Cycling

Front matter

iiii^^ iii

OF

SPORTS AND PASTIMES

Preface

A FEW LINES only are necessary to explain the object with which these volumes are put forth. There is no modern encyclopaedia to which the inexperienced man, who seeks guidance in the practice of the various British Sports and Pastimes, can turn for information. Some books there are on Hunting, some on Racing, some on Lawn Tennis, some on Fishing, and so on ; but one Library, or succession of volumes, which treats of the Sports and Pastimes indulged in by Englishmen — and women — is wanting. The Badminton Library is offered to supply the want. Of the imperfections which must be found in the execution of such a design we are conviii PREFACE.

scious. Experts often differ. But this we may say, that those who are seeking for knowledge on any of the subjects dealt with will find the results of many years' experience written by men who are in every case adepts at the Sport or Pastime of which they write. It is to point the way to success to those who are ignorant of the sciences they aspire to master, and who have no friend to help or coach them, that these volumes arc written.

To those who have worked hard to place simply and clearly before the reader that vdiich he will find within, the best thanks of the Editor are due. That it has been no slight labour to supervise all that has been written he must acknowledge ; but it has been a labour of love, and very much lightened by the courtesy of the Publisher, by the unflinching, indefatigable assistance of the Sub- Editor, and by the intelligent and able arrangement of each subject by the various writers, who are so thoroughly masters of the subjects of which they treat. The reward we all hope to reap is that our work may prove useful to this and future generations.

THE EDITOR,

Contents

CHATTER PAGE

I. Introductory , . i

II. Historical 53

Chapter I

CYCLING is by far the most lecent of all the sports treated of in the Badminton Library, there is none which has developed more rapidly in the last few years, nor is theie any which has assumed a more assured position in popular favour.

Professor Huxley said in his farewell address to the Royal Society a short time ago, that since the time of Achilles no improvement had added anything to the speed or strength attainable by the unassisted powers of man. The state-

B a.f^ ment is true In the sense which the Professor ho doubt attached to his words, that neither the stature nor the speed of man had improved since Homer's day ; ^ but it is no less true that a man by his unassisted powers can propel one of the machines with which we are now familiar at a pace which would have put Achilles to shame, and over distances which would have utterly amazed the heroes of the Homeric world. The circumstances attending this revolution — for such indeed it is — cannot be considered unworthy of record, and the following pages are an attempt to perform the task.

England may be looked upon as the home of cycling ; the national habit of organisation which our countrymen possess in an eminent degree, and the national love for every form of strong personal exertion, combine to make it a pursuit in every way adapted to the taste of our people. The shady lanes of the south country, and the hilly roads of the north, appear to offer equal attraction ; and now, though scarcely ten years have elapsed since the first bicycle made its appearance, there are few districts in which some form of cycle is not a familiar object

In the streets of our great cities and in highways and byways throughout the land, carriages, swift and serviceable, propelled by the power of human muscles alone, have become common. The sight of a traveller of either sex, seated on a light machine, and proceeding with considerable rapidity and apparently but little exertion, is so usual that the wayfarer hardly turns his head to look at the accustomed sight. Yet it is but a very short time ago that the passage of a cyclist was wont to produce an exhibition of considerable excitement, and sometimes even demonstrations of hostility.

It is however not only as a means of locomotion that the cycle has produced a change in this and many foreign countries. The manufacture of these carriages has caused a considerable trade to come into existence, and a new and very exciting

1 In recent times, however, the records have improved year by year both in walking and running. —Ed.

IXTRODUCTORY. 3

mode of racing has been added to the sports of the world. The historian of cychng has therefore something to say of it as a trade, as a sport, and as a pastime : beyond this, again, there is something to be said as to the social organisation to which it has given rise, and the not inconsiderable industry to which the requirements of the cycling public give employment outside the limits of the cycle-builder's factory. It is difficult to say, with any approach to accuracy, what number of persons come within the designation of cyclists. In the year 1885 I set on foot some inquiries which led to the conclusion that they then numbered not far from 400,000. The estimate is a rough one, but it must still not be considered quite in the light of a random guess ; for it is founded on the reports of an organisation of which the reader who will accompany me through the following pages will hear a good deal— viz. the Cychsts' Touring Club, a body which has chief officers in every large town, and minor officials in every considerable village in England, and is therefore quite able to make an approximate estimate sufficiently accurate for our purpose.

