The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-26
The WHEELS THE THING.
Bicycles Gaining in Popular Favor
and Are Rapidly Conquer
ing the World.
Wheeling Is a Pastime That En-
tees All Who Try the
Sport.
II Knows No Distinction of Age, Sex,
Race, Color or Previous Condi-
ton of ~Servitude.

The cynical observer who thinks the BIZ
cycle an ephemeral rage which will soon run
its course and die out ia probably mis-
taken. The wheel is positively conquering
the world. 1t has more devotees in Eng
land than cricket; it promises very soon to
have more disciples in America than base
ball; more lovers in France than the turf.
Nor is this at all difficult to understand.
1t is a pastime that entices everybody. with
out distinction of age, sex, race, color or
previous condition of servitude. Cycling
is democratic. All the essential Jefferson
ian doctrines are covered in cycling. All
men-and the women and children-are free
and equal in the employment of the wheel.
No privileged class can monopolize it. and
none will ever attempt to do so.
Yachting and boating are good. but they
are exclusives; only the few can own or hire
for use yachts and boats. Horse racing is
grand sport, but the million can only enjoy
it as spectators. Base ball is democratic,
except az to sex; but it draws the line there.
Tennis nice-nice is just the word for it.
There is an air of aristocraoy about it,
though, and it has never captured the plain
people. Crioket-well, that's English, you
know and 1t simply won't go on this side.
Foot ball? Yes, excellent for college
students and a certain class of robust and
ultra muscular men-but it is too fierce a
Joy for tbs general run of mortals. Boxing
well. that also, requires a cultivated taste,
and only a minority of mankind will ever
appreciate it. No; cycling is the outdoor
pleasure of all pleasures for the great
Democratic multitude. The wheel is everv-
body,s servant and plaything, say the Drov-
ers' Journal.
The professionals do not monopolize the
the wheel as do most other sports. The
racers on the cinder track do some wonder
fui thinps-the best record up to 1890 was
a mile in 2 min. 20 2-5 sec,, and | don't
think it has been beaten yet = but the
largest part of the popularity of the wheel
ia quite outside the professional racing
world.
The amateur cyclists are "the p~eople.n
They make and break no records, and care
not a fig who does. They ride for health,
for fun, for pure air, for country scenery,
for a jolly good tims-and they get it.
No one who likes the bicycles doubts that
the time will come when man can ride faster
than the speediest horse can trot. The Eng
lenman. Osmond, ran In IN a safety in
eight minutes more than the time made by
the feet Maud s. Ths new English records
are little short of marvellous. That Os-
mond rhould do a milo in two min
utes sixteen seconds is wonderful enough.
even with the advantages of a per
lee. .iach, pacemaking and weather
condition. but that he should ride TWENTY
four miles in one hour, forty and four
htths seconds almost exceeds belief. Have
you ever figured out just what that means?
When any one here gets below two minutes
ans thirtg-tive seconds for the mile he il
considered "some pumpkins" but when il
ccmes to doing twenty-four successive
mlles at an average pace of two minutes.
thirty-one seconds and a fraction, that
seems almost beyond belief. And sixty
three miles within three hours, too! The
appearance of Osmond on a safety marks
IN epoch in the history of racing. There
u every reason to believe that he has by NO