 'surprising .that: he V/onvat the English Championship dieeting., Not-only did he eeoure the mile', andten.;miles scratch races at ..Glasgow, but he ran a.good, second in the,,half-mil,e- handicap; to ViTatsori,: a local prp., .who ~had ■ 95y4s.,j."fl..he;,.'time,.- . sßsec, yritli'.avgai'e. blowing down' the ,track: being eloquent testimony to the form whioh; the 'Catford' rider was in. : <'-,' '■' ' ' 'de--feating Pontecchi,' Momo, and others. *' —— "Very fine racing was, recently witnessed at the Crystal Palace track, v ll!ngland, jn : the i contests for-; the-. ...Cup. (valued' at. ,300; guineas).. ; .;E. iR.,, Frost,:a; f,ormer;,winner, of; the, cup,, af.ter a, grand ride^; crossed tjie tape. first.in front of' A^ H.'Harri^ whose" name isl also" ddwn as a previous SviribEfeiV Frost only" requires to place another win to his credit to ' enable him to claim th(, v cup- as his -own : property. :. ''■ "■■■ ■' ' '■■ : Two magnificent performances on' the . road are reported by. the latest English files, ; which must,appea' to all lovers of cycling ': sport who are, always ready to give credit for' '. unassisted and unpaced record fittem.^ts, i which up_ to .the present time' have beeii so popular'in New Zealand.; ■ Tli'e first' was'ac- i cbmplished by A. A: Chase on1 May 3, when' .; ■•lie rode 5Q miles on theroad in 2hr-7min Bsec. ; The second'performance was.that of the ; Chase i brothers (A. A: and F.-.Wj) on-June 13, when ] riding-tandem, they-covered the game distance, on the same conditions, that is, unpaced and j unassisted, in 2hi 2min 20sec. .'. Needless to^ say, all .previous records wete ' eclipsed\by ] these meritorious.performances. ■ ','.'. ■' •'•' ' '," Gears that are above the average ; are , a fad among cyclists this year," says the ( Chicago' Despatch,. " and a fad likely to be well paid for. by the ridei who takes an old car-wheel and has it transformed jn to a cycle,' i* sprocket. No hobby has been, adopted by', , the irrepressible wheelman, so likely to render ' worthless all the possible iidvaiitages' accruing , from the exercise of riding a bicycle as that | j of putting gears from' 100 to s 120 on''their | machines. The theory.-that-ai long crank is ! _ advantageous- in reducing tl'R1 exertion: heces- j.' pnry to push a-wheel geared >up so high-that |' the rider's knees hit his, chin while propelling ; « tlie machine jsr.aljirighf; as far as.it goes. The j ' .trouble;is,-,,that it.--,qan,- nevei go. far.enough,: j • Ipr.the crank .sl^o.uld. be about, one yar'd.Jongi / t<7 .compensate^ for tlie Jiack breaking effort Ipi piißliing a gfeaf 6f 116; Against "a .heavy-■ « '"wind ifc'is 'qtiiteM6iit.of .the,'que3ti6h .U>-'pit's'h: ■{ one-'of, these"'abnoirnally-gea^ed cotitrivjlnbes^' i .more than-ii^ few-miles'without -sinking down' • in a.state of exhaustion. In fact, one or two > Sundays-; it has been extremely laughable to watch the high-geared young, men walking t .sadly along the . pavement, pushing, their < wheels by liand, when riders with a rational i gear were' able to make headway on the ] wheel. The fact that racing "men use high < gears orl the track is nbt an argumeht that a , young manr who is confined in an office six 5 days of-the week and rides the seventh ca.n ( use a similar gear for road riding. The gears t that .are employed on gome wheels this , spring are positively dangerous to health, s and there should be some commission^ em- j powered by law, to restrain tliese youngstors / before they become victims to their insatiable i desire to outstrip some other rider in the j / height of • gear. Abnormal gears mean an ! abnormal heart before ther season is over. I They mean that the rider at the end.of what . he thought was to be a. day's pleasant outing, ' returns home irritable, nervous, exJiausted ] completely.' The heart-action is. irregular, the mind tormented by a. feeling of uneasi- , ness, and a general sensation of weakness is ' apparent in the limbs and vital organs. { Cyclists . who, have. made a carefijl study of • what is good for them and what is not good, instead of increasing their gears have reduced c them. It is better that the legs' sliotild travel c around witlf tlie cranks of the maoliine a lev/ • " more times than that the constitution should ■ be irreparably run down by making demands • c upon the physical organs which • they' are 5 T wholly unable to meet. "The; bicycle will . { bring good healthr.to any person who uses it jt wisely, and j 11st as truly it will injure the ■ ( general system if i|;s-use is abused.. One per- \ tain method of abuse, is to employ a gear fi wholly put of. "proportion to the physical r strength of the person who is trying to 'push 1 ■' It is said tli.it the number of/menj;] engaged in the cycle industries in Germany ji-^ is 90,000 (ninety thousand).. :, . 