If you intend a fifty-mile or a week’s trip awheel, it will be very necessary to accustom yourself to the work before attempting a distance you have not yet covered. Suppose, though your muscles are unaccustomed to long-continued exercise, that you know how to wheel a bicycle and are anxious to go with your friends. They perhaps wheel for an hour or two hours daily, or for several hours twice a week. They are afraid to take you with them; and you feel sure that you can go as far as they do, and at the same rate of speed.

You must make your opportunity and prove your ability. Suppose you can wheel for half an hour without fatigue. Wheel that half-hour every day the weather permits; know your distance and your road; and then practise increasing speed, that is, do your distance in less than the half-hour without hurry. Start slowly, and keep the pace until you get your breathing apparatus steady; then ride faster, and maintain that pace; and so on, in increasing ratio. If you have been in the habit of covering your distance in five minutes under the half-hour, next time add that distance to your spin, and do it in your limit time. When you easily do five miles in half an hour on the road, add a mile or more for the next two or three spins; then do not wheel for one day; the next day wheel twice the distance, wheel eight miles, and rest a day. Then double your distance again. If you cannot do this without feeling the effects seriously, go back to where you made your greatest distance with ease, and start from that point again.

Keep a careful record of your outings, dates, wind, sun, time of day, and humidity. The latter is very important, for on a hot, dry day, greater distance can be done with safety than when evaporation is slow. Consider all the conditions when you find that you are fatigued, and decide if the trouble is with yourself or with the weather. Do not start for at least an hour after eating, and always rest after exercise before taking a meal. Observing these directions, you will soon find that you are making very fair progress, that your confidence is assured, and that you have acquired a certain amount of endurance, and can attempt any reasonable distance.

Exercise transforms, making the inactive capable of performing work and of enjoying opportunities for using their newly discovered powers. The weak are strengthened; the strong retain and renew their stores of strength; the young are symmetrically developed, and the older remain supple and active. Exercise preserves and develops all parts of the organism that are capable of performing work. Exercise is work, muscular work; and in working the muscles, all the tissues become readjusted, and all materials and accumulations tending to hinder movement are diminished in quantity and equalized in distribution.

Ease of movement and a state of muscular inactivity are incompatible. To be active, one must work; and the whole organism will respond, and adjust itself to the conditions imposed by occupation and manner of living. The complicated mechanisms and intricate processes of the human body adapt themselves to required conditions; it is only necessary to determine what those conditions shall be to produce certain results.

It is difficult for some to overcome the tendency to a state of inactivity; and there are others to whom even the contemplation of repose is distasteful. The physiological effects produced by exercise differ in different individuals, active persons and those not in the habit of doing muscular work being very differently affected. For exercise, of whatever kind, is muscular work, and “muscular work tends to modify the nutrition of all motor organs and to give them a structure favorable for the performance of work.”

All muscular work is done through the contractile power of the muscles. By use the fibres become freed from fat and other accumulations, the muscles increase in size, the contractile power becomes greater, and the impedimenta of fat, etc., are removed by the processes that are accelerated by movement. “Repose causes atrophy of muscular tissue,” and the necessary discernment and powers of discrimination must be cultivated to avoid a tendency either in the direction of over-doing or of insufficient exercise.

“The effect of muscular exercise is to render vital combustion more active; it causes more active processes of assimilation.” “Muscular education leads to an economy of forces. Practice leads to a diminution of muscular expenditure”—more work done for power expended. For the power to perform work depends on knowing how to do it properly. Real strength lies, not so much in the mass of muscular tissue as in the ability to use it.

“Exercise of strength demands the simultaneous action of a great number of muscles.” “Exercise of speed involves repetition of movement and the application of nervous energy.” “Exercises of endurance permit of economy of fatigue,” and are characterized by the necessity of perfect equilibrium between muscular effort and the powers of assimilation of the system.

In exercise of strength, every muscle should bring its whole force into play, and the bony structure is united by pressure to make a rigid whole. “Exercises of speed are accompanied by fatigue out of proportion to the mechanical work represented.” “Every movement needs the intervention of a great number of muscles; each muscle must contract with definite force in order that the whole work may lead to definite movement.”

Co-ordination is the operation of choosing the muscles which shall participate in a certain movement and of regulating the exact quantity of nervous energy necessary to produce the right amount of contraction. Automatism is acquired by practice; and the muscles must be exercised regularly to enable them to respond intuitively. A complicated series of movement can only be acquired gradually, unless the mind has a large number of muscular combinations at command.

“Exhaustion will result from overwork even when well fed.” “Exercises of endurance do not disturb the working of the organs; while increasing their activity, it gives to the system the power to repair wasted tissue, even during work.” Carbonic acid is not formed in excess, and is eliminated without producing noticeable results.

The bicyclist, even though indulging moderately in the pastime, must consider these things, and determine the course to be pursued; otherwise the exercise will prove a bane instead of a blessing. There are principles capable of general or special application; and there are special laws that may be generalized; and all may be made to accord with the exercise of bicycling, but each individual must accept a certain responsibility in the matter. The bicycle having been accepted as a means, the end sought for can be attained only by its intelligent use and application.

