The record-union., 1898-10-01
OF INTEREST TO CYCLISTS.
THE BREAK FROM THE L. A. w.
DISTRICT ORGANIZATIONS.
An Octogenarian Rider-Accident
Risks-C1eaning the Chain
How to Train.

u. -. meets in San francisco to- Nd ght
to decide whether the California Asso-
ciated Cycling Clubs will grants the ap-
| peal of the Eastern Racing Cyclists
Association, just organized, and take
| charge of all wheel racing in the Unit
| ed States. The Sacramento delegates
| will vote no. That should be the de-
| cision of the board, and we believe it
| will be. 1t is too big a job for the
| G. A. c. G. to undertake to control all
wheel racing. We have not the ma
chinery for it; we are too far from
the East; we would lose our identity
and title and be involved in endless
cost and trouble. Let sections organize
as California has done, with Washing
| ton, Oregon and Nevada. Let the
| South, East, West and center of the
nation organize district associations,
each with regulations adapted to the
| tastes of the people. These can by
| comfy Of interest well recognize each
other, and even may meet in national
| council Thus conflicts Of sentiment
| will be avoided, each section be ac-
| commodated, and wheel racing be pro-
moted as EACH particular. section de-
| sires.
| The L. A. w. officials clearly over
shot the mark in Furnishing riders for
| training. on, blacklisted tracks The re-
suit is a bolt and the organization of
| al distinct racing association. We have
| no faith in it's permanency, however.
Racing men have tried that methed be-
| fore, and 1t has failed. There is not
enough of fraternal interest to give
| such associations cohesive strength.
| But district associations of friends of
wheel racing can be made to succeed
witness the G.. A. C. G.
| New York Tribune: One afternoon
| last week a gray-haired man, slightly
| bent with years, boarded a ferry boat
running from Broadway in Brooklyn
to Twenty-third street in Manhattan.
Al number Of cyclists stood at the front
end of the ferry boat, and with one
of them, a, young man of the scorcher
! type, the old man made himself ac-
| quainted
What kind of a wheel do you ride?''
he said gently.
| They Immediately fell to comparing
notes as if they were brothers. The
old man wore al somewhat shabby bust
his boots with rubber bands.
Say he said at length, do you
think I'd look too funny in knicker-
bockers?" There was a plaintive tim
| idity in the query that attracted gem
eral attention from the surrounding 6
| group.
Nav" said the. scorcher promptly
| and encouragingly You orter do it.
Sure. Everybody does it. And say,
you cud git such gait on you wouldn' t
know yerself if yer wore der knicks'
That's just what 1 think said the
| old man, but my wife insists that I
would look ridiculous I think I'll do
it, though. I'll be so years old next
month, but when / get on my wheel I
feel like a boy. Anyhow, a man is only
| as old as he feels, and I'm sure 1 feei
young enough for knickerbockers."
| The scorcher applauded this notion,
| and the two left the ferry boat to-
! gether, the old man remarking that
| the only trouble he had with his wheel
was in mounting. He had to mount
| from the curbing, like a woman. The
scorcher agreed to teach him the pedal
mount in five minutes, and the two
| rode UP Twenty-third street over the
| cobblestones and disappeared in the
| throng of homebound trucks. The oc-
| togenarian was a cousin Of one of the
wealthiest citizens New York ever had.
! and who at the time of his death had
| more power in railroad circles than any
other man in the world
An analysis of 800 accident policies
| paid during the last year in England
shows that 260 people were injured by
falls on pavements, 121 by carriages,
| cabs or carts, thirty-two by bites or
kicks from horses, twenty-three by falls
when riding horses, fifty-eight had cuts
caused by edged tools or gears, on
| forty-eight weights fell, thirty-six
were injured by falling downstairs, a
| few by miscellaneous accidents, and
only thirty-six by bicycle accidents.
A veteran dealer gives this advice:
when cleaning the chain of bicycle,
be careful not to practice the general
| habit Of turning the cycle upside
down and holding a rag on the chain
with one hand while turning the pedal
with the other, as many nasty acci-
dents have happened in this way,
| through the rag catching in the chain
and drawing the fingers of the opera
| tor in with it. The accumulation of
| dust and grit upon a chain may cas-
| lily be removed by using stiff brush.
| This tip may save a crushed hand or
| the loss Of a finger"
Never turn a sharp corner or pass a
crossroad without giving some warn
iru oh
doctors have grown wealthy from the
fees they have received from reckless
| riders who have failed to take these
precautions.
An Englishman has recently invent
ed a combined cycle pump and pres
sure gauge which IS said to do its work
well. The pump is an ordinary L.
inch inflater, with telescope handle.
On the side and at the rubber tube
end is cylinder five inches long and
half an inch in exterior diameter, which
is firmly united to and parallel with the
pump barrel. In this cylinder is a
bucket piston, which, as the pump is
worked, energies from it, and by its
position on a gauge at the rifle OF the
| main pump barrel registers the pres
sure to which the tire is inflated from
ten to sixty pounds.
H. S. Cornish: A man should train
fully three weeks before he makes trials
in any branch of sport. If he is train
ing for a long distance race only one
trial at the full distance should be
run, and that should be taken at least
four days before the date Of the act
ual contest In short-distance running.