BICYCLING. 



AN ENJOYABLE CENTURY RUN. 



C. PERCY HALYBURTON. 



I have heard it said, on numerous occa- 

 sions, and by many well informed persons, 

 that century runs, and such " abuses of the 

 wheel," are violations of the rules of health 

 and only help to bring the bicycle into ill- 

 repute. 



I have seen many caricatures of the " cen- 

 tury run fiend," picturing him as a sallow- 

 faced, wild-eyed, hump-backed idiot — in 

 short, a typical " wild man of Borneo on 

 wheels." If you see any of these character- 

 istics in the group of young men who made 

 the century run I am about to describe, you 

 certainly need the attention of an oculist. 



Six young men were seated in the parlor 

 of the club house, of the Penn Wheelmen, 

 Philadelphia, discussing plans for Decora- 

 tion day, which was only 2 days removed. 

 None of the several schemes proposed for 

 the amusement of the party was accepted, 

 by unanimous consent, and each had almost 

 determined to seek his own pleasures for 

 the holiday. Finally a happy inspiration 

 seized me and I said: 



" I have it boys! Just the thing for the 

 whole crowd! " 



" Let us have it, Purse! " 



" Give it an airing! " 



" Trot out the idea, old man! " 



" Purse has the floor! " were the replies. 



" Well, I'll tell you," I began 



"Oh, will you!" 



" How kind!" 



" My idea is a century run to New York, 

 on Decoration day, and return the follow- 

 ing day, Sunday, on the train." 



" That's the best yet," cried Jack Gruel, 

 the club's second lieutenant. 



"That's what, Jack!" said Foley. 

 " There is a pleasure trip for us all." 



The other 3 members of the coterie, 

 Price, Bong and Daniels, quickly agreed to 

 the plan, and after a little further discussion 

 we dispersed. 



The night preceding Decoration day we 

 all presented ourselves at the club house 

 and proceeded to the third floor, where 4 

 of us were soon asleep. Bong and Daniels 

 did not sleep with us. They had decided to 

 ride to New York during the night, the 

 former being well acquainted with the 

 route. 



At 3 o'clock the janitor awoke us, and 

 after having lighted our lamps, we started 

 on our journey. The sleepy coppers eyed 

 us with wonder, as did also a few belated 

 wayfarers. They were not used to seeing 

 cyclists riding at such an unseemly hour. 



We rode through Frankford and Torres- 

 dale, and at daybreak arrived in Bristol, 22 



miles from Philadelphia. From Bristol to 

 Trent,on, N. J., a distance of 10 miles, is a 

 stretch of good side-path; but in some 

 places it is very narrow — only 5 or 6 inches 

 wide. The road is miserable and we could 

 not ride on it. We were subjected to a 

 number of falls, owing to the narrow side- 

 paths and slippery grass bordering the 

 path, which was still wet with dew. How- 

 ever we received only a few bruises. 



We arrived in Trenton at 6 o'clock and 

 straightway proceeded to a restaurant for 

 breakfast. " It was wonderful to see the 

 amount of fodder those fellows put away," 

 as Foley put it. 



Leaving our wheels at the hotel, we 

 walked about New Jersey's capital awhile 

 and at 8 o'clock resumed our journey. 



We passed through some very pretty 

 towns — Pennington, Hopewell, Blauen- 

 berg and Plainville. At Pennington we 

 were serenaded by a colored brass band 

 and enjoyed the sensation very much. 



Soon after passing Plainville we met the 

 great century run of the Quaker City 

 Wheelmen of Philadelphia. The riders had 

 left Newark that morning and were on 

 their way to Philadelphia. There were over 

 600 wheelmen in line. These people were 

 not out for pleasure as we were. They had 

 a schedule, and rode accordingly, and the 

 consequence was, many looked greatly 

 fatigued. 



We arrived in Somerville, 63 miles from 

 Philadelphia, at 11 o'clock, a uniform pace 

 of 8 miles an hour, and no one was feeling 

 at all tired. We remained in Somerville a 

 half hour, watching a parade, and then 

 moved on to Bound Brook, where we 

 stayed another half hour,' viewing the town. 



At one o'clock we rode into Plainfield, 13 

 miles from Somerville, and ate a hearty 

 dinner. 



All wheeldom was out in force in Plain- 

 field and we stood entranced as we watched 

 the flying wheels, propelled by sturdy 

 young men and pretty bloomer girls. 



We tarried in Plainfield until 3 o'clock 

 and then started for Elizabeth, where we 

 arrived in 45 minutes — a distance of 12 

 miles. The road between the 2 towns is 

 an excellent one, and you can scarcely resist 

 the temptation to ride fast over it. We 

 continued through Elizabeth and Newark 

 without stopping, but halted at a hotel in 

 East Newark for some refreshment. As we 

 stepped out on the porch to rest and enjoy 

 the cool breezes we saw 2 wheelmen ap- 

 proaching, in whom we recognized Bong 

 and Daniels. We hailed them, when they 

 joined us and explained that a broken axle 

 had delayed them and had prevented their 

 arrival in New York before us. 



We all rode into Jersey City together and 



73 



