CYCLING.

Otago Witness, Volume 11, Issue 2159, 11 July 1895, Page 34

CYCLING.

NOTES BI DEMOS.

— — Ar I writ« the rain has ceased after a three weeks' carnivsl, and there's hope reigning high in the breasts of our winter cyclists, who are cheered by the pleasant heat of the sun and the prospects of the rosds being in^a condition for riding on Saturday. Bicvc'es occupied the attention of the House of Representatives laft week. Mr Flatman wanted thi Governme it to discontinue carrying bicycles free of charge on the railways. The Mini"ter for Railways pointed out that all travellers on the railways, including all kinds of sportsmen, are allowed to bring 1121b of personal luggage free of charge, and it is therefore only fair to allow bicjclis's to take their machines. Mr Flatman is mf-mber for Pareora in the South Canterbury district. — — A ladies' cycling club, to be known as the Wellington Ladies' Cycling Club, has been formed in Wellington. A committee has been appointed to draft rules, and a scheme was nub- ■ tnitted at the initial meeting whwt-by members may obtain machines on satisfactory terms. The Wellington Cycling Club have decided to discontinue the clubroom owing to lack of interest shown by the members, At a meeting cf ladies held on Tuesday evening it was decid' d to form a ladies' cycling clnb in Dunedin. Miss Staiha.ro, who occupied the cbair, explained the object of the me< ting and stated that a number of ladie< had expressed a desire to join the club and fall in with any Arrange m-ntt> that might be msde tba 1 ; evening. Rules weredrawu up, and the followii g office-besn-iM were elected : Captain, Mrs Scott ; depu ( y-c«ptaio. Miss Anderson (North Taieri) ; secretary, Mi-sSttttham ; treasurer, Mrs Lewis ; committee — Mi-SPsD-de (Outram), E Maxwell, Bennett, and R'gg. The club starts with a membership of ever 15, and at a general meeting to be held in August the name of the club and club runs will be fixed on. ihe flrst p-ize in this year's Austral •Wheel Ritce will be as usual £200 Mr Bf-lk, of Palmerston North, has inYeuled a safety bicycle, on which he claims that a rider will be able to accomplish the speed of one mile per minute. A fast bicycle ride from Sydney to Melbourne was c rnpletfd on June 14 by Mr Jenkin Llewelyn, a Sjdney cyclist. The rider covered the distance between the two citiei in five and a-half days, despite most unfavourable conditions of road* and weather. The wheel' man, who is of exceptionally hardy constitution, returned to Sjdn«y by steamer the day after arrival, and means to try for a record over the came road next November. The Queensland Postmaster-general ha? decided upon the introduction of bicycles for the use of telegraph messengers in Rcckhamptoo and Cbarleville. The 100 mile record, 4hr 2min 45 4-ssec, is held by an English rider, Michael, who lowered the previ'ms^ecord at the Velodrome, Buffalo (Pftri«), nu May 19. The extraordinary demand for bicycles continues in tuobfc American cities, but chit-fly in Chicago. Second-hand mach'U r -8 are sc*rca at any pric«, and makers ere. wording double turns to catch up with supplies of .new whi els. It is said that in Denver a street c<-r company haa bteu compelled to reduce wages because the bicycle Las tnade fetich inroads into its revenue, tbesia'uneut being that in fine wt-athcrrfteipts fall 50 per cetit. A Chicago papf r, the Referee, .figures that if there are 100 000 people using bieycUs in th" cHv it wonlrl dep-ive thp transports t on Jiu'-f of 10,000dol a d&y, or over three millior s a ye^r. The English cyole exports tot April

were £171,361, as compared with £171,465 in '94. Wee don Grossmith is now a member of the Bath Road Club, and but for thesru«rfcnes of hit h-ervant would have lost a br*nd new machine the other day, for a few hours aft-*r it had b' en delivered a man called, representing that he came from the makers, for the machine, as the brake had nob been p -operly fitted. The servant was " not having any, thank you," and of course the makers knew nothing about it. — Exchange. [This trick haa been worked successfully in Sydney.] Outing states that Frank Lenz, the missing cyclist, has been traced to the village of Clnlgaui, in the Alasgird plains, outs;de Delibaba Pa^s. A nativf of Chilgsni cays that Lf nz arrived there on May 9, ju*t before sundown, and became the gue»t of Avak Parsegh. The next morning he let Ct.ilg»ni, aud a. month l»tf r a report was circulatt-d timon^ the villages that he bad been killed in the vicinity of Eoord Ali. There are four villages in the neighbourhood— Chilgaui, Koord Ali, Zedikan (the last of the Arrneniau villages of the plain), and Ddibuba, at the foot of the pans of the same name. The pass is 70 or 30 miles from Erzeroum. Ko^rd AH is about five miles from Ztdikan, so that this last repo t: s that Lenz va.s Willed before he reached them "Unt^in pass. Dr Wormau thinks that he is held a captive. Cycling writers are ad vt. eating the taking up o? the battens that compose the Herne Hill (London) track, and covering the track with cement. Experience has shown that the ct-nvni track is much taster, and then there is an little danger of croppers on thit track as on the battens. A puncture preventer has been placed upon the market iv England. This is a light rrW.al bridge with a saw-like edge, made of pen steel, which clips on to the bick Ffctys, and, arching over the tyre, catchea and withdrawa anything caught up before it has had time to efEcct a puncture. H. L Jrfferßon, the English spotting journalist, who left London towards the tnd of , April with the intention of riding to Moscow and back iiside 50 days, had reached Bolvenisk on May 6. He had then covered 1490 mi'e? in 16£ days, and expected to reach Moscow five days later.