The volume now in the reader's hand is designed not only to interest the general reader, but to form a useful handbook for all who are interested in any of the various ramifications of cycling. The intending purchaser may consult it as to the points about which he should satisfy himself before concluding his bargain. The racing man will find his prowess recorded, and be able to fight his battles over again ; the tourist will discover all that can help him to prepare for his intended outing, the advice given being founded on the accumulated experience of many predecessors. The young amateur who possesses a turn of speed, and proposes to become a candidate for the honours of the 'cinder-path,' will find minute directions as to his training and general preparations. The mechanic, and the rider who is interested in the details of the construction of his machine, will read descriptions ol all the processes by which iron, steel and silver are made to assume the shape of the graceful piece of mechanism which

B Z adds so largely to the power of locomotion possessed by unaided muscles.

Though there are many fancy varieties which do not come under either category, cycles fall generally into two divisions, those with three wheels and those with two. Riders also arrange themselves into two sharply defined classes : the speedy bicycle rider and the more staid possessor of the tricycle. The racing man comes in as a connecting link between the two ; for almost as many races are ridden on one class of machine as on the other. The enormous improvements introduced within the last year or two in the tricycle have made the tricycle as available, if not quite so speedy, as the bicycle for racing purposes. As regards speed, there is a considerable, though not an overwhelming, difference between the two. A really first-class bicycle rider — anyone, that is, who is sufficiently prominent in the pursuit to hold his own in a long-distance championship race — can travel, when at his best, considerably over twenty miles within the hour; only one tricycle rider has yet accomplished twenty miles in the hour. But it has been done several times by tandems. It is evident that machines which can maintain such a rate of progression must be sufficiently fast to make a race between well-matched competitors amusing : and those who have been fortunate enough to witness a well-Contested race will be the first to testify that it lacks none of the elements of excitement and of sport.

One of the questions most frequently asked by those who intend to purchase a machine is. What pace can a reasonable person expect to get out of it ? and what distance can conveniently be covered in a day ? The answer naturally varies very much according to the strength and skill of the person interrogated ; but it is a fair question and deserves a candid answer. The Records Committee of the National Cyclists' Union can show duly authenticated performances which the average rider can only look at with respectful astonishment ; 300 miles have been ridden on an ordinary high road by a wonderful young athlete on a bicycle, within twenty-four con-

IXTRODUCTORY. 5

sccutive hours, and 264 miles have been covered on a tricycle within the same time. A hundred miles have been travelled by a bicyclist on a cinder racing path in 5 hrs. 50 mins. 5? sees. Fifty miles were ridden by Messrs. A. J. Wilson and G. P. Mills, on a tandem, in 2 hrs. 46 mins. 3 sees., along the Great North Road. The ' best on record ' for a single mile at the moment these lines are penned is, for a bicycle 2 mins. 3itsees., and for a tricycle 2 mins. 41 1 sees. Before this book is in the hands of the reader these time'^ will very likely have been surpassed ; for every day sees new and important, though minute, improvements in the construction of machines, and though riders may not be better than their predecessors, they are good enough to take advantage of all improvements that are offered to them. But the foregoing of course are extraordinary performances. The question is what an ordinary mortal can do.

One of the writers jointly responsible for the present work — need it be concealed that it was the author of this introductory chapter ? — lately asked his colleague, in a careless manner, the following question : ' How far ought an ordinary man, in fair condition, to be able to ride easily in a day ? ' And the other made answer and said, with the air of a man who was absolutely giving himself away : ' If he intends to keep it up, say, for a week, he ought only to do a moderate day's work on the first day — say a hundred, or a hundred and twenty miles ; of course, you know, he can increase his distance as he gets into condition.' The present writer agreed with the speaker. 'Yes,' he said, 'a man ought to restrain his ardour at first ; he ought not to attempt to do more than a hundred and twenty miles on the first day.' He refrained from confessing, though perhaps it was disingenuous to do so, — that he himself looked back with some exultation to his own 'best on record,' which amounts to thirty-six miles in one day, and he takes this opportunity of copying from his private journal a few lines which have unconsciously assumed the form of an affidavit or vow. They run as follows :

And the said deponent further maketh oath and saith, that if he, the said deponent, siiadeiite diabolo^ shall at any time hereafter attempt to cut, break, surpass, or otherwise defeat, the said record of thirty-six miles in one solar day, he hereby giveth to any witness of such attempt, be the said witness credible or otherwise, free leave to mention the fact. And the said deponent doth further declare, that he is credibly informed, and doth sincerely believe, that many persons who make a great fuss about cycling have never done so much.