One of the many advantages of cycling is that the exercise involved is not limited to the use of any one set of muscles. The legs propel the machine, the muscles of the trunk engage in balancing the body, and the arms are employed in steering and controlling the front wheel. All the larger joints are active, and are made supple as well as strengthened and developed. Muscles, unless directed by mental effort, are useless. The bones give stiffness, and act as levers and fulcrums; the muscles are tools of the mind, levers wherewith to pull and push the bones into position.

Precision of movement means economy of expenditure of force, no more effort being expended than is necessary for the act of the moment. People who hunt for the pedal, and try for the saddle two or three times, and fall off because the bicycle fails to start, work hard enough to have mounted a number of times; that is, they have lifted or supported their own weight in different directions a number of times without attaining their object. They appear to be awkward; they are really unaccustomed to their work. Practice will accustom the muscles to the work they have to do.

Try to do one thing only at a time. If it is mounting, for instance, memorize each thing that must be done; how, when, and where to do it. Do not think, because the mind does not at once grasp all that is forced upon its attention, that your brain is of inferior quality; it may not be able to adapt itself to that particular mental process at that minute. But the effort made will result in added tissue, and next time there will be more hope of success. Increase by a little at a time the amount of exercise undertaken. You can gauge the practice you need only by the amount of attention you give to the subject. After muscles are once trained to an exercise, the mind will not readily lose power to reproduce the combination, and experience begins to help.

Endurance means well-directed strength as well as capacity of power stored in reserve; and the aim of all athletic work is to give an increased store of strength, vitality, and power to draw upon, not merely to expend the stock already on hand.

The muscular development that comes with bicycle exercise will often cause surprise. In persons unaccustomed to active exercise, the increase is most noticeable on the chest and forearms, the chest development increasing two and three inches, the arm and forearm in proportion, and the whole muscular system gaining in firmness and tone. Persistent bicycling, prolonged exercise on the wheel, speed work on the track, develop disproportionately the muscle of the leg. The track-man, therefore, prepares for his season of work, not by exercising and developing his legs, but by general exercise and special work that will develop the arms and back and other sets of muscles not called upon for heavy work during the season when he is to do his best. Getting up speed, increasing speed, and hill-climbing all tend to develop the muscles of the leg, which in such exercise are called upon for the heavy work of push and thrust, using a concentrated power to propel. Light dumbbell work is recommended as a good alternate for bicycle work and a means of keeping the muscular system in balance.

Leisure and the weather limit bicycling; other causes are incidental. The weather, indeed, affects bicycling more than any other sport. One of the most imperative needs of bicycling is rapid evaporation, and conditions that do not permit of that are unfavorable. Observe atmospheric conditions, therefore, and avoid severe work when the dew point is approached.

All the hard work wanted can be accomplished in half an hour after the wheel has been taken out; or it may be used as a vehicle for travelling steadily hour after hour for days consecutively; or an invigorating spin of two or three hours may be taken, regulating the pace and the work. One of the things to know about a bicycle is that you can get almost any kind of work you want out of it. To realize that you are doing the work you have been accustomed to have a horse do for you, and in a similar way, and to know that many of a horseman’s rules for the care of their working animals may be equally well applied to human beings who do the same work, is apt, perhaps, to cause a sensation of unpleasant surprise. It is a fact, however, that there is much information about the care of horses that the cyclist may study and apply with advantage.

The bicycle is not an iron horse; it is more like skates; is in some things like a boat; in some like a coasting sled; and in many ways is different from anything else. It seems alive at times, as does a boat; but it is the power propelling it that causes the delusion. The only thing alive about bicycles is the persons who propel them; and if they are only half alive before attempting to mount, they will become very alert and keenly appreciative of all that concerns them long before the sport has ceased to be a novelty.

“Exercise is important as a regulator of nutrition.” “The best athletic exercise for increasing the size of the chest is that which compels the deepest inspiration.” The lower limbs, with their masses of muscular tissue, are most capable of awakening the respiratory need which is proportioned to the expenditure of force. Exercise induces change of shape as well as change of size; and too much exercise of any one kind will produce a local effect.

Breathlessness is not the only form of fatigue, and fats are not the only reserve material. Nitrogenous products of combustion, which cannot be derived from fatty substances, are produced by work; and these are stored among the reserve material, and produce stiffness, as fat produces breathlessness.

In no other sport is the blood sent coursing through the veins in the same way as in bicycling; and as there is not a very great quantity of that wonderful fluid passing and repassing through the circulatory system, any obstruction or pressure is instantly felt and provided for. To avoid giving nature unnecessary trouble in providing for interrupted or unequal circulation, not even a glove that is the least tight should be worn; indeed, the covering of head, hands, and feet should be carefully selected. And the same precaution should be exercised with regard to all clothing. No tight underwear should be worn, and nothing like equestrian tights, which interfere with surface circulation. The waist and lower ribs must be kept free. You should never ride so hard as to allow the air to force the ribs out and in, so that you cannot control them. It is a good rule not to ride so hard that you cannot hold your breath at pleasure.

