JOHN MAYALL, JUNIOR 69 



master and his staff, he rode about the platform, 

 dodging the pillars, and narrowly escaping a fall on 

 to the rails, until the London train came in. 



On Wednesday, February 17th. Mayall. Rowley B. 

 Turner, and Charles Spencer, all three on velocipedes, 

 started from Trafalgar Square for Brighton. The 

 party kept together until Redhill was reached, when 

 Mayall took the lead, and eventually reached Brighton 

 alone. The time occupied was " about ' twelve 

 hours. Being a photographer, Mayall of course 

 caused himself to be photographed standing beside 

 the instrument of torture on which he made that 

 weary ride, and thus we have preserved to us the 

 weird spectacle he presented : more like that of a 

 Russian convict than an athletic young Englishman. 

 A peaked cap, an attenuated frock-coat, very tight 

 in the waist, and stiff and shiny leather leggings, 

 completed a costume strange enough to make a modern 

 cyclist shudder. Fearful whiskers and oily-looking 

 long hair add to the strangeness of this historic 

 figure. 



With this exploit athletic competition began, and 

 the long series of modern " records " on the Brighton 

 Road were set a-going, for during the March of that 

 year two once well-known amateur pedestrian members 

 of the Stock Exchange, W. M. and H. J. Chinnery, 

 walked down to Brighton in 11 hrs. 25 mins., and on 

 April 14th C. A. Booth bettered Mayall 's adventure, 

 riding down on a velocipede in 9 hrs. 30 mins. 



Then came the Amateur Bicycle Club's race, 

 September 19th, 1872. By that time not only had 

 the word " velocipede " been discarded for " bicycle," 

 and " treadles ' become " pedals," but the machine 

 itself, although in general appearance very much the 

 same, had been improved in detail. The 36-inch 

 front wheel had been increased to 44 inches, the 

 wooden spokes had given place to wire, and strips 

 of rubber, nailed on, replaced the iron tyres. Probably 

 as a result of these refinements the winner, A Temple, 

 reached Brighton in 5 hrs. 25 mins. 



