The Bearings, Vol 9, No 18
Articles in this issue
- Guerry, a young French cyclist, defeats fourteen starters including Frank Waller and Billy Martin in a 100-kilometer race at Paris' Buffalo velodrome, lowering all records from 24 to 100 kilometers; his time of 2:36:55 beats Meintjes' Chicago mark by nearly nine minutes, with Martin finishing second despite a tire explosion and two dismounts.
- Milwaukee professional Henry Kanaska claims the one-through-six-mile road records over the Whitefish Bay course, covering six miles in 15:12 with unofficial timekeepers; he plans to attack track records at National Park during the summer.
- Kansas City ladies training for the Waldo Park Decoration Day road race are adopting bloomer suits, with a local dry-goods firm staging exhibitions of rational cycling costume; scratch men H.C. Wood and C. Kindevatter are expected to keep the time prize in town.
- Cleveland plans to repeat its popular electric-light night race meet, expecting all the prominent riders after improved track banking addressed safety concerns from last year, when Zimmerman, Meintjes, and Brown participated without a serious fall.
- Brief items: the Pontiac Wheelmen elect officers including president C.W. Mason; Newark Wheelmen name their road team of Bardeau, Underhill, and the Hildebrandt brothers; John G. Gulick and a party of ten ride to Gravesend, L.I. for a fish dinner.
- A special NCU council meeting in London resolves the deadlock between the licensing and appeals committees by requiring all appeals hearings on licensing matters to be held in private; J. Blair's proposal to adopt the American two-class amateur system is rejected, and a motion to abolish the scheme entirely at season's end gains no support.
- Editorial praising the new rule at the Chicago Road Race requiring every rider to start from his assigned mark rather than dropping back to scratch to use other riders as pacers, calling it the proper rule to incorporate in all road racing regulations.
- Editorial marveling that no fewer than fifty road races and track meetings were held on Decoration Day, representing some 3,000 competitors nationwide, with nearly 400 riders in Chicago alone competing before tens of thousands of spectators along Lincoln Park's boulevards.
- Editorial protesting that handicapper S.A. Miles, widely acknowledged as the best in the west, was never paid for his work or acknowledged at the previous League meet and is now being passed over for the coming matinee races without explanation or courtesy.
- Miscellaneous column covering rational dress in America (Chicago bloomers seen as ugly and cumbersome), Charles Petticord's plan to meet globe-girdler Frank Lenz in Germany riding a 28-lb gold-plated Victor, bicycles hurting livery business, and J.A. Pallister's Iowa double-century record of Des Moines and back in twenty-five hours.
- An essayist argues that the bicycle's mechanical leverage makes man-versus-horse comparisons inherently unfair to the horse, likening the situation to Sandow wrestling a muzzled, gloved, and hobbled lion—no credit to the victor.
- Comic poem: every man who lost the road race can be heard at the bar explaining precisely why he would have won—the universal excuse being that he fell down.
- Humorous column skewering the clichés of round-the-world cycling dispatches, noting Frank Lenz's reports of being forced to ride muddy Chinese streets under threat of a hoe, and suggesting the fad of the hair-breadth-escape wheelman is growing stale.
- Comic fiction: Pendennis Fogarty explains to the outraged Mariana Dolan why he failed to win the road race time prize as promised—his vaccination scab had not yet fallen off—then strides dramatically into the cruel black night.
- The Michigan Yacht Club proposes sharing its island summer clubhouse with the Detroit Wheelmen in exchange for access to the wheelmen's clubhouse during winter months, with the wheelmen expected to add a bowling-alley to sweeten the arrangement.
- The Pittsburg Athletic Club is building a 30-foot quarter-mile track for its June 16 Class A meet, the first proper racing track in the city; a 60-mile road race from Wheeling to Pittsburg is also planned, while a profile of Mike Dirnberger includes anecdotes from his father about the racer's extraordinary natural athleticism.
