[Illustration: JOHN MAYALL, JUNIOR, 1869. _From a contemporary photograph._] By 1872 the bicycle had advanced a further stage towards the giraffe-like altitude of the "ordinary," and already there were many clubs in existence. On August 16th of that year six members of the Surrey and six of the Middlesex Bicycle Clubs rode from Kennington Oval to Brighton and back, Causton captain of the Surrey, being the first into Brighton. Riding a 50-inch "Keen" bicycle he reeled off the fifty miles in 4 hrs. 51 mins. The new machine was something to be reckoned with. On February 9th. 1874, a certain John Revel, junr., backed himself in heavy sums to ride a bicycle the whole distance from Brighton to London quicker than a Mr. Gregory could walk the 22-1/2 miles from Reigate to London. Revel was to leave Brighton at the junction of the London and Montpellier roads at the same time as Gregory started from a point between the twenty-second and twenty-third milestones. The pedestrian won, finishing in 3 hrs. 27 mins. 47 secs., Revel taking 5 hrs. 57 mins. for the whole journey. The bicycle had by this time firmly established itself. It grew more and more of an athletic exercise to mount the steadily growing machines, but once seated on them the going was easier. April 27th, 1874, found Alfred Howard cycling from Brighton to London in 4 hrs. 25 mins., a speed which works out at eleven miles an hour. In 1875 the Brighton Road seems to have been left severely alone, and 1876 was signalised only by two of the fantastic wagers that have been numerously decided on this half-century of miles. In that year, we are told, a Mr. Frederick Thompson staked one thousand guineas that Sir John Lynton would not wheel a barrow from Westminster Abbey to the "Old Ship" at Brighton in fifteen hours; and the knight, accepting the bet, made his appearance airily clothed in the "shorts" of the recognised running costume and wheeling a barrow made of bamboo, and provided with handles six feet long. He won easily, but whether the loser paid the thousand guineas, or lodged a protest with referees, does not appear. He should have specified the make of barrow, for the kinds range through quite a number of varieties, from the coster's barrow to the navvy's and the gardener's. But the wager did not contemplate the fancy article with which Sir John Lynton made his journey. At any rate, I have my doubts about the genuineness of the whole affair, for, seeking this "Sir John Lynton" in the usual books of reference of that period, there is no such knight or baronet to be discovered.