Ted Bennett said:
Quoted message said:The article starts off slow, but starts covering familiar territory by
the second page:
http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_02/outII06/outII06h.pdf
You'll learn:
--how long tire rubber really lasts
--the truth about rim cement
--what the best kind of oil is
--myths about nickel-plated frames
--how to hang your bicycle in storage
--the proper method to push a bike up stairs
--what to pay for wheel truing
--tips on packing and shipping your bike
--anti-theft procedures
--how to park to protect your paint job
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
Thanks Carl. A terrific read, and it's nice to know that we're still
squabbling about some of the same things.
Er, no, it isn't.
Ted "the author was wrong about the best oil, though" Bennett
Dear Ted,
Another issue of the same magazine describes "Military Bicycling Thro'
the Dakotas" with similar refrains of our modern squabbles as three
soldiers pedal a 440-mile round trip before pavement:
Flats on the Great Plains:
" . . . a wheelman must ride in the road, as riding over bunch grass
is impossible and the cacti that cover the ground on every side,
frequently growing in the road itself, are very discouraging to a
pneumatic tire. In spite of the greatest care I soon found my tires
well filled with the sharp little thorns. They held air all right and
only began to leak badly several days after, when the thorns had had
time to decay. I once found thirty-eight punctures, and how many more
were discovered by the firm to whom I sent the tires for repair I
cannot say."
Drugs:
"Now the time had come to see what there was of good in the sterculia
or kola nut. It is a product of the west coast of Africa and great
tales are told of the fatigue the natives can endure while chewing it.
It is about the size and appearance of the horse chestnut, soft and
very bitter,—so bitter that alkali water tastes sweet in comparison
with it. Two nuts divided each into six parts lasted the three of us
about three hours. It is slowly chewed until it becomes dry and pithy,
when a fresh piece is taken into the mouth. It has been stated that
the sterculia is both a stimulant and a food. It partakes somewhat of
the nature of both, though I doubt its being properly a food. We used
it two days and the effect on each of us was such that, while chewing,
we felt no fatigue, no thirst, and no hunger. There was not the
slightest feeling of intoxication, nor were there any symptoms of
reaction after using it."
Broken cranks from pedal strikes:
"At eight o’clock, twenty-five miles from Yates, the Sergeant broke
the left pedal smooth off his wheel [a synonym back then for a
bicycle]. This was something I had been expecting to happen for more
than a hundred miles back, as the only possible place to ride was in
the horse track of the road, and this was worn down into a trench six
inches wide and as many deep. Doubtless an expert rider would have
found little difficulty in riding his wheel in such a trench on a
still day; but for a tyro to steer a loaded wheel with the wind
blowing a gale from the side without occasionally striking the pedals
was more than any of us could do, I had struck my pedals many times,
but Victors are hard to break. The Sergeant is not a man to be
disheartened by a little thing like a broken pedal, and he is a
fast walker. Leading his wheel up the hills he would mount at the top
and recklessly 'let her go' down grade and then pedal along on level
ground with one foot."
Obsession with distances, times, averages, and the inherent
superiority of bicycles:
"We arrived home October 9th, having made the four hundred and forty
miles in a trifle over seven days, and by actual count having walked
eighty-eight miles. Though a daily average of sixty-two miles does not
seem large, yet we were hard at work on the road twelve hours each
day. I do not believe any horseman could make the trip in the same
time. This journey demonstrated that a man who is not an expert
bicyclist can travel over almost any part of this country for several
days, carrying everything necessary for his subsistence and comfort,
and arms enough for his protection; that he can travel at better
speed than a mounted man can maintain, and that he can do this with
less labor and cost than if he rode a horse."
Here are a few early passages that may have slipped Lt. Cabell's mind
when he concluded that his bicycle was better than a horse.
Crashes more frequent than equestrians suffer:
"To ride outside the road was impossible, by reason of bunch grass and
cacti. Therefore, we found that we frequently had to walk, and when
the slighest hope of riding presented itself we mounted and rode,
until the wheel slipped into a rut and its rider went rapidly on in
the direction of Yates [the next town], taking his flight over the
handle-bars, and rolling some distance in the dirt. Then we would pick
ourselves up, feel that no bones were broken and limp back for our
wheels. . . ."
Exhaustion:
"A warm supper and a bed were very welcome, even though the bed was a
cowboy bunk filled with hay and inhabited by unfamiliar but
enterprising insects. They did not disturb me—I was too utterly tired
to be kept awake."
Walking instead of riding:
"We had sixty-five miles to our credit when we started next morning at
six, our objective point this day being Grand River, seventy-three
miles. We did not reach it, however, for the valleys of the South and
North Morean are so wide and sandy that the walking is poor and the
wheeling worse."
More walking instead of riding due to lighting difficulties:
"After thirteen hours’ hard work we arrived at the place marked as
Whitney Creek on our map, but, though a full moon shone, we could see
no signs of the wood and water there set down by our map-maker. Beyond
this point, we learned from the map, that seventeen miles of sandy
road lay between it and Grand River, the next water or wood on the
road. There seemed nothing to do but to walk this distance, though it
meant traveling till twelve o’clock to do it."
http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_28/outXXVIII03/outXXVIII03j.pdf
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
