LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ROAD
"Whenever a dubious traffic situation arises, such, for instance, as led horses on the wrong side of the road and two motors approaching from opposite sides, the cyclist is not only wise, but dignified, who stops at once and looks on while the others muddle through.
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Whenever you propose to turn to the Right hold out the right arm horizontally and never the left. To hold out the left arm and turn to the right, as I have seen both cyclists and motorists do, is a symptom of imbecility.
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Although the law requires you to keep to the left when required to by other traffic, you have a legal right to ride on any part of the road at other times. But modern conditions make it very risky to stand on one's legal rights in the matter. It strikes me as bad manners for cyclists to ride more than two abreast at any time or anywhere."
"Any cyclist, man or woman, who is good enough in physique and health to ride 50 or 60 miles on a Saturday or Sunday holiday, can double it in the course of a long summer day without undue fatigue and without special preparation, supposing that he is decently mounted and does not encounter a strong head wind all the day.
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Do not go much more than 20 miles or two hours without food, but do not be always eating. Carry raisins or chocolate or even biscuits in your pockets, or in a little bag where you can reach them without dismounting. Chew these things very thoroughly and keep them in the mouth till they disappear. Apples and oranges are better than any drinks. Drink as little as possible, and never take alcoholic liquors on a long ride.
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Do not wear anything that is tight, especially at neck, wrists, or knees. The best way to rest is to lie full length."
WET WEATHER RIDING
Sensible cyclists ride when it is not raining with nothing on their heads; there are very few days in our climate when direct sun-rays are hot enough to be injurious to even the hairless cyclist. (I have a bald-headed cycling relative whose scalp is like mahogany.) Many are also content to ride bare-headed in rain, and I do not blame them, though it involves fastening the cape rather tightly about the neck. But many of us who have to wear glasses like to keep the rain off them. I never had a great opinion of the cap, even in the long-ago days when it was sensibly made. But the modern cap is an atrocity. I do not want a Yorkshire tea-cake projecting over each ear and another in front of the peak. So I have bought no cap for many years and have divided my vote between those soft tweed hats (now lighter than caps) which can be worn any shape or no shape, and Barbours' "Haydon" oilskin hat, which goes in to my touring kit in view of possible all-day rain. It weighs 4 ozs. only; 6s. 6d.
Sooner or later it will happen that you finish a day's ride on tour with sodden shoes, which are still wet in the morning. There is not the slightest need to be afraid of them. Don't put them on again until just before leaving, but if the feet continue to feel cold, walk sharply up the first hill.
CYCLING FOR THE UNSOUND.
"Cycling is quite a successful treatment for a much large number of ailments than is generally realised. It is, unfortunately, not often prescribed by doctors, most of whom are now motorists--partly by the necessity for time-saving, and partly for social "swank." If your bicycle is dear to you, and a doctor tells you that you must give it up, do not rest until you have found another who is also a keen cyclist."
