# Broncho Versus Bicycle explained — Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp

> Chapter companion for Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp by John A. Lomax.

## What happens

A cowboy narrator recounts a race between his prized bronco and a bicycle ridden by a confident Easterner named Tom Stevens. Despite the cowboy's initial certainty of victory, the bicycle proves faster and more enduring, leading to the cowboy's humiliating defeat and the loss of his horse.

## Themes in this chapter

### Masculinity and Bravado

The narrator's pride and competitive spirit are central, as he boasts of his bronco's speed and feels humiliated by defeat.

### Community and Camaraderie

The round-up crew gathers to witness and judge the race, sharing in the narrator's initial confidence and eventual lesson in humility.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

The cowboy who tells the story of his race against the bicycle rider.

### Tom Stevens

The Easterner from Boston who rides the bicycle and wins the race.

### Texas Tom

One of the judges stationed ahead for the race.

### Stranger

Addressed as 'pard' throughout the story, the listener to the narrator's tale.

## Key lines

> He looked so outlandish, strange and queer / That all of us grinned from ear to ear, / And every boy on the round-up swore / He never seed sich a hoss before.

The bicycle rider appeared so odd that everyone laughed, claiming they had never seen such a horse.

_Describes the cowboys' initial amusement at the bicycle._

> I hit old bronc a cut with the quirt / An' once more got him to scratchin' dirt; / But his wind got weak, an' I tell you, boss, / I seen he wasn't no ten-mile hoss.

The narrator whipped his horse to regain speed, but the animal tired and couldn't sustain the pace for the full ten miles.

_Shows the bronco's limitations and the narrator's growing concern._

> Then he jist paralyzed us by sayin' he'd whirled / That very identical wheel round the world.

Tom Stevens astonished them by claiming he had ridden that same bicycle around the entire world.

_Highlights the Easterner's extraordinary boast._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/broncho-versus-bicycle
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters