A CYCLIST'S NOTE-BOOK.
A Cyclist's Note-Book. By A. W. Rumney. (W. and A. K Johnston.) — The cycling expert is apt to be an inhuman creature, with a soul set upon record-breaking, and a general creed that man exists for the machine. Mr. Rumney, though he is the "tourist editor" of Cycling, remains human,—with a taste for all the humanities. He has a turn for agreeable quota. tion, and no passion for mending punctures ; he recognises that the best way to see a country is not to be tied to your cycle, nor committed to a definite route. Indeed he cites Montaigne freely, and a man who takes Montaigne for a guide will never go too far or too fast, and is likely to be quite good company. Of course, Mr. Rumney is talking for the most part about cycles, and cycling "shop," when it turns on cranks and brakes and such like, is only exhilarating to the initiated : one may be quite competent on a bicycle and yet have extremely vague notions about convertible gears. However, it is just as well to note that Mr. Rumney is con- vinced that the two-speed arrangement (by which a gear suitable for work on the level can be altered at will to one slower but needing less effort in hill-climbing) will prove as great a boon as the fre. wheel. The latter he accepts as settled, and we may add that if the free wheel became universal it would probably lessen enormously the number of serious accidents. These mostly occur to young fools who persist in riding without a brake, trusting to their prowess in back-pedalling. Apparently all th.- large class of riders that hire a machine for an occasional run think the use of a brake ignominious, for if one has occasion ever to hire a machine, the great majority of those available have no brake attached. There is absolutely no reason for this practice, as the extra weight on the machine is the merest trifle, and the superstition that brakes injure tires affects no one who has used a brake freely. With the free wheel back-pedalling is impossible. and a brake indispensable, of the new kind which enables a rider to go down the steepest bills with complete confidence. For our own part, we are more enthusiastic over the rim brake than the free wheel. These, however, are purely technical matters which Mr. Rumney discusses with more knowledge than we can ; but it would be unjust to his pleasant book not to recognise that he discusses also many things that are not technical, and has a very attractive sense of the charm of landscape. He is a photographer too, and illustrates his own volume copiously.
Previous page
