The Bearings, Vol 9, No 22
Articles in this issue
- Victor team and Charley Murphy absent from the Rome, N.Y. Cyclers' meet of June 22; J.S. Johnson wins the mile handicap from scratch in 2:14¾ defeating Bald and Kennedy; F.J. Jenny sweeps four Class A events including the Central N.Y. championship mile in 2:31.
- John S. Johnson breaks the world one-mile flying-start record at the Waltham, Mass. track on June 26, circling the oval in 1:56 despite headwind and overcast skies, paced by Murphy brothers and Cutter and Callahan on tandems; trainer Tom Eck embraces him as the crowd roars.
- From July 8 to 17, approximately forty racing men and trainers including Sanger, Tyler, Johnson, Bald, Eck, Murphy, and Callahan plan to rest at Hotel Norman, Ocean Grove, N.J., before their western tour to Denver; Chairman Raymond also promises to vacation there.
- At the South End Wheelmen's meet at Tioga track, June 23, E.E. Clapp of Washington defeats Sanger in the third-mile heat and Tyler in the final; Sanger wins the mile scratch race but nearly falls on the low banked turns; full race summaries included.
- Editorial lauding Johnson's 1:56 world mile at Waltham as more meritorious than Windle's 1:56⅘ at Springfield, made on a harder two-turn track in inferior pacing conditions; declares Johnson definitively the fastest man against the watch.
- Editorial criticising the century-riding fad, particularly a 13-year-old girl's 100-mile ride encouraged by her father who visited the office to ensure it was publicised; urges the Humane Society to intervene in such cases.
- Editorial approving the Racing Board's action at Plainfield—Wells suspended, Titus disqualified, Murphy exonerated—and its two-year suspension of G.E. Williams of Pittsburg for competing under an assumed name; warns others not to 'monkey with the buzz saw.'
- Championship of Cuba at the Club Bicyclista de la Habana's Vedado track, Havana, June 17; Jose Carlevaris wins the 25-kilometre title in 45:03¼ from Manuel Codina; champion fills a solid silver New York-made cup with champagne and passes it to the ladies of honour.
- Sanger attributes his Rochester defeat to Johnson's wheel-following tactics and his own illness with a cold and stiff neck; reveals Chairman Raymond ordered him to ride the quadruplet race in street clothes, under pain of disqualification, after he had already retired ill.
- At the Utica Cycling Club meet of June 21, Buffalo dealer W.A. Lutz has a dislocated finger removed without chloroform after it is caught in a competitor's rear sprocket; F.J. Jenny sweeps the half-mile open, mile open, and mile handicap from scratch, then ties Johnson's New York state half-mile record at 1:02¾.
- Paris correspondent J.M. Erwin reports that track director Baduel's letter implied Zimmerman was not training conscientiously, with rumours he was offered 2,000 francs to throw his first race; Linton defeats Dubois and Guerry in a 50-mile match at Velodrome Buffalo; German amateur Lehr, denied an N.C.U. licence at Aston, challenges any English amateur to a mile race in Austria or Germany.
- In San Jose, Wilbur J. Edwards lowers the world eighth-mile standing-start record to 16 seconds flat on Thursday, and on Friday Oscar Osen of the Garden City Cyclers lowers the coast one-third-mile record to :42⅖, both breaking marks previously held by R.L. Long of the Rambler team.
- Feature by Harvey Pound: sent to Chicago's Lincoln Park with a camera to survey women cyclists in bloomer costumes, he interviews and photographs Mrs. Fairchild, Miss Maud Astor, Mrs. McWilliams, Mrs. Crain, and Miss Brice, gathering detailed descriptions of fabric, cut, and opinions on rational cycling dress.
- Greenwich Wheelmen meet, Manhattan Field track, June 23: F.J. Titus defeats Bermuda champion Outerbridge by 100 feet in a farcical match race while breaking into a broad laugh in the final lap; MacDonald breaks the half-mile track record at 1:04⅗; Johnson sets a new mile track record at 2:19¼.
- Fredonia A.C. annual meet, June 24: limit man Peters wins the 20-mile road race from 35 starters while Van Wagoner is outpaced by scratch men Penseyres, Leonert, and Blake; a Globe quadruplet covers the half in 1:03.
- Albany County Wheelmen's second annual tournament, June 27: Tyler wins the mile open, Bald the mile handicap in 2:19, and Jenny the Class A mile in 2:17 from scratch—though Jenny had run over a spectator in his heat; Albany Bicycle Club had opposed the sanction and forced a postponement from June 6.
- Chicago Postmaster Hesing pits a bicycle messenger against men sent by horse, buggy, cable car, elevated railroad, and on foot over 19 miles with nine stops; cyclist A.E. Jones (Lake View C.C.) finishes first in 1:20, beating the horse by 26 minutes in a driving rain storm.
- Hillier's Herne Hill meeting, London, June 16: A.J. Watson wins the 10-mile limited paced race in world record time 23:04⅖, with records broken from three miles to the finish; after the championships the Racing Cyclists' League is formed to secure equitable N.C.U. legislation for amateur racers.
