Kolarz Polski, Vol 2, No 8
Articles in this issue
- Union bulletin continuing the register of racers granted 1927 licences, numbers 72 to 146, covering riders of P. T. C., T. R. "Resursa" and T. C. "Rekord" in Łódź, T. G. "Sokół" Działdowo, T. K. Włocławek, Ż. K. S. "Hakoah" Kraków, Ż. K. S. "Hasmonea" Lwów, T. S. "Olimpja" Grudziądz, T. C. M. Gniezno, T. C. Kalisz, Ł. K. S. and P. T. C. M. Poznań, followed by corrections to the list printed in number 5 of 1 March 1927.
- Editorial attacking the bureaucratic obstacle course a Warsaw cyclist must run to obtain a riding number — a certificate from the house steward, endorsement by the police commissariat, a riding examination and two visits to the traffic authority — against Paris, where a rider simply buys the permit in a shop, and citing Czechoslovakia, where bicycle output rose tenfold in two years after riding plates were abolished.
- M. B.'s report on the Second Polish Sports Congress, opened in the presence of the President of the Republic with vice-premier Bartel and minister Składkowski, its presidium of vice-marshal Osiecki, Prince K. Lubomirski, Prof. Piasecki, engineer Christelbauer, Radwan and Gen. Narbutt-Łuczyński; Col. S. G. Ulrych proposed a national network of physical-education offices and a sports badge, Dr Piasecki warned against hidden professionalism, and the congress resolved that the next one be held no later than 1931.
- Report signed "P." on the sports exhibition mounted in Warsaw's Dolina Szwajcarska for the Second Sports Congress: the Warszawskie Towarzystwo Cyklistów showed the machines on which it began beside those on which it now wins Polish championships and Olympic prizes, but manufacturers stayed away almost entirely, only K. Lipiński ("Ormonde") and B. Wahren exhibiting bicycles; opened by minister Dobrucki, guided round by organisers Gędziorowski and Bednarski.
- Third instalment of Jacek Orlicz's serial: Włady refuses the syndicate's proposal, starts a motor-paced race against Elessmar, Tomsohn and Wiljams, and after Wiljams and Tomsohn crack he closes on the leader at 80 km an hour, breaking every existing record as the stands fall silent.
- "Pomian"'s commentary column: Warsaw's magistrate is blamed for cellar dwellings and the tin huts of Żoliborz while money goes on street-sweeping machines and glass paving; a sports paper that doubted Polish cycling records is answered by pointing to F. Wojtkiewicz's "Rekordy Polskie" in number 7 and to "Głos Prawdy"; Polish Radio's talks on cycling are condemned as beneath criticism before an audience of 100,000 sets; and the Wileńskie Towarzystwo Cyklistów i Łyżwiarzy is exposed for running "track" races on a football pitch with no banking, a 25 km road race with an unmanned turn, and four of nineteen promised excursions.
- Wacław Kwieciński answers the paper's questionnaire "Jak zostałem kolarzem": taught to ride at 13 on his touring father's machine, he raced unattached from 1907, was fifth in the 1908 100 km championship behind Kietliński, Gronczewski and Zawadzki, beat Piotr Tkaczyk for the Pogotowie Ratunkowe prize in 1912, survived two concussions on the Dynasy track, took second with L. Kamiński in the W. T. C. six-hour race of 1923, and now rides on until his son Zbyszek beats him.
- Second part of the article in Wiktor Junosza's "Kolarstwo i przysposobienie wojskowe" department, arguing that the World War settled the road-surface objection in the cyclist's favour and reviewing post-war establishments — cyclist groups and pioneer detachments in each French cavalry division, companies attached to Reichswehr infantry regiments despite Versailles, cyclist battalions in Austria's six brigades, twelve companies in Czechoslovakia, seven battalions in Hungary, ski-trained cyclist battalions in Finland, three battalions in the Dutch light brigade and two in Belgium; with an editorial note crediting engineer Bronisław Wahren with number 7's article on the rational touring machine.
- Foreign chronicle: the Buffalo track reopens in Paris with Abegglen beating Revelli and Grassin winning behind motors; Charles Pélissier takes a second French cyclo-cross title from Paul le Drogo and Faucaux; open-air racing resumes in Berlin with Rütt beating Oszmella and Spears beating Cugnot and Jaap Meyer; Ottavio Bottecchia, twice Tour de France winner, is pulled off his machine by fascist bridge guards near Mezzana on the way to Milan–San Remo and breaks his collarbone; Debunne wins at Brussels; and Van Kempen takes the "Omnium" international from Girardengo, Van Hevel and Mac Namara, with a long account of the ninth Paris six-day won by Aerts–Mac Namara with 484 points over 3,191.5 km.
- Home chronicle: the Warszawskie Towarzystwo Cyklistów opens its season on 3 April with over fifty riders to Bielany and a wreath on Staszic's grave, and rebuilds the Dynasy track under Wacław Wyczałkowski with a medical cabinet for its racers; "Olimpja" Grudziądz distributes prize tokens to Popiel, Pisarski, Gawroński and Beno Skrzydłowski; Kalisz plans seven road and seven track days and opens its track on 24 May; Sosnowiec's S. T. C. re-elects Janusz Fliski for a ninth term and still lacks a track; Kraków's clubs publish a joint programme including the Kraków–Wadowice–Kraków race and the Kraków–Zakopane hill race; and from Lwów, a track contract nearly signed, three new sections founded and the best riders seceding from L. T. K. i M. to Pogoń.
- Some fifty cyclists of the Seventh District of the Polish Sokół in France plan to ride home to Poland from Paris via Strasbourg, Stuttgart and Dresden to Poznań and on through Warsaw to Lwów, treating the outward journey as training for a race over the Poznań–Warszawa–Lwów stretch; they are expected in Poznań about 23 May.
- Trade profile in the paper's Dział Przemysłowy of Arnold Weissmann of Szewska 13, Kraków, one of the city's oldest bicycle houses and general agent for the French marques "Alcyon", "Thomann", "Bourotte" and "B. S. A. Brambilla", noting Alcyon's first prize in the previous year's Tour de France with Franz, Benoit and Sellier finishing the 6,000 km on the machines they started on, and Weissmann's twenty years of guaranteed immediate replacement of any faulty part.
- Editor's answers to correspondents: "Fred" of Warsaw is told a cycle tour of Europe is worthwhile but costly, and that funding it by selling postcards or photographs is little different from begging and can never count as propaganda; J. Jankowski is told the Szczęśliwice fort stadium will not be finished this year; and "Kolarz W. T. C." is recommended the advertised massage preparation "Vital", talc and olive oil being unhygienic.
- Notice that from 1 May the editorial and business offices of "Kolarz Polski" move to ul. Mokotowska 8, telephone 109-71.