PHYSICAL CULTURE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3125, 27 February 1909, Page 3

PHYSICAL CULTURE.

(By R. 0. JAKRETT).

(Late Supervisor to Warganui EJccation Board. Pi i.e.pal: Vv;nganui, Palmerston Noi tti, Feiic!ing and Foxton Physical Culture Schools). THE HIGH-GEARED BICYCLE. A Prolific Cause of Heart Strain and Varicose Veins. In these days of haste, hustle and strenuous competition, one scarcely meets a man, woman, or child, who cannot ride a wheel, from the juvenile who can scarcely reach the pedals to the man of three score years and ten. Some ride for pleasure, recreation, and pastime, and others from pure necessity, for time flies so fast. Many would, if time allowed, walk to relieve the monotony of pedal, pedal, pedal. But they feel that if they tollowed that inclination they would get left behind in the rush and push for business. So that, under such circumstances, 1 feel some diffidence in sounding a note of alarm. Yet in my experience as a teacher of physical culture and a trainer of athletes it has come year after year more forcibly under my notice that the men who suffer from physical breakdowns, and whose cases have been diagnosed by the attending doctor as suffering from valvular strain of the heart—or, in other words, they are the unlucky possessors of the athlete's heart are men who either were at the time or had been previously engaged as racing cyclists. I venture to assert that more eyeists than all other athletes put together suffer from this trouble. If< the trained man is liable to be so affected, how much more so is the untrained une. who probably uses his machine merely to ride to and from his place of business or run about town? Perchance he has missed a train. He decides to cycle through, witn the remark, "It will only mean a bit of a plug!" He encounters a head wind, and it becomes a case of standing upon the pedals, while a companion with a-lower gear is riding fairly easy. Or, as often happens, they get to a fairly steep hill. Again the high gear means hard straining work, while the other cyclist, with his low gear, gets up fairly easy. This is practically an everyday occurrence with devotees of the wheel.

I have in my mind's eye one of the most successful road racing cyclists in the Dominion. One day he went out in the company of several other cyclists for an easy exercise spin. Whilst riding at an easy pace, he was seized with a sudden attack of faintness, and loss of power. The effect was such that it became a great effort for him to reach home. Medical advice was obtained. Verdict, valvular strain. He has never been the same cyclist since. He was somewhat puzzled to account for it, as he said he had done no fast riding for some time previously. I asked him if he could rpcollect racing at any time previous to that season which called for a long sustained sprint, or had he done any hard unpaced riding. He replied, "Yes, more than once." In my opinion, it was during one of these efforts that the actual strain occurred; and at a later date, with no apparent effort, the weak place went. The doctor who attended, him agreed with me in this expression of opinio:?. Indeed, I find every medical man to whom I have spoken upon this subject fully endorses my views. Another, source of danger from the tremendous amount of drivingpower required with a high gear is varicose veins. My exptri ;nce of this trouble has also been it affects more cyclists than all other athletes combined. While I have known many athletes *ho have been competitors for a lengthy period on the,running and walking and field sports, I can only call to mind, at the moment, one who had to be operated upon for varicose veins, and have seen comparatively few showing symptoms even after years ol competing and hard training. Whiht of racing cyclists I have known quite a number, all of whom have been high-geir mer. I do rot wish to be misunderitcod. Rational cycling can only be beneficial. It is the abuse of this es in many other things, that I have endeavoured to discourage.