The Bicycling World, Vol 3, No 24
Articles in this issue
- Announces the newly released L.A.W. Hand-Book containing the League's constitution, rules, officers, directors, consuls, and member list in a pocket-sized imitation morocco binding. Available postpaid for thirty cents from four named addresses including the Bicycling World office and League secretary Kingman N. Putnam.
- Personal notes and short news items covering the Boston Bicycle Club's emigration scheme, the Massachusetts Bicycle Club's upcoming two-day run to Gloucester, praise for Director Lamson's handlebar coat-carrying attachment, and progress in the ongoing Central Park bicycle test case with testimony taken in Philadelphia.
- Personal paragraphs noting Mr. Legge of the Bradford (England) Club riding around Boston with Chief Consul Weston, a correction crediting W. M. Wright of New York's Mercury Bicycle Club with the fancy-riding exhibition at the League races, L.A.W. recording secretary Samuel T. Clark serving as clerk of the course despite a sprained wrist, and comic verses on Mr. Parkhurst's last-minute substitution in the Beacon Park team race.
- Reader letters including 'Meteor' recounting a Bay State Wheel Club run to Waltham and complaining of the stuck-up Crescent club men, queries on the cost of shipping a bicycle from London and the reliability of the Yorkshire Bicycle Manufacturing Company of Leeds, and a detailed report of lamp-oil experiments finding that camphor worsens wick crusting in 'King of the Road' lamps.
- Editorial examining the controversy at the Attleboro fair where cyclists invited to race were unexpectedly charged admission and refused to compete; the editor criticises fair manager Draper's conduct as arbitrary and unjust while also urging cyclists to exercise greater discretion in future public disputes rather than forfeiting public sympathy.
- Continued installment of a long-distance solo bicycle journey, covering stages from Columbus through Zanesville and Wheeling, Ohio, with vivid accounts of rough and muddy roads, unhospitable Ohio farmhouses, and a warm reception at the Nail City Bicycle Club in Wheeling before an afternoon spin on the State Fair track.
- Account by F. C. H. of a six-cyclist excursion from Scranton via the Delaware and Hudson Canal towpath to Port Jervis and Milford, Pennsylvania, where three riders fell into the canal on the narrow towpath and the party received a reception and hop at the Sawkill House in Milford.
- Compilation of race reports including multiple Michigan results won by E. F. Woodcock of Lansing, the American Athletic Club's two-mile race at the Polo Grounds won by a Bristol cyclist in 6:08½, Baltimore Oriole celebration races, and a detailed account of the Boston vs. Massachusetts Bicycle Club ten-mile inter-club race at Beacon Park won by the Bostons, with Stall setting a new American record of 36:22½.
- League of American Wheelmen membership section listing new applications and newly enrolled members from New Jersey, New York State, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ontario, and Massachusetts, with newly appointed consuls for New Britain, Connecticut and Windsor, Nova Scotia.
- Club reports from the Bremen Bicycle Club in Germany (secretary resignation, impassable road conditions to Bremerhaven), the reorganized Middlesex Bicycle Club of Malden with an estimated 75-100 local wheelmen electing new officers, the eleven-member Nutmeg Bicycle Club of Hartford, and the Germantown Bicycle Club opening a club house near the park and adopting a new uniform.
- Letter from W. E. Norris in Helena, Montana Territory describing the challenges of cycling on the remote frontier, where only six riders share two machines and a new bicycle ordered in May has been lost in transit for five months. The writer plans to form a club and join the League once all members obtain machines.
- Brief letter from a Roxbury Bicycle Club member reporting a 40-mile round trip from Dorchester to Brockton, completing the outward 20 miles without dismount in one hour fifty-five minutes, and returning against a strong 28-mile wind in two hours forty minutes after a collation and track parade with the Brockton Bicycle Club.
- Letter from H. G. Rouse, secretary of the Peoria Bicycle Club, describing the club's participation in the Canton, Illinois fair race via a special railway car, the warm welcome received from fair officials and the local solitary cyclist Frank Porter, and an incident where a hostile baggageman roughly handled the club's wheels on the return journey.
- Detailed account by W. W. Stall presenting the cyclists' version of the Attleboro' fair dispute, describing how invited competitors were unexpectedly charged admission, found the appointed judges ignorant of League rules, and were threatened by manager Draper when they protested; the Columbia Bicycle Club was subsequently expelled after fulfilling its promised drill and fancy riding.
- Letter from correspondent '626' describing bicycling conditions in St. Louis, including an experiment applying Japan varnish to a bicycle wheel, restrictive and inconsistent regulations in Forest Park and Tower Grove, club meetings hosted at the Southern Hotel, and a practical tip on practicing the standstill using a smaller machine with a wider-turning front wheel.
- Letter from '48-Inch Wheel' covering a bicycle race at the Dutchess County Agricultural Society fair won by R. O. Osborn despite a poorly maintained track that injured competitor Lockwood, and a visit by touring cyclist Karl Kron ('Kol Kron') who was escorted to Vassar College and the Hudson River State Hospital; also critiques inaccurate bicycle sizing tables in manufacturer catalogues.
- Letter from member '56' of the Streator Bicycle Club reporting on the eight-member club's first season, with runs to Ottawa (16.5 miles on gravel roads), a joint excursion to Rockford with the Aurora Club, and a recent gathering that reunited the full membership for a group photograph.
- Report from a New Zealand correspondent about the annual meeting of the Christchurch Pioneer Bicycle Club, which re-elected E. C. Farr as captain and added eight new members, followed by an opening-season run toward Woodend that was turned back at Kaiapoi by a stiff northeast headwind.