CYCLING.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue XVI, 9 October 1897, Page 493

CYCLING.

NOBODY (says an American journal) can ride now without observing that the woman’s high bicycle shoe has become a thing of the past, and has been very appropriately supplanted by the black silk stocking and patent leather slipper. The improvement, from a spectacular point of view, is not to be questioned. When the high shoe was new it was stiff, destructive to the real outline of the leg, and wooden looking. When it was old it was wrinkled and sloppy looking, with a dejection of aspect that made thinness out of the question. These were its spectacular defects. From a woman’s point of view it was just as uncomfortable. During the hot weather a close-fitting leather boot that reached almost up to the knee was not adapted to contribute comfort to an athletic exercise. But whether it was really comfortable or not, the high leather boot spoiled the outlines of the leg, and its proper decline in favour seems only a just consequence. The overwhelming advantages of the silk stocking are apparent on the bicycle nowadays every day. The freedom of action, the coolness in this matter, and the merit of being wholly becoming are some of its advantages to the wearer, and the steady increase in its popularity shows that they are appreciated. Its superiority to the other form of leg covering is something at which the spectators would allow no dispute. The black silk stockings with pumps similar to those worn by men in the evening contrasted with a skirt of blue or brown linen—this combination is one not infrequent now in the park and on the boulevards —and no effect so entirely Eesthetic has been produced since the problem of reconciling women’s clothes and the bicycle first arose. In Dunedin the cycling season was opened on Saturday in grand style. A huge parade and procession was held, in which about six hundred cyclists and cyclistes took part. Riders from six Clubs took part. The opening run of the newly formed Auckland Ladies’ Cycling Club took place on Saturday. The cyclists left the reservoir, Newton, sharp at 3 p.m. (where there were a number of spectators), the procession led by the Auckland Ladies’ Cycling Club, and went round thejThree Lamps, through Newton, Symond-street, Kyber Pass, Newmarket to Ellerslie (having a very successful and enjoyable run), where the cyclists were photographed by Mr Slack. Then they proceeded to the Harp of Erin hotel, where afternoon tea was provided by the Auckland Ladies’ Cycling Club. The non-riders of the Club and visitors were taken out in a brake. At Ellerslie the gentlemen cyclists were very good in offering assistance. The number of lady riders in the procession was fifty. The ladies have been invited to join in the gentlemen’s procession on Saturday next. Tbe emissaries of two great American bicycling firms who have gone to England were accompanied by an attorney versed in international patent law, in order that they might escape the pitfalls which might nullify their enterprise. CYCLING HINTS TO LADIES. Don’t ride without gloves. Don’t wear flaming colours in your hat. Don’t wear a skirt that shows more than eight inches of your boot. Don’t wear white underskirts on a wheel. They will not be white for long. Don’t allow your escort to ride inside, nearest the footpath. That is your place. Don’twalk your bicycle morethan absolutely necessary. It attracts unpleasant attention. Don’t make short turns at corners. A bicycle will slip easily. Don’t hesitate to offer assistance in case of a spill. Don't dismount by the side of a telegraph pole. That is not how your instructor taught you. Don’t argue with a policeman if he tells you to slow down. Don’t start till you are certain that not only your wheel but your costume is in perfect condition. The brake should not be indiscriminately applied. It should only be used in real cases of emergency. Other-

wise the cyclist will And tbe tyre of the machine gradually being injured by the friction engendered. It is remarkable, however, how few people take the pains to learn tbe art of back pedalling. To make this thoroughly effective the reach from saddle to pedals must be sufficiently short, and the secret of power is in gripping tbe pedal just as it comes round to its very lowest point, and then applying the weight and power at that point.

I wish some pf the ladies who have charge of the columns on cycling for women in the various papers would seriously take up the question of the length and breadth of skirts worn when cycling (says a writer). Every time I go out riding I see such a number of pitiable objects in tbe shape of wheel women, struggling along the dusty roads in long, heavy flapping skirts that I really wonder sometimes how any true enjoyment can result from cycling under such painful conditions. Anywhere but in England women would have more regard for the fitness of things and for their own comfort. Skirts for cycling ought to be at least twelve inches from the ground when their wearer is standing, and if short skirts like this were generally worn there would be less logic in the arguments of the ’ rationalists,’ and far more enjoyable and safe cycling done by fair riders. The latest form of a bicycle is called the ‘companion quad.* As its name indicates it carries four persons. It has received a fair test and is said to be a great success. When the machine on the same principle made for two came out a little over a year ago it was ridiculed, and for some time wheelmen refused to take it up, but now quite a number of them are in use. The companion quad is not meant for track work, and tbe four men who try to sprint on it will have a lively experience, but it is a great innovation in pleasure wheels and it is believed it will in time become quite as popular as the tandem.

