’CYCLING.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXI, Issue XIII, 24 September 1898, Page 312

’CYCLING.

The National Cyclists’ Union, of England, is making an attempt to check that curse of cycling racing, ‘loafing.’ For its championships, the first of which was held at Norwich on June 25, it has decided to impose a time limit, the race to be null and void if the appointed period is exceeded. This is, as is well known, no new thing; but the N.C.U. proposes to back up. its determination by a method which has not previously been adopted, and by which the project will stand or fall, namely, that should any rider continue the race after the time limit has expired his license shall be withdrawn. Time limits have been tried before, and have been found ineffectual, for the men rode to beat their opponents and not to cover the distance in a certain period. The only penalty for exceeding the time limit was the withholding of the prize; but the man got the honour all the same. In view, however, of the risk of losing their licenses, we should imagine that the riders will make an effort to comply with the regulation. The question arises whether any hardship is inflicted on the racing men by the rule. Of course, if, as was done when the plan was tried in America, some ridiculously fast time was to be appointed, then the scheme would be hopeless. The true sporting spirit of racing cyclists would assuredly lead them to refuse to ride under such conditions; for there is no gainsaying the fact that the man who cuts out the running at a fast pace is throwing away his chances. But suppose the time appointed be such as to require a pace of between twenty and twenty-five miles an hour, there can be little doubt, as a spectacle, the public would be satisfied, without the chance of any of the contestants being jeopardised, or any master of headwork being prevented from utilising his skill. At any rate, it is to be hoped that the good feeling of the racing men will lead them to see the advantage to the sport of their acquiescing in the arrangement. and that they will yield with a good grace without bringing into prominence the question of coercion. It is very doubtful if any benefit could come from endeavouring to force men to ride in a way distasteful to them: but, at any rate, the proposal is worthy of a proper trial. Should it succeed, it is by no means unlikely that the condemned scratch cycle race may once more come into general popularity.

It is a very injurious practice both to the rider and the bicycle to sit solidly on the saddle when passing over rough roads or tram-car tracks. A eyelist should rise slightly from the saddle, bearing the larger portion of the weight upon the pedals when riding over all obstacles, and she will find both herself and the wheel in better condition than is usual when the ride is over. Indulge your wheel a little and its life will l>e greatly prolonged.

The mounting of police on bicycles is slowly spreading. In his annual report, recently issued as a Blue Book, Captain Munro. Inspector of Police for Scotland, speaks in favour of it as greatly increasing the efficiency of the force in country districts. A new development of wheeling is the mounting by the Darlington School Board of two of their inspectors on bicycles, so that they may be the better enabled to catch truant urchins. An interesting revival is to be seen shortly at race meetings at Sheffield and at Manchester; for it is intended to include events for ‘ordinary’ (which has nowadays to be interpreted to mean high) bicycles. Several oldtime cracks are training for the contests. It will be curious to note the changes in ‘form’ since the riders were formerly before the public. Vienna has a bicycling female monkey at the zoological gardens in the Prater. It is a trick rider, and has learned everything by watching men.

I had heard sb much about the cycle races which are at present being held every night at the London Pavilion, says Sisley, that I determined to go and see them for myself. As a novelty they are a decided attraction. The competitors are ladies, and three ride in each race. There machines are fixed to small ‘home trainers,’ which gear them down so that while the distance across the stage is only fifteen yards, the riders’ pedalling is equivalent to the distance of one mile. While they are racing the scenery moves in the opposite direction, and the effect is really very good. The finishes I saw were quite close ones, but I would suggest to the management that the bicycles should be geared lower; the riders’ feet would then revolve faster, and they would be able to sprint better at the finish. This would add considerably to the excitement.

People living in the South of England would no doubt be rather surprised, not to say startled, upon seeing groups of cyclists dressed almost like tramps, and with eoal begrimed faces, rush past them on the latest makes of machines on the high roads. Colliers in mnny parts of Lancashire are now in the habit of going to and from their work on their bicycles, which, while the miner is seeking for black diamonds in the bowels of the earth, are stored in the lamp houses and other outbuildings belonging to the collieries. The eoal industry is now fairly prosperous, and as a consequence many of the men earning fairly good wages, which they are expending on cycles, large numbers of colliers having lately decided to invest their earnings in this direction in preference to the tap-room of publiehouses.

