WOMEN WHEELERS - A Thousand Local Ladies Ride Bicycles. - A VERY ECONOMICAL STEED. - The Park Is Their Great Pleasure Ground and the Pastime Is Fast Becoming Popular. - Sun, Jan 8, 1893 - Page 12 - The San Francisco Call

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WOMEN WHEELERS A Thousand Local Ladies Ride Bicycles Sun, Jan 8, 1893 – Page 12 · The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, California) · Newspapers.com

WOMEN WHEELERS

A Thousand Local Ladies Ride Bicycles.

A VERY ECONOMICAL STEED.

The Park Is Their Great Pleasure Ground and the Pastime Is Fast Becoming Popular.

OTHING in the form of open-air exercise for women can compare with riding on a safety bicycle. A few years ago, when it was discovered that several San Francisco ladies had taken to wheeling through Golden Gate Park for health and pleasure combined, that garrulous old dame Madame Grundy threw up her hands in horror and sent post haste for her smelling salts. Then the old lady betook herself to bed and worked herself into a hysterical ecstasy over the shocking impropriety of such a departure.

The "ordinary" or high-wheeled vehicle was then in vogue and the present popular type of safety was just beginning to become known in the East. As no one had ever seen aught but a tinseled dame of the circus arena make use of a wheel, the term "ladies' bicycle" carried with it visions of fair maids and matrons perched high in the air. And Mrs. Grundy groaned.

"To think of a woman astride - actually astride - of one of those horrid things! It's too awful for anything.” It was a state of affairs which the good old chaperon could not contemplate, and it was little wonder that she was shocked beyond expression.

And the public, the dear, patient public, was content to allow the innovation a fair trial on its merits, and refused to enter into the discussion between Mrs. Grundy and the bicycle enthusiasts.

But gradually the true form and merits of the lady's wheel became known. It was discerned at once that women could mount and ride with as much ease and facility as they could step in and out of a carriage. The stranger was given a cordial welcome and was invited to stay.

To-day there are over 1000 lady bicyclers in the city of San Francisco, fully 500 across the bay in Oakland and Alameda, while nearly every other city in California has its quota.

The public has been completely won over, and none but the over-prudish and incurably dyspeptic are left to rail against it.

Bicycling is now the most fascinating kind of exercise. Until its introduction women could not run, jump, play baseball; walking was monotonous and weary; rowing more so. Tennis was good enough in its way, but it was far from being the exhilarating pastime bicycling is. Heretofore the outdoor recreations of the ladies have been limited in confines. They did not see the beauties of the country and the glories of nature. Horseback riding or carriage driving, it is true, brought these advantages, but both are luxuries in their way, while the latter is no more to be compared to healthy exercise than a ride in a cable-car for that matter.

And so it went all through the list.

Now all is changed. Now with her bicycle she can go where she will, when she will and the way she will. The exercise may be as gentle or as hard as she wishes. She can go as fast or as slow as suits her own sweet will and physical strength. She has banished care to the winds, mounts her steed and takes a snap shot at the unvitiated air. Everything has taken on a new charm. She wanders in odd out-of-the-way places and the most prosaic of landscapes have become invested with a new interest.

Everything has changed since she has learned to ride.

Lady riders say that bicycling is an effectual banisher of many of the little aches and pains that their sex is heir to. It does away with that "tired feeling."

"The motion is rhythmical, and consequently very different indeed from walking. It has a peculiar fascination, hard to define with its freedom from tension or strain. It is this fascination sometimes, however, that leads enthusiasts to strain and overtax themselves, but any exercise carried to the point of exhaustion becomes an evil instead of a benefit.

Moreover, the bicycle is a very economical sort of a servant. He needs no food or grooming like the horse. Once you become acquainted with it, it is always obedient and ready to do your will. Its speed is equal to the best of steeds, and it never tires, ride all day uphill and downhill, rapidly or slowly, let the weather be what it will, it is always the same - tireless, docile and willing.

