Page:Burke, W.S. - Cycling in Bengal (1898).djvu/23



Some general observations on the subject of preliminary preparations may be useful to those who have not yet attempted a run into the districts. We shall endeavour to make these suggestions as complete as possible, leaving it to individual taste to make such modifications as may be deemed suitable. On deciding to undertake a tour, the first consideration to be dealt with, after the route has been selected, is what to take in the way of kit. And in this connection the question is not so much what to take as what to leave behind. One is inclined to reflect with a smile on early experiences, when the selection included a big roll of bedding, a plethoric bag of clothes, an assortment of provisions, cutlery, glass, mess, kit and oddments lashed on to frame and handle bar or dangling under the saddle, till the machine looked more like a gipsy caravan than anything else. A single day's run sufficed to show that about half of this might, with advantage, have been left behind, and at the end of the second day one was convinced that two-thirds of it was mere lumber. As to clothing, we shall not attempt to recommend what material should be worn; that is a matter that must be left to the tourist's own taste; but we would suggest just three things: good cycling shoes, with strap fastenings, Cawnpore twill shirts and flannel underwear. For a week's tour the bag fitted