NOTES BY DEMON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2008, 18 August 1892, Page 32

NOTES BY DEMON.

The annual meeting of the Dunedin Cycling Club, held last Saturday evening, was well attended, there being some 40 members present. From a glaqce round the room it could be seen that for a time the ranks were divided, and there was every indication of the promise of spirited competition for office. The adaption of the report and balance sheet went very harmoniously, all present agreeing that the work of the year was most satisfactory, and deserving of compliment from the members present. The report, a copy of which appeared in this column last week, is indeed satisfactory, and, if anything, the balance sheet, which shows a credit balance of L 45 lls sd, and assets to the yalue of L 73 lls 5.d, is an improvement on the report, and is one in which the committee must have felt a vast amount of pleasure in laying before members.

The club paid a well-deserved sompliment to Dr Jeffcoat in unanimously electing him to the position of president, and showed wisdom in the choice of their vice-presidents. These latter are gentlemen who take more than a passing interest in athletics, and their support Should go a long way to advance the present good position of the club. The competition for office in what I might term the " working department " of the club— namely, the positions of captain, deputy-captain, secretary, treasurer, and committee — was in the former and the latter case most keen, and the result of the infusion of new blood into the ranks of the workers will be watched with interest. The principal officers are all enthusiasts, who I understand are determined to make things hum this season, and with the working committee they have at their back, there is no reason why they should not be able at the end of the present season to place before the club a statement of affairs as creditable to them as was the report and balance sheet just submitted alike creditable to the officers of 189192. The Victorian Racing Cyclists' Association — an association of racing men — starting with a membership of 48 ends the fir6t year of its existence with a roll number of 169. During the year 13 race meeting under Association Rules were held ; 43 races were given by the association, and the entries for these totalled up to the very creditable number of 733. Truly the spirit of cash racing has caught on in Victoria. The association have decided to hold at an early date a grand Intercolonial Championship Race meeting, at which the ordinary and safety championships of Australia are to be ran.

The Melbourne Bicysle Club have decided to discard the old uniform of green velveteen, which has an attractive appearance, but is quite unsuitable for riding, and take to grey coat and knickers, with green stockings and cap. T. W. 'Busst, Australia'^ champion rider, has stated his intention of giving up racing. It will be remembered that Busst was recently a competitor at a Christchurch race meeting. The cyclists of Melbourne are not to be behind the times, and have decided to hold a cyclists' night at the Bijou Theatre on the 19th inst. There is to be a display of emblematic cycling banners by each club, and those wishing to take part are requested to wear cap and badge only. The first series of interclub contests are to take place on the day following. As a result of the Leicester Infirmary Sports meeting, held at Leicester last month, the infirmary will benefit to the extent of something like LSOO. The English Cyclist says, while congratulating the American flier, Zimmerman upon his two very clever wins by annexing the two most important N.C.U. championships :—": — " We can recall no other case in the whole history of English athleticism in which the admittedly be6t man has not, when he found a foreigner at bis gates, striven to do bis best to keep cfcam-

pionship honours in the old country," and concludes by stating that Zimmerman has not only commanded success ; he has done more — he has deserved it.

Going home on a 'bus the other evening (says Cyclist, in a Scottish newspaper), I fell into a conversation with a middle-aged gentleman, and it speedily became revealed to us that we were knit together by the esprit de corps which unites all wheelmen. So we fraternised, and he told me a very wonderful cure performed in his own case by cycling. Belonging to a consumptive family, and his own lungs being seriously impaired, he took the advice of his doctor to invest in a tricycle, and went in for regular exercise in moderate doses. Having gradually worked himself into condition, he lengthened his excursions until he could accomplish 50 miles a day without undue fatigue. And so matters went on until, finding himself wonderfully invigorated, he determined to submit to a searching medical examination. The result was a pronouncement that his lungs had become perfectly healthy, and that he was fit to go anywhere and do anything, as he looked to be, indeed, when we foregathered. Of course, it would be most foolish for people afflicted with any sort of disease or disorder to resort to the cycling cure without taking medical advice. In some cases, such as heart complaint, varicose veins, and fistula, it would be certain to do great harm.

New York City has now a Press Cycling Club, composed of members who earn their living on the press of that city.

