Mr. William Virgin, the cyclist who rode into Melbourne from Perth on Saturday, is a fitting successor on the journey to Mr. William Snell, holder of the Coolgardie to Melbourne record. Mr. Snell wanted to visit his people in the Western district of Victoria, and, instead of worrying about trains and boats he jumped on his bicycle and rode across at the rate of nearly 100 miles a day. Virgin is South Australian, much of whose 22 years of life has been spent in Broken Hill and the balance in West Australia. He had, therefore, never seen a Melbourne Cup and having nothing particular to do for a few months, he determined to visit Melbourne as Snell had done on his bicycle.
Thus it was that at 10 o'clock on the morning of September 1 Mr Virgin commenced his long journey alone. He had arranged to bring a companion with him, but the thought of the desert scared the friend off. The first day out brought Northam, 62 miles while Southern Cross, 160 miles and Coolgardie 370 miles, were passed only at the expense of very severe exertion and almost heart breaking difficulties owing to the long patches of sand. The first five days were so bad in this respect that Mr Virgin almost turned back. After Coolgardie the road improved and the ride was just becoming enjoyable when, at Fraser's Range sheep station, a pedal broke. A station blacksmith fixed it up but it lasted only long enough to leave the rider in the middle of nowhere. He therefore went on on foot to Penton's sheep station, 40 miles away. With the brass of a cardtridge a second handy station smith braized in the broken pedal, and this time it gave no more trouble. Ayre's sand patch of 30 miles, 12 miles of sand between Nullarbor and Nuawarra, and 16 miles of sand at Carrawa, were the next worries of the lonesome cyclist, but he pluckily walked when he could not ride, and was running level with Snell's record 18 days outside Coolgardie. Then rain came and lost him several days as well as the record. Three days before reaching the southern capital the records were 99, 97 and 121 miles, and Mr Virgin landed there a day and a half behind Snell's record. From Adelnde to Melbourne 100 miles a day were reeled of, and on arrival here Virgin was in the best of health, and heavier than when he started.
He met plenty of blacks on the West Australian tracks, but they were all friendly and civilised, many of them to the point of using bad language and wearing moleskin trousers. During the whole journey the tyres - Dunlop's - were not once punctured, and yet on a short run to a road race at Campbellfield on Saturday Mr. Virgin had the humorous experience - to him - of watching four riders, who were escorting him, puncture their tyres on the shavings of steel nails which are plentally strewn around the Coburg roads.
Mr Virgin intended to go on to Sydney yesterday morning early, but changed his mind and enjoyed a "spell." He will leave this morning at 10 o'clock, and intends to ride straight through to Brisbane, perhaps further north, then back to Melbourne for the Cup. His ambition now is to beat the world's long distance straight-away record, which we believe is 5,000 miles, and is held by Mr. Jefferson, the English cycling journalist, who went sometime ago into Siberia. The bicycle he is riding is a two-year-old Dux.
The Argus, 12 Oct 1897