Cycling for Ladies

Southland Times, Issue 13501, 18 July 1896, Page 2 (Supplement)

Cycling for Ladies

(Nineteenth Century.) Aoromia is very prevalent amongst adolescent girls, end with it languor, morbid fancies and appetites. There is no bettor antidote to this than free oxygenation of the blood, improvement in circulation, helped still further by getting the patient out into tbe air and sunshine. It was expected that women specially might be exposed to injury from internal strains and from the effects of shaking and jtrring when riding on the roads. In practice this has been found to be nothing but a bogey. The up-to-date machine is so well made that there ie no strain in propulsion. Im. proved springs to tbe saddle, a proper distribution of tbe rider’s weight, so that a fair proporlion of it is transferred to the pedals, and the resiliency of the pneumatic tyre, have all tended to reduce the shaking and jolting on a reasonably good road to a minimum. Already thousands of women qualifying for general invalidism have been rescued by cycling. With regard to the unsound, each case must be dealt with on its merits. Ruptures and displacement of organs can generally be so treated and supported by mechanical appliances that the sufferer can be practically considered sound. To go to work without appro priate mechanical support would be most reckless. Badly diseased valves, especially if it were the aortic group that were affected, would make the most moderate cycling a dangerous pursuit, Old people, with their brittle vessels and degenerate muscles, need to place a limit on their physical ambition, to avoid sudden etrain, and to givejthemselvos time to get in condition. The young growing girl, 100, must be watched and warned that her youthful keenness should not carry hor on beyond her powers or endurance and easy recuper ation. To those who overdo it at onco come tho warningsof sleeplessness and loss of appetite—the very opposite effects to those produced when moderate exercise is taken. Chills are sometimes caught by getting overheated and tired,and then i eating by the roadside. It is tho beginner who usually gets over-hot, and who has not

had sofficient experience to know how much *he can do,and what pace she should go.

The lady’h aaddle ie a* yet the moat imperfect part of the machine. When made like a man’s it ia too hard, too long,and too narrow. The under springs should be supple, to minimise concussion. Tbe fork should be short and be sufficiently sunk to receive none of the weight of the body, its use being to guide the rider back into the. saddle if she be momentarly jjlted out of it. The saddle should be wide, because in a well-built woman the tuberosities of tbe ischia, which carry the weight of the body in the sitting position, are further apart than in men. The majority of women have wisely set their faces against racing and record-breaking. Both are physiological crimes. If women cycle on common-senso terms for pleasure and health, the sex and the community at large will greatly bentfir, and all prejudices will be assuredly overcome. Accidents have unfortunately happened, and will happen, but increasing practice and confidence will reduce the proportion of these to riders. Somethiogmay yet bo doneto prevent sideelip, the moat fruitful of all causes.