But this is a digression : there is no use in saying that sort of thing to a man who has ridden a hundred and forty-six miles in ten hours, and who holds half a dozen championships besides. A moderate rider, not being an athlete or a flier on the one hand, nor exceptionally weak on the other, can, when he is in practice, get over in an hour seven or eight miles of ground on a tricycle and from nine to ten on a bicycle without much exertion, and can keep it up about as long as he could comfortably walk with the same amount of exertion, say four or five hours. But there are many who cannot do so much as that, and who still manage to get a good deal of amusement out of their pursuit. Persevering riders cover enormous distances in the course of a year; and as most of them keep some sort of riding journal, we hear from time to time what their performances have been. A letter now before us from Mr. Whatton, a \vell-known member of the Cambridge University Club, contains the following paragraph :

The year has been memorable to me as an individual in one or two respects. The early part of it saw the completion of twenty thousand miles of cycling, the work of eight years' pleasure — pleasures such as no other bodily exercise, unless it be racquets, can, in my opinion, approach ; and, of course, that lacks the great glory of cycling, the multitudinous opportunities it adds for an intellectual and may one add— a spiritual appreciation of life.

This is the proper spirit in which to look at the pastime of cycling as it may be followed by ordinary individuals, though it is not everyone who can ride twenty thousand miles. It iSj however, not only for amusement that cycling is avail-

IXTRODUCTORY. 7

able ; both in the pursuit of hcaUh and of business it is of

great value. In many parts of the country labourers are

able to live at a considerable distance from their work, and

mechanics are to be seen in considerable numbers with their

tool-bags slung at their backs riding home at the end of

their day's labour. Not only does this imply a saving of rent^

for it is chenper to live in the country than in the crowded

town — but it is a distinct gain both in health and, in many

instances, in sobriety as well. The

wife and children of a mechanic are

sure to be more healthy if they live

in the pure air of the country than in

the crowded streets of a town. Rates

and taxes are less ; and, as regards

sobriety, a man who has to make his

way home over ten or a dozen miles

of road will be pretty sure not to

handicap his chance of a safe arrival

by lingering too long at the public- homeward bound.

house. In Coventry, which may be

looked upon as the peculiar home of cycling, it is fast becoming

the custom for workmen to go home on their bicycles during

the dinner-hour.

As a vehicle for business purposes the tricycle has even a larger future before it than the bicycle. It will carry a considerable quantity of luggage, and can be drawn up to the side of the street and left unprotected until the owner returns.

The number of shopkeepers who employ the carrier tricycle for the purpose of distributing their parcels, or circulating daily supplies to their customers, is steadily increasing. The milkman, the newsvendor, the butcher, send an active lad on their daily rounds. For light parcels it is especially adapted, and there has even been lately a talk of establishing in London a service of tricycle cabs — machines something like Bath chairs with a rider behind.

One is tempted to say with Horace :

But hold : ' pelago ratem ' will not convey my meaning ; and I fear 'Pall-Mallo Bath-chairum' would neither scan nor construe. Harrogate, well known to cyclists as the scene of the Annual Cycling Camp, has already shown the way in this respect. There the terrors of the streets are disregarded; even the steep pitches of the hills appear to have no deterrent effect. There among the long row of Bath chairs drawn up for hire may always be found three or four Coventry chairs. They appear very popular, and may be seen on fine afternoons in all the walks and drives round the fashionable watering-place, with their freight of invalids. If smiling faces and rosy cheeks may be trusted as an indication, the use of them is not confined to those who have the excuse of ill-health for adopting them. It is, no doubt, much more amusing even to an invahd to travel at a decent speed of six or seven miles an hour, and to get over a considerable stretch of road, than to crawl, at the pace of a walkmg luneral, backwards and forwards along the length of a parade. At Harrogate one sees parties of three or four of these machines going along in company ; the occupants of the chairs are able to converse in comfort, and the drivers encourage each other up the hills, which, as cyclists acquainted with Harrogate know, are not to be despised. They go long distances too. A lady, next to whom the present writer found himself at the table-d'hote dinner one day, mentioned that she had just returned from an expedition in one of the chairs to Fountains Abbey, nine miles away ; and her driver told her that he often took his customers similar or even longer distances without thinking anything of it. I asked whether the man had dismounted at the hills, which are on that road long and steep ; the lady had not observed whether he had done so. I could not help thinking, though I did not give audible expression to the remark, that if the fair customer had changed places with the driver for half a mile, the hills would have occupied a somewhat different place in her memory.