A devoted cyclist says :—‘ I am glad to see that our enthusiastic wheelwomen continue to ride in an upright position, and do not copy the men by doubling themselves nearly in two as they fly about on their “ bikes.” I have been told that it is impossible for men to ride at racing speed unless they bow their backs. That may be true, but they ride, the majority of them, in the same hideous position as they go along the streets and country roads. I spent an afternoon lately at a charming cycling club a little way out of town, and two young men were riding upon the track, or rather they were tearing along at break-neck speed, with their beads almost as low as the handles of their machines ! Their faces were crimson ; their legs, upon which the swollen veins stood out like cords, were bare to above the knee ; their arms were bare also, and they wore a kind of bath-ing-dress with a swathing round the waist. In his flannels a young fellow looks very well, asa rule. In hiscyclingdress he looks like one of the newly evolved bipeds of whom clever Mr Wells is now writing about in his • Stories of the Stone Age,’ which are appearing in the Idler magazine. But there is worse to come. The young men could not, I was rash enough to think, have looked to greater disadvantage than they did upon the ‘ track,’ but, when they had done laps enough, they dismounted and came upon the lawn to have tea, and presently a young girl, who had been riding slowly and sedately upon the track, came up rolling her machine. She asked one of the young men to examine her tyres, and that little ceremony over, the three sat down to tea together, the young men with their bare legs well in evidence, and the girl, apparently, well content to have them so. I do not say that there was any harm in all this, but there was a distinct lack of the courtesy which women have a right to expect from men. If women fail to exact it, they will, of course, have to go without it; but it is a pity.’ Most people are agreed, I think (says Chas. Sisley in the London Mail) that if some alteration had been made

in tbe pattern of bicycles for ’97 there would have been a great many more purchases of new machines. At present, what inducement is there for anybody to part with his old machine for a new one, unless tbe former is a bad one or absolutely worn out ? None at all that I can see. In fact, in one or two respects I really fancy the machines of two or three years back were better than those built in the present year of grace. If cycle manufacturers wish to introduce one or two changes in construction to make next year’s bicycles different to those of ’96 and ’97, here are a couple of suggestions. First, let them revert to the sloping top tube, which mechanically was a far better idea than the present horizontal tube. The use of the perfectly horizontal tube has led to the adoption of very short steering heads, which mean loss of rigidity, and when very tall men use machines so built tbe evil is, of course, greatly increased. Then the backward slope of the pillar leading from saddle to pedals can with advantage be made less acute in these days when everyone who is not a faddist rides in a more or less vertical position over the pedals. So great is the backward slope of many seat pillars that we see scores and scores of riders every day using L pins which point forwards in order to place the saddle sufficiently over the pedals. This slight alteration would give us a more compact and altogether nattier bicycle than the present elongated style of building the rear part of the frame.

The result of the world’s mile at the recent world’s championship meeting at Glasgow is the greatest event of the year. All the great riders were gathered together for it, and C. F. Barden, who is now reported to be on his way to Australia, was the English favourite for the event. Bourillon, the famous French sprinter, and probably the fastest finishing jumper that the world has ever seen, was the holder of the honour, and he was among the competitors. He easily won his heat from Gascoyne, a fast Englishman. In the second round Bourillon was opposed by Barden, who had beaten Macferson and Chuin. When these great riders came out for the second round the excitement was intense. The ride was a crawl to the last lap, when Chuin shot away, but down the back stretch Barden came out, as did the Frenchman on seeing him, passed Chuin, and took the lead. Then ensued one of the most desperate struggles which has ever been witnessed. Barden gradually but surely wore the Frenchman down, and passed over the tape a winner by inches only. Bourillon, on hearing of the decision of the judges, behaved like a maniac, and could not be persuaded to leave the enclosure until the next heat started. The final eventually brought together Barden, Willi Arend, Germany’s crack sprinter, and Nossam, a Frenchman who recently has jumped into the first rank, and who has created a tremendous sensation by his sprinting prowess. Willi Arend was, before the running of his heat, not thought much of, but the manner in which he rode in the preliminary called to mind some very fine work he did in the French capital last year against Jacquelin and Morin. Barden was a hot favourite in the final, and at the last lap Arend came through with a great rush. Barden foolishly let him go, thinking his great trouble was going to be with Nossam. But the German rode like a world’s champion, and when the trio swung into the straight Barden made desperate efforts to bring him back, but Arend held his own, and passed over the tape a three-quarters af a length winner, gaining the title of world’s champion over the heads of the best men England and Europe could produce. Good judges were of the opinion that Barden had not quite recovered from the terrible finish he had to ride with Bourillon shortly before the final.

Of course with the bicycle, like every other new habit or fad taken up by the Americans, there comes the inevitable slang and technical talk (remarks the Cincinnati Tribune}. The girl who wears bloomers or knickerbockers picks it all up in about a minute or two If you stop a little while on Race-street almost any evening you will hear enough to puzzle the understanding, and in some cases plenty to shock the moral side of your nature. With the girls ‘ darn ’is the expressive oath, and every now and then it floats out on the breeze in connection with some defective part of a wheel that has probably been rented for an hour or two. ‘Say,’said one of them the other evening, * this darned old pedal is slipping every minute, and I can’t scorch fast enough to keep away from that guy in the crash suit. Thinks he owns the street, I guess. But, say, I can’t get a stare from that piece of sweetness that’s ridin* the Columbia. He’s not on the mash, I guess. I think I’ll toll him out the way a piece and then dismount and examine the tyre. Maybe he’ll stop and give me a lift. Look at the wheel that guy is riding. She hasn’t given it a bath since it was in short clothes. If I was fixed like her I don’t think I’d be quite so skimpy with the goods I put in my skirt.’ But whether this reference was to the form of the young lady in question or to her financial condition could only be guessed. More than likely the former was under consideration. * Oh, I nearly died a-laughing up there near Seventh just now. See that feller with the hair on his lip. What d’ye think ? Some thin, scrawny woman was scorching along up there, at least she thought she was, and some fellow spoke about her crank pins bein' too straight and too thin. They did look that way for a fac’.’ And thus the chaff, slang and technique goes on hour after hour.