The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-08-29
LoNG-DIsTANCE CYCLING HORRORS
Michaels Says Tha. After q Few Miles He
Is HypnOtized

LoNG-DIsTANCE CYCLING HORRORS
Michaels Says Tha. After a Few Miles He
Is Hypnotized
| New York, Aug. 2s.-An untitled grave
seems to be haunting James Michael.
L can't stand long distance riding much
more" the 20-year-old Welsh rarebit said
after his big win from Starbuck in the
thirty-three mile match race at Manhat-
| tan beache Saturday. But the little fell
lows condition and his ability 10 MAIN
tain 1t led MS friends to believe that ne
| must be mistaken. Among racing men
and those wha have kept informed OF
| the long distance work there is the gen.
erai impression thai il doesn't clip
ching off of the three score and ten.
The MN who have watched and studied
claim that before they place any cred
ence in Nichael's morbid talk they mus.
forget the iron frames of Waller, Shoch.
Mason, Ashirger and other long distance
riders. However, Michael believes that
hehas struck the pace that kills. For
six years his energies have been az the
point OF explosion, and during that time
miles. He believes that the patience re-
CURED in training is exhausting, and the
strain in racing cannot be described.
When ne pulls onto the ack and gets
pickup he confesses ne is hypnotiZed by
the rear tire of the pacing machine.
In a letter to the New York Journal
Michael spreads out his woes this way:
Now, rnark the patience required 10
&c. ready for a race. 1 mean the regu-
lar training common 10 most riders; such
training as they will undergo for about
four weeks. First of all, they begin TO
keep regular hours. retiring at or s
o'cl0ck and rising at the next morning,
breGkfasting on beef, toast bread an oc-
casional egg and some tea, after which
they begin exercise Of running or riding.
My system (and 1 believe il is generally
followed. is 10 ride about forty or fifty
miles 10 get up good sweat or else run
across country at a good jog eight or ten
miles, varying that occasionally with
boxing. Then comes Inch, almost en-
tirely &c meats, principally beef, wash
ed down with ale, with never a particle
of vegetables :. short rest after that,
and then little walk and a dog jog.
Then ext thing y dc is 10 get on the
track and wear Gu. dozen or so PAGERS,
as We'll as yourself. Supper follows af
ter the rub down. a stroll for a mile or
two, then rel and a long rest. That is
The daily round. ! nave kept it up day
in and day out for six years. still looking
forward 10 the bright star Of fame.
Think Of the distance 1 have covered
40 airra+
n.onths in the year ride every day on
an average Of sixty miles, doing other
work in the winter equally hard. Now
sixty miles a day for 240 days means a.
400 mics. Just make that $1,000 in
round numbers, and then multiply il by
siX-the number % years l have been
keeping up that clip-and the result Is
90. 900 miles. That represents the dis
lance covered by one who is 20 years OF
age a. the present time, and perhaps not
vel ratured. On occasions l have nd
den $50 miles twentyfour hours in
Wales, and the number Of centuries TO
my credit is almost countless.
The strain mas bene awful. But some
thing stronger than endurance-ambi-
tion-has KEEP. me in the saddle and urg-
ell me On. Perhaps few riders are will
ing TO admit that a race againstrme, If
il is run With al the Vigor a man can
muster, is like fierce fire, raging and
consuming the tissues OF the body. Let
me tell you what have gone through in
a thirty three mile race paced behind
fas. PAGERS. when 1 was in perfect con-
dition | will explain. before going into
details of my experience, that it is al
ways easier TO follow than TO lead, and
for that reason PAGERS are used 10 help
men break distance records. One Wills
along behind each relief like an autumn
leaf sucked 10 il the vacuum Of a rap
idly moving railway train and follows
the leaders
When riding a long distance race he
saws he loses al consciousness of the
scene abou. him, ana is practically hyp-
no:ized by the tire CT the rear wheel Of
his PAGER. AS TIE miles are reeled off,
all Of the sounds ans cheers that fill him
with satisfaction at the start gradually
die our. and me light Of day changes 10
the Gullness CT evening He continues:
a. TWENTY-FIVE miles I have lost all
sense OF rearing, all power 20 think all
feeling. It is almost impossible 20 real
ize tina. am personally responsible for
he speed tina: is carrying NE along be-
hind the racing wheel. ! seem 20 be alb
sou.sly mo.ionless in my limbs, but
am literally flying through the air. II
seems as though l could 60 on forever
AMI tly around the world withou; fatigue.
PAGER after PAGER comes and goes and
ais;urbs me not I ins;incdvely follow
anything that seems 10 be leading me,
and ~. change is made by inS-int- A
thirty miles have occasion 10 cal up al
re endurance and training tina; nave
been ny policy in past years. and then
MY physical self begins 70 come 20 the
rescue. and the body that has never been
deprived o. the benefits q training.
fyl.s i,s way 70 the finish, carrying me-
along.
MEETING OF STRIKE LEADERS
Grea. Preparation. Making fer the Gath
erlny at ~. Louis
S. Louis. No, Aug. 2S.-The resident
-as5- ~ various isbc- organizations {