3* 



RECREATION. 



BICYCLING. 



An editorial in a recent issue of the 

 New York Sun contains so much of in- 

 teresting history and so much good, 

 sound advice, that it deserves a per- 

 manent place in the literature of the 

 wheel. A portion of it is here reprinted : 



We remember well the bicycle when it first 

 came to town. Mr. Thomas W. Ward, the son 

 of our old friend Samuel G. Ward, was, we be- 

 lieve, the first amateur to own and ride a bicycle 

 in this city. It was a heavy, clumsy, and shackly 

 thing, one of the loose-jointed French machines, 

 with wooden carriage-like wheels, imported or 

 made by Mercer & Monod. Bicycling, or 

 wheeling as it has been called since its develop- 

 ment into utility, was then confined to halls, the 

 most conspicuous of which was kept by Alvah 

 Pearsall and his brother, the former a photo- 

 grapher by profession, and by the famous old 

 gymnasts, tha Hanlon brothers. There one 

 used to see, besides the heavy Monod or French 

 velocipede, the Wood machine, the Pickering 

 machine, and finally theDEMAREST machine from 

 which the great high wheel, long ago replaced by 

 the " Safety," suddenly sprang into existence, and 

 for years held the road, giving "headers" to 

 luckless riders. New York, then, only twenty- 

 five years ago, didn't have a foot of pavement fit 

 for a bicycle. The first man to try the walks of 

 Central Park was arrested, and though it was 

 ruled immediately that such people might be ad- 

 mitted there, the Park's footpaths were of not 

 much use toward spreading the use of bicycles 

 out of doors. We remember the first time a few 

 bicycle riders of New York crossed over to Brook- 

 lyn to enjoy a run on the wooden pavement of 

 Atlantic avenue, before the days when the right 

 of the bicycle to enter all highways had been 

 legally established. Bothersome and irritating as 

 it inevitably is to horsemen, when we consider its 

 positive value and common use for transportation, 

 who can deny the propriety of its hard-earned 

 privileges ? It would be delightful for any one 

 familiar with the initial stages of the bicycle to 

 see it now in its glory, not only an instrument 

 for passing a few moments in entertaining exer- 

 cises, but a vehicle of universal usefulness, of ab- 

 sorbing attraction for open-air travel, and last but 

 not least in importance, the most powerful agency 

 by all odds, for creating the invaluable boon of 

 good roads. 



We do not wonder that our wheelmen have 

 made so great an effort for the improvement of 

 roads that apparently all their remarkable ener- 

 gies are centered upon it. Here are many thou- 

 sands of active and progressive young men, own- 

 ing millions of dollars worth of property in their 

 wheels, equipped at last with a machine for self- 

 transportation, which, since the invention of the 

 pneumatic tire, has become an almost perfect 

 vehicle to ride on. There needs but a smooth, 

 hard road to make wheeling ideal. The wonder 

 would have been if from among the members of 

 the wheeling organization, passing over every 

 highway of the country in their travels, and 

 stimulated by their circumstances to an intense 

 desire for better roads, there had not arisen the 

 strong and united determination to have them, 



and the vigorous and well directed effort to get 

 them, of which the public, and especially the ru- 

 ral public, are becoming daily more and more in- 

 formed. Fortunately for the wheelmen, their 

 cause is re-enforced by the interest of still greater 

 road users, the farmer and his draught horse, 

 which is identical with theirs. 



When the roads have finally been improved to 

 a point that is satisfactory, then indeed will it be 

 said that the bicycle has been good for both 

 man and beast. We must say also, respect- 

 fully, that the low handles of the racing wheel, 

 or scorcher, are not good for road use, and 

 that the bent and mean-spirited backs of the 

 men using them injure the repute of wheel- 

 ing. Raise the handles of the roadsters and the 

 riders will rise with them, and the latter 

 thereby will be not only benefited in minds and 

 morals, but they and their pursuit will be more 

 esteemed and admired by the people they go 

 among. 



NOTES. 



This has been a great year for record breaking 

 and the wheel is at the front in this particular. 

 At the Springfield meet in September, F. J. 

 Titus, of the Riverside Wheelmen, New York, 

 rode one hour against time, covering 26 miles 

 and 1,489 yards, thus breaking the world's rec- 

 ord of 26 miles, 127 yards, also lowering all rec- 

 ords from seven miles up. E. C. Bald, of 

 Buffalo, rode a mile in competition in 2. 05 4-5, 

 lowering the woild's record of 2.10 1-5, held by 

 Titus. C. M. Murphy, of Brooklyn, rode two 

 miles, with flying start against time, in 4.06 2-5, 

 breaking the record of 4.153-5 held by Tyler. 

 Nat Butler, of Boston, then rode two miles in 

 4.04 4-5, breaking Murphy's record of 4.06 2-5. 

 The one mile (class A) competitive record of 

 2.10 2-5, by Sims, was tied by same rider. J. S. 

 Johnson rode three miles against time in 6.26 3-5, 

 breaking the former record of 6.27 4-5; he did 

 four miles in 8.35 3-5, breaking the former rec- 

 ord of 8.43; five miles in 10.48 4-5, breaking 

 the former record of 10.51 3.5, 



All the manufacturers are bending their 

 energies to the production of wheels capable of 

 still greater speed. What will be the mile 

 record a year hence ? 



The bicycle has had a hard struggle to get 

 into the 400, but is there at last. When the 

 season of '94 opened at Newport, society 

 ladies did not ride wheels. A month later a few 

 of them ventured to ride in the back streets, but 

 did not wish to be seen or to have the fact 

 mentioned publicly. As time wore on these 

 women became more courageous and others 

 bought wheels. Of course the men fol- 

 lowed suit. On September nth, the following 

 dispatch was sent out to the Associated Press 

 from Newport : 



In view of the popularity of bicycling. Mr. 

 James J. Van Alen will entertain all the fashion- 

 able bicycle riders in Newport at " Wakehurst," 

 Friday night, at dinner, and a dance will follow. 

 Each bicycle will be illuminated by a pair of 

 Japanese lanterns. 



The fete was given and was one of the 

 greatest of the season. This settles it. Mr. 

 Van Alen is a leader of the highest social circles 

 and the wheel is in the 400 to stay. 



