Bicycling for Ladies
Cite this book
Citation
Maria E. Ward. Bicycling for Ladies. 1896. cyclearchive.com, https://cyclearchive.com/books/bicycling-for-ladies-m-ward-1896/
Page numbers are pages of the PDF, which can differ from the numbers printed on the page.
Contents
- The author sets out the laws of mechanics and physiology that bear on the cyclist, the care of the bicycle and the legal limits on where a rider may go, with thanks to Dr. Legrange and to D. Appleton & Co. for permission to quote from 'Physiology of Bodily Exercise'.
- Bicycling as a modern sport that gives the athlete new worlds and the tired worker a rest, but over-exertion comes easily; the wheel reaches country the railway does not, needs good roads, and stays upright by the gyroscope principle, giving the rider independence on the road.
- The bicycle is a light machine of about twenty pounds, built with a large safety factor so that it breaks up rather than bends under a collision, and it lets the rider test his or her own powers while making the rider answerable to the public for the rights of others.
- The wheel's evolution from a log roller to the spoked wheel with a rim held by a suspension of spokes, the pneumatic tire, the chain and sprocket drive that multiplies the pedal's turns, and the steering fork whose movable head lets the front wheel turn while the frame follows.
- The first lessons: why the first minutes exhaust the novice, the need to look well ahead and sit still, pedalling one foot at a time, saddle height for balance, the handle-bar's wiggle and twist to correct a fall, loose flannel clothing, and avoiding a down grade when starting.
- A suitable outfit and a smooth, quiet road for half-hour practices with rests between short spins, fixing the saddle and nuts before each ride, walking the machine up grades, carrying a pump and tools, and learning the names and uses of each part.
- How to hold a learner's bicycle by the saddle and handle-bars, to get a pupil on and off from either side, to start and stop them, and how two or three helpers can take turns to teach one another, with practice on a board floor or piazza before the road.
- The rules of the road: keep to the right and pass on the left, use the centre of the road when passing horses, ride in single file with a leader, average about ten miles an hour, carry a lamp at dusk and a notebook, and let a small club share two bicycles among its members.
- Steering by the hands, guiding by pedal pressure and by swaying the body, keeping the knees turned in and using ankle motion, and climbing hills with the saddle as fulcrum; the author's account of a road of a mile and a half on Telford pavement whose hidden increasing grades dismounted every rider.
- The racing drop position, which converts power into speed but cannot be kept up on the road, against the erect position for ease and ordinary riding, with the saddle set to act as fulcrum, the crank length and gear matched to the rider's limbs, and the handle-bars kept within reach; scorching is discouraged as a form of bicycle intoxication.
- Mounting from the pedal, from the peg and over the wheel of a diamond frame, steering by looking at the destination, stopping by catching the pedals, and avoiding numbness of the hands and feet from tight gripping, tight garters or walking shoes, with the rough-road vibration of Belgian blocks eased by pedalling rather than gripping the bars.
- The essentials of a cycling costume: knickerbockers buttoned to a shirt-waist, wool stockings rolled below the knee instead of garters, low shoes, short gaiters, a sweater and coat, a skirt that opens at the side, hats fastened under the hair with elastic, and layered clothing that can be changed as the weather turns.
- The bicycle multiplies walking speed about five times, and a cyclometer or a count of strokes gives the pace; riding out against the wind and home with it, avoiding mud, sand and stones, what to do when a party is lost, drinking only boiled or alum-cleared water, eating on long runs and the cyclometer's gear arithmetic.
- Any woman who can use a needle or scissors can learn the tools; the rider is the motor and the bicycle the carriage, both needing care, the rider's physical limits must come from a physician's examination, and grace on the wheel comes from balanced, practised muscular work.
- Why iron and steel are brittle, and how a bolt stuck fast is freed by tapping a smooth block of wood laid over its nut; how a nut's spiral thread holds and why it must be started square and not jammed; then the adjustable and key wrenches, clean screws, oil or graphite, pump and valve washers, and nickel plating.
- Routine cleaning after each ride, then a full strip-down of an old bicycle: the chain soaked in kerosene, the pedal cones and balls counted and reset, the wheels trued against a pencil-top, the head bearings and saddle clamp, and a check of the adjustment before the machine is turned upright.
- A dry, frost-free rack room, and the amateur's home workshop built up from a deal table and a vise fitted with lead jaws, a tool-rack, a north-lit room with green and white shades, and separate benches for metal, wood and rubber work, with each person's tools kept as their own property.
- How the pneumatic tire replaced the solid rubber tire and hose, how it is fixed to the rim, and how to find and repair a puncture with rubber plugs, cement, tire tape or cotton, and the roadside repair of a broken rim, spoke or bent frame with blocks, wire and a stick.
- The three classes of levers and the rider's body as the lever system, the gyroscope and centre of gravity that keep the machine upright, how the front fork and handle-bar steer it, the ball bearings that carry weight point by point, and the gear tables for crank and sprocket combinations from the Scientific American Supplement and the New York Evening Post.
- Setting the machine to the rider: a chain and bearings that run true, a saddle hard enough to act as fulcrum, the crank length and gear for the rider's limbs, the handle-bar height and curve, and the tire pressure, with a tight shoe or waistband named as a common cause of the discomfort the adjustments are meant to cure.
- How the blood and heart respond to exercise, and why exercise, work and recreation are each needed, since a body that is not used rusts; the thin, the stout and the sedentary woman all gain from it, with advice on baths, clothing and a diet for weight reduction that cuts out sugar, starch, tea and coffee.
- Building up to a fifty-mile or week-long trip by adding a little distance and speed at each outing and keeping a record of wind, sun and humidity; how exercise develops muscle, co-ordination and endurance; porous clothing, meals before and after a ride, and why stimulants only force the work.
- The causes of breathlessness and the second wind, the strain that tight belts and gripping the handle-bars put on the diaphragm and heart, the difference between general and muscular fatigue, and rest and work in turn as the only cure for stiffness.