Vol 3, No 18
Articles in this issue
- Captain Theo. Godlee appeals for a better entry, the list being by no means large, arguing that the Surbiton ground is easily reached and free of bad corners and that men who race only rarely can ride without facing opponents in tip-top training. As the handicapping is done by the Race Committee, competitors may be sure someone knows something of their merits; he asks members to encourage the Committee in their new venture.
- The Captain comments on the Meet Cards now in members' hands: the general meet at Ewell will be arranged as last year, no run is fixed for the Saturday before August Bank Holiday (though the S.W. will leave the Cross Roads, Hanworth Park, at 4.30 for Blackwater, not counting for the attendance prize), and a run with the D.B.B.C. is hoped for at the end of the season. He also rules that a solitary member cannot change a run's destination, and that an attendance can only be scored by following the District's route rather than a fancy ride home.
- The Hon. Sec.'s formal notice of the one mile handicap open only to L.B.C. members at Surbiton on Thursday 22 July: three prizes of £3, £2 and £1, entrance 2s., racing at 6.45, the Race Committee handicapping, entries to Herbert R. Boyce by 17 July, with admission to the ground and programmes free.
- Hon. Sec. Herbert R. Boyce repeats his request that members return their unused tickets, with payment for those used, without delay.
- The Editor would be glad to hear from a few more gentlemen willing to help stick the Woodburytypes; their services will be wanted for two or three hours on a Thursday evening to be announced.
- Reports for 10 July: five N.E. men went round by Woodford, Buckhurst Hill, Loughton and the 'Wake Arms' to tea at the 'New Inn,' Waltham Abbey, Captain Theo. Godlee flying the steep loose hill by old Chingford Church on the way home; nine N.W. men followed the Northern Guide by Neasden, Ruislip, Harefield and 'Long Lane' to a very late but capital tea at the 'Bedford Arms,' Chenies, 49 miles in all, with milk at a West End farm at sixpence for nineteen glasses. H. Jennings rode the S.W. run alone from Hanworth to Ickenham and round by Pinner and Harrow (32 miles), three Croydon men were driven under a tree by rain at Caterham Junction, and there are further solitary accounts from the District Visitor (lost at Croydon, then Westerham Hill and Riverhead), from Stephen Smith of Blackheath, and from Ashley Barrett, who parodied an ode on Robinson Crusoe over a depressingly solitary tea at the 'Bell,' Bromley.
- Table of district meets for 17 July, N.E. from Lea Bridge Road and Syborn's Corner for Ingatestone, N.W. from 'Jack Straw's Castle' for Ickenham, W. from Harlesden Green for Watford, S.W. from the 'Griffin,' Kingston, and both S.E. Divisions for Reigate. On 24 July all Districts run to Ewell, and on 31 July there is no official run on account of Bank Holiday.
- Full result of the open two-mile bicycle race, run in five heats won by S. Golder (Brixton), A. Herbert (London B.C.), A. D. Butler (London B.C.), R. H. Whiffen (Pelham) and G. L. Hillier (L.A.C.). Hillier, off 80 yards, took the final by thirty yards from Golder with C. D. Vesey (Surrey) third, in 6 min. 30 sec.
- The Field's account of the fifty miles championship at Stamford Bridge on Thursday 8 July, the last of the Bicycle Union's four races, in which H. L. Cortis (Wanderers B.C.) spurted past H. Osborne (Surrey B.C.) on the last lap to win by a length in addition to the lap he had already gained, in 2 h. 56 min. 11¼ sec., J. F. Griffith third. The win gave Cortis three of the four titles, five, twenty-five and fifty miles, he having been beaten only at one mile by C. E. Liles; Hillier cut out the early pace but gave up in the sixth mile.
- Two advertisements only: St. John Ryan of Teddington offers a plated Thompson's mile gauge for a 54-in. and a plated Salsbury head-lamp, 32s. and 13s. or both for £2; and Wadham Wyndham of Reigate a japanned 56-in. 'Humber' racer with hollow forks and ball bearings to both wheels at £18.
- A short list: the Gresham Athletic Club at Stamford Bridge on the 17th, the Eastbourne B.C. meeting with three open amateur events on the 21st, and on the 24th the Lombard B.C. at Catford Bridge and the West of England Bicycle Meet and Races at the Zoological Gardens, Clifton, Bristol.
- Notes that Thorn and Cleaver are selling off and have quitted the path, possibly for good, while A. D. Butler and C. E. Parker have taken to racing, Parker having bought a racer and gone to Surbiton to train. Also recommends the little-frequented Southend road by Stifford, Stanford-le-Hope and Hadleigh, chaffs the compositor for likening the Editor's caligraphy to an ink-bedraggled centipede, promises a 'Welsh Eight' after those of France and the Rhine, records Dr. Langmore carrying a dozen new-laid eggs home from Chenies in a cigar box unharmed, and tells how the Northern Guide led seven famished victims to Chenies by torrent beds and precipitous cliffs. Signed L'Homme qui Rit.
- Francis Godlee writes from Hong Kong on 26 May, having found A. P. Stokes in good health, and offers members the loan of five machines kept at the 'Treasury Offices' at Walthamstow, catalogued as horseflesh: a 55½ lb. Stassen that 'has been known to kick,' a 63 lb. Stassen warranted quiet, a 40-in. Beck with wooden wheels 'warranted safe and sound for hunting,' a 36-in. boneshaker, and an old 'Special Challenge' Singer that has done London to Bath in under three hours. He also endorses 'W.X.W.' on the District Challenge Cup, spectators taking a special interest because they feel their District represented.
- Douglas Smith (D.B.B.C. and L.B.C.) answers 'Paterfamilias' of the previous number, refusing the argument that members should give up Sunday riding for fear of being confounded with 'the shop-boy and the cad,' since most L.B.C. men cannot take holidays on other days, and inviting him to name any offender seen wearing the badge. A second letter from 'A Working Gentleman' calls the objection mere fashion, the professional beauties now promenade in Hyde Park on Sundays, and the Editor then closes the topic, having printed two temperately expressed letters on the principle of audi alteram partem.
- Four letters on 'Irish Challenge's' proposal to alter the course: 'Successful at Last' and 'X.' defend Box and Marlborough Hills as the point of a road trial, the level alternative being simply an out-and-out race better run at Stamford Bridge, though 'X.' warms to R. G. Francis's enamelled medal for the first man in regardless of time. 'Brefney' and 'Kappa' join issue with 'W.X.W.', arguing that ten hours was proved impossible on Whit Monday's gale (Butler naming ten hours fifteen minutes as the limit), that six well-known cracks failed in 1880 against two in 1879, and that extra medals should be raced for if next year's field is unusually large.
- 'Mentor,' 'Alpha' and 'X.' are told the Editor regrets he is unable to insert their letters on the Sunday riding question.
- Standing note that contributions must go to the Editor, L.B.C. Gazette, Eastcheap, E.C., bear the author's name, be written on one side of the paper only, and arrive by Wednesday morning for immediate insertion. Messrs. Darling supply badge-stamped portfolios at 2s., a few 1878 covers remain, and back numbers cost 1d. each.