The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-05
COSTUMES FOR BICYCLE GIRLS.
They Will Be a Feature in the Min
neapOIis Cycle Show.


The work on the bicycle track to be
used in the coming cycle show at the
Exposition building was begun yester-
day. 1t will be one of the best and fast
est tracks ever put UP in this country
for indoor work. The curves will be
raised to scientifically exact height
and there will be but very little differ
ence in the speed of this track and
one that measures a mile from start
to finish
1t appears that there win be from
half dozen to a dozen ladies' bicycle
clubs in Minneapolis this summer. and
four OF them are already organized.
OF the organizations mentioned two will
be cositumed according to the modern
ideas of bicycling requirements in a
costume involving the absence of skirts,
while the other two have adopted as
their costumes a combination suit which
seems to be very fair solution of the
difficulty that has beset cycliennes in
their effort to secure a suitable dress
Tor road wheeling. There are twenty
ladies in each of the clubs, this num-
Der being UP to the limit provided for
charter membership, but it is probable
that before the season is fairly opened
the membership will be much larger,
So far as the knickerbocl1er girls are
concerned, it may be said with all fair
ness that their costumes, though some
what striking from the point Of view
OF Old-t1me conventions, are sufficiently
modest and beyond doubt serviceable.
The young women who will wear them
are above criticism in so far as their
connections in Minneapolis are con-
cerned, and while their appearance in
body will doubtless create some com
ment at the same time the costumes
they will wear are merely a happy mod
lf1catOn Of suits that have been worn
in New York, Boston, Chicago and
even staid Philadelphia for the last two
years. The other two clubs are COM
posed of young women who have de-
cided that the skirt is an indispensa-
bic adjunct to the cycling costume, and
there is good deal to be said in favor
of their decision from the point of view
of mankind
The management Of the cycle show
has arranged to have ON view in the
cycling exhibition which opens on the
18th of the present month, every conbi-
nation of cycling costume that has been
invented up to the present time. Com
petition and rivalry between the var1-
Gus ladies clubs of the city has also
been aroused, and they will turn out
in all the glory and neWness of 1897
regalia, riding to the exposition ON their
wheels and exhibiting their costumes to
the many people who will be interested
in seeing them. 1t is probable that
ladies' wheeling organization, including
not alone the riders of Minneapolis and
st. Paul, but also those of the North
west, may be included in the pro-
gramme of undertakings in connection
with the big show. The large number Of
women who have taken to bicycling
within the last three years makes net
essary, or at least desirable, some sort
of organization to be composed excIu-
e,fx
them the same protection and some at
least Of the privileges which are ac-
corded to their brothers and husbands
through association with the League OF
American Wheelmen. The scope of the
proposed organization has not vet been
clearly outlined, but at least it is likely
that some sort of wOmen'S club, EN-,
bracing the whole of Minneapolis will be
formed during the week of the cycle
show.
There is also talk among the profess
sional women riders of forming a pro.
fessional Womans racing association,
including in its scope all the profess
sional women riders in the United
States. The riders claim that on sew
eral occasions they have been defrauded
of their just earnings by an unscrIIpu-
lous management, and they propose 20
organize sort of union for mutual pro-
lection
The sale of space in all departments
of the show has been eminentiy
satisfactory. There is now but very lit
y tie space remaining in the pure food
department, the demand for corners
having been so lively that those in
charge of the food exhibition have had
little else to do than name their terms
and take the money.
The dog show is an assured success.
Entries are coming in at a rate thai
leaves no doubt on this point, and it
is probable that the most attractive
exhibition of canine interests ever
seen in the Northwest will be thar
opened at the exposition building sim
ultaneously with the Minneapolis cycle
show.