It is important always to remove perspiration before cooling; therefore, take a bath at once on coming in from a ride; if you cannot do that, rub off with a dry towel, or sponge with tepid water, and rub dry gently; then put on dry underclothing. The cold bath is most invigorating and refreshing, and never more refreshing than after bicycle exercise; but all cannot use it with good results. Provide for your change of underclothing before starting out, and if you do not intend to return, take it with you.

Remember always that it is essential to provide an entire covering for the body that will admit of free exhalations, and warm enough to prevent chilling under all circumstances. While riding, provided the condensing moisture is allowed to escape, it is quite possible to feel overheated, yet the skin must be protected from chill resulting from rapid motion through the air. Air pressure and evaporation nearly balance each other, and the extra heat caused by exertion is tempered by moisture and the constant fanning of rapid locomotion. These effects are most appreciably felt upon halting. If the covering is thin, of light weight, and of too hard a texture to admit of quick passage of air and steam, the garments at once become saturated with moisture, and a serious chilling follows. Even if the halt be but short, it will be found that an appreciable time passes after remounting before one becomes warm, and the distaste for work that follows is a sure indication that something is amiss. If energy were preserved, instead of wasted in warming up after halting, the benefit of the rest would be felt.

A proper porous material should be always worn. With a flannel shirt-waist and woollen sweater, even in quite warm weather, riding is not at all uncomfortable; but substitute a Holland linen coat for the sweater, and the rider will be first very warm, and then very damp indeed and most uncomfortable. Nature provides various means for keeping the body at an even temperature, and it is most essential not to disturb this balance. While working, heat is generated, the skin becomes moist, and a normal temperature is maintained by the rapid evaporation. Too little covering means too great evaporation and lowering of temperature; and even if no chill is experienced, the too rapid cooling prevents good working results, and stiffness is apt to set in with fatigue after the day’s work, and a languid, sleepy feeling on the day following.

Too much stress cannot be laid on the necessity of being able easily and expeditiously to adjust or redistribute the clothing. Flannel is a good non-conductor of heat, but the bicyclist must use discrimination in selection. Too heavy flannel will induce a copious and weakening perspiration; insufficient clothing will allow the body to be chilled by too rapid evaporation.

One of the greatest benefits to be derived from bicycle exercise is the free, healthy action of the skin that is induced. If this activity is retarded by pressure, much injury may be done by the holding and reabsorbing of waste matter. This reabsorbed matter, which is a direct poison and must be worked off again in the complexities of the system, causes languor and headache and a feeling that exercise is of no benefit, as indeed it is not if proper hygienic laws are not complied with.

While in the open air, there is little danger to be apprehended from damp clothing, as oxidation is going on freely. It is under shelter that danger lurks, where the air does not circulate freely. The underwear should be changed before eating, or the food will do little good. Where you can get shelter, you can usually find conveniences for making the change; otherwise, it is better to eat in the open air.

Digestion involves muscular action as well as chemical processes. Wherever in the system muscular work is being done, the blood is needed in large quantity to enable the muscular processes to continue. In the process of digestion important chemical work is accomplished by the action of certain juices or secretions of the stomach, and rhythmical muscular work in the walls and coatings of the stomach is required to regulate their supply. It may be easily understood, therefore, that digestion should be properly or rather uninterruptedly accomplished, and it cannot be thus properly accomplished if too much of the blood supply is called away in the earlier stages of assimilation.

Active muscular work should never be undertaken immediately after a full meal. The more food there is to be digested, the more work there is to be done, the less capable is the rest of the system for severe work. Such work, after eating heavily, would involve an interruption, almost a suspension, of digestive processes, and a consequent difficulty in the adjustment of the processes involved in muscular work. It would mean a much longer time to get the second wind, inability to do hard or heavy work, as well as inability to prolong the work without discomfort. Such a course of action must lead to serious complications and derangements of the digestive functions and eventually induce liability to disease.

It is very injurious, also, to attempt to perform heavy work fasting, or to prolong the period of exercise when food or rest is required. The human machine requires a certain amount of fuel, and the supply must be taken at regular intervals, or reserved material, which is too valuable to be recklessly expended, will be consumed.

A mixed diet, with plenty of variety, is the best to work on, everything to be thoroughly cooked. Three good meals a day, and no eating between meals; though, when tired, it is not well to work on an empty stomach, and if you are delayed it is better to eat something while waiting than to go too long without eating. Beef and mutton are always good food; and fresh vegetables, fruit, milk and eggs, and cereals either with cream and sugar or milk and sugar. Simple desserts are not harmful, neither are they necessary.

The so-called sustaining power of stimulants merely enables one to burn up reserve tissue, to use up more fuel, to produce more power. Work done under such conditions is forced work, like the forced draught of a steam-engine using power to force the air into the furnace. In both cases, intense heat and great power can be produced, and corresponding radiation and depression occur while the system is undergoing its processes of restoration. Tea, coffee, bouillon, are stimulating, and good as food accessories; but they are not good to work on.