It doesn't shy at shadows or prick up its ears and make an attempt to unseat you at the sight of unfamiliar things. It is such a cheap sort of a fellow, too, as to be within the reach of every one. His only expense practically is his purchase. There is no stable to provide for him, no hay or feed to buy for his keeping when not in use.

When you are not using him you can leave him in any convenient and safe spot and you will surely find him there when you want him.

There was never a more faithful servant. Golden Gate Park is the great resort of the lady bicyclists of San Francisco. The good and level drives of that pleasure land afford an excellent track for practice. Almost any day you may see several of these two-wheeled vehicles, with their pretty drivers, noiselessly speeding along the many beautiful driveways. There is a healthful glow in their cheeks, the intoxication of pleasure in their eyes, and the riders are of all ages and sizes.

Some are mere tots, not over 6 or 8 years old, others are demure misses of 15, then follows a splendidly developed woman of 20 or 22, and so on goes the scale. It is no uncommon sight to see a matronly looking woman of 45 years poised erectly on the machine and pedaling away with as much vivacity and sprightliness as a schoolboy.

And the majority of these lady wheelers are good riders. Not a few of them can keep up with the smartest trap and four, and with the greatest ease.

Of course all the ladies do not own their own bicycles. There are bicycle livery stables, where you can rent the machine just the same as you can hire a horse or team from a real livery stable.

These are called cycleries or wheeleries. A cyclery is generally a riding-school and a wheel-renting establishment in one.

The beginner is taught how to manage the machine and then for so much an hour you can have the use of it to go wherever you please.

Many of the lady riders find it more suitable to hire the machine whenever it pleases their fancy to ride.

"In the past year we have taught about 300 ladies how to ride a bicycle,” said Thomas J. Cullen, an instructor at the cyclery at the Haight-street entrance to the park. "How long does it take a beginner to acquire the art? Oh, not long. Generally after the first lesson they are able to toddle for themselves. Ladies are apt pupils, and I have frequently seen one sprint away like an old-timer after a fifteen-minute lesson. At first they are generally pretty nervous. It is hard to convince them when they are in the saddle that they are not twenty feet from the ground. The pupil is given her first lesson on a safety tandem, or two-saddled machine. The instructor sits in the bind seat, while all the beginner has to do is to place her feet on the pedals and allow them to remain there. This is what is known as "learning pedaling,' and is the most difficult part of the task the ladies meet with. A man picks it up at once, but a woman always fears she will fall, and, of course, this timidity retards her progress. After you convince her that she can balance herself by the use of the handles your great work is done and but plain sailing remains.

"You know when a woman has confidence in herself she will undertake anything, and the moment she has confidence in the bicycle she has learned to ride it.

"More women are taking to it every day, They find out it is a very healthful exercise and perfectly exempt from danger. The only trouble is that a tyro in the business is apt to strain herself too much. I should advise all ladies to take their time while going up hill. There is a certain strain or tension in pedaling up an incline, which should be taken slowly and deliberately. A number of schoolgirls are now riding the wheel after school hours, and I think they study the harder for it.”

A prominent female physician was asked: "Do you regard the use of the bicycle for women as good or bad?"

"Bad," she replied, "because I am forced to confess the result is the defrauding of doctors ont of a good many patients. From an unselfish standpoint, I think it is the best doctor woman could possibly have. It is a health-giver in the true sense of the word. It develops the muscles of the legs and back as no other exercise I know of. It would be a godsend to shopgirls and saleswomen if they could mount a bicycle and ride to their homes after their long confinement during working hours. I think it would be the greatest bit of practical philanthropy on record if merchants would provide their employees with a safety by buying the machine at wholesale prices and selling it to the employed on easy installments. It would reduce the sick list, and I believe the merchant would be a big gainer by it in the end. I advise all my patients to take this mode of exercise if they are strong enough, and I have seen enough to convince me that it is a greater health restorative than all the physic and medicine in the category of materia medica.”

Both the San Francisco Bicycle Club and the Alameda Bicycle aud Athletic Club have a ladies' annex. On this side of the bay, however, the ladies do not seem to be very clannish and but very few riders belong to the annex. In fact ladies' bicycle clubs do not seem to thrive very well. So of the thousand riders who grace Golden Gate Park in the course of a year but a mere fraction are members of the clubs.

