The deadly dulnes+ of the English "off" cycling ~esson is now absolutely at its worst, and the air is full—not of eyeing tours, aul evening spins and social wheeling functions—bet of petty controversies among cycling clubs, papers and nota tes. There is x three-corner-d row in} progress as to which cycling paper his the largest circulation, thers is jealousy as to who is the real proposer of the sugges ed Institute of Cycle Engineers, and actually argument has-been rai-ed as to who her Holbein in the reu-wal of the fracture of his thigh fell up tre kitchen stairs or! down To keep up some interest in ey affairs re-discoveries of old und well-known facts are being inde, as for example the unearthing of the Highway Act of sixty years ago, and extracting from it a clause which imposes the compulsion om car users to keep to the left-haud side of the road when passing trafic! ae Othe, pettinesses ari out of a dul} time are. the appeals to the National Cyclists' Union to ret lo w squabble in a club-between its Secretary and its Chairman, to settle another squabble between der, and to the prosecution of one cyclist by another in a running-down case.
The shortest dv however, been passed, and the coming of spring will soon Set us free from these tiny pettifogging affairs, and our roads will be rideable, and our paths on-e more be the scenes of race and records by men now winiteri America, Australia, Algiers, and anywhere but at home.
Although the.season is quite dead, the fact that our best tracks are cement-surfaced enables men occasionn'ly to snatch a chance on a decent day in wid-winter lower one of the softer records. Thus Intely the tandem quarter lins been reduced from 31 to 303-5th secs, but this is so far below the single bicycle record that it only attracts notice as an unseasonable rather than an exceptionally remarkable performance. is being discussed, the very title implying tht current amy. teurismn is not what it claims to be. The newness of the idea ix thst mon salt be called amateurs who really do ride for the love of the thing, a class that w.s disgusted by the presence of so many veiled their rauks, and even more disgusted by the subsequent attempt by the Union to weed them out by a licensing proc which was of small value as a sort machine, and vexativusly inquisitive (-ven is the income-tox paper) to a bond file amateur. The cure ant the disease hi between them reduced amateurism to so low a level, that the best amateurs of today are nob so fast as those of a year ago, if the record books may be accepte.l as evidence of speed.
The district of Reigate in Surrey was notorious for its police activity -against cyclists, and the tradesmen of the locality have recently snee-oded in a combined appeal for the removal from this district of the police superintendent, on the grounds—rery solid ones too—ef the injury done to trade by the practical bani ment of cycling visitors from the neighbourhood. The "ficer's action in the new sphere to which he h-s been transferred will be watched with considerable interest by cyclists. One of the local constables in the same corner of England is keeping the traditional exaggeration of apeed esti mating peculiar tos policeman, for he has been testifying toa cyclist travelling, whic if 4 speed neurér sixty than fitts miles an hour. rumoured that restrictive legis'aion will be introduced in America fo prohibit such pubic endurance contests as the recent Six Days' Grind, and there are on tein side, equally desire the suppression of female racing. Neither of these events can b+ considered sound or healthy forms of sport or recreation, but if the legislature has to step in and protect, wie persons from each and every form of excessive athleticism or undesirable exhibition, that ie not absolutely dangoron, the very folk who now amour for restriction w uld then he raising a ety-for liberty. and would sneer a> grandmotherly legislation ate The Midland Cycle Show has made anew departure in handing over a couple ut hundred pounds tothe Birmingham Hospitals and Dispensaries, out of the profits of the annul exhibition of cycles in the Metro polis -f the Midlands. " The Stanley, stores its profits to preserve the continuity of Shows from year to year, and the National returns its surplus year by year by way of onus to ite exuiblenes, bul this, charitable disposal of funds in Birminghati is a most excellent example of genuine charity.
London, 7th Jan
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.