OLSTACLEE RACLS.

457

CHATIRS,

bicycle obstacle race 15 frequently run on; while an artilicial obstruction in great request 15 a wooden flight of stairs - up over and down which the competitor must carry his machine, un- less he be foolhardy cnough to try to ride over, as has been more than once disastrously attempted. The attempt has not always been a voluntary one, for the stam-flight 15 a magnilicent trap for the hasty young man who rides at his

best pace and can’t always pull up at the right moment. So is the cluster of chairs, barrels, and

bencehes wherewith (o ig the committee olt- - - times make his NN

carecr a grief and } " 4 weariness | A him. Ior 1t 1s p\\x‘ necessary to select an advantagcous . \ L wll opening among those chairs and sundries, :\ \k/

A Bl N N

and then to dodge :

gingerly between

them. Now, it is \. \43*" commonly found AN that the widest-look- ) \\\ Ing opening leads BN mto the most im- possible “no | thoroughfare,” the

biggest and hardest pleces of furniture, and the most grievous spills ; so

that not always he who s the chairs is first out of them, and he who tackles them with the boldest rush i1s likely to sprawl among them with the most brutscs.

The diresome tarpauling too, is spread - the path of the unhappy rider,” with just such greater awkwardness to him than to the pedestrian, as may be cal- culated from the encumbrance of his

first among

bicycle. Often the place of the tar- paulin, howcver, is taken by a series of

scallold poles, fixed across the course at about two feet from the ground, under which the sufferer must crawl

e A

-~ 1 N P NN Y — v

[N

TIHIE TARPAUILIN.

Vol iv.—35a.