ON THE WHEEL

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 685, 23 April 1903, Page 5

ON THE WHEEL

Th© tenth annual report of th© Queensland Cyclists’ Union discloses a satisfactory state of affairs. Although two clubs dropped out during the year, the membership roll shows an irfcrease of over 89 over the figures for 1901. There is, it is stated, a gratifying revival in amateur path racing in Brisbane.

It is surprising how very common it is nowadays for a bicycle to be out of alignment without the knowledge! of the rider. This not only affects the steering and causes feide-slip, but also sets up a considerable amount of wear in the tyres; If your shows!, any tendency to run on one jside, it is a sure sign that the wheels do not track. The best and cheapest remedy is to take your cycle to a first-class mechanic.

At a race meeting at Warren (N.S.W.). Hutchins, of Dubbo, won aj race from Knight, of |Nyngan. Hutchins was disqualified because he was not registered, and the committee adopted the extraordinary course of awarding the prize* to the sports promoters. Knight appealed, and the League have ordered the Warren committee to pay him the prize.

Many would-be motorists in the Old Country are undecided whether to invest in a motor cycle or a car, and a good deal of newspaper talk has been the result. From a cyclist’s point of view the following extract from one of the letters should decide many in favour of the twowheeler, for he at least cart appreciate its full meaning. The paragraph runs “ There is a zest about motor-cycling that no car can afford. The fascination of sitting astride a saddle, feet in pedals, and hands guiding the handle-bar—of ability to pick one’s going, and to bowl along a side path or through a wood where no car dare follow, and, indeed, to even set a pace which few cars maintain, and to do it without care of hill or head wind— that is sport; sport that exhilarates—sport, real enjoyment, compared with which the lolling int an unholstered seat of a car isi the personification of tame and uninteresting laziness.”

A coasting record has been! established in California by H. H. Wheeler, an oldtime racer and enthusiast, the distance of the test being 100 miles. He chose the fairest course—an out-and-home one —and ( pedalled only 34.8 miles. Thus over 65 miles were covered on which no effort was spent, while the time of the century was 13 hours. The rider states that had he taken another hour over the distance his record for free-wheeling would have been nearer 75 miles. There was HttJe or rto wind to 'aid or retard him, while the route, as a testing ground, could not have favoured him in anv wav.

Entries for the great Continental Motos Race from Paris to Madrid closed with the record entry of 225 automobiles. Th© nomination fees alone totalled £2580. It is calculated that the. value of the cars that will compete in the race will aggregate £260,000.

When it was announced some months back that a Sydney syndicate was paying the sum of £l5OO for Taylor’s appearance in Australia for three months, many critics were of the opinion that, the speculation would result in a financial failure. The syndicate was right, and the critics wrong. Taylor’s visit, with its concomitant expenses, has proved a success, and returned a good profit on the outlay. The Sydney people are so well satisfied with the result that they have sent their secre-’ 1 tary (T. D. Scottj on a trip to Europe, ' with a view of selecting stars for next season’s racing. The Tasmanian cyclist, Frank Beauchamp, on the Sydney Cricket Ground, attacked the motor-paced records last week successfully (says ‘'The Referee”). The weather was fine, though breezy. The Tasmanian had a big task in essaying to beat the flying mile, imin 28 2-5 sec, put up on the same ground by I World’s Champion Robl, but, shaping well . behind his 8-horse power motor, he knocked a second and a-half off, the official I timekeeper’s reporting as follows :—Quar- ‘ ter-mile, 22 i-ssec ; half-mile, 43 3-ssec ; • three-quarter, imin ssec : one mile, imin 27 l-ssec. From the half-mile inclusive these are Australasian flying-start records. His first quarter is three-fifths of a second outside J. Megson’s Australasian record of 21 3-ssec, established on March 28, 1898, on the Sydney Cricket Ground track, but his half-mile is 2 4-ssec better than the previous Australasian best, held by A. Smyth, and which is now amateur record only for Australasia. His figures for the three-quarters lowered Platt-Betts'’ preI vious record by 8 i-ssec. Beauchamp’s • mile figures are 10 4-ssec behind the world’s record,, held by Contenet, the Frenchman, at imin 16 2-ssec. After a spell Beauchamp came out to beat W. Martin’s five miles record against time, Bmin 57 l-ssec (Robl did the distance in competition in 7min 40 i-ssec). Beauchamp’s first mile was done in imin 39sec, his second in imin 36 2-ssec, the third in imin 33 2-3 sec, the fourth in imin 31 2-3 sec, but a few seconds later he struck the motor, and turned a somersault, and so was robbed of certain victory. The result, so far as he went was : One mile, imin 39sec ; two miles, 3min 15 2-ssec; three miles, 4min 0 4-5 sec ; four miles, 6min 20 l-ssec. All these are standing-start Australasian records. Beauchamp’s figures for the mile lower Don. Walker’s previous mif© standing-start record of imin 45sec by 6sec. There was no previous 1 record for Australasia for the two miles. His threemile figures lower Dickentmann’s previous record for that distance. Subsequently Beauchamp again attacked W. Martin’s five miles record, Bmin 57 4-ssec, and knocked 36 i-3sec off. Major Taylor is 24 years of age, weighs ■ list, and is sft 7in in height. He has been racing sinfce he was thirteen years of age, but it was not till 1899 that he blossomed out to be a professional champion. Taylor has amassed enough money to secure his independence. He announces his absolute retirement from the racing arena after the coming European season. Last appearances, though, usually stretch over a lengthened period.