CHAPTER XX
CAN YOU RIDE A "BIKE?" SOME THINGS WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THE WHEEL, AND SOMETHING ABOUT OTHER THINGS
To begin with, I am not going to tell you how to ride a bicycle. The only way to learn that is to get a wheel, and if it bucks you off, mount again and keep on trying until you master the machine.
I have heard folks say that the bicycle is going out of fashion. That is sheer nonsense! What have boys, or sturdy young men, or sturdy old ones for that matter, to do with fashion? The bike is here, and it has come to stay, and to go on revolving as long as folks live on a revolving world.
Bike parties that make explorations lasting for days, or even for weeks, are now not unusual, and if they travel prepared to make camp wherever night overtakes them, the more healthful the sport and the more novel and independent the tour. You should know how to carry the necessary baggage on your wheel. It is customary in ordinary wheeling to strip a machine of every ounce of weight not necessary. Many riders travel without even a tool bag, pump or wrench. The additional weight of a few tools cannot be sufficient to make much difference to a rider.
If you are a "scorcher" and are out to pass everything you meet, the less weight you carry the better time you can make. But the wheel is used by most boys for other purposes.
The pathway of the biker is not always straight and smooth, as every boy who has ridden a wheel knows. The collision can always be avoided by good eyes and reasonable speed, but no eyes are keen enough to note, and no skill alert enough to avoid the broken glass, or the bits of scrap iron that beset the path and puncture the tire.
REPAIRS
A friend assures me that he has mended a punctured tire with chewing gum. Now I do not think well of the chewing gum habit, but if the stuff can be found to have better uses, I am not the one to discourage it. So it might be well to carry a supply to fill punctured tires. This is said to be the way to use it. Let all the air out of the tire, then with a flat piece of wood force the gum into the hole—of course the gum must be "chewed" first to make it soft. Plaster some over the hole, then bind the place with a strip of rag on your handkerchief. This done, pump in the air and ride with care.
A broken handle bar is bad, but a substitute that will work can be made if you have some strong string and a stout pocket knife. Cut two sections of a springy sapling, and bind them securely to the front fork, one on either side, and sufficiently long to reach just above the broken bar. Next tie securely a stout stick of proper length to the broken bar, and tie to this the end of the uprights. If properly done, this will enable you to finish your journey, which for a long distance is much pleasanter than walking and leading your wheel.
A rope tire will often enable the rider to reach home. A few yards of clothesline, borrowed, begged, or bought from some wayside house, will enable you to make a solid tire. Remove the rubber tire, tie it to your handle-bar, and take the rope and bend one end diagonally across the hollow in the rim of the wheel. Wind the rope carefully around, over the bent end of the rope, around again alongside of the first length until the rim is covered. Keep the line tight, and wind it until it fills up the hollow and is considerably higher in the middle than at the sides. The neater this work is done, the more comfortable will be your ride home. When the rope tire is complete, pry up the side lap and force the free end of the rope diagonally under it until it comes out on the other side. Draw it taut and cut off the end flush with the outer wrapping. Now pour water all over the rope until it is thoroughly wet; this will cause it to shrink and become firm and hard.
Have a stand for your bicycle when not in use, and keep the wheel clean and well oiled. No boy is worthy to own a tool or a toy, or anything else that is perishable, if he is too lazy or too careless to have a pride in it, and to keep it in the highest state of efficiency.
The very best time to make needed repairs is when the need is discovered. Never wait until the time comes to use the thing again. The boy who gets into that habit is disqualifying himself for the battle of life, in which promptness, accuracy and energy are the prime requisites to success.
If you cannot take care of your things, or prefer to resign that duty to others, then resign your ownership too, and let some more deserving comrades own them.
I have often wondered why "the rope"—as our western cowboys call the lariat, and the Mexican lariata—has not become a national sport, for its proper use requires great skill, and it is distinctly an American institution.
Children of the Mexican herders begin practicing with the lariat as soon as they can coil a rope. I have seen them catching cats and chickens with their little lariats, and their dexterity surprised me.
The lariat may be of any length from twenty to eighty feet. It consists of a long, strong, flexible rope, with a running noose at the end thrown. I have seen them made of hemp, horse hair and raw hide— the latter are by far the best, provided they are flexible and soft enough. The raw hide is cut and specially tanned, but for practice an ordinary thin rope will do.
The noose is made by fastening a small iron eyelet to an end of the rope, and through this the other end is drawn.
The greater part of the rope is held coiled in the left hand, while the noose is circled above the head with the right, and thrown when the proper swing has been reached.
A post makes a good target. It should be, to start with, not more than ten feet away. After a time the distance can be increased, and the nature of the target changed.
You will be surprised, if you try this, at the skill you will gain, and the pleasure the lariat will afford to yourself and companions.