I have found that in bicycling, as in other sports essayed by them, women and girls bring upon themselves censure from many sources. I have also found that this censure, though almost invariably deserved, is called forth not so much by what they do as the way they do it.

It is quite natural to suppose, in attempting an unaccustomed exercise, that you have to do only what you see done and as others about you are doing. But to attain success in bicycling, as in other things, it is necessary to study the means as well as to look to the end to be attained, and to understand what must not be attempted as well as to know each step that will be an advance on the road to progress.

A great deal has been said against attempting to study a little of anything; but when a slight knowledge of several important branches of science that bear directly upon a subject under consideration, and that a subject concerning the health and safety of many individuals, will render one intelligently self-dependent, and able at least to exercise without endangering one’s own health or the lives of others, the acquisition of such knowledge should not be neglected.

There are laws of mechanics and of physiology that directly concern the cyclist; it has been the author’s aim to point out these laws, showing, for instance, the possible dangers of exercise, and how they may be avoided by the application to bicycle exercise of simple and well-known physiological laws, thus enabling the cyclist to resist fatigue and avoid over-exertion. The needs of the bicyclist are an intelligent comprehension of the bicycle as a machine, an appreciative knowledge of the human machine that propels it, and a realization of the fact that rider and bicycle should form one combined mechanism. For this, a knowledge of the laws that determine the limits and possibilities of both mechanisms is necessary. The cyclist is limited, not only by laws physiological and laws mechanical, which determine when and for how long he may travel, but he is restricted by the laws and ordinances of county, town and village as to how and where he may travel. A knowledge of these laws is also necessary.

While not attempting to treat any of these subjects exhaustively, the author has endeavored to place them comprehensively before her readers, hoping to prepare the enthusiast to enjoy all the delights of the sport, to encourage the timid, and to assist the inexperienced to define and determine existing limitations. The subject of the care of the bicycle has been carefully treated, some of the means at hand suggested, and the necessary tools, and their uses explained. Other topics considered are how the bicycle is propelled, and why it maintains its balance; what the cyclist should learn, how correct form may be attained and faults avoided, and what should be the essential features of the clothing worn.

The author wishes to acknowledge indebtedness to Dr. Legrange, and to Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. for their permission to quote from “Physiology of Bodily Exercise.”

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