Bicycling for Ladies / The Common Sense of Bicycling; with Hints as to the Art of Wheeling—Advice to Beginners—Dress—Care of the Bicycle—Mechanics—Training—Exercise, etc., etc.

by Maria E. Ward

The bicycle must be kept from falling by a wiggling movement of the front wheel, conveyed by means of the handle-bar. When moving, the rapidly revolving wheels maintain the vertical plane by rotation, with but little assistance or correction from the handle-bars.

It is a good plan, while the instructor assists you, to pedal with one foot at a time, holding the other foot free. This will enable you to determine the amount of pressure it is necessary to exert to cause the wheels to revolve.

When both feet are on the pedals, they oppose each other. The weight should be lifted from the ascending pedal, or else the descending foot must push the other foot up until that foot is in position to exert a downward pressure. This instruction applies to forward pedaling only; for back pedaling or backing, the movement should be reversed. Practise pushing first with one foot and then with the other, taking the weight off the opposite pedal in each case. At each push of the pedal, a little pull on the handle-bars, pulling with the hand on the same side on which you are pushing with the foot, will keep the wheel from falling. Look well ahead. The bicycle covers the ground very rapidly, and the eye does not at first receive impressions quickly enough to enable you to know where to look and what to look for.

As soon as your teacher will allow it, take the wheel for a little walk. This may seem rather an absurd proceeding, but it will assist you greatly in learning the feel and tendencies of the machine. Lead the bicycle about carefully, holding the handles with both hands and avoiding the revolving pedals. Learn to stand it up, to turn it quickly, and to back it in a limited space.

INCORRECT POSITION—LEANING AGAINST THE INCLINATION

The machine heretofore has been arranged for you. Now you can begin to think how you would like to have it adjusted. You will, perhaps, find fault with the saddle. The saddle is a very important adjunct, and much depends upon its proper adjustment. A large, soft saddle is usually preferred by the beginner, and perhaps this is a good kind to learn to balance on; but it is a very poor kind to wheel on, for many reasons.

At first, in practising pedaling, the height of the saddle should permit the hollow of the foot to rest firmly on the pedal when the pedal is lowest. The ball of the foot only should press on the pedal. The foot should be made to follow the pedal as early as possible. Point the toe downward on the last half of the down stroke, and keep pointing it until the pedal is at its lowest, following the pedal with the foot, and pointing downward until the pedal is half way on the up stroke. This carries the crank past the dead centre. To acquire a proper method, attention should be directed to each foot alternately.

To learn to balance, have the saddle raised as high as possible, so that the ball of the foot just touches the pedal at its lowest. Practise wheeling in this way, with an instructor, or alone on a smooth surface where you are sure to be undisturbed.

The hands naturally take a position where it is easy to grasp the handles of the handle-bars. The handle-bar conveys two principal movements to the first wheel—a short wiggling movement and a long or steering sweep. The handle-bars also assist in maintaining the seat at first.