Vol 1, No 26
Articles in this issue
- Regrets Mr. Hutchings's resignation as Honorary Secretary and asks members to spare Mr. Rucker, who has taken on the duties, by writing to the Gazette instead of calling on him; announces a Metropolitan clubs' race meeting at Stamford Bridge or Kennington Oval in aid of the "Princess Alice"/"Bywell Castle" collision fund, with one- and three-mile handicaps and a five-mile scratch race.
- District reports: twelve N.W. men waited at "Jack Straw's Castle" and took tea at the "Black Lion"; only the Godlees rode in the N.E.; W. A. Smith covered the Western course to Weybridge and Ripley solus, 46 1/2 miles; and three Croydon men ran on from Leatherhead to the "Hautboy" at Ockham, home by moonlight.
- Mr. Thorn's own account of leaving St. John's Wood at midnight for Scotland, accompanied by Cleaver to Finchley Road, and riding via Barnet, Hatfield, Biggleswade, Stamford, Grantham and Tuxford to Doncaster, 165 miles in 17 hrs. 10 mins., before the felloe of his bicycle broke in half three miles beyond the town.
- H. J. H. rides from Chatham via Faversham (bed and tea at the "Dolphin" for 3s.) and Canterbury's "Fleur-de-Lis" to Margate, and returns on Bank Holiday too late for the Kentish clubs' parade, watching Kent v. All England at the Canterbury cricket ground instead.
- H. J. H. sets out from Ealing for Bath through Hanwell, Norwood and Cranford Bridge on his Stassen, is kept awake by fleas at a Newbury hotel, and gives up at Chippenham with a strained tendon; closes with a defence of the military bugle over bells, gongs and whistles for clearing sleepy drivers and droves of cattle.
- W. Burroughs and Salter of the Stanley B.C. leave Chalk Farm at 6 a.m. for Cambridge via Barnet, Baldock and Royston, dine at the "Bull," and return by the Essex route through Great Chesterford, Harlow and Epping, 118 miles, every hill ridden bar one outside Welwyn.
- M. D. Rucker, Jun. tours Humber's and Carver's factories, watching a wheel resist three men's weight before two spokes drew from the rim, and seeing a chain-driven 60-inch tricycle destined for Keen's October race, then reports an amateur handicap in which S. H. Lambert put out F. T. East of the Surrey and betting preceded a deliberate crossing of the course.
- Jos. C. Keynes climbs past Combe Bisset and Harnham Hill into Salisbury to meet Buckler, lunches at Ward the pastrycook's "Cathedral Private Hotel" and criticises the cathedral's frescoes and choir screen, then rides on to Ringwood via Downton and Fordingbridge and back to Wimborne through heather-lined heath.
- A teetotal rider goes from Castle Hill over Hanger Hill and past Harrow to the "Essex Arms" at Watford, on through Berkhampstead to Frithsden, and returns via Hemel Hempstead lampless and in near-total darkness once the moon goes behind cloud.
- Ashley Barrett, Turner and Kinder ride the 35 hilly miles from Lewisham through Dartford, Northfleet and Chatham to Rainham and the Medway creeks, where a labourer sells him a specimen of Roman Upchurch ware that he lashes to his shoulder for the windy ride home.
- A table comparing each competitor's 1877 and 1878 handicap marks, from A. A. Weir's 60 down to 20 yards to G. R. Oxx unchanged at 230, with W. T. Thorn, Jun. cut from 230 to 70.
- A timed log of the writer's and Mr. Bacon's 225-mile run from St. John's Wood to Bath and back in 29 hrs. 15 mins., with notes on the moonlit route via Longford, beef tea laid on at Newbury, and the wrong turn past Chippenham that carried them to Ford on the Bristol road. To be continued.
- Cleaver, Newman, Sewell and A. P. Stokes swim in the Otter S.C. 100 yards hurdle race, Sewell and Cleaver winning their heats, and the club's annual entertainment at the Marylebone Baths on 11th October is announced.
- Meeting places and times for 21st and 28th September: Croydon and Blackheath Divisions joining at the "Bell," Bromley for Farningham and later Godstone, the N.E. from Lea Bridge Road for Chingford and Abridge, and W. A. Smith's full-moon two-day trip to Petersfield and Hind Head on 12th October.
- Forthcoming races including the Beckenham B.C. two-mile open handicap, the Surrey B.C. meeting at Kennington Oval, John Keen's amateur handicap at Lillie Bridge, a one-mile handicap with a new bicycle as first prize promoted by Humber, Marriott and Cooper, and the C.U.Bi.C. v. L.B.C. inter-club races at Cambridge.