Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1914-12-17
Champion Frank L. Kramer Tells Evening
Star Readers the Way TO Become
a Racing Cyclist.

A young man, Louis F. Noma by
name. who Is ambitious to become
a racing cyclist, has written to the
Evening Star asking for information
on the subject. His letter is brief,
but it is difficult one to answer. In
order to give the young man the best
expert advice on the subject, the Eve
ming Star requested Frank L. Kra-
mer, the champion, to answer the
letter. Following is the answer as
prepared by tho worlds greatest cy-
clist:
How can I become cyclist?''
Well, that question, in the way it is
put, is rather amusing. for in the
language used by the writer he evil
IDENTIFY thinks that in order to become
a cyclist all that is necessary to know
Is the proper way of going about it.
ANY young man in good health might
become a cyclist, but the degree of his
success would depend entirely upon
the amount of natural ability he
possessed. 1 believe that any young
man can, by prolonged training, at
tain q certain amount of endurance
and speed, but ninety-nine out of one
hundred will reach only certain
point, while the hundredth will de-
velop into, say, better than the av-
or, maybe, ten thousand, will become
q star.
The simplest and probably the lest
advice can give the young man is
to ride, ride, ride, and then, after a
year or so, IL he has shown ability,
following the set rules of training,
would put him in good racing form
| and enable him to attain the limit
of his speed. II the young man has
never ridden wheel much, then the
first thing for him to do is to build
/ I'D the muscles required for racing
These muscles are entirely different
from those used in any other sport
! and the only way they can be devel-
oped is by lot of hard work on 8
wheel. If person has never engaged
! in any sport, his chance of success in
cycling Is better than il he had in
dulged in running, hurdling, jump
| ing, baseball swimming or any other
form of sport, for every sport devel-
OPS the muscles in different way
and 1t is hard to divert them to the
requirements of cycling. Arthur
Kopp, the Prudential sprinter, Is ar
excellent example OF the runner try
ing TO become cyclist. Kopp is g
beautifully built lad and to look al
him one would think that he would
mako q great rider. He has pail
of clean-cut limbs and a deep chest
and is trinity built from his head
to his ankles, but he will never in the
world be a star bike rider. Kopp is
a very good runner, and probably had
he devoted the time spent in track
games to cycling he would have been
q star cyclist, or, at least, good
oycliet.
o
One never can tell how successful
9 new rider will become. Cyclists
are built along every conceivable line
and there is no particular pattern foI
sprinters, pace-followers or six-day
riders. There Is Percy Lawrence, as
thin as a rail and apparently without
q muscle in his body, yet he can &c
through six-day races of the hardest
kind, while Frank Cavanagh, YER
table Hercules, cannot last over two
days In q continuous race. I received
a letter one time from a young mar
in which he gave all Of his measure
ments and asked me to tell him Il
he would make a bicycle rider. THAI
letter was as impossible to answer a:
the one am answering now That
young man might have become
champion and he might never have
been able to win novice race
C
Nearly every successful rider hai
started out by riding on the road
The first sign of natural ability IL
when one. youngster can outdistanc'
his fellows who have been riding thu
same length of time. Anyone jus
starting could come up TO the Velo
drome and do just what the profes
sionals do in the way OF training and
learn q lot about the sport at thu
same time, but believe that the bes
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