When must we light our lamps? This is a question on which there is, even amongst experts, a difference of opinion and which sadly needs authoritative legal interpretation. By the

Local Government Act at Home bicycles are compelled to carry lights during the period of one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise. What is the sunset? A cyclist summoned at Market Weighton for riding more than an hour after sunset without a light eseaped by the ingenious but surely obvious defence of his solicitor that although sundown at Greenwich was 8.15, Market Weighton was so many degrees further west that sunset came twenty minutes later and the cyclist was not bound to light up until 9.35 p.m. At Wick—appropriate place for trial of a lighting case—the plea did not prevail, and the magistrates fined a cyclist for riding without a lamp in broad daylight at Wick, but more than an hour after Greenwich sunset. Commonsense would read ‘sunset’ as local sunset, otherwise a man would be justified in riding in pitch darkness without a lamp provided that less than an hour had elapsed since the sun went down at Greenwich. The lawyers, however, have made the question a bone of contention. One maintains that according to the Statutes (Definition of Time) Act 1880, which provides that when the expression of time occurs in any Act it shall be held in Great Britain to be Greenwich mean time, sunset must be Greenwich sunset. Another points out that the Act applies only to the mention of an hour such as 9 p.m. when for the purpose of burglary night commences and not to the expression of a fact such as sunset. The latter view must surely prevail if ever the N.C.U. make a test case.

I heard the other day of a useful wrinkle to the wheelman who finds himself far from home without a lamp and beyond the range of civilisation and the gay Chinese lantern. Inns or pubs will be wherever the policeman may be lurking. Buy a half-pint beer bottle and a tallow candle. Knock off the bottom of the bottle and a little piece of one side as well, fix the candle in the neck, by which yon can hold the bottle so that the high side shields the light from the wind. Thus armed, and guiding the machine with one hand, you can defv all the minions of the law.

American exporters are finding a market in England for their highframed machines, which have quite gone out of date in the States. Although in 1896 the average rider on the other side of the herring-pond rode nothing lower than a 24-in and often a 28-in frame, now the 24-in is a rarity. In England, on the other hand, several firms are turning out big safetys, some with 32-in wheels and 32-in frames.

It may interest you to compare the rates for conveyance of.bicycles on the railways of Great Britain with those prevailing in the colony'. This is what they pay: Bieeycles, up to 12 miles, 6d; 25 miles, 9d; 50 miles, 1/; 75 miles 1/6; 100 miles, 2/; 150 miles, 2/6; 200 miles, 3/; and 6d for each additional 50 miles. Tricycles are double the above rates; tandems half as much again. The relationship between ladies learning cycling and their instructors is said to be a repetition of the intimacy between teacher and pupil that prevailed when ‘rinking’ or rollerskating was the rage. Men who receive 30/ a week to hold wobbling ladies round the waist soon get on terms of astonishing intimacy and get as much as £l2 a week out of their tips in addition to silver matchboxes, cigarette cases, diamond pins and diamond rings when the pupil is proficient. The sequel is the somewhat vague announcement in the Birmingham ‘Gazette’ of the elopement of a young lady of quality' with her cycle teacher. Mrs Grundy is no particular friend of mine, but it is folly to allow a young girl to go unchaperoned to a cycle school.

Mr It. D. Yelverton, of the Temple, is forming a league to protect pedestrians from the recklessness of cyclists.

Wheelmen here don’t seem to take very kindly to two-speed-gears, although I notice an occasional rider with the Collier Two-Speed and the Protean Four-Speed Gear, and the latter has a number of testimonials from cyclists of undoubted experience and authority. Mr Archibald Sharp, a recognised expert is himself a rider of and believer in the Collier-Two-Speed Gear, which is. I understand, a Melbourne invention. In the ‘Hub’ he lias been examining the objections raised to variable speed gears and conies to the conclusion that with well made mechanism nothing can be seri-

ously urged against variable speed gears in respect of extra weight, complication of parts causing trouble in upkeep and repairs or increased frictional resistance causing a loss of the rider’s power. He recommends a twospeed gear and says: ‘lf the best single-speed gear for any particular rider be 64 inches the two-speed gears may lie 56 inches and 72 inches respectively.* He finds that for speeds of twelve to fourteen miles an hour over the roads lying to the west of London the ideal best is the present gear ratio of the Collier, 20 —17, giving a difference of 18 per cent, for the high above the low, while for an average speed of ten miles and hour he thinks a 25 per cent, difference most suitable. Under any circumstances he is of opinion that a 33 per cent, difference is about as great as is advisable for a two-speed gear.

