Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-08-11
CYCLING.

strength Twice as mucn as Is HeCeSSdiy
because their instruction was received
in the street and their education left
unfinished. Many riders are to be seen
nowadays swaying their bodies from
side to side as they thrust first on one
pedal and then on the other, till their
motion resembles that OF walking
beam on a steamboat. 1t should be i'm
pressed upon them that the hall mark
of a finished rider is a motionless body.
One of the first things that the French
remarked about Major Taylor was that.
like Zimmerman and all the great
riders he did not move his body. Road
riders should sit low enough to do
all the work with the legs.
How tremendous is the wear and tear
upon the ordinary bicycle chain is but
little appreciated by cyclists. c. X.
Garrard, an English expert OF much
reputation, has analysed the subject
carefully and the results obtained by
him are calculated to make the ordin-
airy rider who thinks to take off his
hat to the claim and thereafter treat
it more kindly and politely. England
has not as yet adopted the chainless
Wheel to any extent and Garrard makes
no plea for them, yet the facts he cites
constitute the most convincing argu-
ment for the covered bevel gears that
could be asked for. He says
"If we reflect we must see that the
chains work under the worst conditions
that any mechanical device having
bearings possibly could, namely: Oil,
wet, grit (such as flint, silicon, etc.,
some 10 working joints, 10 working
rolelrs and $50 separate pieces in all,
loaded and jerked alternately from
zero to 600 pounds. The area of a riv-
cts working surface is generally 0i8
o ia square inch, and therefore the
pressure often rises to 1875 900 pounds
OF over 81 tons per square inch. When
each riyet and sleeve have worn .003
the chain will have become over five
eighths of an inch longer thereby"
If one does not understand the trick
of counteracting the effects of vlbra-
ton, so far as the hands and arms
are subjected to it, or if one has not
ridden often or long enough to harden
the muscles of the wrists and forearms,
vibration is drawback to the pleasure
ly discourage and tire the unseasoned
and inexperienced rider The tendency
of nearly all riders is to lean heavily
on the handle bar, shifting the posi-
ton of the hand now and then from
the grips to a point nearer the steering
post as a means of rest and relief Per-
haps this is the error most commonly
fallen into and most persistently COM
hx, NJJ viI
it is all right, particularly after climb
ing long, steep hill, to rest the back
by leaning on the handle bar This
should be done, however, for but
few minutes at most. Except in six
day contests or the like, the bar should
never be used as a rest. 1t is prop
erly the steering gear of the wheel,
and should be so employed. Let the
strain of the slightly inclined position
Of the body--which is correct-be
borne by the back and loins. Barely
touch the handle bar with the fingers.
By so doing you will avoid cramped
wrists, tingling muscles and eventually
headache.
The man who thinks the "bicycle has
passed its period of popularity" should
drop into Buffalo just about this time.
That there is no lack of evidence near
er home to prove his idea is wrong
one, but Buffalo is city of all others
this season to cover the cycling pessim-
list with confusion, for there is a verit-
able confusion of wheels froIa 20
o'clock in the afternoon until well on
toward midnight. Main street. from
Exchange street to the exposition, as
we'll as all of the many fine routes to
the suburban districts, Is to-day one
big cycle path. Until shutdown there
is never-ending jangle of bells and
an unbroken line, or rather two lines,
of cyclists-coming and going. After
nightfall the tinkle of the bells is sup
plemented by the flash of myriacs OF
lanterns, which add not little to the
scene of life and activity of the big
Pan-American show There is scarcely
a shop, billiard hall, restaurant. hotsl
or mercantile house on Main and other
business streets that has not provided
one or more bicycle racks near the
curb in front of its doors, and in these
racks, during the afternoon and early
evening hours, stand hundreds upon
hundreds of wheels, in addition to the
thousands of others that are to be seen
moving along the same thoroughfare.
Always, since the advent of the bicycle
a great cycling center, Buffalo this
year, with the ranks of its home riders
tremendously augmented by touring
parties from nearby and distant towns
and cities, promises to roll up an ag-
gregate mileage which. if it could be
computed with any degree of accuracy,
would be very sure to far surpass that
of any city of several times its popula-
ton. The cycling ''croaker' who Wis
it's Buffalo during the present summer
would, in all probability. quickly find
himself uttering those historic words,
slightly perverted, 1t is true, but still
applicable 1.-THE wheel is dead; long
live the wheel"
Don Smith and George Kock will ride
for the so-called championship of West
Virginia at Wheeling Park August 81.
The distance is to be two miles on the
Park track, only one heat, not the best
two out of three as at first reported.
1t is rather too early to predict the
winner. but 1t goes without saying that
the victor will know that he has been
in a race.
Both boys are good sprinters, and
>r4ho,,nh Koch has hepn riding longer,