Bicycling for Ladies by Maria E. Ward

Author:Maria E. Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Exercise - General
Publisher: Apollo Publishers
Published: 2020-06-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Watch and Cyclometer

Suitably attired, with a bicycle of the latest model and most perfect construction, it matters little whether the residence be in town or country, for the largest city is soon left behind. The country, when the highway ceases to be passable, is easily travers-able on the foot-trodden pathway beside it. Wherever the foot has trodden, the wheel may follow, if the path be well defined; and as the wheel can be carried easily, there is no limit but the limit of endurance in crossing country that cannot be wheeled over. But in order to cover distance without dismounting and within a time limit, where the speed attained is an element to be considered, good roads should be chosen.

The bicycle multiplies our power of advancing by five. One who can walk three miles in an hour can wheel fifteen miles on a bicycle, given all the conditions necessary to attain that speed for the period of an hour. The wonderful speed of the running and sprinting athlete is again multiplied by five, for a short time, in the contests where wheeling records are made.

While increasing the distance travelled the bicycle has greatly decreased the time limit. A person travelling afoot at the rate of three miles an hour (the average walking gait) covers a mile in twenty minutes, and at the end of an hour is not more than three miles from the starting point. On a bicycle a mile is covered usually in four minutes or less. The average distance, owing to the varied resistance met, is not usually so great; and more power may be expended in the hour than is required to walk three miles in the same length of time. Six miles may be the record for an hour on a wheel, and yet the amount of work done be very great. Until the position is adjusted to suit individual requirements, the output of power to accomplish a certain distance, even though it be a short one, is necessarily great. Considerable study is necessary to work out the perfect individual adjustment of the bicycle, weight of clothing, and amount of practice requisite to easy, rhythmical movement; but that once attained, the world lies before you.

Bicycling trains and quickens the perceptions; it cultivates and develops courage, judgment, and discrimination as well as prompt decision and quick and accurate sight. The hand follows the eye without effort; and the machine responds to each impression received without conscious expenditure of power.

To cyclists is due the keen public interest recently aroused in good roadways and in legislation to effect their construction, and the consequent improvement in public highways. For years the amateur cyclists of the country labored to this end in the interest of the sport, the League of American Wheelmen intelligently preparing the minds of the public on the subject.

To be accomplished as a bicyclist means something more than knowing how to wheel a bicycle and to be able to get about on it. It is necessary

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