Vol 2, No 21
Articles in this issue
- Report of the Beckenham Cricket Club sports, praised for their fashionable crowd and prettiest ground within reach of London but criticised for having no times printed on the programme. Heat-by-heat return of the Two Miles Handicap, in which W. Wyndham (L.B.C.) caught J. W. Sharpe (Croydon B.C.) 300 yards from home to win the final by ten yards in 7min. 31sec.; M. D. Rucker's racing tyre cut into the soft grass and he could not overhaul his heat.
- A signed article by "Goethe" on the Berks magistrates' decision, reporting that the Reading Town Clerk could find no county road rules at all, so bicycles fall only under the general carriage law confirmed in "Taylor v. Goodwin." He argues the Club's 100-mile Bath road trial is no nuisance, riders tail out into an attenuated procession within three or four miles, and that the Club should not withdraw it.
- The Pickwick B.C. annual race meeting at Alexandra Park, marred by the betting ring shouting "Two to one, bar Cortis." G. L. Hillier (Stanley B.C.) won the Two Miles Handicap off 290 yards with East just holding Cortis for second; Clough took the 100 Yards Slow Race after Cortis fell, and Cortis beat East by three or four yards in the Five Miles Scratch.
- "Dexta (C.U.Bi.C.)" offers roads, hotels and distances for the "French Eight" and other L.B.C. men following his wheel tracks from Bale to Rotterdam, 500 miles by the shortest route, with surfaces from Strasbourg (73) through Carlsruhe, Worms, Mainz and Coblentz (278) to Cologne (334) said to be as good as the Surbiton path, and the beastly Dutch pavement beginning at Arnheim. To be continued.
- Tabulated meets for the N.E., N.W., W., S.W. and S.E. districts on July 12, July 19 and Aug. 2, Top of Lea Bridge Road and Syborn's Corner for Upminster, Ongar and Epping, "Jack Straw's Castle" for Eastcot, Kew Green for Walton-on-the-Hill and Rickmansworth, and the "Royal Oak" on the Brighton Road for Crawley, plus the standing Wednesday evening runs from Acton Church and Central Croydon.
- District captains' reports. "The Substitute" found nobody at Syborn's Corner and rode alone to Harlow, where "The George" proved the best inn; the Western district's four men crossed Ealing Common to Ruislip and tea'd dearly at the "King's Head," Harrow; the S.W. men rode to Reigate and the "Grapes" with two spills on Reigate Hill, and three S.E. men reached the "George" at Crawley without a dismount.
- The twenty-five miles Union championship at Stamford Bridge, in which the "London" was not even represented: H. L. Cortis (W.B.C.) beat W. L. Ainslie (D.B.B.C.) and F. T. East (S.B.C.) in 1hr. 24min. 4sec. after Ainslie's closing series of terrific spurts. A note adds that the Fifty Miles Championship was postponed by a flooded course to Friday the 11th.
- "Eavesdropper" on the Editor's return and the members' letters of thanks read by the Editor pro tem.; on Butler laying in jelly for the postponed fifty-mile championship; on Stephen Smith falling through a temporary bridge over the Avon at Manningford Bruce; and on Gerard Smith breaking his arm when his machine collapsed.
- Coming race meetings from the Temple B.C. mile at Stamford Bridge on July 12 through the Wanderers, Lombard, Rovers and Stanley meetings to the Beckenham B.C. sports on September 30.
- Two letters: "West-Nor'-West" apologising for the members' silence, and Stephen V. Smith of 9, Morden Road, Blackheath asking the best road to Warwick for Friday, July 18th, and proposing in a postscript that the N.E. and S.E. captains arrange a joint tea, perhaps at Gravesend.
- "West-Nor'-West" answers the Editor's leader, pleading that with only eight fine days in three months no ride has been worth recording, and that accounts of crouching under haystacks and railway arches would be duller reading than the Police News. He suggests the Editor commission papers on the dynamics of the bicycle, on riders' legal rights, and on bicycling and muscular development instead.
- The standing note that contributions must be addressed to the Editor, L.B.C. Gazette, 35, Eastcheap, E.C., bear the author's name, be written on one side of the paper only, and reach him by Monday morning for immediate insertion.