CYCLING.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue VIII, 14 August 1897, Page 237

CYCLING.

HYSTERICS ON WHEELS. * Bicycle hallucinations are becoming a recognised nervous disorder, ’ said a doctor to a reporter. * I know of half-a-dozen cases or more. One woman came to me and claimed she couldn’t ride on a street when a street car line was in operation. Every time a car came along she had a wild impulse to topple over toward it. She simply couldn’t help it. Another woman said that whenever she rides her wheel she has an idea that somebody is scorching close behind her. She feels the scorcher’s presence, and expects every moment to be hurled to the ground. If she rides in company with friends she doesn’t notice the unpleasant sensation, but it comes to her again as soon as she is alone. A man came into my office a few weeks ago, and said there was something wrong with his eyes. I looked at them and they appeared to be all right. He told me that whenever he rode his wheel—and he was very fond of riding —the ground began to slip away from in front of him, and the whole landscape seemed to curl up —and it kept on curling as long as he rode. I fancied I knew what ailed him. He watched his front wheel too closely. I told him to sit up straighter, and to keep his eyes off the wheel. I guess it cured his malady, for he hasn’t come back. I have another patient, a young girl. When she rides she trembles violently, and this imparts a trembling motion to her wheel. It doesn’t appear to exhaust her, but she is very much worried because she can’t stop it. I think she will outgrow the tendency as she gets older and stronger. ’ A CYCLIST’S PERIL. While in South Dakota last summer a book agent had occasion to cross one of the great cattle range districts. He was making the trip on a bicycle, and up to this time the journey had been very enjoyable. Now, however, he was destined to meet with trials and tribulations that would be worth telling to his unborn grandchildren. He knew nothing of these untamed range cattle, and, alas, the cattle were equally as ignorant of scorching bicyclers. The agent was making good time and lifting a free and easy soul to heaven, without a single 'ear of

browsing herds upon the rolling plains, when all at once the proverbial change came o’er the spirit of his dreams. One of the steers, more curious and observant than the others, spied the strange-looking vehicle, and was tempted to follow it. Byeand-bye other cattle joined in the chase, and then the entire herd became interested. The agent began to grow nervous and increased his speed, but this only whetted the curiosity of the cattle, and they pounded along after him at a rate that was incredible to the agent. The situation grew decidedly alarming. The mild inquisitiveness of the steers had changed to anger, and they were going to run that peculiar species of cowboy down if it took all summer. Fortunately for the agent, the cowboys on the range saw the peril, rode to his rescue and succeeded in diverting the cattle from the hapless rider. It is probable that he will not care to canvass in that part of the country any more —not on his bicycle. BICYCLE WARFARE. A bicycle expedition is to be undertaken by a squad of the United States Army over the plains and mountains of the West during the summer months. Similar experiments are being made by many of the leading armies of Europe, and already results have been obtained

which speak well for the utility of the bicycle for purposes of war. The Japanese found it of good service in their various campaigns against the Chinese, bicyclists frequently

proving of service when it was necessary to make delicate manoeuvres or send messages from one point to another. After experiments, however, it became apparent to military experts in Europe that the ordinary bicycle could not do all the work required of it. For example, it proved very unwieldy on heavy ground, and, as soldiers cannot confine themselve to paved streets and public promenades, ordinary bicycles are too often apt to prove encumbrances instead of conveniences. Speed is necessary in time of war, and soldiers cannot afford to lose time in dragging their wheels over mountains or through woods or across rivers. Evidently, then, the great desideratum was a wheel which could be easily transported from place to place, and yet which should be as firm and durable as the ordinary bicycle. Such a bicycle, we are assured, has been invented by Lieutenant Czeipek, of the Austrian army. The merits of his invention are said to be manifold. A wheel of this kind, says one who has thoroughly tested it, can easily be carried for an hour on a man’s shoulders over any country, and when necessary, it can be put together and made ready for riding in thirty seconds. The wheel, including the knapsack, weighs only fourteen kilograms.

and yet it is as strong in all its parts as the ordinary bicycle. A corps of twenty-four bicyclists has been specially trained by Lieutenant Czeipek in the use of this wheel, and at the recent manoeuvres of the imperial Austrian army it showed that most eflective work could be done by means of it. The illustrations show the main purposes for which this wheel can be used, and one need not be a military expert to see that this light, portable and withal very strong machine can be made most useful in time of actual warfare. Lieutenant Czeipek’s twenty-four pupils took part in some difficult manoeuvres, and also did some very effective fighting, during which time they were either mounted on their wheels or had them on their shoulders. Their entire performance was exceedingly novel and creditable, but what seemed most surprising to the onlookers and to the army chiefs was the ease and rapidity with which the men, though burdened with their wheels, got over heavy and otherwise difficult ground. So pleased were the military authorities with their performance that it is their intention to have other men trained in the same fashion, and the outlook is that the wheel will speedily become a prominent factor in the Austrian army. Mr and Mrs Bright, of Blenheim, cycled to Lansdowne last Sunday, dined there, and returned to town in the afternoon. As the distance there is 27 miles, the ground rising all the way, and the wind, though light, facing them in going up, some exertion must have been required, but the return was delightful, as the afternoon was exquisitely fine. Professor Carrollo was run over by a bicyclist in Ponsonby Road, Auckland, last week, and was badly bruised on the legs and arms. He says that the cyclist was not keeping the right side of the road at the time of the accident. A Sydney man has invented a bicycle without chain or cogs, and the frame is radically altered, the wheel base being reduced considerably. The inventor expects it to cover a mile in im. 20s. A young woman named Virtue was seriously injured by a collision with another cyclist at Wellington on Saturday last.