The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-12
NEWS OF THE wHEELMEN.
REPORTS OF THE CONDITION OF
ROADS RECEIVED BIZ THE l.. a. ".

hncipE WWn Vgouln Like TO see tire NurnheT
OF Riders Restrictsa IN Trial sna Bisai
Heats-BepG Distauce naces en- the Deciinc
In Observation-Disclosures Mett's Bsllotip.
The following road reports were received at
the l.. A. w. headquarters yesterday:
Manhattan and Nearby Places-sevcnth avenue IL
in good condition. and st. Nicholas avenue from
l2bth street north is fair. The roadways Of Central
Park, Riverside Drive, and the Riverside Cycle Path
are all good. Lenox avenue and 10th street en-.
trance to Central Park 10 very poor. Cyclists are ad'
vised to take the Seventh avenue entrance, whore
asphalt connections may be made with cross.
town routes on the west side. Washington
Heights roads are reported in good shape. ex.
cept in places where repairs are needed.
Featherbed lane IL in poor condition. West.
ern Boulevard needs top dressing from l9sth street
up. hacadam roads OF Kingsbrdge are good. but
need scraplng; earth roads fair. At Yonkers the
macadam roads are good. but earth roads are poor.
Macadam roads OF Hastings on.Hudson are fair to
good, hut earth roads are poor. At Dobbs Ferry the
macadam roads are in fair condition; earth roads soft
and rutty. The macadam roads Of Tarrytown arc
fair TO good; earth roads rutty. AT Sing Sing
the macadam roads are only fair; earth roads
rough and In places very muddy. Between Tarry-
town and Sing Sing they are poor. At Mat
teawan the earth roads are fair. At Chappaqua
the earth roads are reported unridable. At
Brewster the earth roads are muddy. The Harlem
and Westchester macsdam roads are fair; earth
roads fair. The roads from Harlem to Fort schuyler
are in good condition. The Pelham Bay Park and City
Island road Is good. The roads from the west side to
westchestera are In ridable condition. The West Farms
macadam roads are good, but earth roads are only
fair. At New Rochelle the macadam roads are fair.
but earth roads poor. The macadam roads at Port
Chester arc fair.
Brooklyn and Long Island.-Tho roads in Prospect
Park are not what they should be. The old cycle path
is poor, but the return path Is good. Fort Hamilton.
Fourth. Seventh. Dyker Park, Cropsey. Eighteenth.
and Twenty second avenues. and Sixtieth and Sew.
enty. ninth streets are all good. The Merrlck and
Jamaica roads are ridabie. Lawrence macadam
roads are good, but earth roads arc heavy. The road
to the Roadway Hunt Club 10 In nne condition. also
to Lawrence Beach. Far Rockaway macadam roads
are excellent and earth roads are GOOD. The maca.
dam road at Rockville Centre is good. but earth roads
are rough. College Point to milestone 10 poor for
half the distance. Roads from Flushing to white
stone and Whitestone to willets Point are fine.
Northport earth roads are fair. At Port Jefferson
the frost is not out Of the ground, aud there win be
no riding for a week to come. PASSPORT earth roads
are muddy. To Riverhead, for eight miles, the roads
arc muddy.
West OF the Hudson River.-From Haverstraw
through Stony Point TO Tompkins Cove the roads are
good. The macadam roads in Tompkins Cove are re.
ported good. but the earth roads are poor. There are
no macadam roads at Fort Montgomery. The earth
roads are in poor shape. and in all probability will
remain so until the frost is out OF the ground. The
macadam roads at Highland Falls are good. Tho
earth roads at Turner's are fair and muddy in places.
Middletown macadam roads are good In the city, but
bad In the country. The road to Bloomingburg Is fair.
New Jersey The work on the northern loop Of the
Hudson County Boulevard Ia completed to Wood
cliff; the other portion is good. The macadam roads
OF Newrrk are fair. but earth roads are very poor.
The roads OF E~nglewood are in poor condition. In
the Oranges the macadam roads are good and earth
roads fair. AtLakc Hopatcong and vicinity the mao
adam roads are excellent; the earth roads are drying
tr upifIy - ~ rt.--
Railway. Plainneld. and New Brunswick are good.
The macadam thoroughfares of Trenton are fair, but
earth roads are poor. At Freehold the earth roads
are all rough, but at Lakewood the earth roads are
good.
Last years racing season was marked by q
number Of accidents to riders. As a conse- |
quence the latter feel that the Racing Board of
the l. A. W.. in its revision of the race rules.
should restrict the number of riders in trial and
final heats. 1t is admitted that some Of the now
tracks will admit Of large fields, but a ruling on |
the number of starters could be made to conform
with the size Of the tracks. 1t is seldom that |
noted professional riders meet with accidents.
The reason Of this is apparent. They
compete in open events, where the on;
1t 10 at local meets, where the entries are large
and the fields OF starters inexperienced, that
quent was tie list of casualties at some meet
ings last year that the promoters kept a rhy-
possibility of accident. according to experienced
riders, Is comparatively small so long as there is
taking.
The y. c. U. OF England intends to take a firm
stand in relation to racing on public highways
follows:
No licensed rider may race or pace in any contest
local. The term " taking part In " aDDlipa In DOlriala |
acting In connection with such . race. such as the
record attempt" Is meant t"a any yn1 paced attempt Ss mP"s ss
worlds record, amateur record. piace;topiace. club
@ asyun S56sG or med dIdsrs & as Ssdts or u s|.,ssd. going loF
must be for standard medals only; and If there be
Of ostensibIe medal hunters startling on the same day
the rids becomes a race. and is therefore an infringe
H 1ss GoTSm is r. any ", Te S.a being n; made TO evsde This rule,
according TO the spirit OF the rule.
There is a general feeling that the L. A. w.
could take similar steps, and earn the common.
dation of its members.
The organization of track and r~ace-promoting
associations this year will. 1t is expected. result
Each track intends to secure possession Of its
S SSrr m M en- ISs and maintain AZ S teams: Opinions
The asS9 q ths huge sifx:seated machines. - manned iapSi
has been some talk of restricting the use of tho
TO certain types. This plan is not re.
garded fayorably. ". b. Cash, a Chicago
rider, In talking on tho question Of prohibiting
the use OF CUNTS and sextets In middle and
long distance paced races. says:
The only reason stated In favor of such q
is that large machines are more dan
gerous. Statistics show, however, that acci.
dents have been no more FREQUENT with quintets
and al sexLets than with smaller machines. Large
machines are much moro interesting to tho
public. and That they are faster is proven by the
iact that they were used in all our middle-dis-
lance paced races last year. They are much
more expensive. both in original cost and I'm
expenses than the smaller ones. and
they were, not faster this additional expense
would certainly not have been encouraged by Inc
managers of our middle-distance men. They have
been and Will be used very extensively In Europe.
and II the l.; A. w. should discriminate against
them 1t would result In all paced records aoin9
across the Atlantic: Such action on the part OF
the League would. | believe. be against the best
interests of the organization; against bioycIe
racing as a sport. and against the wishes and
interest OF every one who Is interested in bicycle
racing, except those few who wish to controi
cycle racing, without the necessary expenses