The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-08
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n any one fancies that the metropolitan biey-
Gle girl Is too much absorbed with wheeling to
read the newspapers and keep pace with current
affairs 1t Is because he doesn't know her. what
ever concerns cycling In particular always In
terests her deeply. In the last ten days many
OF the bright, up-to-date wheelwomsn have lost q
good deal Of their customary cheerfulness. and
their conversation explains the change. One
day last week half q dozen young women dis
mounted at q wheelmen's resort on the Boule-
ward and took seats at one end Of the iuclosurA
"IfI could get $40 for my wheel. I'd sell 1t to-
morrow" exclaimed one of the girls. who owns
q fulLnickeled bicycle.
And I would sell mine for SIS II I could get
cash." declared the possessor Of . new high
grade 81 model.
well. WELT what's all this abouti Going
to Klondike, or what r. asked one OF the wheel.
men in the company.
I'm going nownere at present." replied one
of the dissatisfied women, but 10 l should care to
GO somewhere later I want to be sure Of having
A sound and whole body left to take along. l
mean that 1 am tired Of riskinR my life and
limbs on a bicycle. Some rider gets killed
around here almost every day, and the number
who suffer with a broken ankle or leg or arm
or collar bone is large enough 10 make me trem-
bic every time I'm on the road"
you are taking the matter too seriously"
said an experienced mlddle-sged rider. Acct
dents very seldom befall persons who thoroughly
understand how to ride. Hone inds that she Is
n poor rider or allows herself to get nervous and
become reckless, she ought never to use a bicycle
/ thereafter; but o steady and skilful cyclist has
very little to fear"
1T seems to me" continued the woman. that
the most skilful riders are usually the ones who
get injured. Take the case Of the couple on q
tandem down in Matawan. y. ]. Both were
clever riders. but one Of them tried to turn out
for q pedestrian. and the other. not seeing the
person on foot. tried to steer straight ahead. As
a result they struck a post and one rider had
his head cut open and his nose broken.
How could skill have avoided thati The
other day another cyclist in Railway
ran into a carriage which came upon him
suddenly, and one of the shafts was
pushed between his ribs and through his heart.
Skill couldn't have helped the wheelman in that
case. A cyclist in Plainteld caught his trousers
in the chain of his wheel and was thrown on his
head and killed. Additional skill would have
done him no good. A woman in Philadelphia
had three ribs and her skull fractured one day
this week and was taken to a hospital in 4 dying
condition. She was only trying TO pa SIS between
q wagon and the curb, the same as all OF y 5 have
to do many times every day. All the skill in the
world would have done her very little good
under the circumstances. But take the serious
mishaps right here in his city. Only last night a
woman ran into u curbstone on Lexington ave
nue., was thrown OF her bike and broke her right
leg: and a little Later IN the evening atandem. on
which were a man and a woman. colliGed with a
single wheel on Fifth avenue, and all three
riders were thrown in a heap right in front OF a
trolley car going at tull speed: They were
stunned by the fall and unable 70 move. and
from the PROSTATE cyclists. When a rider has
10 contend with impertinent and ru rianly
drivers and cable cars and scorchers and run.
away horses and wet pavements and savage
dogs ami u hundred and one other things, it is
going 10 quit the wheel altogether"
And I'm either going to quit or stop reading
the newspapers, put IN another OF the group;
crazy antics Of drivers my wheel will so into the
attic and stay there" declared a third.
By that time tie antt-wheelt feeling affected
all the women present. and lust then person
with a little spot cash could PROBABLY have
bought six hrstclass wheels Mt his own price.
But the women were willing 20 hear reason on
the subject, and they heard some sense without
Now. see here" began a stout. pleasant
faced man who has wheeled for years and knows
a bicycle from A to z, II women would take
with more comfort. As a mattero Of fact. cycling
is no more dangerous than any other sport. and
the bicyclist Is safer, l believe, than the person
who drives a horse or even the pedestrian.
Seven-eighths OF the ,wheelmen and wheel
long to one or the other OF three classes: those
who haven't been instructed properly in han
ding a wheel. those VINO are needless ana take
extraordinary risks. and those who are con.
stantIy worrying about what has happened
to other riders and what may happen to
themselves A. any minute. A woman who
is always thinking about the dangers tina,
may await her neglects to notice her imme diate
surroundings. and u team or another wheel is
liable to come along quickly and collide with her
before can get out of the way. Women fret too
much anyway: they are usually nervous. and
when they mount n wheel they imagine all sorts
OF things are going 20 take place and betome
needlessly Cautious. 4 writer 10 the american
CVrtist says that 100 much Cautiousness amounts
almost TO a disease anu makes a person murose
and groutv. Because a lot of bicycle accidents
occur in New York city each week is no sign that
the wheel !s a death dealer to every body,
There were not more than half rs m ny acci.
dents in this city during the month OF July as
there were in Chicago, and no more in pro
portion to the population than In any other
| town or city in the Unite! States. The number
OF fatalities in New York that have resulted
directly from wheeling probably has not ex
Ceeded three or four a month since the yeal
began. and that's a pretty small. average in q
place with at least lOO.OOO bicyciists. My ad'
vice TO women who are afraid 70 wheel is TO taxi
things easy and stop worrying
The fair listeners thanked their companion fol
his advice and concluIed 70 keep their wheels
while longer and 10 try and avoid unnecessary
anxiety in the future.