The Cycle, Vol 1, No 16
Articles in this issue
- The Cycle publishes the A.C.U.'s three-tier amateur definition — separating pure amateurs, promateurs who have accepted expenses, and professionals who have raced for money — and argues these rules are stricter than the League's, since suspended riders like Hendee, Rowe, and Burnham cannot qualify even as promateurs under them. The Racing Board unanimously disclaimed jurisdiction over road racing, and The Cycle rejects calls from rival papers to abandon racing altogether.
- A serialised romantic cycling story in which Jack Medlicott, hopelessly in love with Lilith, is discovered by her aristocratic father and banished from Carndochan the next morning; he climbs onto his bicycle saddle for a final farewell at her window before riding off into the Welsh hills. Two months later Lilith marries the lord her father chose, while Jack becomes a celebrated violinist who keeps a fiddle-string in a locket.
- A reader signing as "Number Five" contrasts the lavish hospitality St. Louis wheelmen showed visiting Chicago riders — paying for meals, drinks, and a banquet at Delmonico's — with the near-total neglect Chicago offered when St. Louis came to their State meet, where not $5 was spent entertaining a hundred visiting wheelmen over three days.
- Report on the Illinois Division's annual meeting at Cheltenham Beach, 5 July: officers elected, finances noted ($21.44 in treasury with $152 due from the League), L. W. Conkling named Racing Board Chairman, and the day concluded with a biquet, a ride to Pullman, and races.
- Report on the Canadian Wheelmen's Association annual business meeting in Montreal, 1 July: treasurer's statement showed receipts of $819.21 and a balance of $319.79; W. A. Karn of Woodstock was elected president and J. D. Miller of Montreal vice-president.
- Description of E. H. Foote's simple anti-header device for ordinary bicycles: two rubber rollers impinge on fork and rim, allowing free forward motion but locking instantly if the wheel tries to go backward or the fork pitches forward, thereby preventing the unexpected croppers that catch a rider off guard. The device is controlled by the Overman Wheel Company.
- Report on the Vermont Division's formal opening at Bellows Falls, 9 July: F. E. DuBois re-elected Secretary-Treasurer, resolutions adopted demanding money owed from Secretary Aaron, and the afternoon concluded with a parade and hill-climbing contest over 800 feet won by H. L. Emerson in 48 seconds.
- Reprinted commentary from the British paper The Cyclist arguing that the A.C.U.'s first rule — barring amateurs from competing at meetings not held under Union rules — amounts to a claim of sole governance over American racing, making its stated non-antagonism toward the L.A.W. absurd. The writer predicts the A.C.U. will block English amateurs from competing at Springfield until the two bodies reach a settlement.
- List of cycling-related patents granted that week, including a cyclometer by G. A. Stiles of Newark, N.J., an oil can by E. E. Miller of Canton, Ohio, and garment and stocking supporters by G. F. Atwood and R. S. Willard.
- A short comic verse titled "WHEELS, YE GODS" — a burlesque modelled on the famous "Go call a coach" lines from Chrononhotonthologos — followed by a lyric poem, "AFTER LONGFELLOW TWO MILES," by Dudley C. Hasbrouck, urging an early-morning bicycle ride through budding boughs and birdsong.
- Comprehensive race results section covering tournaments at North Adams, Binghamton, Montreal (Canadian Wheelmen's Association three-day meet), Chicago (Illinois Division), Joliet, Rockford, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, New York, and Biddeford, plus English track and road records including Furnivall's N.C.U. one-mile championship win at Jarrow in 2.46.
- Club election results and notes: Rochester Bicycle Club officers listed with L. F. Featherly as president; Springfield Y.M.C.A. bicycle auxiliary formed; Boscobel Bicycle Club of Lynn elected new officers; New South Wheel Club of Birmingham, Alabama organised 7 July.
- Calendar of forthcoming cycling events through September 1886, including Elwell's Blue Nose Tour from Boston, the 50-mile road race in New Orleans, the Genesee Club races at Rochester, the Springfield Bicycle Club tournament (14–17 September), and the Lynn Track Association fall tournament.