CYCLING. WHEEL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1838, 11 February 1887, Page 27

CYCLING. WHEEL NOTES.

By Demon.

There is some talk of getting up a 50-mile roadster handicap on the Oval next month.

The Invercargill Cycling Club held an evening spurts meeting on February 3. The bicycle handicap was won by J. G. Petrie, T. Brown seoond, F. H. King third. The distanoes were one, three, and five miles. The times were slow. Two machines collided in the first race, and one of the riders (J. Wilson) got such a severe shaking that he was unable to compete in the other events.

At a recent meeting of the Society of Cyclists Dr B W. Richardson read a paper on the necesB »'y of providing the police with tricycles. The teamed doctor's remarks on the subject were to the point. He showed plainly the advantage that might be gained by the use of the threewheeler, especially in country districts. There are not many horses and carts which could leave a couple of athletio yonng constables, mounted on a tandem, very far ; added to which a well-kept trioycle makes no noise— another important fact whioh should not be overlooked. A proposition is on foot.to present to the Rev. Henry .Hooper, vicar of Ripley, Snrrey, with a communion-table cover for his church, as some Blight tribute, to him in recognition of his nberal-minded action in holding. special services *"* the cycling visitors at the famous village on bunday afternoons. Quite a number of well-known Liverpool nders are talking of discarding the ordinary "'gh bicycle next year, and going in for the new safeties, of which there are now SUch a varied selection in the market. The speed that can be got out of these safeties on thfi road is really marvellous, combined as it is w Hh perfect safety and freedom of steering, J^d it does not require a prophet to foretell that in tne course of a few years from now the ordiuary bicycle will be ridden only by a few. I am not altogether sorry (writes a Home contributor) to see that a movement is on foot w check the system of holding races on the roads, a system which sooner or later must bring °s into conflict with the powers that be. The matter J6 entirety in" the hands of the executive,

road racing, and the thing, is, done. ', Unfortunately they have to choose between two evils — to couuteuauce an illegal proceeding,' and thus save cyclittts generally from being imposed upon by advertised bogus performances by certain firms who do not stick at trifles (vide the Berrkigtt buiiineMi), or refuse to bf. connected, in any Hhape or form with road racing. Of the,' two, I don't know which is the worse. , In future no prize of a higher value than £5 5s is to be given for any open race held under N.C.U. rules, Mr M'Oamlliah having only just succeeded in carrying his proposal to this effect This will fall mo&t heavily on suoh olubs as the Surrey, who have always given the. mew t valur able priaes competed for in the London district. A good story comes from' Liverpool. Au old cyclist, who rejoiced in the possession of a very fine and large gold medal, which' h» constantly wore, went for a.tour this summer, accompanied by a friend who also wore a similar trophy of his prowess. While refreshing at a little wayside " pub " two country louts came in, and one noticing the medals aforesaid observed to his companion, "Eb, Jack, these -man be grand syclin' chaps; look at th' goiild medals," and subsequently approaching the first-mentioned cyclist, asked him : " Measter, what did tha- get that theer medal for ? " Our friend, who ipretends to be a bit of a wag in his way, replied as follows, while the yokel stared amazed as he listened to the narration : " Well," he said, " you ccc it was in this way. We were once touring on our machines in Russia, aud we came to a river which had no bridge across it, and an army of horse soldiers were there who wanted to get to the other side, and they were ' just at their wits' end to know how to do it, So, my friend and I, we assisted them. That's all, aud we got the medals for doing, it." " But what did you do," asked the perplexed yokel, as he scratched his head. " Why," said the cyclist, ♦♦ my friend theie\ threw the men across, aud I threw their horhes after them." Another batch of ° passed " records has just been published by the Records Committee. These inolude Furuivall's mile m 2min 32 2-ssec, Allard's quarter (tricycle) in 43aec, Gatehouse's mile (tricycle) in 2min 46 4-ssec, Osmond aud Williams's two miles ( tandem J in smin 47 2-saec, aud Byd ney Lee's 50 miles (tricycle, on the road) in 3h lOtnin 15sec. The American trick riders were having a cold time of it when the mail left, as Ah Sing, the Chinaman, who was to turn up in England, does a number of unheard-of tricks, inclusive of riding one wheel across a wire. A portrait of fh« Celestial cycler appears in the Wheel World,

l'uos. Stevens, American cyclist, who is making a tour of the world on his wheel, arrived in 'Frisco from China by a steamer on January 8. He confesses that he could have done the Flowery Kingdom better without his bicycle than with it.

ladies' dbess fob cycling.

