The Cycle, Vol 1, No 14
Articles in this issue
- The Cycle deplores the personal attacks filling rival papers, vowing to restrict its own criticism to the A.C.U.'s acts rather than individuals, and corrects several factual errors propagated by A.C.U. supporters regarding the Lynn races, Charles H. Potter's lawsuit, and the status of English riders.
- A lively column of racing gossip covering John S. Prince's refusal to race at Lynn, the forthcoming Prince-Neilson match, training times for Rowe and Capt. Williams, club news from Roxbury and beyond, and the formation of the Dudley Wheel Club.
- President Beckwith issues a notice declaring the Chief Consul position for the Massachusetts Division of the L.A.W. vacant following Mr. Ducker's retirement, and solicits members' views on a suitable appointment.
- Fred Jenkins, writing in Sporting Life, argues that sensible members within the A.C.U. are pushing for an end to personal abuse and for a new racing classification that would separate manufacturers' amateurs from genuine amateurs, and predicts the League will only cede control of racing once the A.C.U. adopts a proper amateur definition.
- The cornerstone of the Philadelphia Bicycle Club's new $18,000 club house at Twenty-sixth and Perot streets was laid on 24 June, with President George E. Bartol presiding; the three-storey brick building, with basement storage for machines and a gymnasium on the third floor, is expected to be complete by 15 September.
- The columnist Daisie shares a letter from an enthusiastic young lady cyclist whose group of seven has just formed a ladies' cycling club, humorously recounting their debates over a constitution, officer titles, and the definition of 'amateur', before Daisie answers her questions about club life.
- Further details of S. P. Hollingsworth's 24-hour record ride on 19 June: he covered 281½ miles on a 55-inch Columbia Light Roadster, riding sixteen return trips along the National Road at Greenfield before finishing with a circuit of the town's streets, losing six pounds in weight during the effort.
- Cycling patents issued 22 June 1886 include a wrench by A. J. Barnes of Detroit, a screwdriver by H. S. Brownson of Portland, and a one-wheeled velocipede by L. E. H. Spree of New York.
- At its 17 June meeting the California Division of the L.A.W. accepted assignment of the three-mile national championship, to be held on 9 September at Alameda Park, and endorsed the League and Racing Board's action on makers' amateurs.
- The Rockingham Bicycle Club invites New Hampshire wheelmen to the Division's annual meet at Portsmouth on 5 July, with a programme of parade, a steamboat trip down the Piscataqua River, dinner at the Wentworth, and a twelve-mile road run.
- Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Johnson of the Orange Wanderers rode 150½ miles in 16 hours 37 minutes on 19 June, winning their club's medal for a lady-and-gentleman tandem, on the Beeston Humber machine on which they had toured England for 858 miles the previous October.
- James Lennox of Dumfries beat his own bicycle record from Land's End to John-o'-Groats, covering 885 miles in 6 days 8½ hours — seven hours faster than his previous best — despite successive thunderstorms and heavy mud for much of the route.
- Three readers' letters: 'B. Cycle' urges inventors to devise a cheap mud-guard for bicycles; 'J. Parke Street' humorously proposes a network of condensed-air motor stations as a cleaner alternative to kerosene-fuelled tricycles; and W. J. Morgan announces that champions John S. Prince and T. W. Eck will tour the country racing against fast trotting horses, arguing that professionals do more to spread cycling than manufacturers' amateurs receive credit for.
- A lady tourist cautions readers that the repair shop of John Wood in Beverly charges by the hour, and urges any cyclist whose machine misbehaves there to settle the price beforehand.
- At its annual meeting the Connecticut Division of the L.A.W. reported 550 members (up from 307), heard Chief Consul Huntington sharply criticise the Racing Board for classifying makers' amateurs as professionals, and unanimously resolved to ask the League president and Racing Board chairman to avert the divisions threatened by current racing policy.
- A column of brief international and domestic cycling notes: the Coventry Machinists' Company builds a narrow 30-inch Marlboro' Club tricycle; Henry Sturmey breaks his collarbone in a race; the London-to-Bath 100-mile road race is won by Macrae in 7.18.53; and Hampden Park in Springfield is reported ready for race meetings.
- Race results from the Michigan Division meet at Detroit (24 June) — featuring wins by Charles J. Keyes and N. H. Van Sicklen — followed by reports of John S. Prince defeating trotting horse Miss Brady at Wilkesbarre, Camden Club races, the N.A.A.A.A. four-mile championship won by A. B. Rich, and the first Rhode Island Division L.A.W. road race at Providence won by James Dawson.
- Brief club notes record the formation of the Pittsburg, Pa., Wheelmen and the election of officers for the Washington, D.C., Cycle Club, together with a testimonial from Burley B. Ayers praising his new Rudge Light Roadster as the best hill-climber he had ever ridden.
- Calendar of upcoming cycling events for July 1886, including race meetings at Binghamton, Cleveland, Chelsea, Boston, Springfield, and Lynn on 5 July, the New Hampshire Division meet at Portsmouth, and a tournament at Columbus, Georgia, 15–18 July.