St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-05

tessors who have ridden few times. He will
usually read anything at first and try every
thing that is advocated but when he has
actually passed the third degree and has
, ''ridden the goat" he turns deaf ear to it
all and sefshly leaves his neighbor to find
it out for himself.
Did you ever compare riding bicycle to
climbing a ladder? The similarity is surpris-
ing, and in order to demonstrate the idea
more forcibly three illustrations are given
herewith showing a man climbing ladder
! in three dierent positions The first posi-
4 tion is represented by A, whose ladder is
y placed in a position almost perpendicular;
his hands are grasping the two rails of the
ladder. AS he proceeds to ascend, step by
step. he has to grasp tightly with his hands
br he will fall backward, because the point
of equilibrium is ahead of his weight or in
other words, his feet are ahead of his body.
His upper-limb muscles doing very much
more than would be necessary should the lad
der be placed at lower angle When he
steps up step he raises his entire weight,
plus the pull, by the grasp of the hands
which pull acts directly upon the muscles
of the back and abdomen helping largely
toward exhaustion. In fact the action of any
Unnecessary muscles tends to exhaustion, and
exhaustion invites encouragement especially
TO a bicycle rider. If A climbs very far his
back or abdomen will be the first to feel the
strain; yet his position on the ladder is about
#]He same as tnat adopted by the average be-
ginner on the bicycle who will continue to
ride in this position unless he be Of an OBJ
serving disposition, or unless some friend
actually teaches him better. Even then he
VIII argue that he mas reason for doing SO
u because 1t appears to be common sense to
sit erect as if riding horseback and (2) be-
cause the machines are built that wav-ex-
cept the racing machines, and of course he
does not want a racing machine or any
r'bending over" He has read too many
articles on the evils of bending over
Now let us look at B. Did you ever stand
at a public stairway and give notice to the
i. position people most always assume when
climbing the stairs? Do So and you will oh
serve that they all lean forward little
slightly bending at the hip joint but not
bending the back. Why is this? Nature tells
us that it makes the work, easier and we
certainly do find it so. The bicycle rider who
has found this position has found the easi-
est position, He can travel more miles in a
day and feel less tired. He has passed into
the second and higher stage of riding bicycle
He now possesses greater possibilities and
his interest in cycling is doubled. He has
MADE discovery; he aspires to take his next
long run with a set of wheelmen who ride
faster and farther than his usual companions
What was only fad to this man has now
taken root in him, and he becomes an enthus-
last. He is criticised by the inexperienced
multitude for becoming a scorcher' or for
cleaning over" but you will notice that in his
riding now he does no pulling or pushing-he
puts his weight simply on his forward foot
Q1ke B., who climbs the LADDER naturally and
more easily.
1t is needless to explain the position as
sumed by c., but it will readily be compared
with the 'scorcher," or rider in racing
form. He largely carries his weight on his
hands and by bending to eXaggeration
""doubles up his lungs, so to speak. thereby,
no doubt, inviting danger. And this is a
l41eaning over" position which writer's do well
i to warn wheelmen against, although these
: writers make mistake in assuming that
there are but two positions, viz, to sit erect
and to lean over. c. make speed, how
ever, in his position, because of less atmos-
pheric friction when riding at high speed, a
thing very essential in racing.
To the rider who sits erect and he is largely
in the majority, here is little practical and
kindly advice. Manage to procure 'front.'
saddle-post a T-post, if you have not one
already. and adjust your saddle forward, say
three four inches. Then exchange your
f'raised' handle bars for a drop -bar-not
s an exaggerated one, but medum-where the
cork handle is about four inches lower than
the middle. Adjust the handles to about four
5 inches below the saddle, then mount your
wheel and try it. You will not take kindly to
1t at first. because the change is so radical
it is a different system altogether. You will
imagine you are going to pitch forward over
the handle-bars you have to lean quite heay-
lily on them instead of pulling on them at
every stroke. This seems Objectionable at
first but as soon as the rider becomes recon