There is bicycling weather, as there is skating weather, yachting weather, or weather favorable for any out-door sport or exercise. But it is easy to wait for bicycling weather, and nothing has to make way for it. The machine is always ready, and that is all that is needed if a suitable country is accessible. On the road the bicyclist is rendered independent of assistance, for everything needful is prepared for him, and parts and repair supplies can be carried and need but little room. Only inattention or carelessness should cause delay. Still, proper preparation is essential to enjoy bicycling at its best, and the bicyclist should be ready to meet any emergency.
That there is necessarily the element of sociability about cycling is evident. There are so many stops, and the dusty wheelmen grouped among their wheels at the roadside have always the bond of a common interest; from this, transition to individual fads and fancies is easy; there is constant opportunity for acquiring special knowledge and for using it; and almost every accomplishment is appreciated in addition to capability as a bicyclist, and may be utilized in a variety of ways; cheerfulness is an invariable factor; and there is always novelty and the possibility of excitement, for it is unusual, on a bicycle trip, that everything happens as it is expected or has been planned for.
Too much cannot be said of the benefits to be derived from out-door exercise; and one of the best features of bicycling is that it brings so many to enjoy out-door life who would otherwise have little of either fresh air or exercise. Proper oxidation is necessary to perfect health. The great danger that these would-be bicyclists must face is unfamiliarity with exercise, either general or special. Persons accustomed to athletic exercise know how to prepare for and how to resist fatigue, know what practice means and how proficiency may be attained. The bicyclist unaccustomed to athletics has all this to learn, and more; to him, ultimate success means more time given to study and less time to practice. The novice, however, has the advantage that he has nothing to unlearn, and can profit by the experience of others.
To accomplish the best results, the human machine must not be overworked; and to stop work at the right moment is one of the hardest things to learn, and the most important to success. To learn the construction of a bicycle, the particular duties of all the parts and their adjustment, is a matter of memory and observation. To understand the adjustment of the human machine to mechanical environment requires cultivated perception and special knowledge. But the human machine is so independently adaptable, so hard to put out of order, that it may be cared for by intelligent attention to only a few simple laws. Do not wait for danger signals: know how to avoid them.
Bicycling opens a delightful future to all who attempt it intelligently. The inspiration of the enthusiast is invaluable; but it is the practical theorist who is successful.
A bright, sunny morning, fresh and cool; good roads and a dry atmosphere; a beautiful country before you, all your own to see and to enjoy; a properly adjusted wheel awaiting you,—what more delightful than to mount and speed away, the whirr of the wheels, the soft grit of the tire, an occasional chain-clank the only sounds added to the chorus of the morning, as, the pace attained, the road stretches away before you!
CHAPTER II.
What the Bicycle Does.
The bicycle has been evolved—a mechanism, propelled solely by human power, capable of quadrupling the distance traversable by the pedestrian.
The simple, light, and almost universally accepted machine is constructed to stand a strain tremendous in proportion to its weight; for the modern machine weighs only twenty pounds, and it may be lighter, though for some purposes it should be heavier. The bicyclist is virtually mounted on a set of casters, which propels the weight with much greater ease than can be attained in the act of walking. In walking, advantage is taken of the force of gravity by continually falling forward, and simultaneously placing the feet, with a regular motion, one beyond the other, to alternately receive the weight of the body. On the bicycle, the weight is carried and supported, and the wheels reduce friction to a minimum.