Among the more prominent devotees of the wheel in San Francisco may be mentioned:

Mrs. John C. Quinn, Mrs. G. H. Hooke, Mrs. Dr. Trazier, Mrs. James Barry, Mrs. Deering, Mrs. Stone, Mrs. A. B. Butler, Mrs. Myerstein, Mrs. Gilmore, Mrs. C. E. Howard, Mrs. Riddell, Mrs. Burns Verhemer, Mrs. Joseph E. Shain, Miss A. Christ, the Misses C. S. and L. D. Hill, Miss Marwedel, Miss Book, Miss Laura Small, Miss Lamb, Miss Fiby, the Misses Cowley, Miss Blanche Terrill, Miss Lillian Ray, Miss Muriel Wemple, Miss Langran, the Misses Redding, Miss Jennie Bell, Miss Eells, Miss Sealey, the Misses Merry, the Misses McBoyle, Miss Mamie Wallace, the Misses Davis, Miss Mae J. Richards, Miss Lovegrove, Miss Eva Howe, Miss Nina Lyon, Miss McAdams, Miss Peck, Miss Russell, Miss Essie Wetherall, Miss Laura Bradley, Miss Jeannie Hurd, Miss M. V. Morrell, Miss May Corscilia, Miss Carter, Miss Lewis, Miss Callahan, Miss Reinstein, Mrs. Fahrbach, Miss Riley, Miss. Hotchkinson, Miss Simpson, Miss Myhan, Miss Mayo, Miss Woods, Miss Schifferstein and Miss Frances Shaw.

Miss Agnes Christ

Miss Christ was one of the first ladies to mount a wheel in Golden Gate Park. She is a constant rider and is very proficient in tbe accomplishment.

Miss L. D. Hill has pedaled away for the past thirty months. "I think I was one of the first four ladies who rode a bicycle in San Francisco," said Miss Hill. "I can remember the first day I went out there how all the men stared at me as if I was a curiosity. Now they take it as a matter of course, I suppose. I am devoted to the pastime and can ride for hours without being fatigued. I find it as pleasant and healthy a recreation as one could wish for. It is far ahead of horseback riding and is less fatiguing.

"In time I think nearly every woman will have her own bicycle, and take a spin on an afternoon.”

Miss Schifferstein is a very graceful rider and ardently devoted to her 'cycle.

Miss Fanny Rice, the actress, takes a spin in the park nearly every morning now.

So does Mrs. Conley.

Of course none of the pretty enthusiasts are so absorbed in their new calling that they have lost all interest in the matter of dress. Bicycling has become such a fashionable pastime that dressmakers have now devoted a department to the making of bicycle gowns, just the same as tennis costumes, or ballroom dresses, for that matter.

So far there is no disposition on the part of fashion to say just what shall be proper and what not proper for a fair wheeler to wear when she is taking an outing. An attempt was made last summer to introduce the divided skirt. This was the result of Mrs. Charles Candy of Denver riding down from the summit of Pikes Peak in the Jenness-Miller costume, but the attempt met with no success.

So individual fancy may be indulged in at present, and the riders may wear just what color and what make-up of dress they please.

There is a costume, however, which is very much in vogue at present, and it is said to possess considerable merit over any other yet devised.

It is from a well-known wheeler: "I used to think that the ordinary tailor-made gown would serve all purposes of cycling. But I rode from Oakland to San Jose the other day, and my skirts got caught twice in the wheels and were badly damaged. I have been working on a new pattern since I returned, and I think lady riders will find it as near perfection as any yet heard of."

