The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-12


his strange outfit
So many people want 70 learn to wheel
while they are on their summer vacations.
and so many want to combine tuition and
pleasure trips in one brief space Of a
month or six weeks. that this project oc-
CURED TO an instructor while giving bicy-
Gle lessons.
Il want you to teach me how to ride
wheel / am going to tour through
Scotland this summer, and I intend to
cycle along. l want to learn to ride
Come down to my country place for a
few days and teach me all there is to
know about the wheel" said this af-
fluent pupil.
The instructor started for the coun-
try seat At the city dock lay a yacht
Aboard it were two fine wheels. The
sail down the sound was several hours
long. An idea occurred to the instructor
you have only three days to learn a
difficult art" said he, "hegin now by
getting the knack of sitting the wheel"
BY the time the boat anchored at the
private dock the man could keep his
seat while the instructor towed the wheel
around the deck The first lesson was
learned.
''Ill do that again and on an improved
plan" said the Instructor 81 will go
to Scotland myself, and, incidentally, 1
will earn enough money on the way over
to see the country any way I want to-"
Grand result! Permission from the
steamship authorities to use part Of the
deck for tuition. The procuring of a very
nice outfit! And the booking of enough
pupils in advance to keep the days com
fOrtably full.
Another grand result! The following
of this example by many instructors Of
the WHEEL
In teaching the bicycle aboard ship
| there are advantages and disadvantages
| The former is headed by the fact that
people feel very strong ana well at sea
and can perform feats OF physical endur-
ance. 1t does not tire them TO learn to
ride, as it does on land. And, again, they
are more unconventional I'm the matter
! of dress. A man learning at sea dresses
! himself in sweater and trousers He
is fully ready for inspection. On land,
in an academy, he would want coat
and minor elegances of toilet, which,
while highly desirable in civilization, are
not missed on the high seas.
With woman 1t is the same way, only
more so. At sea they willingly discard
skirts and put on boomers or dress in
some little short affair that in no way
binders them.
The instructor who is gathering his out
mt so carefully takes with him a trunk
of cycling suits. He has sweaters and
blazers ana knee breeches for men, and
trim little caps, blouses, coats and knee
skirts Tor women. These he Will rent
by the lesson to those who need them.
The number of lessons required to teach
the bicycle aboard ship will be about
eight, so the instructor calculates. They
must be taken two day. from the day
after the ship sails. Each lesson will be
half hour long, and the lesson hours
placed as far apart as possible
The first lesson is the hardest. In
learning on land the pupil has a smooth
fiat surface, but here he has rolling
plane. Now inclined one way and now
the other. In dipping the waves the eff
feet is like going up and down grade
But if the ship lurches sideways there
are sloping hills to be tackled. This
brings into play question Of exquisite
balance.
The first four lessons aboard ship Will
be devoted entirely to mastering this
point of balance The instructor Will
not let go the handles. He will place
his own hard hands over the unaccus-
toned ones of his pupil and direct every
movement of the handle bars. After a
few lessons the pupil will learn this
The rule to turn the handles the way
you are falling is complicated with the
one to notice the lurch of the ship.
Learn to get its motion and insensibiy
you turn your machine to meet 1t. This
is learned in about four lessons on a
rolling boat-fully as many lessons as
envy. But learning on the high seas Is
a great novelty. 1t beats reclining in a
steamer chair all TO death!
These first lessons will all be managed
with the aid of a belt and strap. The in
structor holds the latter to prevent the
pupil from tipping away from him. II
the pupil falls toward him he catches
him. The strap gives feeling of secu-
rity, and the pupil pedals with a conf
dence not born of black and blue spots.
The question of mounting and dis
mounting Is not taught except casually,
as the pupil mounts and gets off. So
when he arrives at shore, he has yet
lesson to take.
The ''road lessons" so necessary to
every learner, are easy things after the
experience aboard ship. The hills and
daies present no terrors. and the ques-
ton OF turning out" has been learned
from the extreme caution necessary in
avoiding the ropes and posts aboard
ship But the car tracks, the wagon
wheels, the ruts and the slippery places
must all get their share of lecturing
from the instructor. But after being
taught at sea, one or two road lessons
will suffice even for the most cautious.
So great Is the cycling craze now that
ship captains are more than willing to
give up part Of the decks TO the exer-
else. And they are perfectly prepared
to stretch ropes, or in other ways fortify
the sides, so that all danger of accident
Is past People in falling from a wheel,
unless in going down Mill, do not take
headers. Tnere WOu4Q Dc no danger or
diving frantically overheard from the
saddle of refractory wheel. When be-
ginners fall they get dump" The
wheel wobbles, they try to catch them
selves, make a wrong movement. and
down they go all in a little heap, with
the bicycle on top, by some strange ar
rangement of things.
The one who really works at these les
sons Is the instructor. He, poor re-
sponsible man, feels IL disgrace to al
low his pupil to fall. And when he takes
a beginner he practically pledges him
self to keep that pupil in the saddle I'M
til he has learned TO keep the saddle for
himself Aboard the ship the first lurch
sends the timid balancer out OF the lit
tie leathern triangle of a saddle plump
into the long-suff ering arms of the in
structor The second lurch sends the
pupil as far the other way, and It is one
fuli lesson before ne learns that the saddle
of a bicycle Is like the saddle of a horse
always ready for you II you are ready
for it, The saddle will hold you If you
will only stick fast to il. But, Oh, dear
IT takes practice before faith in wheels
and leather are developed
The bicycle instructors outfit is kit
of tools for mending a bicycle; a set of
saddles for all tastes, and wheels both
masculine and feminine He has to deal
with people who are not used TO put
4Fnv with everything" ana ha rnuet