- Profile of Chicago lady century rider Miss Lucy Porter, who completed her 15th century in a bloomer costume of black storm serge designed by a prominent ladies' tailor; the suit hangs straight without bunching at the knee and is being widely copied by Chicago ladies.
- Despite announcing his retirement, ex-champion Willie Windle of Millbury, Mass., will make another autumn attack on the records; he is attending school in Boston and will not enter any races but cannot resist an annual onslaught on Father Time.
- Rev. John Boyd Brady of the People's M.E. Church in Boston publishes an open letter inviting all wheelmen to ride to his church, where a committee has been appointed to care for bicycles; Brady argues that riding to church is no more a Sabbath infraction than riding a horse, since a bicycle needs no rest.
- The Illinois division's 11th annual meeting July 3-5 at Quincy will feature a $2,000 prize list, a Mississippi River boat ride, a hill-climbing contest, a smoker, and Professor Baldwin's celebrated balloon ascension with parachute descent at Baldwin Park.
- Comprehensive report on the first Chicago Road Race at Lincoln Park, won by 16-year-old Fred Rau of the Morgan & Wright Cycling Club from the 7:30 mark in 57:10; C.H. Peck and W. Bainbridge tie for first time prize at 54:36; 325 of 416 entries finished before an estimated 60,000 spectators, with a full finishers list, tire and wheel statistics (Rambler led with 31 riders, Morgan & Wright tires on 170 machines), race gossip, and notes on officials.
- Track meet at Neshaminy Falls, Pa. despite wretched conditions draws nearly 10,000 spectators; Morris Covington wins the one-mile novice and W. Trott takes the one-mile handicap in 3:28.5, with scratch men failing to place in either event.
- A.H. Barnett of the Elizabeth Wheelmen wins the 25-mile Irvington-Milburn road race in 1:11:18, breaking the course record by nearly four minutes and beating H.A. Allen by two seconds; 30,000 spectators attended, and a belligerent stage driver who tried to force through the starting field was subdued by the chief of police with a blackjack.
- Buffalo's 25-mile Martin road race draws 25,000 spectators; Joseph Quinlan (9:30 mark) wins in 1:15:06 as a novice surprise, while Louis Callahan breaks the American 25-mile road record at 1:10:37, with eight riders beating the previous mark set by Nat Butler.
- New Bedford blacksmith E.L. Macomber wins Hoyland Smith's 25-mile Decoration Day race at Clark's Point on Buzzard's Bay from the 9-minute mark; E.H. Snow of the Press C.C. of Boston misses the course record by 20 seconds, while Nat Butler finishes in 1:12:00.5 after a fall.
- A.E. Weinig wins the Buffalo Hazard 25-mile road race in the remarkable time of 1:14:29 over rain-soaked roads, edging Louis Callahan by a half length in a fierce sprint; scratch man J.W. Linneman, holder of the 100- and 200-mile road records, finishes seventh after multiple falls and riding stale.
- W.W. Hamilton of Pueblo wins Denver's 25-mile road race from scratch, passing all 91 men who started ahead of him and finishing in 1:22:30; C.I. Himstrot of Cheyenne finishes second, over four minutes back.
- The 25-mile Lake Harriet road race at Minneapolis draws one of the largest crowds ever for a twin-cities cycling event; Albert Mertens of St. Paul wins from the 14-minute mark in 1:19:15, but scratch men B.B. Bird and George K. Biggs leave the course early by mistake and their potentially record-breaking time is not taken.
- Decoration Day road race results from Des Moines (Bird Moore wins 9.5 miles), Duluth (Titus Duncan wins 10 miles in 32:15), Bay City (John Russell wins 16 miles), Toledo (F.C. Schrein wins 22.75 miles in 1:00:01 on a Gendron), Lima (W.S. Furman takes time prize), Champaign, Bloomington, and Danville, Illinois.
