Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-10
CYCLING FOR WOMEN.

Ofs nlcn1r0DOn declares In0t IL ~ o.
Great Benefit to Them.
DR.. B. W. Richardson in the Axlepiod.
In many essays and papers 1 have dwelt on
the effects Of cycling on female riders. refer
to the subject again now because the interest in
tiff may judge from the many anxious COM
munications made to me about it-increases,
although doubt whether the number of lady
riders increases proportionately. The first
question that is usually put on this topic
is the kind Of cycle that is best suited for
ladies, the bicycle or the tricycle.. At one time
the answer in the affirmative was with the tri-
cycle now, think, it lies decidedly with the BIZ
cycle. Bicycles are brought to such perfection,
they are so low, they run with SO little friction,
they are mounted so readily, and are so grace
full as machines, they hold unquestiopably the
first place. II is easy also to learn to ride them
when the learner is properly taught from the
first. and it has seemed to me that the art o.
getting the balance-which is the prime art
is more easily attained by the woman than
the man. The readiness with which la
dies mount and dismount is quite a lesson in
ease and gracefulness, especially on those ma
chimes which are provided with a seat in lieu of
a saddle. There is another and important ad-
vantage in the bicycle-namely, that in riding
1t there is less vibration than from the tricycle.
indeed, when the machine is well fitted with the
pneumatic tire, vibration is practically ex-
cluded. Lastly, the dress is better arranged on
the bicycle than the tricycle.; there is less risk
Of the folds Of the dress being caught in
the wheels. and less resistance from the wind.
A second question relates to the amount of
exercise that women can take in cycling. This
is a question very difficult to answer owing to
differences Of training, practice, age and con-
stitutional peculiarities. Some women are
more fatigued by ten miles cycling than others
are by fifty. The golden rule in this matter is
to let sense Of fatigue govern the amount OF
work done. or one thing am most certain
that as among men there is nothing saved, but
everything lost, in fighting against actual weari-
ness, go the fact is still more marked in women,
and that it is the safest of safe proceed
ures for woman never to carry
her work on the cycle to a degree of
fatigue calling for more than one good nights
opinion that twenty-five miles. day is a thor
oughly good days ride for even an accom-
pllshed female rider on a moderately fair ordin-
airy road. 1t is good for women, as it is Tor
men, to dismount occasionally and walk. and ii
is always good for them to do SO when they are
movement brings new sets of muscles into
play and saves strain on the muscles of respi-
ration.
A third question has reference to the age at
which girls and young women should COM
mence TO cycle. am inclined to the view that
for children of either much cyciing is not
good. While the body is rapidly developing ii
is easy to produce distortion Of trunk or limb
bv any forced and constrained position, and
the skeleton runs extreme risks until it has at
tanned certain fair degree of firm
of structure. Girls should not
begin to ride regularly until they
have reached their seventeenth year.
and not then unless they are
strong and well formed. In training. and ever
afterward. they should be taught to sit straight
up on the seat or saddle. and always TO have the
dress perfectly free around the waist and chest.
The ankles ought also to be free, and the dress
sufficiently short to prevent embarrassment to
the movement of the feet. can have no hest
tation as to the kind of seat that should be used
by women; the cushion seat is infinitely prefer
able to the saddle.
One more among many other questions must
be briefly noticed mean whether there is any
thing anatomically or consututionally in the
woman that specially excludes cycling as a
recreation for her. There is nothing more in
this respect than in respect to horseriding.
Every competent medical man is able to dis
cover and explain some states and conditions
in which it were best for the woman to ride
neither a cycle nor a horse; but all conditions
being normal, women can indulge in the
exercise Just as safely as men. 1t is
indeed of great use to healthy women for them
to cycle. 1t secures quick and sure cultiva.
ton of the senses; it leads to q good and
healthy muscular exercise: i. causes fine ex-
papsion of breathing; it causes the lungs to in
hale pure air; it quickens the circulation. and
1t brings to the mind a free and wholesome
change of scene, which is a tonic OF tonics to
the depression incident to sedentary monotony.