The herald., 1896-11-16
THE WHEEL.

John s. johnson is certainly wonder
full rider. Though never much of sue
cess on the path in the capacity of race
winner, he has tremendous amount of
speed and endurance. At Nashville the
other day he rode a paced quarter of a
mile in 20 seconds. This is at the rate of
1920 for the mile, and is astonishing fast
time. johnson and Michael are no doubt
the very fastest pair of riders in the
world behind pacemakers, but they can
not begin to compare with Butler and
Cooper in competition.
1t has been questioned whether Tom
and Nat Butler will be able to hold their
own against the French professionals on
the other side. A gentleman now in this
country, who gave racing in France his
personal inspection a few months ago,
says that the Buffers, the orange-clad
riders have little chance with the men
against whom they must compete. He
argues that an American rider does not
understand the language, which enables
the foreigners to concoct schemes 100
feet from the finish without betraying
their plans to the American riders. That
may be all right with some, but Tom
Butler is an original being. He had the
same kind of tricks played upon him on
the circuit this year. The reason Butler
rides so far forward on his saddle is to
give him an opportunity to look under
his arm and watch those around him.
He needs no warning. When contest
ant jumps, Butler sees him in minute
and is away just as quickly. The French
riders may be foxy but Tom Butler and
his brother Nat are not to be caught
mapping.
If anybody has ridden bicycle around
a track and cut his own pace, he may
have a slight idea what fast unpaced
mile means. When C. r. Coulter at
Denver covered a mile in :59 1-5, the
fastest rider has ever ridden this dis
tance without pacemakers, it was per-
formance entitled to the highest COM
mendation. The feat is remarkable.
Miles under 80 are of rather frequent
occurrence, but when a rider gets down
to condition which enables him to cut
the wind for mile in 1:59 1-5. he is
capable of a performance that approXi-
mates paced mile in :25, and there are
only two men who have ever reached
these figures.
Consul George L. Parker writes to the
department of state at Washington from
Birmingham. England, that the trade
with the United States in cycle materi-
ais continues to decline. The steel-tube
trade reached it's highest development
during the December quarter in 1895,
when tubes to the value of $251 ,651 We're
sent to the United States. During the
June quarter tubes to the value of $50, ,253
were shipped, and for the quarter ended
September 80 last, shipments We're re-
duced to $67,7S7. Many of the contracts
made by American cycle makers have
expired and others are running out and
Mr. Parker is of the opinion that trade
in these products will practically cease
by the end of 1897. No complete bicycles
have been sent to the United States from
Birmingham for some time. On the
other hand, a good many American ma
chimes have been sold in the Birming-
ham district. 1t is not safe to predict
how long this demand will continue, but
as trade conditions have improved gen.
orally during the past year, 1t is likely
tnat a considerable number of machines