The experience of the author on that eventful fiftieth birthday, as
registered in the successive sensations, is worthy of record.
In starting out in the cool of the morning as the day was dawning, and
speeding through the beautiful Forest of Fontainebleau, the feeling
of exhilaration was indescribable. An hour or two passed before there
was any sense of unpleasantness attaching to the steady grind of
duty which led us to pass reluctantly by inviting spots and scenes
without stopping. In the beginning there was the keenest feeling of
pleasure in the mere movement, without any exertion, over and among an
enchanting landscape. It was what one might call a birdlike sensation
of freedom of movement which bicycling and skating, among the common
means of locomotion, alone give.
Redfield did not let up on the pace and I was determined not to beg
for respite. Between fifty and sixty kilometers of distance only
had been made when I felt that the day was not propitious for an
endurance-test, and I fully expected to be compelled to return from
Orleans leisurely in the afternoon and evening by wheel with only a
slight addition to the century-run of the preceding Fourth of July
accomplished. Before Orleans was reached, however, all sense of strain
passed, and second-wind and second-strength had become installed
for the day. When I left Redfield at Blois I felt stronger than any
time before, and as eager to kick the pedals as when we started in
the morning and as one always is prompted to do when one is filled
with surplus energy. I had no objective point and was guided only by
tempting roads and favouring breezes. The river road down the Loire was
most promising at first, but a head wind sprang up and made a _détour_
the other side of Blois more tempting by argument of a fair wind that
blew down one of the roads leading away from the river. For a time I
made full twenty-five kilometers an hour, but the wind died out and I
returned to the river road and reached Tours in time for the enjoyment
of a magnificent sunset effect and a most appetising and satisfying
_table d'hôte_ dinner. Before dining I jumped into a tub and had a
good refreshing dip and a vigorous rub which made me feel like going
out to take a walk or mount my wheel again. My appetite for dinner was
not large, centred on a salad richly dressed with olive oil, and was
quickly appeased; immediately after which I mounted my wheel again
and proceeded down the beautiful road towards Saumur. My ambition was
here raised to complete 300 kilometers and the distance to Saumur just
about filled that ambition. I rode leisurely for a time after dining
and then gradually increased the speed to about eighteen kilometers
an hour, which brought me to my destination a little past ten, with a
feeling of sleepiness that invited to a hasty falling into bed, but
with surprisingly little or no sense of muscular fatigue. My cyclometer
registered a little more than 304 kilometers, or 190 miles; not much
for experts, under the conditions, to be sure, but a revelation of
possibilities to a man of fifty who had once, not many years before,
been denied life insurance on account of health disability. This was
worth more than millions of money to me; and no one knows how much it
will signify to the human family when the knowledge of a truly economic
nutrition is attained and established.
I was bright awake at daylight the next morning and had the impulse to
mount my wheel and see how "fit" I was in consequence of my exertion of
the day before. This I did, and rode eighty kilometers (fifty miles)
before breaking my fast at nine o'clock. I believe I could have ridden
as far that day had the conditions been favourable. My weight, on
return to my balances at Brolles, was reduced two kilograms (nearly
five pounds), but a generous thirst for a day or two, and a slightly
increased appetite put the loss back again inside a week even while
riding my wheel daily on the way to Geneva.
Since reaching Italy, and abiding in Venice, there have been long
periods when no systematic physical exercise has been indulged in.
Once, after nearly a year of physical inactivity, I took with me an
attendant and made an average of seventy-five miles a day in the
mountain districts of southern Germany for observation of increase
of food requirement during hard work. Neither muscular soreness, nor
muscular fatigue, except the periodical weariness of sleepiness, were
experienced as the result of the sudden change from the most restful
environment to strenuous activity; and herein lies a physiological
question that is far-reaching in its significance. It would seem that
Appetite, in its normal condition, assisted in its discrimination by
careful mouth-treatment of food, guards the body from excess and keeps
it always "in training." The later experience at Yale University under
Dr. Anderson and Professor Chittenden showed the same immunity from
muscular disability, and has brought the question to good hands for
solution.
The author has voluminous data relative to his work, but it is not
applicable to any other person. Each person is a law unto himself and
no two sets of conditions are alike. Treat your food as advised herein
and get surprising new experiences for yourselves, is the advice and
moral of the story.