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

Leisure and the weather limit bicycling; other causes are incidental. The weather, indeed, affects bicycling more than any other sport. One of the most imperative needs of bicycling is rapid evaporation, and conditions that do not permit of that are unfavorable. Observe atmospheric conditions, therefore, and avoid severe work when the dew point is approached.

All the hard work wanted can be accomplished in half an hour after the wheel has been taken out; or it may be used as a vehicle for travelling steadily hour after hour for days consecutively; or an invigorating spin of two or three hours may be taken, regulating the pace and the work. One of the things to know about a bicycle is that you can get almost any kind of work you want out of it. To realize that you are doing the work you have been accustomed to have a horse do for you, and in a similar way, and to know that many of a horseman’s rules for the care of their working animals may be equally well applied to human beings who do the same work, is apt, perhaps, to cause a sensation of unpleasant surprise. It is a fact, however, that there is much information about the care of horses that the cyclist may study and apply with advantage.

The bicycle is not an iron horse; it is more like skates; is in some things like a boat; in some like a coasting sled; and in many ways is different from anything else. It seems alive at times, as does a boat; but it is the power propelling it that causes the delusion. The only thing alive about bicycles is the persons who propel them; and if they are only half alive before attempting to mount, they will become very alert and keenly appreciative of all that concerns them long before the sport has ceased to be a novelty.

“Exercise is important as a regulator of nutrition.” “The best athletic exercise for increasing the size of the chest is that which compels the deepest inspiration.” The lower limbs, with their masses of muscular tissue, are most capable of awakening the respiratory need which is proportioned to the expenditure of force. Exercise induces change of shape as well as change of size; and too much exercise of any one kind will produce a local effect.

Breathlessness is not the only form of fatigue, and fats are not the only reserve material. Nitrogenous products of combustion, which cannot be derived from fatty substances, are produced by work; and these are stored among the reserve material, and produce stiffness, as fat produces breathlessness.

In no other sport is the blood sent coursing through the veins in the same way as in bicycling; and as there is not a very great quantity of that wonderful fluid passing and repassing through the circulatory system, any obstruction or pressure is instantly felt and provided for. To avoid giving nature unnecessary trouble in providing for interrupted or unequal circulation, not even a glove that is the least tight should be worn; indeed, the covering of head, hands, and feet should be carefully selected. And the same precaution should be exercised with regard to all clothing. No tight underwear should be worn, and nothing like equestrian tights, which interfere with surface circulation. The waist and lower ribs must be kept free. You should never ride so hard as to allow the air to force the ribs out and in, so that you cannot control them. It is a good rule not to ride so hard that you cannot hold your breath at pleasure.

It is important always to remove perspiration before cooling; therefore, take a bath at once on coming in from a ride; if you cannot do that, rub off with a dry towel, or sponge with tepid water, and rub dry gently; then put on dry underclothing. The cold bath is most invigorating and refreshing, and never more refreshing than after bicycle exercise; but all cannot use it with good results. Provide for your change of underclothing before starting out, and if you do not intend to return, take it with you.

Remember always that it is essential to provide an entire covering for the body that will admit of free exhalations, and warm enough to prevent chilling under all circumstances. While riding, provided the condensing moisture is allowed to escape, it is quite possible to feel overheated, yet the skin must be protected from chill resulting from rapid motion through the air. Air pressure and evaporation nearly balance each other, and the extra heat caused by exertion is tempered by moisture and the constant fanning of rapid locomotion. These effects are most appreciably felt upon halting. If the covering is thin, of light weight, and of too hard a texture to admit of quick passage of air and steam, the garments at once become saturated with moisture, and a serious chilling follows. Even if the halt be but short, it will be found that an appreciable time passes after remounting before one becomes warm, and the distaste for work that follows is a sure indication that something is amiss. If energy were preserved, instead of wasted in warming up after halting, the benefit of the rest would be felt.

A proper porous material should be always worn. With a flannel shirt-waist and woollen sweater, even in quite warm weather, riding is not at all uncomfortable; but substitute a Holland linen coat for the sweater, and the rider will be first very warm, and then very damp indeed and most uncomfortable. Nature provides various means for keeping the body at an even temperature, and it is most essential not to disturb this balance. While working, heat is generated, the skin becomes moist, and a normal temperature is maintained by the rapid evaporation. Too little covering means too great evaporation and lowering of temperature; and even if no chill is experienced, the too rapid cooling prevents good working results, and stiffness is apt to set in with fatigue after the day’s work, and a languid, sleepy feeling on the day following.

Too much stress cannot be laid on the necessity of being able easily and expeditiously to adjust or redistribute the clothing. Flannel is a good non-conductor of heat, but the bicyclist must use discrimination in selection. Too heavy flannel will induce a copious and weakening perspiration; insufficient clothing will allow the body to be chilled by too rapid evaporation.