CYCLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2106, 5 July 1894, Page 32

CYCLING.

NOTES BY DEMON.

A cycling club has been formed at Palmerston North, to be known as the Manawatu Amateur Cycling Club. Mr J. Mowlem has been elected secretary and treasurer. It is understood that the new club will apply to the Cyclists' Alliance for affiliation.

At a meeting of the New South Wales Cyclists' Union, held at Sydney on the 13th u!t., Mr Marshall moved a resolution with the object of allowing open orders to accumulate for one season, provided that the amount of such orders do not exceed £25. The motion was ruled out of order. Mr Passau moved the adoption of the scheme brought before the Cyclists' Union, Amateur Athletic Association, Swimming Association, and Rowing Association in October last year, having for its object the strengthening of amateurism and the obtaining of united action on the part of tho" various amateur bodies with regard to the infringement of amateur law. The scheme provides: — "That an amateur forfeiting his status, either temporarily or permanently, in any one association, shall forfeit it in all others. An applicant for reinstatement must first appeal to the association against the laws of which he has offended. In no case shall an association reinstate an athlete who has offended against the laws of a kindred association until that body shall have reinstated him."' The motion was carried.

A strike amongst the senior amateur riders of the colony is (writes "Cycloflle" in the Sydney Referee) the latest item of interest. The Cyclists' Union being anxious to decide the Five-mile Championship of the colony, and also to determine who was to officially represent the colony at Queensland's Championship meeting, decided to run the two races conjointly at North Shore on an early Saturday afternoon. In this their efforts were of no avail, as the football clubs who had obtained permission to play on the reserve refused to move on so as to enable the union to hold a small but all-important meeting. The only alternative was then to run off a testraceduring a week day. The executive decided on the 22nd June, and all arrangements have been made with that object. To-day (June 20) a requisition has been floating abou - signed by some of the chief amateurs, in which they express their determination not to s' art on Friday if the test race is not converted in f o one for the championship of the colony. This would, of course, carry the union gold medals. It is amusing to see the genuine amateur cyclist striking against its government, as in this case it is simply a matter of racing for love and the distinction of being the colony's accredited representative at Brisbane, and racing for medals. At the Velodrome Buffalo, Paris, on May 9, the principal event, a 25 kilometres race, in which French, British, American, and German competitors entered, was won by Wheeler, the American. Neither Linton nor Lumsden started. At 5.32 p.m. Charles Terront, the French champion, appeared in the enclosure, having just finished his ride* from Rome. He had covered a distance of about 1120 miles in 6 days 13£ hours, under most adverse conditions.

At Herne Hill on May 2 J. R. L. Bates, Surrey 8.C., and L. Stroud, Bath Road C C, made a successful attack on the one hour's tandem tricycle records They started rather carefully, but soon (settled down to work, and ultimately beat the record of 20 miles 95 yards made by Crump and Beduin at Paddington on September 25, 1890, by over three miles, the distance covered being 23 miles 310 yards.

Chairman Raymond, of the League of American Wheelmen Racine Board, his decided that coloured cyclists are eligible to compete in races held under the rules of the league, he holding that by barring coloured riders from membership in the organisation the league did not exclude them from race meetings under the rules of that body.

It has often been observed that many cyclists make a habit during the riding season of going down to the river or stream directly after the midday meal, snd taking a cold plunge therein. Such a practice is excessively hurtful, for eminent medical authorities are agreed that the immersion of the body in oold w&tes soon

after meals causes a chill to the digestive organs, and consequently derangement. On one and all it has tho same effect. Although in persons endowed with exceptionally strong digestive apparatus it may not bo apparent— it is there all the same.

— — A social democratic bicyclo club has been established at Berlin. It already consists of over 100 members, who all use their bicycles as a cheap mode of travelling when ongaged in political propagandism. At the nexb general election they intend to visit every village in the environs of Berlin in this manner.

A new pattern of safety has just been brought out in England. It has no chain, but instead there are light steel rods, like the piston rods of an engine, acting on a multiplying gear. The new machines are highly spoken of, but are yet only on trial. .- — 'J'he oddest thing in cycles that a recent visitor to Washington saw was a big tricycle with seats for passengers, protected by an awning, and a large platform for trunks, which was plying for hire at ono of the railway depots, in sharp competition with the hacks. The machine was strongly but lightly built, with two large wheels, the size of buggy wheels, one on either side, and a sma'ler wheel in front. According to the Sporting Life, it was propelled by a powerful negro, who sat between the big wheels. In front of him was a broad, wide seat, affording ample room for two persons, and in front of that, over the small wheel, was a platform which would hold two or threo trunks. An awning was rigged over the whole concern like a buckboard cover. The negro, who was the owner, said he does a good business, and makes a good living, conveying passengers between the depots and the hotels. Sometimes he takes visitors on a tour of the city, for which purposo the machine seems particularly well adapted, as the passengers have an unobstructed view, while the "driver" delivers his descriptive oration about Washington, its celebrities and abodes, easily into their ears from behind instead of by leaning down and backward, at tho risk of numerous collisions, as the carriage drivers do. The machine did not appear to be geared differently from an ordinary tricycle, and the "driver"' said it was not at all hard to propel, even with a big load. It steered perfectly, and would turn in almost its own lt-ngth.

