The Encyclopaedia of Sport & Games, Vol. 2
Contents
- Explains that balance on a bicycle is maintained by turning the front wheel toward the direction of falling, and recommends a novice practise on a strong, valueless old machine with the saddle lowered before assuming a free-wheel bicycle is used; also details having a friend hold the saddle springs to help, plus the step, pedal, and hop mounts and their corresponding dismounts.
- Advises buying a cheap new machine from a great manufacturing firm (from about six guineas, up to roughly £15 with a three-speed gear and gear-case) over a second-hand one, discusses component-built versus complete-firm machines and the Stanley Show for comparing catalogues, and gives inspection tips for a second-hand purchase such as checking the back chain wheel's teeth for wear.
- Covers riding position (saddle height and tilt, handlebar reach), ankle action to overcome the pedal's dead point, handling sideslip on greasy roads and tramlines, hill climbing and descending (recommending a cyclometer to gauge dangerous speed), the proper limited use of the free wheel, plain versus three-speed change gears (including the Sunbeam Cycle Co.'s advocacy of the high-normal type), pedals, toe-clips, tricycling, tandem riding, and trailers.
- Recommends all-wool garments throughout (flannel shirt, woollen vest, Norfolk jacket) over cotton for temperature regulation, specifies double-seated knickerbockers with a hip pocket, puttees, a cloth cap or felt tennis hat over straw hats (a cause of accidents on descents), and cycling shoes with hook-fastened laces tied on the ankle's outer side to avoid catching in the cotter pins.
- Describes the single practical method of mounting and dismounting a woman's machine while wearing a skirt, laments that few women adopt 'rational dress' and instead ride machines handicapped by a square yard of wind-catching fabric, and recommends firms like the Jaeger Co. for woollen underclothing plus a short skirt (about three yards round the hem) worn over knickerbockers in place of a petticoat.
- Discusses cyclists' obligations under the rule of the road, heightened by the advent of the motor-car, and the Local Government Act of 1888 requiring lighted lamps between an hour after sunset and before sunrise plus audible warning of approach; also covers pedestrian right of way and recommends white patent-leather tool-bags or the Lea and Francis reflector for visibility instead of a mandatory tail light.
- Advises overhauling the machine and replacing any worn tyre before a tour, packing luggage on a Turner 'Bi-Carrier' and handlebar carriers, carrying an expanded tool kit and dissected Bartholomew's or Ordnance Survey maps, budgeting about ten shillings a day under C.T.C. hotel tariffs, and notes Continental touring requirements such as France's 60-centime permis de circulation and its opposite (right-hand) rule of the road.
- Profiles the Cyclists' Touring Club (founded 1878, Sec. W. S. Burke) and its hotel and consul network; the National Cyclists' Union (Sec. S. R. Noble), the governing body of cycle racing which polices road conditions and cyclists' rights; the Roads Improvement Association; the Touring Club de France; and the Stanley Show, dating from 1877.
- A long technical survey of the bicycle's construction: frame types (ordinary, Raleigh cross, Centaur cross, Chater-Lea, Dursley-Pedersen), the Sturmey-Archer three-speed epicyclic hub gear and its actuating mechanism, rim, Bowden-cable, band, and coaster (New Departure hub) brakes, wheel and bearing construction, tyres and valves, and care of the machine and roadside repair of breakdowns, closing with the byline 'H. Graves.'
- By G. Lacey Hillier, opening by crediting cycle racing with driving the manufacturing improvements behind the modern roadster, then tracing road racing's history from John Mayall's 1869 Clapham-to-Brighton attempt and Rowley Turner's introduction of the French bicycle, through the 1873 London-to-John o'Groat's ride and F. W. Shorland's dominance, to the National Cyclists' Union's disassociation from open road racing after police action (notably near Purley) and its survival as private, unadvertised invitation time-trials of 50 and 100 miles.
- Covers the rise of track racing from athletic-meeting sideshows, including W. P. Blood's 1875 mile record at Dublin's Lansdowne Road grounds and F. L. Dodds's 1876 hour record at Cambridge, Herbert L. Cortis's four successive mile records culminating in 2 min 41¾ sec (1882) and his 20-miles-in-the-hour feat at Crystal Palace (27 July 1882), the evolution of banked cinder and cement tracks, and the National Cyclists' Union's role as 'the Jockey Club of cycling' after abolishing the amateur definition's 'Mechanics' Clause.'
- Explains that cyclists, unlike runners, need not shed weight since it is 'wheeled rather than carried,' describes a daily regimen of a half-hour morning 'pipe-opener' for style followed by short afternoon sprints of 150–200 yards, the Continental-derived practice of post-training massage, a relaxed diet replacing the old 'raw beef steak' regime, and the weighing machine and watch as the two final arbiters of condition; closes with a British Cycling Records table naming holders such as W. J. Bailey (flying quarter-mile), V. L. Johnson, and L. Meredith (five-, ten-, and fifty-mile standing-start records).