1 A subscription was recently opened in . the columns of the Dublin Weekly Telegraph a for the purpose of rewarding an Irish .carman; j, who at great peril rescued a man from drown- j. me in the fliver Liffey. With the money .rcl- 0 lected it has been decided to present him wif n t j.' horse and car; and at the carman's request g the Fatter will be fitted with Dunlo P :tyres. : h Messrs Akers ar-d Clarke,; the .Jingusn c imateur tandem craob. who woh the Dane- p dlle six hours race, dfM :ded at Herne Hill (.11 £ Saturday, June 25, w'-e Dunlop tyros. Lesides winning the event with a score of 147 . miles b yards, tliey a!ao set up new tandem . ■ecords from 132 to ISO miles inclusive. Those who difoard mud guards fie- ' mentlv defend their sotion by claiming (hat the^B useful additions to a bicycle maka a ° material difference to the windage of the ma••liine A little thougnt, however, will shew j "

that there can be but very slight difference 111 the ease of propulsion of a guarded and a guardless niount. For it must be observed that the whole surface of the guards does not present an area against which the-wind st»'i»es.The greater part of the front mud guard is in the lee of the front wheel, and only the projecting edges offer additional resistance to the air. As to the rear mud guard it is so piotected by the rider's legs and the frame of the machine that practically it will not retard the machine at all. It has been estimated that mud guards "cause a retardation of about one yard in a hundred; so that one hundred miles would have to be covered before a difference of one mile would be made in the ride. Of course, the figure varies according to wind velocity and the rider's speed; but the retardation is evidently negligible. Moraovur, mud guards are very valuable in assisting to keep mud and dust out of the bearings, especially of the pedals. It is therefore doubtful whether the average road rider really gains anything by exposing himself ,to the unpleasant messes ■ which dispensing with mud guards involves. ■ ■ • At New York recently Titus defeated Tom Lintbn over a 15 miles course by 10 yards. Owing to a strong wind, it took the winner, 29min 18sec to negotiate the distance! Yet another victory is to be placed to the credit of Cordang. Following up his success against Huret, Cordang, ably paced by the famous Dunlop pacing teams, decisively beat Champion in a 50 kilometres match at Paris by 700 yards. - .- ■ v . .' .- —^.At Roubaix, in the 100 kilos race between Cordang andChampion.theiormer won easily by.25 laps. - The second event, the.Berlin Golden : Wheel Eaee, value £150, was secured by Bonhours. By cable from London, under date July 19, the Dunlop Tyre Company learn that the Amateur and Professional One-mile Championships of. England, the Blue riband events of English cycling, were run at Ashtoh grounds, Birmingham, on Saturday last, and resulted iri W. W. Chirm winning the professional, event and Edmonds the amateur mile. It was expected that the French crack sprinters now racing with success in England would have accounted for the much coveted professional championship, but Chirm, l.i&t year's winner, again proved his superiority over all comers, and the championship again remains in England. Edmonds, the amateur winner, is a new man, never lmying previously figured on the championship list. Racing men and all lovers of fast riding will be pleased to hear that a non-slipping racing tyre has been introduced by the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company. The tyre, which has been specially introduced for.grass r<<ick riders, has a non-slipping device of the 1 ion-Welch basket pattern design, which *s or.ly brought into action when the tyre is being ridden at an angle. The tread is quite smcioth, so that the non-slipping device only comes :nto play at tlj.e moment it is required—i.e., when turning -corners on- slippery tracks; ■ It is admirably suited if or grass tracks. '.-.'. Two Points of View.—Two lady .cyclists —an expert and a novice—were uiscus • sing the advantages of wheeling. "^.<>u know,, dear,," said the forinei', ~"»;. I feel.m-; dined for-a jittle'exerciseon a'fiiie afternoon, I have not to wait for a",horse to,be1 brought rotiti'd or ' else; go for a wallt: through1 -the streets. I just jump on;niy •machines! and; in three-quarters, of an hour ilam back: in.my fiat.7 . ";That's.: all very .vyelljior: 'you,"^,fe,plied the: novice, "but I ; just jump on my bioyqle and in three-quarters of a minute I am fiat on jny back!." •:-... —- Wheelmen are ever and always opposed to a on bicycles, to attacks on bicycles, arid to tacks under bicycles.1 ~ '.A' good test of valve leakage in a pneumatic tyre is to bring the wheel round till the valve' is at its highest point. Tneu allow the valve to dip into a wineglass-fli/ed with, water. ;Any leakage will be apparent im-r mediately, as you are testing at a very high pressure.. i . : . - - The'stun of £1851- 4s 8d was distributed in prize money in New South Wales during I the last facing season. ■■•■*'■■ ■■■•'• ■-..'' I