" What shall the ladies wear?" in the title of an article which appeared uot long ago in the L.A.W. Bulletin, an American . oousin of the C.T.C. Gazette. Englishwomen will be interested in seeing the views of their Transatlantic sisters on this important subject, The writer, after recommending the use of the League cloth, a sort of pepper and 6alt grey, goes on to say, "After considerable riding in various dresses, I have had a League habit made, which suits me exactly. Fint, I gave my husband's coat to the dressmaker, and asked her to copy it exactly, except to make 'it follow the outlines bf the figure a little more closely. The matter of the jacket was thus easily settled; In making the dress I insisted on having it all as fiat as possible, so that no drapery could catch in the wheels. The waist (Transatlantic for bodice) is a plain French waist ; it is turned away at the neck with little lapels and a rolling collar, finished with two rows of stiching. A white linen chemisette and a white tie* relieve the plainness of the costume. . . * . I find a little watch-pocket set in on the left side of the waist a great convenience. . The sleeves are closed at the wrist with three buttons and bur.tou-holes, and are finished with 'two rows of stitching. A narrow box-plaitiug is set on to the~ bottom of the skirt, the drapery is long and plain, aud falls over this in a wide Hem headed by six rows of stitching. It is left sufficiently loose on the lining to allow three folds across the front, the top one about two fingers from the waistline ; these are laid and stitched at the side, and fall into place across the front. In the back the drapery is looped high, as in any cloth overskirt. At the left of the front the drapery buttons its entire length from the left on' to the right in the. shape of an overlapping panel. A belt of the same, edged with two rows of stitching,' completes the habit. The skirt buttons' on tojttie waist under the belt. Care should be taken that the waist and sleeves are loose enough 1 to allow free movement. The" skirt is of ordinary fullness and length. If made longer in' the back .it is likely to oaten between thefeef and.' the pedals in mounting, but if extra length is desired a draw-string can be arranged under; the drapery in the back, and the skirt can be drawn up for walking. A flat shade hat is necessary for riding in the sun. This may be tied down with lawn strings, otherwise it interferes with the rear rider's view (tandem, of course). A Tarn O'Shanter >a also pretty with such a suit. This costume will be found in every respect easy and suitable for riding, and off the wheel it does not look unlike any travelling or street dress."— j Violbt Lobne, in Bicycling News.

THE WHEEL IN SOUTH AFBICA. ,

It is significant of the vitality of cycling that, although the pastime is of such comparatively recent origin, there is hardly any quarter of the globe where it is, now unknown. Ardent English riders have • migrated to Australia, South America, .the United States, . Canada, India, China, and South Africa ; and wherever they have Bottled cycling has had a vigorous growth, notwithstanding the fact that in most of those places the riders have been heavjly handicapped by bad roads, lack of roads, and the natural physical difficulties of sthe countryEverywhere, however,' the same, spirit seems to j prevail among the knights of the. wheel to over* come these difficulties, and to emulate the feats' performed by. riders in the Old "Country * t and unconsciously cyclists are giving.a better knowledge of many parts of the world than previously existed.^ One of the latest places from which cycling information comes is the Cape of Good Hope; and the following will give some idea of the progress which is being made :• — A few years ago one or two prominent . London riders went to Cape Colony, and in 1880 a club was formed in Cape Town. In 1882 this club bad 50 members, and there was another club at Port Elizabeth. With regard to this latter club, it was then reported that there, were but -12 miles of available road. Since that time, however, the roads appear to have improved ; or, what 18 more probable, cyclists have got used to rough riding, and have overcome the difficulties of the road, for, from accounts recently to hand, it appears that two cyclists from Port Elizabeth have ridden from that place to Cape ,Town, a distance of 600 miles, which they covered in 18 days and 12 hours. This feat Appears to have

J. F. Marshall and Bioen, of the Cape Civil Service, recently started out to ride the journey from that' place to Port Elizabeth, and succeeded m thoroughly eclipsing the previous journey by riding the distance .in 11 days 13 hours. From alt accounts this would appear to be a somewhat trimilar journey to that from Sydney to Melbourne, as it is described to be over tauge after range of hi eh mountains; over roads which even oxen at times have difficulty in travelling ; accompanied by intense , heat, want of water, bad accommodation, having to walk over miles of sand and rocks, and some* times fording rivers. There appears, however, to have been much to compensate for the hardships, for the .travellers tell as that the qoenery is very grand ; that the forest extends hundreds of miles, in which may be found wild elephants, leopards, baboons, and various other wild