In our opinion, after seeing the practical working of these chairs at Harrogate, at any rate in health resorts where there is a large Bath-chair population, the ordinary form of that vehicle must die out. A thoughtful mind may not unreasonably wonder what, in that event, will become of the very old and decrepit persons who now man Bath chairs. The sole qualification for the post seems to be great feebleness and very restricted powers of locomotion; and it must be confessed that a Coventry-chair rider must be in possession of at least average physical strength.

But, after all, great as are the advantages of tricycles for business purposes, their principal claim on the gratitude of mankind is the large amount that is added by their means to the sum of human happiness. No one can fail to observe that such is the case who will take the trouble to station himself on some sunmier afternoon at one of the chief arterial outlets of any great city, and watch the stream of people going away into the country for their Saturday to Monday holiday. He who will take his stand on the bridge at Kew, or at Highgate Archway, will see a perfect stream of cycles speeding away into the country. Not only is there a light brigade of young men, bent on some favourite country resort forty miles away or more ; but steady middle-aged citizens on sober tricycles, some of them on sociables, with wife or daughter at their side, are bound on less distant expeditions. As regards the younger men, it is more than probable that the light and SAvift machines upon which they are mounted make all the difference to them whether they pass the brief holiday at the week's end in the stifling city or among the free breezes 'and shady lanes of the country ; and the advantage both to morals and health can hardly be over-estimated. Among young ladies, too, the tricycle is a source of enjoyment. It is better for any young creature with sound limbs and healthy spirits to speed awsy over heaths and downs than to pore over a novel under the trees, or even to play lawn tennis on one eternal acre of grass-plot. It may be said lo CYCLING,

that there are few country houses where some form of cycle is not to be found. The young ladies have their hght machines, the boys have their bicycles; and in the stables there is sure to be found a bicycle belonging to some active young footman who will be delighted to get the chance to carry a note and bring back the answer in shorter time than it would take the groom to saddle a horse. No one who thinks of the confined indoor life led habitually by domestic servants would grudge him the oudng.

If royal and imperial example count for anything, the practice will soon be universal \ for there is not a crowned head in Europe who has not a stud of these useful iron steeds. Whether the grandees of Middle Europe personally career about the well-trimmed allees of their royal castles I do not know ; but we may at least, from custom and precedent, infer the existence in dignified leisure of many a Kaiserliche- Konigliche Hochoberhoffvelocipedenkurator.

The Khedive of Egypt has several tricycles ; one in particular, which I have had the honour of inspecting, is so covered with silver plating, that one can hardly see the black enamel it is supposed to adorn. It will doubtless come in handy should His Highness take it into his head to ride across the Bayuda Desert. He would there ' scorch ' after a fashion not contemplated by the North Road Club. The officials of that body should look to this seriously and without delay. No one knows more accurately than Mr. A. J. Wilson the perversity, to call it by no harsher name, of the N. C. U. executive ; and if any claim were founded on His Highness's performance, backed as it might easily be by French or Russian intrigue, and such c^aim were disallowed by the Records Committee, no one can foretell the political complications that might arise. ' Faed ' should at once communicate with the official timekeeper, and arrange that at least His Highness's watch shall be properly compared at the Kew Observatory, under N. C. U. rules. Among gorgeous tricycles some of the Indian princes possess vehicles which will hold their own, though after seeing the Khedivial state tricycle, I cannot affirm that they are pre-

INTRODUCTORY. il

eminent. I have seen a picture in which the Maharajah of an Indian state, together with the British resident at his court (an enthusiastic cycHst whose predilections perhaps somewhat influenced the royal taste), and all the great officers of the durbar, are seated on tricycles at the gate of the palace, and gaze at the lens of the camera with the breathless attention usual on such occasions. They present an odd effect of costume. Wearers of shawls and jewelled turbans sit on some of the tricycles, British shooting jackets and knickerbockers figure on others. I understood from the possessor of the picture that the whole party were going out for a ' club run,' and that His Highness is the president of that institution.

One of the great advantages of the tricycle over its two-wheeled rival is that it permits the rider to stop at will. A bicycle, on the contrary, only retains its stable equihbrium on the condition of being kept in constant motion. An attempt at a halt is instantly rewarded by an upset. An active rider can dismount very quickly ; but an elderly gentleman, however skilful he might be, would feel the impossibility of performing the necessary gymnastics if he should be so illadvised as to ride a bicycle through crowded streets. The construction of the bicycle, too, makes it an impossible mount for ladies, to whom the tricycle offers no sort of difficulty. For town work and for the use of the gentler sex the tricycle is decidedly the more convenient machine. On country roads, and for young and active riders, it is a matter of taste which should have the preference.

