The Press Saturday, March 24, 1928. A Bicycle Jubilee.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19268, 24 March 1928, Page 14

The Press Saturday, March 24, 1928. A Bicycle Jubilee.

The effect of motoring upon cycling would make an interesting subject of investigation by a student of economics, and of course the result would have a special interest for Christchurch. Looking at the question cursorily one is tempted 'to think that the crowding of roads with motors must be detrimental to cycling. Gone is the old peace of mind with which a rambler could ride along the by-ways of the English shires; be never knows but when round the corner of a deliciously winding road will hurtle a car, and he has, so to speak, to have eyes even in the back of his head. So, at least, the outsider would think, but facts have a curious way of upsetting superficial conclusions. What is certain is that cycling is still a popular pastime in England. The Cyclists' Touring Club celebrated its jubilee in January, and the Manchester Guardian points out that this was almost the jubilee of the bicycle itself, for " ft was only "in the ' seventies' that the invention "of the 'high ordinary' exalted cycling into an intrinsic pleasure." The bicycle has meant so much socially and economically that the occasion is well worth a little consideration.

The old "high ordinary" was one of the most curious things invented by man. To us to-day it is surprising that man's inventiveness did not proceed straight to the "safety" design and that he trusted himself to a machine so awkward and dangerous as the one with the large wheel in front and the tiny one behind. Yet man did, and derived a great deal of pleasure from it. He toured the country on this perilous contraption and on the racing track reached a' speed of over twenty miles per hour. Cycling in this way, however, was an adventure. The invention of the "safety" made cycling a routine. It widened enormously the public that used this mode of locomotion, and what is perhaps most important, it enabled women to ride. The Manchester Guardian quotes Henry James as remarking as he caught sight of an array of bicycles one fine Sunday morning in Westmoreland: ."What a "change this is going to make in the "position of,women !"' It did a great deal to produce the modern generation of healthy independent women. The bicycle also took men and women further afield, enabled them to see a great deal more of their country, and helped to break down barriers between classes. The motor has enlarged still more the sight-seer's radius of action, but it lacks the leisurely intimacy of the bicycle. The late nineties and the first years of the present century must have been the happiest years of the touring cyclist in England. The motortear had not arrived to raise clouds of dust and push him into the hedge. England offers to the man or woman with time and a bicycle only those who have seea England can know. The delights are infinite in number and variety. And if the .motor is a nuisance and a danger, its increase has been accompanied by an improvement in road-making which has made cycling easier and pleasanter. The country is now a net-work of tarsealed roads. It is largely because our country roads in New Zealand are so inferior that touring on bicycles is not nearly so popular in New Zealand. We have, moreover, nothing like the multitude of places of accommodation that the Old Country has to offer. The student of conditions of living in England must take into account the increase in our time in the facilities for getting about the country. The motor has annihilated distance. It is often complained that it is destroying the restfulness and beauty of the countryside; but on the other hand it is bringing townspeople • within easy reach of the recesses of rural beauty. In a humbler way the bicycle has done the same thing, and we may include in the bicycle its noisy brother the motor machine. The colonial visitor to England is struck by the amount of cycb'ng and motor-cycling he sees. On Sunday afternoons lines of cyclists may be observed returning to London from a visit to the Surrey woods. The rural roads of Warwickshire swarm with motor-cycles. Thousands of clerks and artisans in the crowded Lancashire areas go regularly on wheels to Yorkshire and the Lake Country. Though England becomes more and more urban every year, strong ties with the countryside remain, and the influence of rural beauty and peacefulness still moulds the national character. Socially and economically the influence of the bicycle has been important. " Outside the " larger towns the English workman in " regular employment is now generally "a cyclist, sometimes a motor-cyclist, "but more often a rider of the less "costly 'push-bike.' Since the dearth "of country cottages became acute, "nothing but the bicycle has made his "position bearable. With it he can, " at a pinch, live anywhere within five "or six miles of his work, or even "more." There seems to be something peculiarly English in the bicycle; it suits English individuality and leisureliness. In the manufacture of both ordinary bicycles and motor-cycles England leads the world. Only the multiplication of the motor-car threatens the use of the two-wheeled vehicle, but there is comfort in the fact that the Touring Club is apparently still a flourishing institution. Something very valuable will be lost if the motor pushes the bicycle right off the road, not merely into the ditch, but into oblivion.