The noted Paddington racing track, where so many brilliant English performances have been made on the wheel, is to be demolished, as the land is required for building purposes.

Professionalism is about dead in England, and France has become the homo of those who race for money, as there there are practically no amateurs. Any distinction between the two grades (says an English paper) is held in the most sublime contempt. Money prizes are offered in nearly every race, and some of them are sufficiently big to make it worth the while of a few professionals journeying across the Channel. If they are at all smart they should be able to make their visit pay them handsomely.

In the quest of a single-rail passenger line, the idea of adapting it to accommodate bicycle riders has not been overlooked, and the anuouucenient that such a railway is about to be constructed in America has not excited surprise (says a contributor to a Melbourne contemporary). The system is to be known as the Hotchkiss Bicycle Railway, and the speculation is to be worked by a company, which will establish a line from Mount Molly to Smithville in New Jersey. Each passenger will mount a bicyle, which runs on the top of a rail, taking his seat between two small tandem wheels, and working two treadles, which set them in motion. The machine is kept in position on the top of the rail by two guide wheels at a right angle, which impinge on a lower rail, so that it is impossible to havo an upset. The saddle is below the axis of the driving wheel, so that there is no top heaviness. There will thus be a stream of passengers all going one way — the return journey being made on another single rail. There is no reason why this arrangement for riding on a fence should not be practicable, the only seeming drawback to it being that of hindering the 3mart riders who may have to wait behind their less expert fellow-travellers in front of the procession. A single incompetent or lazy rider might cause a volley of impatient language as long as he blocked the line. It is not unlikely that it will be found that the cyclists who continue to make use of the ordinary road will be able to make better progress thaa they who ride on the fence. The world at large has reason to be thankful to those financial speculators who risk their money in the settlement of questions such as this.

Writing with reference to the colouring of cycles, a London authority says : — Although the majority of wheelmen still give the preference to black enamel, it is by no means as general as it used to be. White, light blue, maroon, and chocolate are coming more and more into vogue, and very well they look, too, especially with pneumatic tires. But I cannot endure (a cyclist writes) the bright green which some few affect ; it has the disadvantage of drawing public attention to the rider. Pale yellow is by no means a bad colour ; the main difficulty lies in getting the exact hue. Red spokes would, I think, look well if some harmonious colour were chosen for the body and rims.

The Midland Counties race meeting at Herne Hill to-day (Saturday), 9ch July, bids fair to be the race meeting of the year, for Osmond has begun to train, or rather, has put more energy into the work he has been doing. It is almost sad to see the man, who ought now to have been undoubted champion of the world, paddling round Herne Hill, and riding after the manner of maay a " clever " rider from .the Midlands in the days of yore. I Osmond, instead of dashing at his work without a second thought, appears to be in a blue funk less someone should get a line on him, and does practically no training when there is anyone present to see him work, and this is the course taken by a man whom the very best would fear, and who wants any amount of hard and fast slogging to put him into anything like trim. The Brixton Cup, of which Osmond is the holder, rises this year to little shoit of the importance of a ten-miles amateur championship, and the contest between the Leeds winner and Osmond should be worth going many miles, to see. What a chance Osmond lost by postponing his effort to get fit ! It is now an open secret that Osmond was challenged on behalf of Zimmerman to ride a one-mile match on May 23. Osmond declined the match, and said Zimmerman would have plenty of opportunities of meeting him in the championships. Yet in those championships most suitable t3 the American in the matter of distance the Englishman is a conspicuous absentee, and now it seems very doubtful if Osmond can get into condition unless he alters his work, and even if he does he lacks altogether the necessary racing, which is a sine qua non in picking up one's tactics again. Three months steady work would, we think, have put Osmond at the top of the tree.

Mr Tbomas Stevens, in Lippincott, has an article on the ' ' Bicj cling Girl," in which he says that the bicycling girl, the nearest approach to a winged cherub yet permitted on this earth, is the most fascinating result of the new pastime. The homceopathic physicians of Chicago unanimously declare that Licycle riding is one of the most healthy forms of exercise that women can indulge in. It is the easist thing in the world for a woman to jlearii to ride the ladies' safety, and all teachers agree that women learn quicker than men.