- The Union County Roadsters' 8th annual meet at Rahway, N.J. draws 8,000 spectators to the club's new quarter-mile track; James Elder wins the one-mile novice and C.K. Granger takes the one-mile handicap in 2:25.75 after C.W. Ertz is disqualified for looking around.
- In the Kansas City 10-mile Waldo Park road race, seven riders beat Kindevatter's course record of 30:01; Ed Grath of St. Louis sets the new mark at 28:41 from scratch, while C.E. Jacques wins the race from the 5:30 mark.
- M.F. Dirnberger is reportedly in dispute with Rambler team manager Atkins and has left him in San Francisco to see Mr. Gormully in Chicago, with rumors of a larger salary being sought.
- Planned Utica track races featuring Kennedy, Taxis, and C.M. Murphy are postponed to June 18 due to rain; the road race proceeds as scheduled and is won by Hall of Yorkville in 53:30, with Sheldon second and Gage third.
- R.L. Long of San Francisco breaks the world standing-eighth record at Stockton in :16 2/5; J.P. Bliss races Thursday at Alameda and Saturday at the Midwinter Fair, and plans to attempt the flying horse-paced mile record.
- At Stockton, Cal., Otto Zeigler ties the world standing-eighth record for the second consecutive time; Foster sets new coast records for the flying quarter (:30.5), half (1:03), three-quarters (1:38), and mile (2:13), while Zeigler also does a standing mile in 2:13.5.
- John Russell wins the Bay County 18-mile road race at Bay City, Mich. on a National from the 6-minute mark; C. Allen from scratch captures the time prize in 51:18.
- The Massachusetts division's 13th annual spring meet at Waltham features a 1,500-wheel parade and 20,000 spectators; W.C. Sanger wins the Class B one-mile open over E.C. Bald but is beaten by Bald in the two-thirds mile; A.W. Porter of Waltham lowers the track Class A competition mile record to 2:18.
- The Bay City Wheelmen's annual Decoration Day meet at Central Park draws nearly 3,000 spectators; Otto Zeigler breaks the coast competition quarter-mile record twice, winning in :30 4/5 in the final; the Bay City Wheelmen win the three-mile team race trophy over the San Jose Road Club and California Cyclers.
- Bay State Club tournament at Worcester, Mass., draws 1,500 spectators; J.S. Johnson and F.J. Titus of Washington dominate the Class B events, while John Paulson of Worcester wins the county championship and the one-mile 3:00 class race.
- First matinee meet at the South Side track under the Associated Cycling Clubs and Chicago Athletic Club draws about 700 spectators despite cold and wind; G.H. Ellithorpe sweeps Class B events while C.H. Peck wins two Class A events.
- Washington Day at the Clifton Wheelmen's Park cycle track in Baltimore; Washington riders win most events with W.F. Simms of Swarthmore College taking three including the two-mile handicap; E.E. Clapp of Arlington Wheelmen wins the quarter-mile open in :33.75.
- Second annual Southern California division meet opens at Sweetwater track, National City, with over 200 cyclists in the morning parade; W.A. Burke wins the half-mile championship and five-mile handicap, while Phil Kitchen wins the three-mile handicap and three-mile division championship.
- Cleveland Wheel Club's 25-mile Wickliffe course race draws 67 starters; Lewis Grimm wins from the 11-minute mark in 1:15:55, with George Comstock making best time from scratch in 1:15:21; in the afternoon track events L.C. Johnson repeatedly beats his older brother E.C. Johnson, who faces a Class B protest.
- At the Reliance Athletic Club meet at Alameda, J.P. Bliss is beaten by Foster in the final of the one-mile Class B after being troubled by the steep embankment turns; Foster also wins the two-mile handicap and Nissen takes Class A.
- Opening of New Varick Park at Manchester, N.H. draws 6,000 spectators; Hugh Robson of Salem wins the championship of northern New England over E.A. McDuffie; J.P. Clark of Boston takes the quarter-mile open in :35 despite a rain-heavy track.
- Cold, rainy Decoration Day at the Detroit track; F. Cooper dominates, winning the quarter-mile scratch, half-mile scratch, half-mile handicap, one-mile 2:20 class, and two-mile handicap.
- Asbury Park Wheelmen races attract a big crowd; Raymond McDonald wins the one-mile open Class A and the half-mile open Class A, while George C. Smith, styled 'Riverside,' finishes a poor third in both events.
- First of three meets at Bergen Point, N.J. under the New Jersey Athletic Club; J.A. Powell wins the mile open handicap Class A and Fred Shaft takes the two-mile handicap; Rear Admiral Benham is among the notable guests.
- Brief race results from Wichita (M.H. Burt breaks the state competitive mile record from scratch in 2:30.5), Grand Rapids (Will Evans and Frank Richmond win the open events), Port Huron (A. McLeod of Sarnia wins three of seven races), Terre Haute (the Klinger brothers dominate), and Jamestown, N.Y. (W.A. Newton wins three races including a half in 1:09.5).
- A prominent K.C.W. member, inspired by Buffalo Bill's Wild West show newly opened at Ambrose Park in Brooklyn, attempts to pick up his cap from the ground while riding at full speed on Bedford Avenue; he strikes himself in the nose, runs into a carriage whose horses bolt, and wrecks his wheel.
- Elliott Burris, who won the first velocipede race in America in 1869 and held the American 100-yard championship for four years in the early 1870s, will compete in the N.Y.A.C. one-mile race at Travers Island on a special chainless wheel built by Superintendent Parker of the League Cycle Co.
- With over 20,000 cyclist-voters in New York and Brooklyn, political candidates of both parties are being pressed to promise road improvements; the Brooklyn wheelmen are organizing to leverage their numbers toward better pavements from City Hall to Coney Island.
- Comic anecdote of a Metropolitan wheelman on Eighth Avenue being targeted by Buffalo Bill-inspired street boys who hurled lassoes, beets, and potatoes at the cyclist, mistaking him for an Indian or Chinaman.
- The Bearings defends trainer Culver against an anonymous attack in the American Cyclist, crediting him with developing W.C. Sanger from a virtual unknown into English champion and a dangerous rival to Zimmerman.
- The Denver Cyclists' Union is effectively dissolved after its disgruntled minority faction broke the quorum at a meeting called to amend defective articles of incorporation; the old board, controlling a majority of stock, will never again consent to a meeting and believes the organization is of no benefit to cycling.
- Henry E. Galloway, vice-president of the Indiana Bicycle Co. and president of the Indianapolis Rubber Co., dies of peritonitis at the Denison Hotel in Indianapolis, aged about 32; a former Pullman Palace Car Co. draughtsman and Drummond Machine Co. manager, he had only recently joined the bicycle industry.
- Brief editorial notice on the Excelsior Supply Co.'s Chicago-made cycle, offered in weights from 15.5 lbs (track racer) to 27 lbs (heavy road) at prices of $125-$170, built in a single highest-grade specification receiving strong testimonials.
- Charles E. Duryea describes his resiliometer device and comparative tests of pneumatic tire fabrics, finding that a knotted transverse-thread construction achieves 89% resiliency and 55 bounce curves versus 78-84% for woven and diagonal fabrics; the Bearings editor appends a critical note arguing that resiliency alone does not determine a tire's riding quality or speed.
- Factory profile of the Eagle Bicycle Mfg. Co. of Torrington, Conn.: 100 employees in a four-story facility using cold-swaged tubing invented by the company; the pioneering aluminum rims are exported to England, Russia, France, Germany, and Denmark, and the company carries $100,000 paid-in capital.
- Will C. MacDonald, the Phoenix Cycling Club's closely guarded dark horse for the Chicago Road Race, was leading by a minute near the finish when his wood rim split irreparably; unable to borrow a wheel, he lost his temper, executed a skirt dance on the offending rim, and completely wrecked a brand-new machine, vowing to ride aluminum rims in future.