Vol 2, No 19
Articles in this issue
- A leading article on the Railway Passengers' Assurance Company's new reading of its policies, by which racing risks will in future need an extra premium. It asks what "racing" is to mean, few riders take an ordinary run without racing a companion up a hill or a fast-trotting horse, reckons that under 1 per cent. of bicyclists race at all, and argues the path is the safer place: on the road one meets carts, barrows, dogs, sheep, geese, greasy macadam and the street urchin who puts a stick between the spokes. Thorn's heavy smash at the Beckenham races and G. P. Coleman's opinion as an agent of the Company close the case.
- Report of the meeting at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, June 21st, run off in a gale but without rain or a single mishap. The Ladies' Challenge Prize had been left out of the programme and drew only three starters, Rucker beating Wyndham and Godlee over two miles; Rucker also took the One Mile Club Handicap final from Herbert by nine inches; Cortis won the open Two Miles Handicap from East and Ainslie in 6min. 10sec.; and Wyndham won the Ten Miles District Challenge Cup for the S.E. by some 700 yards in 34min. 30½sec., lapping Rucker. Miss Rucker came up from Brighton to distribute the prizes. Full heat details follow.
- E. Scott's route notes on a 220-mile ride he judges more attractive, if slower, than the main north road: the ferry to Birkenhead and a struggle with tram lines through an Eisteddfod crowd, 17 miles to Chester and the "Pied Bull" in Northgate Street, then Whitchurch, Wem, "The George" at Shrewsbury (chop, vegetables, salad and cheese 1s. 3d.), the "King's Head" at Much Wenlock, Kidderminster, the "Golden Cross" at Bromsgrove, and Stratford-on-Avon, where he breakfasted in Washington Irving's parlour at the "Red Horse". Edge Hill had to be pushed and the 23 miles from Banbury to Oxford through Deddington were "the vilest performance imaginable".
- "Excelsior" traces how Reigate Hill went from a descent few dared ride to a climb several have conquered, Jack Keen was rumoured to have gone up on a 36-inch, Mr. Wheeler of the D.B.B.C. did it on a borrowed hollow-forked "W. Keen" and gave the machine all the credit, and Rucker rode up on his 58-inch "Rudge" and called it child's play. He offers a medal for a hill-climbing competition: each District Captain to pick a steep hill (Muswell for the N.W., Reigate for the S.E. and S.W.), the best three from each district to meet on a hill never yet ridden, three attempts each, the man riding furthest to win.
- Hon. Sec. Herbert R. Boyce, 35 Warrington Crescent, asks members to return unused tickets with payment for those disposed of as quickly as they can, and to send back their outstanding Evening Race Meeting tickets at the same time.
- The district meets for July 5th, 12th and 19th: Top of Lea Bridge Road and Syborn's Corner for Navestock, Upminster and Ongar; "Jack Straw's Castle" for Shenley, Abbots Langley and Harlow; and Central Croydon Station for Seal, the Blackheath Division to be met at Lock's Bottom. The Western District's Wednesday evening run continues at 6.30 from Acton Church.
- Four men, Barnett, Langmore and the two Newmans, left Acton at 7.30 on Wednesday the 18th, riding by Folly Lane and Little Ealing to the "Old Hats", then past Hanwell Park and the Cuckoo Schools to Greenford and by Horsenden Hill, Perivale and Alperton to the Harrow Road. Loose sand and shingle from the late storms notwithstanding, the whole 21-mile round was ridden without a dismount. Signed "One of Them".
- "Dry Thatch" refused to pay three shillings for an ugly black shop cover and made his own from a quarter of a yard of white waterproof muslin, the thinnest macintosh sheeting, at one and fourpence: cut with a good fall behind and the corners rounded, the edge turned down over a round elastic by "some female fingers", then gathered over the cap and knotted behind. The whole thing took under half an hour, and the offcut serves to wrap a sponge in.
- The second of the Bicycle Union championships, at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, June 19th, before a small crowd. Rucker was the only absentee, having hurt his arm the evening before; Reynolds, riding a very short throw, retired early. Ainslie made the pace hot and led again after Cortis took a look back at his field, but Cortis tore away in the last lap to win in 15min. 29¾sec. from East, who passed Ainslie by a foot on the post, with Wyndham fourth some twenty yards down.
- "Wrestler" offers his route notes as a guide or a warning. From Canonbury by the Great North Road to Hatfield, Hitchin and Bedford is easy, 65 miles to Higham Ferrers in six and a quarter hours, but the lumpy greasy macadam through Kettering and Market Harborough is simply vile, as are the roads to Nottingham and from Chesterfield to Sheffield and Barnsley. He notes St. Mary's Church at Leicester and Cook's late temperance hotel (tea, bed and breakfast 3s. 8d.), the village of Heath where the duke allows no chapel, and a Whit-Monday mile handicap at Chesterfield won from scratch by his brother, who dosed his machine with castor-oil and played a football match between the heats. His conclusion: do not follow this route for pleasure.
- Copies of the photograph of the competitors in the match may be had from M. D. Rucker, jun., at 5s. a group, 3s. 6d. extra for the names written in, and frames like those shown at Stamford Bridge at 5s.; none will be printed unless ordered.
- Fixtures from June 28th to September 30th, including the L.A.C. three miles and the Druids' mile, the Bicycle Union 50 miles championship at Stamford Bridge, the Pickwick mile at the Alexandra Palace, the Beckenham two miles, the Temple mile, the Wanderers' mile handicap and ten miles scratch, the Lombard mile at Catford Bridge, the Rovers at the Alexandra Palace and the Stanley mile.
- The letters column opens with G. P. Coleman enclosing the letter he has had from W. J. Vian, Secretary of the Railway Passengers' Assurance Office, 64 Cornhill, who explains that the policy words excluding "riding races" are general and cover bicycle races too, bicycles not having been invented when the policies were drawn, and that men who race for profit or renown must pay an extra premium or carry the risk themselves.
- A D.B.B.C. correspondent, writing a propos the notes on machines after the Bath Race in No. 17, describes a method Timberlake once used and has since abandoned: leave a quarter-inch tubular sleeve on each face of the hind hub with its edge turned up sharp, and fit a tight sole-leather washer between hub and fork side, so that setting up the axle drives the sharp edge into the leather and cuts a perfectly-fitting countersunk joint that defies all grit.
- "Plunger" deplores the ungainly hopping by which even good riders gain the saddle, three or four hops at a club meet, and on an incline enough to suggest perpetual motion. He recommends standing on the off side, holding the back of the saddle with the left hand, walking and then running the machine, and putting the left foot round the hind wheel on to the step with a single hop, taking the handles only after the balance on the step is gained; with practice the mount can be made without any run at all, and with far less exertion at the end of a long day.
- Contributions must be addressed to the Editor, L.B.C. Gazette, 35 Eastcheap, E.C., must bear the author's name though not necessarily for insertion, must be written on one side of the paper only, and must reach the office by Monday morning if immediate insertion is wanted.