Several lady- teachers employed in the Paris primary schools have been punished for disobeying the regulation which forbids them to ride a bicycle.

A cycling doctor gives the following advice relative to the various ailments and injuries a tourist may be heir to: —Tn case of sprains, cuts or bruises, use applications of hot water, washing the injured part thoroughly with a lotion of sugar of lead—strength about two teaspoonsful to a pint of water; apply by thoroughly wetting cloths with this; the lotion it to be renewed every hour by- pouring a few drops upon a cloth covering the part. This relieves the pain and prevents or reduces the inflammation resulting from the injury. In ease of heatstroke the upper part of the bodyshould be stripped of clothing and cold water dashed on face, head and back. If the attack is not severe this usually suffices; if otherwise, the cold applications should be continued (ice, if obtainable) and medical assistance summoned, or the person carried to where it can be obtained. Brandy-, with a few drops of ammonia, repeated at intervals, is a useful stimulant.

‘Severe injuries or cuts where arteries are severed require immediate attention. Arterial injuries are different from venous. Bright red blood, issuing by spurts, sending up intermittent or continuous streams, indicates arterial: this should be quickly recognised. Dark brown red, slow flowing, non-spurting blood is venous. Pressure between the heart and the wound tends to stop arterial flow. A tourniquet may' be made from a handkerchief. suspender, necktie or shoe lace. In other than arterial bleeding, a firm pressure directly upon the wound will stop it. Arterial injuries require quickness and precision. ‘Fractures are essentially subjects for a medical man’s attention, but, pending his arrival, complications maybe prevented by putting a stick or other temporary- splint alongside the limb, and tying handkerchiefs above and below the seat of injury. A fractured collar bone must be treated by putting a pad under the armpit; raise the arm gently, tie it to the body and put the forearm in a sling, for support. ‘Prickly heat, so often experienced bytourists, is relieved by- washing the parts affected in cold water, applying afterward a carbolic acid ointment or carbolated vaseline. Insect bites and stings are relieved by applying to the parts affected ammonia, then covering with cloths. Poison oak is relieved by the lead lotion already mentioned, and sunburn is relieved by- annointing the parts with carbolated vaseline.’ In riding down steep grades is a time when extreme caution should be taken, as this is the way- in which most accidents happen. The down grades should be carefully ridden and the turns in the road always watched for. If the grade is steep and the turns frequent ami sharp it will be safer to dismount and walk. Where there is a number in a party they should separate, so that in the event of a fall of any one the safety of the others will not be endangered. Where the grade is long a drag will prove an assitance; attach one end of a rope about ten feet long to the saddle ]>ost and at the other end attach the drag made of the spreading leafy branches of trees. But in some counties drags of this kind are prohibited by order of the Supervisors. No one should ever attempt a tour, however, without having a brake affixed to the machine. A brake eom|H>sed of two rubber rollers acting on the tire of the front wheel is |>erha.ps the one to be best recommended. This does not wear the tires as the metallic

s|K»on brakes do, which is a point to be well considered. The horse is not dead yet. in America at least. When the wheel spun into such favour a few years ago people prophesied that riding horses would soon have nothing to do but stand in stalls and lyck their heels in idleness. For a year or two this was pretty much all that most of them did do. Rut at present there is a decided reaction, and the horse is prancing more gayly and more numerously than he ever did.

Managers of the riding academies say that they have never had so prosperous a winter as the one just past. The proprietor of a well known riding school says that his Ixxiks show a business greatly in excess of that of the previous year. As for the wheel, he blesses it devoutly and says it is at the root of all his good fortune. ‘The bicycle was a blessing in disguise as far as we were concerned,’ he said. ‘lt has helped us in this way: People went crazy- over it. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of people who had never taken out of door exercise learned to ride a wheel and spent hours every day in the open air. When a num or a woman finds out what a great thing it is to have exercise in the open air that settles the thing. The habit once formed, you arn’t going to coop that man or that woman up for the rest of his days. ‘The wheel, as 1 say, taught this habit to thousands of people—ever so many wealthy people. Then everybody took to the bicycle. The world wheeled. Some men and women didn't want to be in the crowd, so they decided to give up wheeling except once in a while. But what they couldn’t do was to make up their minds to give up out of door exercise, and consequently, people who would never otherwise have learned to ride a horse have taken it up now.’