But velocipede tracks are now in preparation. Race-courses will be free to the bicycle, velocipede stables will open in their vicinity, and the proprietors will rapidly line their pockets. All the skating ponds will be metamorphosed into velocipedariums and velocipede rinks. These will make capital exercise grounds, where numberless riders can make their graceful curves to the music of a good band; and where, in hot summer weather, they can be protected from the sun by awnings. The large parks will be open to velocipedestrians.
It has been currently reported that the Commissioners of Central Park, New York, have prohibited the driving of the bicycle there; but the rumor is without foundation. No such interdict will be issued, unless the blooded horses object to the novel machine, by running away. Well-bred horses, whether thorough-bred or not, already manifest no emotion at the sight of the vehicle. Without doubt, the Commissioners will yield gracefully to the public demand.
In New York, a project has been advocated of building an elevated railway, from Harlem to the Battery, to be used only by velocipede riders. On such a railway, thirty feet wide, and with a flooring of hard pine, it would be possible to go from one end of Manhattan Island to the other in about an hour, making allowance for delays, from stoppages and accidents. A good rider, with a clear track, could easily accomplish the distance in half an hour; but, with a well-filled road, progress would necessarily be slower.
In Prospect and Washington Parks, Brooklyn, the bicycle votaries are allowed the same privileges as equestrians. Many of the level streets of that city, with the Nicholson and concrete pavements, furnish a capital surface for the velocipedestrians, and are great resorts. It is even said, that the benign City Fathers propose to bridge the gutters for their accommodation.
The residents of Boston will find good riding grounds, easy of access to the city, on many of the smooth roads of its beautiful suburbs.
Philadelphians can ride the velocipede on their straight, level streets. We know of no place so admirably adapted to the bicycle, as Broad Street, Philadelphia, with its miles of Nicholson pavement.
VELOCIPEDE RACING.
Another feature of the velocipede campaign, will be races against time, and contests of rival riders. Fast and slow races for money, silver cups, and other prizes, follow each other night after night in most of our rinks. All the race-courses will be used for this purpose. A provision for this sort of sport is in progress, at the Capitoline Ball-ground, Brooklyn, where in May a half-mile track of smooth hard road-way will be ready.
The managers of the Prospect Park Association, of the same place, have made arrangements to signalize their first spring meeting for 1869, with a grand velocipede tournament; at which prizes amounting to $1,500 will be given for the best time, to the winners of a series of races. These races will be governed by a special code of rules, which will include handicapping for weight of machines and riders, diameter of driving wheel, and extent of treadles. There will be first, second, and third prizes for the greatest speed; prizes for the best time made; and prizes for slow riding. This tournament will afford, not only an excellent opportunity for the display of skill in American velocipede riding, but also a fair chance to show off the merits of the different styles of machines. It will create an excitement, and it is anticipated that many thousand people will be present.
The proprietors of Riverside Park, near Boston, also intend to inaugurate a series of bicycle contests on their course during the ensuing summer.