The morning news., 1894-05-16
BICYCLE TRACKS IN EUROPE.
What France, Italy and Spain Have
to Show in That Line.
From the New York Nail and Express.

to Show in That Line.
From the New York Nail and EXPRESS.
American cyclists have little idea of
the beauty and magnitude of some of the
bicycle tracks on the continent of Europe.
Many have heard. from time TO time. of
the principal tracks of Great Britain. but
those of rance, Italy and Spain have es-
capped any extended notice In view of
the advent of eX-amateur champion Lim-
norman as professional in those coun-
tries, anything pertaining to their race
tracks is interesting reading To the
Yankee lovers of the wheel. Speaking of
the continental tracks, Thomas War
wick, the crack professional rider. who.
among several hundred other bonors. can
tured the one, five and ten-mile cham
pionships of Australia, said TO a reporter:
They are unquestionably the finest
tracks in the world. In France they are
particularly good. Paris and It's suburbs,
where Zimmerman Is 20 do the CREATES
part of his racing while abroad, has fully
dozen tirst-class tracks. The most Pop
ular of these is. the NelOdrome Buffalo.
called after Buffalo Bill, because it is
built on the site of his show grounds 1t
is, however, not as magnificent as the
Velodrome de la Seine which is at
LeVallols Perret This track was COM
pleted last year and opened in August. 1t
pionship races, and is quite fast, though
it has its drawbacks as regards speed
This track cost 250,00O francs to build.
M. Clement who pId the entire
cost. came over with me on the
steamer La Bourgogne This week The
track proper is made entirely of wood
put down in ordinary blocks the same as
street pavement. These blocks have been
smoothed off as well as possible but some
come up bit higher than their mates
and make rough surface in places Still
the track is frst-class one, and has we'll
banked corners. II is three laps to the
mile. There are grand stand seats for
! 5000 persons and space for 10000 others,
making a capacity of 5000 in all What
makes the place most attractive to racing
men is the fact that there is quarter of
mile of dressing rooms within the in
closure. There is one immense dressing
room, and then collection
of smaller apartments, or
cabins, as they call them. Some of these
cabins are sumptuously arranged as re-
CARDS appointments, and are hit for the
reception of king There are rich car
pets, mirrors from ceiling to floor, soft
and inviting couchos Tor a rest or nap.
| tine baths close by, with innumerdble
| showers, and, in fact, everything calcu-
lated to afford comfort before or after a
race. These rooms are rented specially
at nominal tax of about S25 for the
| season. An excellent cafe and restaurant
are on the grounds, and tirst-class din
ner may be had for from three to four
| francs.
The Buffalo track is nearer the city
than the Velodrome de la Seine 1t is To-
Gated in Neuilly, just outside the gates
and measures 333 kilOmeters, or about
four and three-quarters laps to the mile
The track has just been rebuilt and made
faster than ever 1t is composed of a
preparation very much like sand and
Portland cement, and is now banked
higher than ever zimmerman
last year made record of
% l-5 seconds for a lap on this track,
and since the reconstruction Ed
wards and Morris Farman made one of
23 Is seconds. That gives one an idea of
| how it has been improved. The seating
capacity on the surrounding grand stands
is about 1900, but the full capacity is
| something like 10000 1t is common
| thing to see $4,000 spectators there on the
occasion of good meeting The dressing
| rooms are similar TO those at La Seine as
regards furnishings but there are only
about forty cabins in addition to a large
general room. "
The Bois de Boulogne is the name of
another new track that had just been
started when l came away. 1t is owned
by syndicate, with Nj Moussert, the
proprietor of La Bicylette, a t it's head.
This track Is to be four laps TO the mile,
and made of specially prepared cork.
understand it will cost no more than one
constructed of cement. The builders
claim many things for it, one of which is
| that it will be much faster than anV
others | do not know what they base
their belief on, but imagine it may have
one good feature in that a man is
likely to get less injury on it in the event
of q fall. The greatest indoor Writer
track in Paris is the Velodrome d'Hiver.
about the same size as the Buffalo
| 1 he track proper was laid in
| the short space of two weeks. IL is lc-
Gated in one of the old buildings left over
from the exposition of 1889, and is sit
| uated on the Champ de Mars. Some
cracking good races have been ridden on
this track. The best time Tor lap is
| 26 2-5 seconds on a safety, but Harry
Wheeler and myself made the journey IN
26 seconds on tandem. This was in the
last lap of our match race of fifty zilome-
ters against the Farman brothers. The
track is an ordinary board one, and
is owned by M. Marchand, the pro
prietor of a leading music hall of
Paris. The building has accommoda-
tion for 10000 persons in fact there
were even greater number within its
walls on the occasion of the first race be-
tween Linton, of England, and Dubois, of
France, for the international champion
ship. This race was run over n distance
of 100 English miles At o'clock on the
afternoon of the race the doors had to be
closed and 10000 persons denied admis-
sion. 1t was great drawing card, and
S25 was charged for ordinary boxes. There
was o second race between these men,
and each took one. No third was arranged
and | imagine each was afraid of the
other.
The city of Paris has of recent years
laid out several free tracks about the
city. One of these is situated on the
Champ de Mars and has been the scene
of many exciting races for local and even
worlds championships. Everything is
free, the officials of the city being anx-
ious to encourage cycling in every posi-
BILE way II is built on the old exposition
grounds and is kept in excellent condi-
tion, both as regards lawns and groves.
There is a similar track in the Bois de
Boulogne, and one or two in the
provinces AS to the tracks throughout
the provinces owned by private concerns,
there are many and all are made of ce-
ment. The most notable ones are at
Everaux, Never and Lille. The latter is
one of the best outside the city. IL is a
quarter-mile track and about seventy
yards larger than the Buffalo. 1t is much
wider too AT Lyons there is a three
lap track also made of cement II is
called the Velodrome dor. There is an