"The skirt is of gray tweed. It is made without foundation, and with a deep hem turned up on the outside, well secured by rows of stitching so that there is absolutely nothing on the inside to catch. It is of ordinary walking length, for I am opposed to any eccentricity in costume. By an arrangement of hooks and eyes - the hooks around the waist - it can be looped up so that it just reaches the ankles when on the machine, and as there is no unnecessary fullness in the back there is small if any danger of it getting wound up in the wheel. For the rest a linen blouse, a jacket to put on when off the machine, and a jaunty felt hat complete the costume. Next to the skin wool should be worn. I recommend woolen corsets. They absorb the perspiration. Mine has so few bones that it is never stiff, and does not interfere with my movements. There have been other inventions - for instance, one marvelous skirt closed around the bottom with a wide piece of cloth in which there are incipient knickerbockers, but just what becomes of that piece of cloth when you sit on the machipe I don't know. Then there are skirts closed around the feet like a bag, and numerous other conceits, but I believe my own invention is the best."

At the present time there are over 30,000 lady cyclists in the United States. The first woman to take to the wheel on this side of the water was Mrs. W. E. Smith of New York. The fad, or whatever it pleases you to call it, is on the increase as nothing of its kind ever was before. The list includes many well-known women, such as Pauline Hall, the actress, Mrs. Kendal, Miss Drexel, Kate Field, as well as leading society women in every city in the country.

Thus far very few American wheelwomen have achieved any event that will add their names to the scroll of fame of the cycle historian.

Mention, however, should be made of Mrs. Charles Candy of Denver, who rode down Pikes Peak in company with her husband.

Miss Mamie Johnson, a school teacher of Yellow Springs, Ohio, undertook to ride alone from her home to Davenport, Iowa, last summer, a distance of 800 miles. She accomplished the undertaking without any difficulty.

As for speed Miss Margaret Kirkwood of Boston is probably the fastest lady rider in the East. She was the first lady to ride 100 miles in one day. She has accomplished the feat frequently since then. This is known as the Century run.

Miss Jessie Riddell of Portland, Or., is probably the record-breaker of the Pacific Coast. Miss Riddell has ridden a mile in 2 minutes and 22 seconds, and set the pace at fifteen miles an hour in Golden Gate Park last summer when visiting her mother in this city. Miss Riddell has never yet made a Century run, although she will probably attempt it in San Francisco during the next summer.

Miss Lucy Porter of Denver and Miss Helen Haggerty of St. Louis both made six Century runs during 1892. They began by taking long walks in the snow as a course of training, and claim they can repeat the effort without any inconvenience,

Miss Lottie Dudley, a young English woman, bas recently attained prominence by riding 100 miles in 7 hours and 12 minutes, an average of 14 miles an hour. Miss Dudley placed herself in the hands of a professional trainer and underwent a thorough system of coaching preparatory to the experiment. Her course in this matter, however, has been the subject of much deprecatory criticism.

Miss Johrgensen of Denmark has ridden 19 miles within an hour, and 164 miles in 12 hours.

Thus far in this city the spirit of competition does not seem to have affected the harmony existing between the various ladies. No attempt has been made by any California woman to prove herself a record-breaker. At least if such has been made the fair aspirant has heretofore been too modest to declare her ambition.

During the present year it is likely an attempt will be made to form a strictly ladies' bicycle club. The project is under way at present, and the outlook for its success is very bright.

A similar movement is on foot across the bay, and should both projects become realities it is likely the ladies themselves will have a number of runs to adjacent cities. Alameda County has a number of excellent roads, admirably suited to propelling the wheel. Stockton, Sacramento and San Jose are also in favor of such action.

Possibly the longest good run in the State would be from Oakland to San Jose. The road is good, and it is likely a Century course will be established between these two cities which will be a competing arena for local lady speeders.

It is a singular fact, however, that very few ladies' clubs have had any lengthened existence. They have either died in their incipiency or were disbanded shortly after organization.

Noteworthy examples of this are Washton, [sic] Providence, Philadelphia, Chicago and Minneapolis.

It is only recently that New York City has developed a successful organization,

The only other successful clubs at present are in Omaha, Hartford; Houston, Tex.; West Somerville, Mass.; Worcester, Mass.; Toronto, Canada; Ansonia, Conn.; Wyoming, Pa.; Rosedale, Mass.; Buffalo, N. Y., and Brooklyn, N. Y.