Walking and Hiking

Walking as a recreational activity and sport. Especially among those with sedentary occupations, hiking is a natural exercise that promotes physical fitness, is economical and convenient, and requires no special equipment. Because the hiker can walk as far as he wants, there is no physical strain unless he walks among hills or mountains.

Many persons walk alone, mainly on weekends or holidays; but youth clubs and other groups arrange rambles, or hikes. The normal length of the walk undertaken is from 7 to 12 miles (11 to 19 km), for a half day or from 12 to 20 miles (19 to 32 km) for a full day. These organized rambles, combining exercise with enjoyment of the countryside, are in country districts surrounding large towns and follow a planned route. Most densely populated European towns have hiking trails outside them.

For regular and intensive walkers there are available services offered by such associations as the Ramblers' Association in Great Britain and the Wilderness Society in the United States. These organizations encourage hiking and preserve footpaths, bridle paths, and rights of way in parkland and recognized open spaces in areas of natural beauty against the encroachment of builders, local authorities, and national undertakings. They also help hikers to obtain hostel accommodation and, by exchange of information and services, enable persons of one country to pursue these activities in others. The Appalachian Trail Conference (U.S.), with the aid of its member organizations in 14 states, maintains campsites and a trail more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long between Mount Katahdin in Maine and Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia; it publishes information on conditions of the camps and trail.

Hiking, in addition to being a sport in itself, is basic to many other sporting activities and is also a widely recommended and practiced form of physical training. Hiking, for example, constitutes a large part of mountain climbing; experienced mountaineers know they must train themselves for the long, arduous hikes over the lower trails and across glaciers and snow fields. Back-pack camping, hunting, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and orienteering are other sports in which hiking is important. The ability to walk considerable distances without becoming overtired (an ability generally acquired through practice) also enhances the enjoyment of such other activities as bird watching, nature walks, field trips of all sorts, and even sightseeing.

Hiking is used as a test of fitness, notably in England, where it is embraced in the Duke of Edinburgh's scheme for boys, and in Sweden and The Netherlands. In Sweden, it was made a national fitness test in the early 1930s and by the 1970s more than 3,000,000 Swedish men, women, and boys possessed the time qualification badge. The Nijmegen marches in The Netherlands, organized by the Dutch League of Physical Culture, are open to the world in both civilian and military categories. The test comprises four separate days' consecutive walking over distances up to 35 miles (56 km) each day, with about 12,000 persons taking part.

Techniques

While it is necessary for the complete mountaineer to be competent in all three phases of the sport--hiking, rock climbing, and snow and ice technique--each is quite different. There are wide variations within these categories, and even the most accomplished mountaineers will have varying degrees of competence in each. The good climber will strike that balance that is consonant with his own physical and mental capabilities and approach.

Hiking is the essential element of all climbing, for in the end mountains are climbed by placing one foot in front of another over and over again. The most arduous hours in mountaineering are those spent hiking or climbing slowly, steadily, but hour after hour, on the trails of a mountain's approach or lower slopes.

Rock climbing, like hiking, is a widely practiced sport in its own right. The essentials of rock climbing are often learned on local cliffs, where the teamwork of mountaineering, the use of the rope, and the coordinated prerequisites of control and rhythm are mastered. The rope, the artificial anchor, and carabiner (or snap link, a metal loop or ring that can be snapped into an anchor and through which the rope may be passed) are used primarily as safety factors. An exception occurs in tension climbing, in which the leader is supported by a judiciously placed series of anchors and carabiners through which the rope is passed. He is then supported on the rope by his fellow climbers as he slowly moves upward to place another anchor and repeat the process.

Anchors are used with discretion rather than in abundance. Anchors include the chock, which is a small piece of shaped metal that is attached to rope or wire cable and wedged by hand into a crack in the rock; the piton, which is a metal spike, with an eye or ring in one end, that is hammered into a crack; the bolt, which is a metal rod that is hammered into a hole drilled by the climber and to whose exposed, threaded end a hanger is then attached; and the "friend," which is a form of chock with a camming device that automatically adjusts to a crack. Anchors are rarely used as handholds or footholds.

For the majority of rock climbers, hands and feet alone are the essential, with the feet doing most of the labour. The layperson's notion that one must be extraordinarily strong in arms and shoulders is true only for such situations as the negotiation of serious overhangs. By and large, hands are used for balance, feet for support. Hands and arms are not used for dragging the climber up the cliff.

Balance is essential, and the body weight is kept as directly over the feet as possible, the climber remaining as upright as the rock will permit. An erect stance enables the climber to use that fifth element of climbing, the eyes. Careful observation as one moves up a cliff will save many vain scrambles for footholds. Three points of contact with the rock are usually kept, either two hands and a foot or two feet and a hand. Jumping for holds is extremely dangerous because it allows no safety factor. Rhythmic climbing may be slow or fast according to the difficulty of the pitch. Rhythm is not easily mastered and, when achieved, becomes the mark of the truly fine climber.

