The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-10-13
BICYCLE SENSE.
Timely Swords ON the Use and Abuse OF
the Wheel.

An editorial writer in the New York
Ledger wisely says:
The man or woman who owns and rides
a bicycle for the pleasure of the outings
it makes possible, has within reach also
q means of health not to be ignored or
overlooked. To ride five, ten or twenty
miles at fine, easy pace, enjoying the
scenery, absorbing vitality with every
breath and laying up store of strength
against the time of need is to make
most practical inventions of modern
times. But the rider who ''scorches, -
the century runner, the over-smart rider
who boasts of taking hills and hard
places, who taxes his powers of endur-
ance In every way, who declares he never
takes cold from standing in a current of
air after taking long, hard ride, who,
in fact, violates every rule of law and
common sense and sets even the instincts
of self-preservation at defiance, Is prepar-
ing for himself a premature grave or a
permanently broken constitution by his
EtohlOSSAosS oAO Aoiiy. Alc is uOlu8 pre-
cisely what the athlete has done and will
continue to do as long as competition,
rivalry and prizes are the incentives.
Our hospitals are peopled with men
suffering from ills brought about by
overstraining the physical powers in ath-
lie tics and violent exercises of all kinds
Paralysis, locomotor ataxia and after q
time senile dementia and the lingering
death that is natural sequence of such a
course, surely present no alluring feat
ures to those who stop to give the subject
a few moments serious consideration, An
English cyclist recently died of what
the doctors called bullock heart' The
heart is susceptible of enlargement by
certain forms of exertion. The normal
pulse is about u. Long distance riding
brings up the heart beats to 100 and 1876
per minute. This means just SO much over
straining of the heart muscles, and conse-
pumping engine. Naturally the walls of
the heart thioken, and in the case referred
to this organ had increased from the nor
NAL 10 or IL ounces, until 1t weighed a
fraction over two pounds If bicycle RI
ders would take the trouble to study
heart action they could readily notice a
peculiar pounding sensation that comes
in and about the ears after n long and
hard bit Of riding, especially in hill
climbing This pounding is the danger
signal sounded by that overtaxed bit of
the human machine the heart. It means
trouble ahead. and should never pass un
needed. AT its first appearance a pause
is imperative. If the health is to be pre-
served the greatest discretion must be
used in overtaxing this most important
of all portions of the body. ga bad
heart is perpetual handicap. The far
seeing physician knows long enough be-
fore he warns his patient that the lease
of life is most imperfectiy drawn when
the heart action is faulty or it's functions
are seriously disturbed. Nature Is an
inexorable creditor, and not only exaots
the last cent with compound interest, but
is a veritable Shylock, taking the pound
of flesh, regardless of results to the debt
or. Youth and early maturity in the pride
of their strength only laugh at the re-
heated warnings and the cautions of
those who have suffered. They seem ut
terly incapableaz of realizing the posi-
bility of failure or injury in their own
cases. They glory in their apparently ex-
haustless vitality, and perform prodigies
of labor, continuing in what they believe
to be well doing until suddenly their
endurance gives way and they find them
selves totally wrecked. The only conso.
lation in life left them is their opportu-
nifty to bewail their misfortune and de-
clare that they did not know, and could
NOT credit the statement of those who
tried to save them from the consequences
of their own folly.