Cycling 23 November, 1922

Readers strain their brains and ‘Tiny’ Johnson trains his toes

Readers of Cycling in the 1920s were set some brain teasers with which to while away the dark winter nights, and they had us scratching our heads too. Question number one this week featured two bike wheels, one sat on top of the other. The question: “How many times does the upper wheel turn on its own axis in making a complete revolution of the lower wheel?”

The question setter, Henry E. Dudeney, author of Amusements in Mathematics goes on to say, “Do not rush your answer, or you are almost certain to be wrong.” Full disclosure, we did get it wrong.

The answer appeared the following week. “The wheel that runs round the stationary one makes two revolutions round its own centre, not, as most people imagine, only one.” He suggests experimenting with two pennies on a table. Question number two is just as difficult.

Elsewhere H. T. ‘Tiny’ Johnson of the Catford CC writes about his training for the World Championships, where he won the amateur sprint title. “Years ago I found I could not succeed so well with the ordinary style as when I slipped my feet further back on the pedals and started using my toes. That set me thinking I was stronger in my toe and calf muscles, so I started to develop them. There was only one way to do it, skipping and toe dancing and I used to do this every day.

“Now in a race I ride easily, using the weight and thigh muscles up to the first jump, then I start ankling and my calf development comes into use.

“Of course I was delighted to win a World’s Championship, but it was only what I expected,” he wrote. Not bad from a man who “never rides properly until July”, due to his business interests.

At the Cycle and Motor Cycle Show at London’s Olympia there were two bikes at the show to look out for: the Raleigh Enterprise and the Chater-lea racing tandem – two beautifully simple bikes that would no doubt still turn heads at this year’s Cycle Show.