CYCLING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 791, 4 May 1905, Page 13

CYCLING.

In answer to inquiries from different parts of the Commonwealth in reference to the proposed date of this year s longdistance Blue Riband Road event from Warrnambool to Melbourne, the Dunlop Tyre Co. state that this year’s contest will probably be held towards the latter end of September, which will be a month later than the usual time of holding this great road event. The Dunlop Tyre Company are now looking into the matter of dates, and expect to be in a position to make a definite announcement in the course of a week or so. Inter-State races will, as in previous years, be held in New Zealand, New South Wales, West Australia, Tasmania, and Queensland, to select representatives for the classic Warrnambool event. The New Zealand event will take place, under these circumstances, about the middle of August, or a month later than previously held. - ■

Now that winter is approaching cyclists. who indulge in winter riding and desire to keep their machines in good order, will find that there is no better plan than to cover the plated parts of one’s machine during the wet and frosty season. When mudguards are used,; one gets very little dirt over the ordinary parts, and with the vaseline all that has stuck on can be easily removed by a few rubs without injuring the surfaces of the plating or the enamel. • • • • In a report on rubber in the Gold Coast by a local Director of Agriculture, which was issued a few weeks ago, it is observed that the total quantity shipped in 1880 amounted to 12001 b, valued at £43. So rapidly did the industry grow that the exports in 1899 amounted to 5,572,5341 b, valued at £555,731. From that date the exports have rapidly fallen. Last year they only amounted to 2,258,8811 bi valued at £19G,500. The decrease is attributed to the destructive methods of tapping. Serious damage is also caused by the caterpillars of a certain moth. These facts account for the steady rise in the cost of crude rubber of late years.

Cold hands and feet are the bane of winter cycling (says an English writer), and I know of nothing that will ensure both more readily than suede gloves in the first case, and the ordinary tight-fit-ting cycling shoes in the second. Woollen gloves, which need to be very thick, are sufficient to keep the hands comfortably warm, but to adequately protect the feet is a more difficult matter. Spats I have tried and rejected, finding it necessary to have them fairly tight, for appearance sake, when they, of course, restrict the flow of blood to the feet and produce an unpleasant sensation of stiffness and numbness around the ankles. An easyfitting shoe and thick hose produce the greatest comfort: but when will some genius come along with an automatic heating apparatus to be fitted to each pedal? Until this arrives, the best plan is to dismount and walk for a short distance as soon as the cold commences to be felt in the toes, but I have also found that the use of a low gear in winter (57) helps, by rapid pedalling to maintain the whole body in a healthy glow.

There is a road in Holland, leading from Haarlem to the Hague, which is said to be, and no doubt is, the most travelled road in the world. It runs through what is known as the “bulb country,.’ which is a section of land 25 miles in length and two miles in width. When in bloom the bulb fields are. a beautiful sight, and during the season it is estimated that 25.000 cyclists pass along this road every day, as well as upwards of 5000 automobiles. The road forms a favourite drive for the fashionable classes, and the Queen of Holland is seen almost daily upon it in her car.

On May 8 Lawson and MacFarland will leave Australia for San Francisco. They have left it so late to return that neither will be able to compete in this season’s world championships, but Lawson is determined to challenge the winner as soon as he arrives in Paris, and has had a few weeks' preparation there. According to

home files Major Taylor is expected to defeat all this year’s aspirants for championship honours. * * * < Menus Bedell, who finished behind Kramer and Fenn in the points championship of America, met Emile Friol, the champion of France, and the Velodrome d’Hiv. er in the first of a series of matches between European and American riders. Friol was easily defeated by Frank Kramer, at New York, last December, so the present match promised to be somewhat close. It proved otherwise, however, for Friol won as he liked. In the first match the two indulged in pure sprinting tactics, and Friol won by three lengths. Bedell’s manager then instructed him to put in a-quarter of a mile sprint, but this had no better result, for Friol simply hung on until 100 yards from the winning line and then got home a couple of lengths in front of Bedell.