The harder the climb, the more the hands are used for support. They are used differently in different situations. In a chimney, a pipelike, nearly cylindrical vertical shaft, they press on opposite sides in opposition to each other. On slabs, the pressure of the palms of the hand on smooth rock may provide the necessary friction for the hold.

Climbing down steep rock is usually harder than going up because of the difficulty in seeing holds from above and the normal reluctance of a climber to reach down and work his hands low enough as he descends. The quick way down is via the doubled rope in the technique called rappelling. The rope, one end being firmly held or secured, is wrapped around the body in such a way that it can be fed out by one hand slowly or quickly as desired to lower the body gradually down the face of the rock.

Rope handling is a fine art that is equally essential on snow, ice, and rock. Sufficient rope for the pitch to be climbed and of sufficient length for rappelling is needed. As a lifeline the rope receives the greatest care and respect. A good rope handler is a valued person on the climb. The techniques involved are not easily learned and are mastered primarily through experience. Anchors and carabiners must be so placed and the rope strung in such a way as to provide maximum safety and to minimize effort in ascending and descending. This includes keeping the rope away from cracks where it might jam and from places where it might become caught on rock outcrops or shrubbery. A rope should not lay over rough or sharp-edged rock, where under tension it may be damaged from friction or cut by falling rock. The use of helmets while climbing is controversial (they may be uncomfortable or may limit vision or mobility) but is often recommended.

Constantly changing conditions of snow and ice are important hazards faced by mountaineers. A good mountaineer must have an intimate knowledge of snow conditions; he must be able to detect hidden crevasses, be aware of potential avalanches, and be able to safely traverse other tricky or dangerous concentrations of snow or ice. In snow-and-ice technique, the use of the ice ax is extremely important as an adjunct to high mountaineering. Consisting of a pick and an adze opposed at one end of a shaft and a spike at the other, it is used for cutting steps in ice, probing crevasses, obtaining direct aid on steep slopes, achieving balance as necessary, and securing the rope (belaying). Crampons (sets of spikes that can be strapped on boot soles) are intended to preclude slipping and are useful on steep slopes of snow and ice and in steps that have been cut. By biting into the surface, they make progress possible where boots alone would not do. On many slopes crampons also render unnecessary the cutting of steps. On extremely difficult snow and ice, ice pitons and carabiners are used. The pitons, when driven in, are allowed to freeze in place.

In climbing long snow slopes, a tedious task, it is necessary to strike a slow and rhythmic pace that can be sustained for a long time. It is desirable, too, to make a start on the mountain early in the day when the snow is in hard condition. As in all phases of mountaineering, judgment is important when engaging in snow and ice climbing. The length of the climb, the nature of the weather, the effect of the sun's heat on snow and ice, and the potential avalanche danger must all be considered.

The basic organization of the sport is the mountaineering or rock-climbing club. Every nation with mountaineers has its own clubs, among which the Alpine Club in Great Britain, founded in 1857, is perhaps the most venerable. The largest numbers of clubs are found in the Alpine countries, in the British Isles, and in North America. Major mountaineering clubs frequently participate financially in the sponsorship of major expeditions. Most of the clubs publish annual or periodic reports, journals, or bulletins.

Cycling

Early history

Cycling as a sport officially began with a 1,200-metre (1,312-yard) race in Saint-Cloud Park near Paris on May 31, 1868. The first English race was held the next day at Hendon, Middlesex. In 1869 an English cyclist, James Moore, who had won the first race in 1868, won the first town-to-town race, of 133.57 kilometres (83 miles), from Rouen to Paris. Road racing predominated in Europe, but in England the deteriorated condition of the roads made them unsuitable for racing, and, with the rise of professional racing from 1871, racing on tracks became more common. The National Cyclists Union (NCU; from 1959 the British Cycling Federation), which was founded in 1878, led a movement to form the International Cyclist Association (ICA; 1892), the founding members of which were England, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, The Netherlands, the United States, and Canada. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) was founded in 1900 because of a feeling that there was undue British influence in the ICA. Great Britain joined the UCI a few years later.