Although the advantages and pleasures of cycling are open to all able bodied persons, the choice of a machine is a matter of individual preference. Practically no one would ever hesitate to decide under which category, bicyclist or tricyclist, he himself ought properly to come. A lady, a middle-aged man, or a heavy father, will naturally go in for a tricycle. An active lad, especially if he lives in the country, would probably give his voice for the bicycle, unless, indeed, he had reached the age or attained to the condition of mind which might prompt him to invest in a ' sociable,' on the chance of inducing some adorable being of the gentler sex to share his pilgrimage on wheels.

There is another form of double tricycle which has lately come into fashion, principally as yet among racing men, in which two performers sit one behind the other on the backbone of the machine, and pedal in unison. This is known as a tandem. The pace to be got out of this sort of vehicle is very great, and it will no doubt be still further improved ; but it can hardly be said that to an outsider it looks very comfortable. There is also a horrible engine in existence known as a bicycle tandem. It is formed by joining the large wheels of two full-sized bicycles one behind the other with a stout bar of iron between them, on which two saddles are fitted. It is said to be capable of being driven at a speed exceeding anything else on wheels. ' II faut respecter tous les gouts,' as the French proverb teaches us, but Providence will surely so far intervene as to prevent the general public from succumbing to its attractions. I am bound to add that, with * the owner (and inventor) up ' in company with some efficient coadjutor, this machine is capable of being so handled as almost to convince the spectator that to ride it is neither dangerous nor difficult ; but then Mr. Rucker is not only a very clever and a very persuasive gentleman, but a first-rate rider as well. Full descriptions of every kind of cycle will be found in the following pages, and it is not now necessary to dwell upon them at length. Almost all the machines that now compete for public favour partake of the wonderful qualities of hghtness combined with strength which is the distinguishing characteristic of modern workmanship.

It is remarkable how quickly both the bicycle and the tricycle after their first inception assumed the form which they have since retained. It is hardly too much to say that no material change has been made in the type of either kind of machine, though the new 'dwarf and 'safety' bicycles may not improbably be found to herald a new departure. But it is yet too soon to speak positively on this point. As regards the ordinary bicycle and tricycle, improvements in detail have been numerous and important ; subsequent makers still adhere very closely to the broad lines laid down by the first designers. This is the more remarkable, because it can hardly be supposed that the original form was reasoned out on strict mathematical principles. It would almost seem that the proportions of the original design were hit upon by intuitive perception rather than by close adherence to rule. But it is a curious fact that the more the question is subjected to scientific investigation, the more patent does it become that the first attempts embodied correct mechanical ideas. Of course I speak only of the type of machine now so common, and not of the various 'velocipedes,' as they were called, which enjoyed a short-lived popularity before the present class of cycles came into existence. In our account of what may be called the history of cycling, we shall show what the precursors of modern cycles were like. The Draisnene, the hobby horse, the dandy horse, and the four-wheeled velocipedes, resembled the modern cycle principally in this, that they all alike utilise the power of human muscles as a motive agent ; in the principles of their construction they differed entirely from the cycle of to-day. But when the first bicycle was made it came complete and perfect from the maker's hand, even as Minerva fully armed sprang from the brain of Jupiter. The new type differed from any mechanical adaptation that had ever been thought of before ; and the idea, once embodied in a machine, has since been improved constructively only ; the principle, so far as anything mundane can be so, is perfect of its kind.

The theory embodied in the two kinds of machine is this : the bicycle consists of a large front wheel, with pedals attached to its hub, over which the rider sits and works upright ; his saddle is arranged on a bar of iron, which droops like a tail from the head to the ground, the end of it supported by a small trailing wheel, which bears a part of the rider's weight and prevents him from falling backwards.

In the case of the tricycle all this is changed. The rider sits on a saddle suspended above the axle, between two wheels of moderate size ; a third point of contact with the ground is afforded by a smaller wheel, which, like the bicycle trailing wheel, bears a portion of the weight ; the third wheel sometimes follows, but more often precedes the other two. The rider's seat is arranged either slightly in front of, or behind, the axle, according to the position of the third wheel, which serves the purpose of a rudder, and gives to the machine the name of front or rear steerer, as the case may be. In the case of the tricycle, as the rider rests on three points, he need not trouble himself about his balance, which is secure whether the carriage is in motion or not. This is the main point which makes the tricycle easier to ride than the bicycle ; the rider need not dismount when it is necessary for any reason to come to a halt. He sits still and 'waits till the clouds roll by.' Nor is he compelled to maintain his balance by the sway of his body ; he sits quiet and guides the machine by the movement of his wrists on the steering gear.