A TEETOTAL CHAMPION 'CYCLIST

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1944, 14 September 1888, Page 3

A TEETOTAL CHAMPION 'CYCLIST

. a Mr W. A. Rowo, America's charapicn bicyclist, and who claims to bo tho champion of tho world, mndo his first sppoaranca beforo a London assemblage recently at Iho Agricultural Hall The " Stir " states that m appearance Rowe is a perfect athlete, aud, saya Captain Coe, who had just been converting wit'i h : m. " I can quite believe him when ho says Ho has never been s'ok or sorry m his life. He is a n:oBt unassuming mon, a^d his life is nothing less than a Teinporan c i lecture." "I think you hold the champion ' ncorda from a quarter of a mi'e to twenty-two miles; ? " oeked Cjp'ain Coe. — " That is so," replied Rowe. "You commenced as an amateur, did you not?"— <« Yes." ** What made you toko up profes sionalism ?"—" I was forced into it by the league of Americm professional wheelmen, I being at the time hired by one of the largest American manufacturers "You have been a teetotaller all your life, I think?" — "Yea, I never tasted a drop of alcoholic liquor, nor have I over used tobacco m any form." •' That beiog so, our readors would like to know how you train ? ' — 'Teat oatmeal, beef, mutton, chop?, and eggfc, plenty of thorn, with hot tea to drink, limiting rayself to one cup per meal, and never drinking anything between meals." '* Don't yon ever find yourself any the worse for your abstinence, say after very severe ex«rc!ee V'—l never yet had an echo or pain after any raoa, and never ao muoh as took a wet sponge In my mouth after raolng. 1 ' " When you first went into training did you not find the work trying without any Btlmuluntß?' — No, because I never had taken them, and therefore ft It no want of them I never found anybody push me very hßrd either, after I once got Into . oondition." 11 Then I supposo you don't want muoh training, being In training always praotlcallv V — l am lv iho best cf health, and all I want Is a bit of praotlca on my wheel to be fn the beßt condition to ride." " You don't make fljah thon when you are not training ?"—*' No, I am always hard, and even when I'm In tho beat condition I still weigh heavy," " What la your weight, then, and yonr age and measurement*?" — "I was twentytwo last July, and I weighed 165 lbs. When I rodo my greatest distance — twenty-two mllea Indie an hour -I weighed 175 lbs In raolng ccs'.ume. My height Ib sft 9j ln." " At what age did you take to blcyol Ing V— Al tho age of eighteen." " You engaged In it for pleasure, then?'' — Yes, I used to ride on the roads.". " Which is your best distance ?'— " I never had ono. I consider myßelf just as good -at 100 yards as at twenty miles " " Like a certain much advertised tea, you aro always good alike thon?"— •'That's about it. lam the only man m tha world who ever covered twenty-two miles ksido of an hour." " Do you think you could have done ap well if you had not so consistently chewed — I beg pirdon— eechewed tobacci and beer?"— ''l Viave comu'ted tho finest doctors and physicians m tho United States, and they toll mo the greatest part of my Euccefs lies m my abstinence. I feel myself (hac iti_ co." '* I am just as good one day as another. I never have an off day, whereas people who take stimulants are good to-day and nothing the next day. It sometimes takes ■ thorn a fortnight to got back again into good order. Bro hor professionals havo admitted as much to me. When I rede my greatest distance m an hour I had not dono any work on my bicycle for a week on account of bad woatbo", and though I thought I should not be m condition,' yet when I enme to ride I found I accomplished the greatost performance ever yet done m the world— and all on tea, too, my boy."— Exchange.