The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-04-29
TO RIDE OR NOT TO RIDE
The Question Which Is
Ag1tating the Woman
Who Wants TO Go
On Wheels.
DOES iiTTsHURTTHE HEALTH
Opinions of Experienced Riders
o. A Doctors Gpinion-Social
9
and Musical Notes.

Especially Written for the Jersey Citv Netes.)
10 ride, or not to ride-that is the ques-
tion that Is agitating the minds OF the
woman with athletic tendencies who has
not yet added bicycling to her list of
sports. Always providing that she can
manage the financial side of the question,
she will find herself. il she be rash enough
to ask advice of her friends, in acute SYM
patty with Bunyan's state of mind what
''some said, John, do it, others a mot
SOL" The recent formation of a club for
wheelwomen-The Bergen Lady Cyclers
has brought the subject prominently
before the public, and more Jersey City
women than ever before are pondering
whether on all counts. bicycling is a ben
eft to themselves and woman kind. The
fact that there are stanch supporters OF
the negative as well as the affirmative as
sures Il brisk discussion, and a number of
well known ladies in this city have CON
scented 10 give their own views, on either
side, TO the readers of The JERSEY CITY
NEWS.
The bicyclists should come first, since
experience certainly counts for much.
Mrs. Elizabeth Robins Pennell is proba-
bly, the best known authority on cycling
for women in England, if not in the world.
Her tours with her art~lst-Eusband, DrSt
with Il tricycle. and then the modern
safety, have left behind a pleasant track
of breezy descriptive sketches, which have
been made familiar to American readers
through the medium Of q New York
magazine, and which caused an epidemic
Of bicycle tours in several American To-
c~alities. Mrs. Pencil asserts fatty that
ali doubts AS to whether cycling Is health
ful for women are based on ignorance.
"Of course" she writes. ''cycling carried
to excess is bad for women, just as it Is
for men, but this argues nothing; bread
and butter eaten to excess ecomes an
evil.n She believes that the highest,e en-
joyment in cycling comes from extended
tours, and while oar women are not quite
ready to start out on a four hundred mile
trip, they will agree that tours are far
more enjoyable than daily half-mile trips
over the same stretch of territory. SO
much for au English authority. Now for
Jersey City and home talent.
WOMEN WHO WHEEL.
Mrs. Frank Evelaud. Vice President of
the Bergen Lady Cvciers, has decided
ideas on the subject. aud not mere theo-
ries either, for she has cycled since 1854.
u period longer than that of any other
lady in the city. Mrs. Egeland began
with Il tricycle., but the seductive Safety
claimed her for it's own in 1883, and since
that time she has travelled from. three to
niue hundred miles u year. and knows by
heart every good road within Il radius of
nifty miles of New York city. She pins
her faith tocycling as the ideal sport for
women, aiid thinks that between the
three.wheeled machine and the Safety
there Is Mt comparison.
Miss Matte Miller of Mercer street may
be seen almost any fine day speeding
around Van Worst square, and a glance at
her evident enjoyment tells exactly
where she stands on the bicycle question.
Miss Minnie, Elauvelt of Pacific avenue
is a Lafaye cite ~cyelist, although her tours
have not been extended. Among other
wheelwomenqto wuom anyone wishing
arguments in favor of the sport may APP
ply are Miss Clara L.. Dear of Summit
avenue, Mss Cara futile and Mrs. Du
Mond of Ocean avenue.
A FAIR ATHLETE.
Miss Agnes Collerd's Opinions on the
subject should surely bear weight as they
are based N actual experience with the
various outdoor sports for As
Miss Collerd herself expresses it. she
s'needs an open air life" and has always
been interested in outdoor sports, al
though it WIS not a year ago that she
| mounted a wheel for the first time. Since
then it certainly has not rested for want
of practice. Miss Collera says that as far
as She is concerned the ills, attending
cycling are few and far between. The
fatigue induced is far less than that of
walking a proportionate distance, ami
| the constant change of scene, fresh air
and rapid motion form one of the best
tonics known for nerves." Miss Collerd
has never taken an extended tour, con-
tining herself to one day trips to Plain
field, Bound Brook, Staten Island, Long
Island, Montclair. and in fact along any
- .--EI ,&l -, ,Iayy, avy ~ y 49,,
bourg, but from these she has never ex-
perienced over fatigue. 1t must be re-
membered, however. that few young
ladies In the city or elsewhere have had
such thorough previous training in tennis
courts and the open air in general, and
let them take Miss Collerd's words we'll
O heart:-'Is the first day of the season
hard? Why you feel as though you were
going to just drop off your wheel and diel
But if you are brave enough to keep on it
will wear off and you will be all right"
WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE"
Now for physicians opinions. AS might
be expe cted, they are vast and varied.
DIR. MaryE. Willis is reported a convert
to cycling, and several gentlemen in the
profession have highly recommended the
sport.
Dir. Madam F. De Hart, of Paulmier
Place. reached a wise conclusion when
she said to the writer a few days since,
ClaC cycling WAS q WOlnauS sport, Out
not an ideal sport for women. She adj
vanced the idea that a woman already
we'll trained in tennis or boating would
derive much benefit from cycling. while
a less muscular woman would derive
serious injury from overwork. A lady
we'll known in social circles, but who
wishes her name withheld from publica-
tiou, came very near permanent invalid
ism through the use of a Safety, while on
the other hand. Mrs. Bryce Collerd, of
Clinton avenue, rides by advice Of her
physician to benefit sciatica.
AS for dress, Miss Agnes Collerd recon-
mends Il dark serge, made with a plaided
back, notin a bell. as it catches IN the
wheel, II reaching only to the ankles.
Oxford lies are the proper footwear, and
sleeves should be very, very loose. Iudi-
viduai taste govern the choice of a
machine, but ladies in general avoid the
pneumatic tire, for fear of a breakdown
while travelling alone.
1t il Il noteworthy fact that no writer
against the bicycle for women raises OBJ
|4jeciions on the score of lack Of dignity.
The lisvcle has become domesticated, and
even llie most p~rejudiced have learned
that it is no more ~untignified for a woman
to wheel herself in ACKNOWLEDGED machine
Than her child in a four-wheeled one.
SOCIETY NOTES.
The Odd Volumes Mesting-Abbett-HaI all