The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-06-14
SOME BICYCLE CHAT
FROM MANY SOURCES
Facts Of Interest TO Riders Of
Both Sexes.
ATHLETIC FHArs ON THE WHEEL
Riding n Tight Rope Is Really a
Commonplace Trick So som ething
New About Pedals and the Feet.
New system for Repairing a Single
Tube--BicycIe Mechanics Views
on the '97 wheeI--Cycling from a
Medical Standpoint.

Athletic feats on bicycles are becom-
ing common. Nearly every circus has
its riders who traverse a tight rope
mounted upon wheels. The feat is not
as difficult as it seems, as the wheels
are generally fitted with q grooved
tire fitting the rope snugly. Nerve and
a fair degree of skill are almost all
the requirements for such exploits.
Several years ago a bicycist crossed
Niagara river, just below the falls,
on a tight rore. The show was COM
monplace. however, and attracted lit
tie attention. Shooting the chutes"
on wheel has Leen a performance
that attracted considerable notice
here last year. Starting from a level
platform, the rider strikes the incline.
which is made slippery with a constant
How of water and glides downward a
distanca of 300 feet 70 an artificial
pond on the ground level Here the
wheel balks and the rider takes a
header into the water and emerges
unarmed. There is a very simple trick
In this performance which any one
may learn in a half dozen trials. Haz-
ardous though it may appear to the
uninitiated, it is really attended with
little risk of injury to an active man
or woman. 1t is a catchy perform
ance.
Almost every bicycler believes that
as he rides his wheel his foot swings
backward with the pedal. He thinks
tie fan I,
lowing the pedals around, and that
they move backward and forward just
as much as they move up and down.
| This. it has now been found by careful
measurement, is quite a. mistake.
from the time you mount your wheel
until you dismount your feet never
move backward. They are constantly
moving forward, not in circles, but
in a series of curves. The reason for
this is that as your foot swings under
the crank shaft the bicycle moves for
ward much more rapidly than the ped
al swings back. The result is a con-
slant forward movement. While your
foot moves backward in relation to
your body, yet 1t moves more rapidly
than the pedal swings back, The re-
suit is a constant forward movement.
While your foot moves backward in
relation to your body, yet it moves
more rapidly forward in relation to
the ground. 1t has been. found by
testing a bicycle with ordinary gear
that the wheels make two and one
quarter revolutions to one revolution
of the pedals. If the bicycle were sus-
pended in the air your feet would
move backward just as much as II
moved forward, and upward to just
the extent that 1t moved downward,
in describing a series of perfect cir
cles, but in relation to the ground OF
any fixed point neither one of your feet
moves backward from the time you
start your bicycle until you stop.
physiology and Pathology of Cyc-
ling" was the subject of discussion OF
the meeting of the medical session OF
the Buffalo Academy of Medicine re-
Gently. The consensus of opinion oi
the physicians assembled seemed to be
that the wheel is an aid to mankind
not a detriment, If used in moderation
Cycling was pronounced beneficial tC
the nervous system and an aid to the
lungs and digestive organs. The prac
titioners who spoke did not make rash
statements to this effect, but gave
striking examples of the evils of over
indulgence in cycling, principally by
weak subjects. Riding just before and
Immediately after meals was con
demned. DIR. Woods Hutchinson gave
little talk on his observations. H,
was closely connected with a gymnas
ium in the west at the opening of tht
bicycling craze and shared in the pre-
judice against wheeling at the start
especially in the case of the growing
boy. The chief objections, to his mind
were the monkey on -a-stick" position
the fast pace maintained without prep
, aration by training, and rivalry tina
led up to extra exertion to outdo 9th
ers. Constant study since that earl,
| period had demonstrated that a grad
ual change has come over the relation
of wheel and rider The question o
the wheel was not so much the prin
, cipal thing as the physical condition
and abilities of the rider. The oil
bumped position had, in the majorit
of cases, given place to the easier, NOR
| healthful position on the saddle, an
, the effect of cycling pursued under ex
: listing reforms was to elevate the grad
of physical form. All the doctors eau
| toned expressly against scorchinl
l sprinting and long distance rides b
, those not prepared by training for sue
5 work. One and all agreed that cycl
t racing probably taxed the system
t a greater extent than any other branc
of sport, boxing, wrestling and other
3 included. There was no reason VIII
1 any one should not ride.