Vol 3, No 8
Articles in this issue
- Theo. Godlee, Captain, confirms the "White Lion" at Bath as quarters, asks competitors to say when they travel so Mr. Fenner knows the numbers and a special carriage for machines can be arranged, and appeals on the question of get-up: the rules prescribe University costume, but men should ride as far as possible in Club uniform, since coat-sleeves turned up and stockings pulled down offend county magnates far more than beating Appleyard's time.
- F. M. Williams gives the timings for the 8th May run to Chigwell to meet the N.E. and N.W., Central Croydon 3.30 with no law given, Lewisham Church 4.15, Shooter's Hill Road 4.30, Woolwich Pier 5, Chigwell about 6.30, with the London Bridge steamer to South Woolwich at 5d. for man and cycle, machines to be left at Mr. Campbell's in Lewisham High Road, and local guides told off at every meeting place.
- The list of entries for the Hundred Miles Trial for the L.B.C. Road Medals, thirty-two names running from Ashley Barrett and F. F. Barry through the Hon. I. Keith-Falconer and N. B. Morris to W. T. Thorn, jun., A. O. Tylor and L. Wynne.
- District reports: seven N.E. men to the "Salisbury Arms," Hoddesdon, where performing birds and cats were watched, one cat pinched into song; thirteen N.W. members and six visitors to the "Black Horse," Eastcott, by Cricklewood, Dollis Hill and Harrow Weald on a perfect May Day, entertained after tea by four young ladies with a May dance and song; ten S.W. men to the "King's Head," Epsom, scattered by an obstructive costermonger and beaten by the state of Ashstead Hill; and twenty-three S.E. men to the "White Hart," Bletchingley, for a two-shilling feed, then on to the "Clayton Arms," Godstone, for songs from Johns, Wheeler, C. A. Smith and Barrett.
- Report of the Oxford club's races on 3rd May at the University Running Ground: E. H. L. Reeve of Oriel took the One Mile in 3 min. 6 sec. and the Ten Miles in 36 min. 39 2/5 sec. from D. R. Smith; W. D. Pollock won the One Hundred Yards Slow Race after King fell; Jephson, too leniently handicapped, won the Three Miles Roadster Race by 100 yards; and Reynolds beat Wynne by five yards off scratch in the Four Miles Handicap.
- The club's Second Spring Meeting of Saturday 1st May, with the three heats and final of the Two Miles Bicycle Handicap: C. E. Liles (80 yards) won the final by three yards from M. J. R. Dundas and F. Rendell in 5 min. 55 sec., none of the scratch men ever getting a look in.
- Calendar from 8th May to 6th November 1880, including the Humber & Co. Two Miles Handicap at Lillie Bridge, the 100-mile Road Trial on 17th May, the Surbiton one-mile handicap for members on 25th May, and C.U.Bi.C. v. L.B.C. at Cambridge on 29th May.
- Tabulated meets for the N.E., N.W., W., S.W., Croydon and Blackheath divisions for the 8th May, all converging on Chigwell except the W. (Ripley) and S.W. (Guildford).
- Two "simple easy-going plodders" left Guildford at 5.30 a.m. on 25th April, reached Midhurst (21 miles) by 8.50 for a second breakfast at the "Eagle," and ran through Singleton, West Dean and Lavant to Chichester and Bognor by 12.50, putting up at the "Royal Park" Hotel where "Pickles" was the first bather of the year. Home by Slindon, Bury Hill, Pulborough and Billingshurst, a wrong turn at New Bridge bringing the day's total to eighty-five miles. Signed "Pards of the 48's."
- "The Bishop of Pork Fart" reports that everyone is reserving himself for the Club Races of the 3rd, the Captain found no one at the Club Rooms for the run on the 1st, and that he himself, with schools on the 26th and so unable to ride against Cambridge, took a roadster into the country instead of a racer to the path. A rapid Club run on the 28th covered 25 miles to Stadhampton, Berwick and Benson.
- H. Howard Crawley of University College, Gower Street, again offers his 56-inch "Humber" racer, nearly a season's wear but never ridden on the road, in exchange for a 54-inch racer; it can be seen at Stamford Bridge.
- Paragraphs by "L'homme qui rit": what uniform etiquette should govern the Road Trial, and how little uniformity the Club's greys now show; the puns at Hitchin, ended by a joke about half a chair; confusion over whether Kent requires a red light in front; the two-shilling tea at the "White Hart," Bletchingley, called a best on record; the resident goblin of the "Clayton Arms," Godstone; the Surbiton colony's challenge to run five men against any other district; and the Treasurer's report from Japan that jinrikishas must carry lanterns after six.
- "Verdant Green" commends the mound in the lane from Willesden Green past Willesden chapel to Neasden and Kingsbury, insignificant from the base and steep enough to annoy the easy-going rider, but worth resting on at a spring sunset for one of the few green spots left near town, the railway and building contractors being already on the scene.
- Opens the letters column, in this issue given over to J. Kinder on Club machines, "Irish Challenge" on the luggage a touring bicycle can carry and on the roads of North France, and Ashley Barrett on the roads of Holland.
- J. Kinder returns to the letter he wrote two years ago, arguing that the L.B.C. is five clubs in all but name and Committee, and that General Meets do nothing to make new acquaintances. Rejecting both machine-pairing between districts and outright purchase by the Club, he proposes each District Captain take over two or three sound second-hand machines valued at £8 or £9, hire them at 2s. 6d. a day, and hand the half-crowns to the owner at season's end as payment for wear and tear.
- A letter written in the voice of the bicycle itself, signed "Irish Challenge," listing what its master loads it with on a ten-day tour, change coat and breeches, trousers, shirts, socks, collars, mackintosh, brushes, tools and two lamps, so that machine and rider scale two hundredweight exactly; it has been entered for the Bath Trial on Whit-Monday and hopes for heavy roads and a spanking S.W. wind.
- "Irish Challenge" recalls three L.B.C. members riding in 1877 from Havre and Trouville by Caen, Bayeux, St. Lo, Coutances, Granville, Avranches, Pontorson and St. Malo, breaking up tyreless and spokeless at Dinard: royal if straight roads, good grub, divine cyder, cheap charges and unbeatable bathing, the scenery improving as one goes west. A postscript reports a friend's English-built "Royal" seized in New York by the Boston Company as a patent infringement.
- Ashley Barrett, answering "L'homme qui rit," describes riding Rotterdam to Alkmaar and back by The Hague, Haarlem and Amsterdam over flat brick-paved roads eighteen to twenty feet wide, horribly rough in the centre but level for a foot at each side, making twelve or thirteen miles an hour with a gale behind. Recommends "The New Bath" on the Boompjes and Amsterdam's "Bible Hotel," but thinks a canoe or sailing boat the better means of locomotion.
- Contributions must go to the Editor at 35, Eastcheap, bear the author's name, be written on one side of the paper only and arrive by Wednesday morning; members may now advertise machines free in the Gazette, and Darling's will supply badge-stamped portfolios for unbound copies at 2s.
- "Zero's" communication is declined as scarcely fair to other competitors, and "Alpha" is thanked for his promise, the "Stray Notes" department being always open to casual communications.