The Bicycling Times and Touring Gazette, Vol 6, No 22
Articles in this issue
- The editor praises the Surrey Bicycle Club for refusing to entertain amateur-status protests against H. L. Cortis, and criticises the Bicycle Touring Club council for awarding its official circular to a single country magazine against the expressed wish of its 1,250 members.
- Weekly run reports from dozens of clubs across Britain, including Alert, Albion, Arion, Bradford, Bristol, City of London, Croydon, Forest Hill, Royal Scottish, Temple, Westbourne, and many others, covering routes, road conditions, teas, and club meetings for Saturday 10th April 1880.
- Fixture list for Saturday 17th April 1880, giving muster times and destinations for Metropolitan clubs including Alert, Albion, Belgrave, Camberwell, Civil Service, Forest Hill, and Kensington, followed by provincial clubs from Bradford, Bristol, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Leeds, Royal Scottish, and others.
- Calendar of upcoming open amateur race events for 1880, including the Lewisham 20-mile championship at Crystal Palace on 17th April, the Surrey Spring Meeting at Kennington Oval on 24th April, and London Bicycle Club meetings at Stamford Bridge on 5th May and 19th June.
- Letters to the editor: W. Easy of Fulham BC challenges Appleyard (London BC) to a Bath-to-Kensington road race to settle the amateur Bath Road championship; the Lombard BC announces country membership for banking gentlemen at 2s. 6d. entry fee; Arthur Relton details the Kentish Meet at Wateringbury on Whit Monday 17th May 1880.
- Anonymous column of bicycling reflections, touching on English unsociability at meets, admiration for the Surrey Bicycle Club's energy, and encouragement for ladies taking up the tricycle as a healthful alternative to tight-laced corsets and gymnastics.
- Report on the first of six monthly races held on 5th April, three miles over a strong gale; six started, two retired, with Spooner winning in 14 min. 30 sec. from Pidsley, Barter, and Grigg.
- Detailed lap-by-lap account of the 100-mile indoor race at Northumberland Cricket Ground on Saturday 12th April, attended by 15,000 spectators; G. W. Waller beat Charles Terront, William Cann, and J. F. Lees, winning in 6h 22m 27s and setting a new boarded-track record by 2m 43s.
- Results of the two-miles amateur handicap and twenty-miles professional handicap at North Durham Cricket Ground, promoted by John Keen; in the amateur final Oliver beat Dodds and Spence in 6m 45s, while in the professional John Keen won the twenty miles from W. Phillips and H. Higham in 70m 10s.
- David Stanton beat the American trotter Master Jem in a ten-mile match before 1,500 spectators, winning by over 500 yards in 34m 56s; in the five-mile bicycle handicap John Keen caught and passed Stanton and B. Keen to win in 16m 25s.
- Brief editorial notes on Billy Cann's second Six Days' Championship win at Newcastle and the status of Charles Terront's Long Distance Championship of the World, pending a full eighteen-hour-a-day contest with Waller.
- Touring itinerary by Jno. Fix of the London Bicycle Club, covering London to Longford, Reading, Basingstoke, Andover, Salisbury, Stockbridge, Winchester, Fareham, Chichester, Billinghurst, Dorking, and back to London, with road condition notes and BTC hotel recommendations throughout.
- Good Friday account by C. E. O. of twelve Derby BC members riding to Bakewell via Belper, Whatstandwell, and Matlock, lunching at the BTC headquarters Castle Inn, visiting Haddon Hall and its Peveril Tower, and returning through Wirksworth and Duffield.
- Brief report of the Hornsey Local Board meeting granting the Bicycle Union permission to erect an enamelled iron danger-notice board on hills in the district.
- George H. Jones describes twelve Liverpool Wanderers members crossing to Birkenhead by ferry, riding 37 miles to Whitchurch against a strong head wind, dining at the Fox & Goose Hotel, and returning via Chester for a 74-mile round trip.
- Three Lombard BC members — Herbert Dixton, Plummer, and Brackett — were fined 5s. each at Epsom for riding without lit lamps after sunset on Good Friday, under Surrey Quarter Sessions bye-laws; further cases of James Fencher, Benjamin Shepherd, and Edward James are also reported.
- Mr. Popplewell of the Ipswich BC stopped a runaway horse-drawn waggon near Ramsey just in time to prevent its wheel crushing a fallen wagon-driver's head, earning praise for the presence of mind bicycling cultivates.
- Continued touring account (from p. 321) of a solo Lancashire and Manchester road tour in mid-July, describing appalling wet roads from Burton through Lancaster, Preston, Chorley, Bolton, and into Manchester, including a broken spoke repair outside the city.
- Review of the Philharmonic Palace of Varieties programme, commending Howard Paul's sketch 'Locked Out' with Miss Letty Lind, T. Maclagan's versatile impersonations, and Frank Hall's burlesque 'The Yellow Dwarf' with Miss Laura Sedgwick and Miss Alice Mowbray.
- Editor's brief replies to readers, including hub-lamp recommendations for Alpha, best route advice for Wheelman (Windsor to Horsham via Leatherhead and Dorking) and W. H. Collins (Brighton to Hampton Court via Reigate and Epsom), and a caution to buyers about counterfeit Salsbury lamps.