The Canadian Wheelman, Vol 4, No 5
Articles in this issue
- London, Ontario, is forming an Amateur Athletic Association with a first-class track, expected to restore the city and the pioneer Forest City club to prominence as a cycling centre.
- Editorial comment that the 1887 meet will succeed whether held at Brantford, Toronto or Woodstock, and urges clubs to renew their C.W.A. membership as the season opens.
- Notes that organized bicycle corps in the French army carried orders and despatches faster than mounted troopers and covered 50-60 miles a day, arguing a bicyclist is more efficient and cheaper than a cavalry horseman.
- Reports the League of American Wheelmen's next meet will be at St. Louis on May 20-21, with an outlined programme of officers' meetings, Mississippi steamer trips, a League ball, races in Forest Park and a Clarksville road race.
- "Rex" recounts the Montreal Carnival, the Boston Bicycle Club's visit in their car the "David Garrick" under E. C. Hodges and A. T. "Tommy" Lane, racer E. P. Baird's move to Montreal, and speculation over the 1887 C.W.A. meet site.
- At a Citizens' Club dinner in New York, round-the-world cyclist Thomas Stevens describes the roads he met across America, France, Turkey, Persia, India, China and Japan.
- A correspondent reprinted from The Cyclist describes the difficulty of riding a 'Rover' on the ice, finding india-rubber tyres slip and side-slips frequent, and that good skaters easily outpaced him.
- Toronto club notes: the Toronto Bicycle Club election with A. F. Webster resigning the presidency; Hurst's trick-riding at the Stanley Show in England; the T.B.C. social on Wilton Avenue; George Orr on the Big Four tours; Stevens declining a Toronto banquet; tours by Bert Brown and Harry Grenfell; and a tribute to ex-President Webster.
- Reprints a letter from A. L. Atkins to J. H. Shurman of Lynn revealing how racer W. A. Rowe sought to use the Springfield Club's race management to manipulate heats in his favour, exposing collusion at the Springfield tournaments.
- Trade items on Charles Robinson & Co. of Toronto (Rudge and Lillibridge agents), the St. George's Engineering Company, the Pope Mfg. Co.'s tenth annual catalogue, and T. Fane & Co.'s agency for the "New Rapid" and clearance sale.
- C.C. W. P. Way of No. 4 Midland Division asks all Local Consuls to report non-C.W.A. wheelmen in their consulates to him at Belleville.
- Lists C.W.A. consul appointments for Toronto District No. 3 (Chas. Langley, C.C.) and Ottawa District No. 5 (F. M. S. Jenkins, C.C.) with their hotels.
- Reports the C.W.A. Board of Officers' annual spring meeting at the Walker House, Toronto, on Feb. 25: a healthy treasury, the self-sustaining Canadian Wheelman under editor Jas. S. Brierley, Langley taking charge of uniform cloth, and the 1887 meet provisionally awarded to Brantford.
- Correspondent "Snooks" suggests the C.W.A. organize a tour over Canadian roads during the Jubilee year to help the Association and unite its members.
- Stratford B.C. president Mark Wade encloses a list of 1886 mileages by club members, led by C. J. Wade with 2,025 miles; followed by a "Tory" letter mocking the Mail's error-ridden report of the C.W.A. Board meeting and the "Goeslinger" nickname for Gnaedinger.
- A tongue-in-cheek correspondent, a member of the Toronto Wanderers, spins a tall tale of chasing a phantom rider on an enormous 8-foot wheel through Toronto to the lake and over the Falls.
- Wanderers' Bicycle Club of Toronto notes membership grown past 60, recalls racers Fred Foster, Geo. Orr (a captain on the L.A.W. tour) and fancy rider Hurst, and looks ahead to the season and the annual meeting.
- The Brantford correspondent reports the town emerging from winter, its track nearly ready with $300 reserved for cinders, its willingness to host the 1887 meet, and recounts a comic night-time ride over the "sand-papered" road from Hamilton to Grimsby.
- Reports L.A.W. Secretary-Editor Bassett's announcement that Dr. Blackham's resolution passed by mail vote, asserting the League's sole jurisdiction over amateur cycling in the United States and refusing to recognize any other organization.
- A poem by Chas. Richards Dodge in which a wheelman tells how his Sabbath ride was its own form of worship amid nature.
- Reprinted from the Bicycling World, a humorous account of the twenty Boston Bicycle Club men's six-day trip to Montreal in the car "David Garrick" under President Hodges, their snowshoeing and toboggan exploits, and royal reception.
- A reprinted humorous tale (from Wheelmen's Record) in which the Club Liar describes a fussy bachelor touring companion who filled his machine's hollow forks with benzine, only for the contents to turn out to be fine whiskey.
- Column of cycling news paragraphs: Cornelius Vanderbilt buys a bicycle, over 75,000 wheels sold in the States, G. P. Mills's 6,430-mile year, the St. Louis Ramblers disbanding, the Pope Mfg. Co.'s expansion into engines and type-writers, Thomas Stevens declining the Toronto banquet, and reports on the amateur-rule debate with comment from Fred Russ Cook and E. M. Aaron.