NOTES BY DEMON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2197, 9 April 1896, Page 35

NOTES BY DEMON.

— — At the cycling carnival at Adelaide on ? Saturday Martin, the American, won the~One Mile and a-Half First-class Rtce and fell in two others. All the other competitors were local men, The cyclist Kux succeeded in breaking the record for the journey from Adelaide to Melbourne. He ltffc Adelaide at 10 on Monday morning, and arrived at Melbourne at 8.30 on '.Thursday morning, taking 7bj 43min less than the prtvioua record-Holder to'^ cover the 584 milts between the two capitals.Although the cycling season is well-nigh over, intert st iv the pastime has not diminished one ffhib at Mataura (says the Ensign), several ladies h&viDg lately fallen willing victims to the popu'ar craze. The Mataura Cycling Club have all bat abandoned their first scheme to lay a track down-on the recreation ground, aa even if the permission of the Domain' Board were obtained, they would not have any control over ib. The latest project is to secure la site from some private individual, and with the co-operation of the Mataura Caledonian Society the Cycling Club members are sanguine of holding a race meetipg upon their own track next summer. . Although cert&ie crack players of cricket and football draw comfortable retaining fees all the year round, they can never hope, says a ' writer in Tit Bits, to' stcure anything like the emoluments that fall to the lot of a first-rate professional -cyclist. Let us first of • alt trace the evolution of the wheelman who turns cycling into the business of his life. At one time he may be a city clerk who rides solely for pleasure, taking part in his club runs, aud possibly entering as an amateur for cerlaiu races. iLater on he may even become a member of the £ft«Ui Boa<i or acme otU«« f s««*t cycles <£&&

One day the embryo profesaional wins a big race, and almost before the ro&rs of acclamation have died away he is approached by a smart individual who has in his hand a list of the competitors and the machines they have ridden. The stranger is well-spoken, find after a few judicious compliments he begs the victor to permit him to send his machine to London at once, in order that its mud-stained, appearance, together with a number of telegrams, photographs, &c, may favourably impress a crowd round the shop on Holborn Viaduct. What ' enthusiastic young amateur, flushed with success, would refuse such a flattering proposition ? Professionalism pure and simple is the next step. The makers of the machine approach the winning rider subsequently, and offer him a fixed salary if he will ride only their machines and take part in every race they select. In three meetings which took place in one week at Newcastle, Leicester, and London, the famous racing cyclist; Zimmerman, cleared more than £500, which is at the rate of £26,000 a year. ' During a single American season the same professional earned £3800, and the writer bad it on the highest authority that Tenon t's record tide from St. Petersburg to Paris cost the promoters £800. Truly, the perquisites which fall to the lot of the racing cyclist are considerable. Even the second-rate men mil sometimes refuse £100 to attack the existing record. And observe, the fee is paid in advance, nor does it matter whether the record remains where it was. Then come prizes ; and lastly a share in the " gate." But are cycling prizes worth winning ? They are. There is no shoddy about thn Ouca Gup, for t-xmnrle. This prize is really worth lOOgs, and is now SborlancTs own property, he having won it foe the third time at the London County Club's , 24 hours' race at Herne Hill. The gale-money on this occasion, by the way, was the biggest on record, amounting as it did to ckse upon £40,000. The present Cuca Cup, tha "blue riband" of the cycle racing track, is a magnificent- silver gilt vate, nearly 4-ft high, and weighing 350cz.

A motO'Cycle— that is, a bicycle driven b$ beaaolj »ud capable of running at a sgeed of

40 miles an hour on good roads— was i-xhibited I : in Sydney on the <isth nit., when the trial proved a great success. The engine develops three horse-power. Ths weight of the machine is 2501b, and the machine itself in on the same lines as a bicycle, except that there are no pedals. The benzol gas, mixed with air, is canied to the cylinders from a tank i fitted above the engine, near where' the sprocket wheel is on a bicycle. It is then coropreeged into hollow nickel tubea, fitted into the l^e of the cyliuders, and these are kept heated by a beizol lamp, specially made for the purpose. Gas is exploded in the nickel tube, supplying the power to the engines, Both cylinders are singleacting, and as one is filling the other is driving. The filling of the" cylinders is jegulattd by valve gearing specially conpfcructcd, which is worked by an ecceuttic running on the driving wheel of the machine, which, of coarse, is the back wheel. The exploded gases are carried away under the machine, so thab there is no tmell or annoyance to the rider. The machine is controlled by a lever fitted with a cone screw, attached to the right of tbe right handle bar, and by this the speed is regulated. Two gallons of benzol will ran the machine 200 miles. " What you want," said a worthy cycling doctor to a very miserly patient, "is tharp exercise — the more violent the better. Now, there's the bicycle " "But the cost of a bicjcle is vtv'nous!" exclaimed the dyspeptic money-grubber, aghsst at tbe idea. " Oh," replied the medico contemptuously, " I did not mean that you should buy one. I thought that you might get in the middls of the road and dodge them." — Cyolist. MELBOURNE CYCLING MEETING. , Melbourne, April 5. At the cyoliog sports held for the benefit of Pcrfca, the Italian cyclist, the following were the results of the chief races :— Two-mile Handicap.— Harris 1, Parsons 2, Greenwood 3. "Won by a wheel. Time, 4min 22 3-ssec. M'Lean fell in the race and interfered with Parsons. Half-mile Scratch. — Harris 1, Parsons 2, Porta 3. Won by. half .a wheel. Time, lniin li 4-sseo. Ju the Parson* and Porta matches the halfmile wrs won by Parsons by half a wheel. .Time, lniin 18§scc. The mile race was won by Porta by a few inches in 2min 2seo. The twomile race Paraona won easily in 4min 36§*ec. Don Walker gave a quarter of a mile exbibi- - tion, in which he beat Zimmerman's record of 30 4 ssec by 2 3-ssec.