Racing in the United States began in 1878, and by the 1880s both road and track racing were common. The League of American Wheelmen (LAW; founded 1880) was the first governing body for amateur racing as well as for promoting recreational use. The National Cycling Association (founded 1898) arose from conflicts within the LAW over amateur-professional criteria. Later the LAW restricted itself to touring, and the United States Cycling Federation (founded 1921 as the Amateur Bicycle League of America) took over as governing body of amateur racing. A characteristic of early American racing was the use of pacers--originally single riders, then tandem, and finally up to six riders on one bicycle--who rode ahead of the contestants at as fast a pace as the contestants desired before dropping away. In 1891 Madison Square Garden in New York City, with its board track, became the site of the first six-day bicycle race to be held in the United States (such a race had been held in England in 1878); the event remained popular through the 1930s and sporadically after that through 1961. Six-day races were held in many cities across the United States. Originally an individual sport, from 1899 it was a two-man team race. Six-day racing was reintroduced to Europe in the 20th century, gaining popularity in Germany, Belgium, France, England, and The Netherlands and spreading to Canada and Australia, well after such racing had died out in the United States. (See also six-day race.)

After the turn of the century, British and American racing declined somewhat in interest as the automobile became more popular, and thereafter the two countries were long separated from European racing. The NCU banned road racing, which was dominant in continental Europe. British racing was predominantly amateur; European racing was both professional and amateur.

Cycling as recreation became organized shortly after racing did. In England the Cyclists Touring Club (from 1883; founded 1878 as the Bicycle Touring Club) had nearly 60,000 members early in the 20th century. In its early days, cycling brought the sexes together for the first time in an unchaperoned way, particularly after the development in the 1880s of the Rover safety bicycle. Public cries of alarm at the prospect of moral chaos arose from this and from the evolution of women's cycling attire, which grew progressively more masculine.

Modern sport racing

The development of racing as a popular summer spectator sport in much of Europe began in the 1890s with the now-classic Bordeaux-Paris, Paris-Roubaix, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège races held annually except in wartime. In 1903 the first Tour de France, the premier classic road race, was held; it continued annually thereafter, except in wartime. In England a ban on road racing created a special kind of racing, the time trial, intended to circumvent the law, in which racers started one at a time, raced over a fixed distance, and tried to achieve the fastest time. The Roads Record Association, which had been founded in 1888, persisted, being renamed the Road Time Trials Council in 1937. The first mass-started road race was not held in Great Britain until 1942. The Tour of Britain began in 1951 and from 1958 was run annually as the Milk Race. Professional cycling began in 1965.

European road racing was under the sponsorship of bicycle manufacturers until World War II. Thereafter, as the industry declined, companies selling motor fuels, liquor, and tobacco took over sponsorship. The professional season begins in the spring in the Mediterranean region and continues, working its way north, through national and regional races, ending in the north in the autumn. The amateur season is similar.

Road and track races for men were held at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Women entered Olympic competition in road races (from 1984) and track races (from 1988). Mountain biking, a cross-country race over rough terrain, became an Olympic event for men and women at the 1996 Games.

There are both professional and amateur world championships, the latter informally before the ICA was formed in 1892 and formally since 1893. Until after World War I the British were dominant, being challenged only by France, Germany, and the United States. After World War II, competition was roughly even throughout Europe. Professional championships began in the 1920s. In 1965, because professional-amateur separation had become so difficult that the International Olympic Committee threatened to remove cycling from the games, two new constituent organizations of the UCI were formed: the Fédération Internationale du Cyclisme Professionnel (10 national members, all in Europe) and the Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (more than 100 national members worldwide). The UCI continued to organize world championships for amateurs and Olympic competition. National championships were organized by national groups and other races by private promoters. Professional cyclists were not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games until 1996.

Competition

Races are held for both men and women amateurs in local, regional, and national races by age group, ranging upward from youngsters, or benjamins (12-13 years), adolescents (14-15), younger juniors (16-17), juniors (18-20), and seniors. In addition to the time trial, which is an individual event, there are two major types of road races that are team events. The first, called a criterium, is run over a relatively short (4-5-kilometre [2.5-3-mile]) closed course; racers ride a predetermined number of laps, the winner being the first to complete that number. The second type consists of races held on open roads and includes point-to-point, circuit, and stage events. Point-to-point and circuit races are generally one-day races, varying in distance from 240 to 280 km (roughly 150 to 175 miles) for professionals and 180 to 220 km (roughly 110 to 140 miles) for amateurs. Stage races (such as the Tour de France) are essentially a series of point-to-point races run on several successive days, although the distance ridden per day is usually less than a single-day event; the winner is the rider with the lowest aggregate time for all stages.

Track racing events for amateurs are different from those for professionals, and those for men from those for women. Events include the sprint, the pursuit, the time trial, the points race, and the keirin, or motor-paced race. Cyclo-cross, or cross-country racing, established by the mid-1920s, covers rough terrain that may require racers to dismount and walk or run with their cycles.

The use of stimulant and antifatigue drugs was widespread in cycling, both amateur and professional, before the problem surfaced in other sports. A list of prohibited drugs was established, and blood tests were instituted. The fatal accident of the British cyclist Tom Simpson in the Tour de France of 1967 was attributed to drug abuse.

Recreation