CHAPTER X.
Difficulties to Overcome.

There is the mounting difficulty and the steering difficulty and the pedaling difficulty; and then there is the general difficulty of doing all these things together.

The first thing to do after learning the theory of starting and stopping the machine is to make it go. No matter what happens, keep it going, the faster the better, until a taste is acquired for the pastime; until the going-forward-forever idea seems to have taken possession of you.

Then you want to try it again, but mounting seems more difficult than ever. The machine will not do anything it ought to do; it bucks and kicks and stops and spills and slips, and will not stand still, or even move on. You know how to mount, or think you know; but that knowledge does not seem to aid materially in overcoming the tendencies of the machine.

Now be sure that you do know what to do. The first thing to know is that the weight placed on the pedal starts the machine; that the foot on the ground will hold the machine, and keep it from starting; that the machine when in motion will move without falling, and when at rest will not stand still unless held up.

PREPARING TO MOUNT—SHOWING INCLINATION.

Then determine the amount of inclination the bicycle requires to balance against your weight. The weight placed on the pedal pulls the machine up to a vertical plane; and the inclination to be calculated for soon becomes an accepted quantity. In gripping the handles and inclining the machine, the balance that is felt will set you up on your wheel.

In mounting, the beginner is apt to stand too far behind the mounting pedal. The position should be beside it, and the mounting foot be placed over the frame and on the pedal. Then, raising the weight by means of the handles, step off the ground, letting the pedal take the weight. Do not give any push from the foot on the ground, but step off the ground as you step on the pedal. Stepping on the pedal sets the machine in motion, and rights it at the same time. There is nothing now to do but to let the pedal lower you to the saddle, and hold the other foot up until the other pedal comes around and carries the foot forward.