—r— While dry rot seems to have taken hold in the bicycle corps of tho armies of the triple alliance and of Russia, and while France records no further advance than additional speed in her military wheel efforts, we have made great strides of late in the direction of finding fu ther uses for the bicycle, and at the same time our riders are taught the noble art of selfdefence, or even taking the offonsive. Bicycles are now used to carry ammunition. The machine is constructed as follows :— The case containing the war material is placed on a twowheeled car drawn and preceded by 12 men riding behind each other on six bicycles. Tho speed of this machine is from nine and a-half to fifteen miles per hour. It can travel over any ground, the wheels being covered with rubber. The occupant of the first wheel marshals proceedings. Tho rest of tho men only follow suit, working their arms and legs. It is claimed that tho machine is not frequently subjected to accidents, and that as a means of carrying ammunition to an outpost it is without equnl, beiDg noiseless and swif fc at the same time.

The bicycle crank occasionally crops up, as does his confrere in other branches of sport. Here is a cyclist, one Julius Hatnung, of Connecticut, who is a native of Germany, and is on his way tbiher with his cycle, intending to ride through Belgium, Franco, and Switzerland to the Fatherland. Before tho boat loft the clock he filled his pneumatic tyres with American air, and should the puncture demon haply leave him in peace, ho will ride with them so filled into his native place, about 1800 miles from tho European point of debarkation.

On May 15 a very remarkablo meeting was held in tho Baptist Church at Kingston-on-Thames, the pretty town that lies about ten miles from London in a south-westerly direction, and that, by reason of the contiguity of Bushy and Richmond Parks, and the Hampton Court Palace, forms so attractive a resort for pleasure-seekers. The meeting in question was oomposed of the ministers of the Free Churches, and thereat the following resolution was unanimously passed :—": — " That in view of the great inconvenience and danger experienced on the Lord's Day by those attending the various places of worship in the town by the immense cycling traffic in the streets of Kingston, we respectfully call the attention of the Chief Magistrate and the authorities to this serious matter, and hope that some steps will be taken to regul*te the constant stream of cyclists at the important cross-ways of the town." This ri-so'ution was placed before the mayor when he was presiding in the courthouse as chief magistrate, and the Inspector of Police gave the startling information that on the previous Sunday no fewer than 20,000 cyclists passed through the town. Some of them rode at a furious pace, and others had not thought it at all incumbent upon them to give warning of their approach by ringing a bell

Lenz, who is recounting his adventures during his cycling tour round the world in Outing, describes in the May number his journey from Shanghai to Kin Kiang. The distance by river is but 500 miles, but the circuitous nature of the roads — if they could be called roads — made the journey 600 miles. As it happened, the snow selected just that particular time to descend as heavily as it could, and Lenz was snowed up, frozen up, sloughed up, robbed, and ill-treated over and over again. He was unable to get decent lodging and food except in towns where he could find a missionary, and in many places the natives made him amuse them by riding his safety, which they contemptuously dubbed " a foreign cart," up and down their filthy streets. The poverty of the Chinese, which he describes in a graphic way, is appalling. " Cleanliness is not strictly observed in cooking or about the house by the ordinary natives. The cat is too frequently promenading on top of the oven when the meals are being cooked, helping itself to fish, meats, or rice out of bowls that are afterwards served to tbe traveller. The tables are feklom washed off A delicate hand-broom, made of a few straws, is used for brushing off the dust and dirt before mealtime. The women wash their clothing at pools of water, from which afterwards water is drawn for cooking purposes. Were it not for the Chinese fashion of boiling all water before using it, disecise would probably have long ago swept the empire out of existence Soap for washing the face is un-

known. Hot water is rubbed on with a wet rag and left to dry, as they use no towsls. All the domestic animals share equal rights in the house. Pigs and dogs are in one's way at nearly every turn. Sometimes under tbe cot of the Chinaman is thrown a little straw, where the pigs, dogs, pups, ducks, chickens, and eats rest as peacefully side by side as opposing instincts may." The other day a young man was learning to ride a safety in the street of a provincial town. As is quite usual under the circumstances, the learner came a cropper and pitched upon the street curb. As he lay there along came a policeman, who inquired of the almost helpless would-be rider if he could play checkers. The novice, looking up, replied, " I can." " Then," said the policeman, " it's your move." The mud-bespattered young man arose and strolled home. We are told that he can now ride his safety, having finished his lessons in the quiet country lanes. — Sporting life.