The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-10
AWOMAN ON CYCLING.
The Ordinary" Looks Pretty, But the
Safety" Has Other Charms.

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The Ordinary" Looks Pretty, But the
safety Has Other Charms.
Mrs. PenneU, in st. Nicholas.
OF all cycles, the most delightful is the
ordinary tall bicycle. Ii were boy
would ride nothing else. There is a certain
swing of life about it, a certain sympathy
between it and the rider not to be had in
any other machine. The hight, too, of
the big wheel, above which the rider sits,
makes t-seem almost as if he were flying
through the air; and in countries where
hedges and walls are high, much more of
the landscape cal be seen from its high
perch than from the low seat of safety"
or TRICYCLE.. But, then, on the tall
bicycle you must always take the risk
of headers" The smallest stone or
stick may send you headlong into the dust
or mud do not think | ever realized the
treachery of the ordinary" until one day
when a rider | know came back from a
ride to the little towns near Rome with his
nose patched up with postage stamps. A
tiny twig had pitched him over on the hard
road and cut bis nose badly. In the next
village he came to there was no courtplas-
ter nor doctor to be had, and the villagers
recommended the postottlce as the most
likely place to have his wounds at
tended to. Now, if that twig had
been on the streets of Rome or
within immediate reach of courtplaster,
you may make up your mind he would have
ridden over it as easy as you please; the
bicycle waits until 1t has you all to itself to
break your bones and cover you with cuts.
For long tours there is no objection to it; it
will not carry comfortably even the very
small amount of baggage you will need. And
yet Mr.. Stevens rode one on his Journey
round the world, and there are many men
and boys who would not give IL up for any
safer Cycle that could be invented.
Still the Ordinary" is not SO much rid
den as it was a few years ago. Nowadays,
in England, you will see ten ''safeties" to
one ordinary" The safety" is the little,
low bicycle with the two wheels of almost
the same size; and for the last year or two
one kind has been made for the girls to ride
If you have been on a three-wheeled
machine only, and then try the
safety" as l did last summer, you
will wonder how you ever were will
ling to work such dead weight as a tri-
cycle over good or indifferent roads. The
safety" is SO light; it is a single track ma
chine, SO that on the worst roads you can
usually manage to find path; it is SO low
that if you do tumble you will not hurt
yourself chow often did l roll over in the
dust, just outside of Dieppe, on my first
trip, and jump up. none the worse for it D
aud 1t will carry respectfully large bag.
All these things, you will see, are greatly in
its favor.
fancy I can hear some girl ask, ''But
how can we ever mount itY' That was the
question l asked last summer when | made
my first trial But, fortunately for me,
my machine was tandem and there was
some one to hold it steady while got on.
BY practice. however, girls can learn
indaaJ boU b
mount by standing between the wheels,
putting one foot over the frame on to
the descending pedal, standing on this,
which of course starts the machine, and
then sitting on the saddle and riding
away. There is always more or less diff
Guilty about this-a girls skirts are so in
her way and likely to catch, and yet as
soon as she is seated she must keep on 60
ing. Lately two or three manufacturers in
England have invented what they call
safety attachment, Continuance by which
the machine can be steadied and kept at a
a standstill while the rider mounts as easily
as if it were tricycle..
l have experimental only on a tandem
safety with rider behind me to steer it and
put on the brake. but have never enjoyed
riding so much. OIce you have started the
machine seems to carry you along with no
effort on your part. 1t is not rigid, like a
tricycle., but swings and sways with your
every motion.
But for all that the TRICYCLE. has many
good points; it is safer than safety |
have charged flock of sheep on one, and
the machine did not even upset. 1t needs
no attachment to make it easy to mount.
In crowded street you can be brought to
a standstill without having to jump off, as
you must from a "safety" or an "ordi-
nary" and as l had to last sum
mer, coming down the crowded Rue
de Tivoh in Paris, wheo all the
omnibuses and carriages in front came to
sudden halt In a country lane, if you
wish to rest for awhile in pretty, shady
spot, you can sit there quietly on your
tricycle.. Nowadays the tricycle. is made so
Hght and compact that you can ride almost
as fast on it as on a safety" Indeed. some
people say that on tricycle. you can make
better time, in the end, simply because you
never have to dismouuL
There are so many cycle manufacturers
IN England and America that hundreds of
machines are made which differ only in GER
tam small details In making your choice
from among their number you must be
guided chiefly 10y your own special wants,
LOT II you go to good maker you will Sc
cure good machine; it is merely ques-
tlon OF deciding which one suits you BEST
AFTER you have your machine the next
thing you must do is 10 learn 10
mount It properly. Do DO sure to learn this
IN the beginning. II you acquire the habit
OF mounting awkwardly you will never DO
RAJ OF 1t. Have you not sometimes won
dered 30 soc rider of experience climb into
ms saddle as II he were attempting il for
the first timei In America riders pay more
attention to this than they do ia England.
Anericans, a. a rule, though they may not
Tias iASter than Englishmen, ride better.