Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1896 — AN EXTRAORDINARY RACE [ARTICLE]

AN EXTRAORDINARY RACE

When the Sextet Bicycle Goes Against the Empire State Express. One of the most extraordinary races on record is scheduled for the sth of June. On that date six athletic eyclis.s, headed by Dan Cabanne, of St. Louis, all riding on one mnchhie. called a “scxtuplet,” will endeavor to heat the Empire State Express, which is the fastest railway train in the world. The race is to be over one mile, at a point where the huge flying locomotive may safely crowd on its greatest speed. In order to test the claims of the mgkerS of the “scxtuplet,” that, with their machine, the unaided, muscles and sinews of man can carry him more rapidly than the most perfected application of the powers of steam, a five-mile tracff' is to be laid at the side of the New York Central Railroad, near < Poughkeepsie, and here the test will be made. It is necessary that the track should be five miles in length, ns the full speed of the sextuplot cannot be attained in less than two miles, and it takes two more to come to a stop so that the six riders may alight safely. 5 The race will, therefore, be over the Third or center mile of the track. The start will be so timed that both train and cyclists will commence the racing mile together and then both will be sent along at the utmost speed. The scxtuplet is a bicycle in every sense of the word. It has only two wheels, but it has seats and pedalling* gear for six riders. In the hands of the front man only is thes tearing apparatus. The whole machine is built of aluminum, and though it is 156 indies long over all, with a wheel base of inches, it only weighs 137% pounds. The machine is saia to be such that it conld"bcnr a weight of 20,000 pounds, It is geared to 190

inches. If the men to ride it can turn their pedals three times each second, as is hoped, the trgin record for a mile will be beaten 2 2-5 seconds. There are four sprockets used in gearing, so that at each revolution of the pedals the bicycle moves ahead 42 feet. The friends of the sextet claim that with good riders the “bike” will prove that it is the fastest method of locomotion on earth.