- Louisville, Ky. correspondent reports that local wheelmen were unaware their June road race produced world-record ten-mile time; the idea for the race came from the Bearings' correspondent, and the Owensboro Wheel Club's event is the first Kentucky division meet to clear a profit of over $200.
- Philadelphia: Quaker City Wheelmen seek a rematch after a disputed five-mile road race loss to West Philadelphia Cyclers, who decline; five Rambler team riders including W.A. Wenzel are suspended pending a Racing Board investigation of their amateur standing.
- Newark-to-Asbury Park century run (103 miles), June 25: over 500 starters including 15 women; five women finish, among them Miss MacAndre and Mlle. Legrasse; Harry Wright (baseball magnate, age 67) and 14-year-old Harry Borden also complete the distance; Century Cycle Club of Philadelphia wins the Pennsylvania banner with 80 of 95 starters surviving.
- Milwaukee, June 28: over 300 entries from across the northwest for the July 4 Waukesha-Milwaukee road race; Beaver Dam plans its own meet with $1,000 in prizes; A.M. Chandler's Cedarburg road race piano prize is briefly endangered by allegations of cash prize acceptance before sworn statements clear him.
- Eleven Chicago women ride a century together; Miss Annice H.B. Porter (18, Columbia Eagles) breaks Miss Bicker's ladies' century record in 9:10:00 and plans to lower it to 8:30:00; 13-year-old Inez Whittaker of the South Side Cycling Club also finishes, described as probably the youngest century rider in the world.
- K.C.A.C. and K.C. Cyclists June meet at Fairmount Park, June 23: S.M. Hocker, hitherto a novice, wins four races; the half-mile open final had to be ridden three times before anyone broke the 1:15 time limit.
- Comic fiction: Chicago meat-packer Clearsides tries to force his daughter Gertrude to marry Ima Hogg for business reasons, but she threatens to wear bloomers unless permitted to marry bicycle racer Billy Buster (who has just ridden 1:21 on the South Side track); the old man collapses and dies.
- Humorous advice column responding to 'Young Centurion': recommends wearing clothes for cycling (smiles alone falling foul of police regulations), carrying a $50 bill, and limiting baths to once a month—though a daily bath in fresh cool beer is endorsed for the serious wheelman.
- Preview of the Illinois division meet at Quincy, July 3-5: programme includes a 10½-mile road race, a 20-mile run to Canton, parade and hill-climbing contest on Hampshire street, races at Baldwin Park, and an evening river excursion on the Mississippi complimentary to League members.
- Cleveland: Lakeside club adds Class B events to its tournament despite an earlier agreement with the C.W.C., citing two of their racing team now in Class B; rival railroads cut round-trip fares to the Cincinnati state meet to $6.50 with parlour cars free.
- Editorial exposing bicycle makers who channel high-grade wheels through dry goods houses at $50 each, naming McIntosh-Huntington (Sunol), Toledo Bicycle Co. (Dauntless), and Buffalo Wheel Co. as undermining local dealers who cannot compete with such price slaughter.
- London trade dispatch by Will o' the Wisp: Justice Romer rules for the North British Rubber Co. in the Clincher-Macintosh patent case, finding the defendants' tire an infringement, but notice of appeal is immediately filed; Dunlop dominates track while Palmer dominates road; exports at record levels but Coventry factories are discharging workers.
- New York, June 25: George MacDonald, manager of Raleigh's New York house, categorically denies long-circulating resignation rumours to a Bearings correspondent and plans to travel to Europe in July or August to see Zimmerman ride the Grand Prix.
- New York, June 26: Raleigh Cycle Co. to close its Chicago branch on July 1 on orders from the Dublin parent John Griffiths company, which has found American branches unprofitable; rumours suggest Premier may follow suit.
- Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co. letter to the editor: Stover Bicycle salesman J.P. Walters has been pasting a photograph of an injured Bearings associate editor onto his calling card with the caption 'Hurt on a Rambler' to disparage the Rambler wheel; Stover has ordered him to desist but he ignores them.
- Trade correspondent surveys the bicycle market in Texarkana, Hot Springs, Pine Bluff, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Greenville, Dallas, Sherman, and other Texas cities; Rambler leads in most markets, drug stores and undertakers alike are taking agencies, and Sherman notes a drop in drug sales directly attributable to the growth of cycling.
- Feature by S.W. Merrihew analysing bicycle racing as manufacturer advertising: a victorious racer becomes an 'Aladdin's lamp' that his employer must keep well oiled; the rise of the Dunlop, Thomas, and Palmer tires shows that track victories drive road sales, and even makers who grow weary of sponsoring riders find they cannot entirely ignore the racing spirit.
- Comprehensive LAW national circuit and division race calendar from July through October, listing meets in Cincinnati, Waukesha, New York, Asbury Park, Albany, Cleveland, Toledo, Indianapolis, Springfield Mass., Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, and other cities across the United States.