The Cycle, Vol 1, No 26
Articles in this issue
- The editor reflects on the lessons of the 1886 Springfield tournament, arguing that the "promateur" class is doomed, open races should give way to handicap or classification systems, and championship races with only two starters are a mistake. He also discusses the fine imposed for loafing and defends a fair choice of referee.
- A column of short cycling news items covering Thomas Stevens reaching Delhi on his round-the-world ride, F. B. Collins' 202-mile road record in twenty-four hours, the California Division L.A.W. meet, and miscellaneous notes on riders and clubs.
- A strongly worded editorial condemning the presence of dogs at bicycle tracks after a near-fatal incident at Lynn in which a dog crossed the track in front of Heath of Lee at full speed, wrenching his machine and nearly causing a pile-up of Frazier, Merrill, Woodside, and others following closely behind.
- A light fiction piece reprinted from Wheel World following the shy cyclist John Williamson, who lost sight of Florence Lord — the woman he secretly loved — and is persuaded by his mother to take a fortnight's tricycle tour instead of returning to his usual seaside resort. The instalment ends with John planning his route.
- George E. Blackham (L.A.W. No. 464, New York representative) replies to the editor's criticism of his resolutions, clarifying that he never intended the League to assert jurisdiction over walking or professional road races, but only that it should try its own members' cases independently of British bodies such as the C.T.C. and N.C.U.
- A cycling correspondent from Memphis, Tennessee, reports that The Cycle is the most popular cycling paper in the city, describes the Memphis Cycle Club's plans to build a track and fit up a club room, and relays a letter from a club member touring by wheel from Cincinnati toward Massillon, Ohio.
- The editor responds to the American Cycle's account of Hillier's doubts about American records, defending the authenticated 53- and 54-mile records and revisiting the controversy over the Lowndes tricycle record, where Hillier himself had questioned whether a professional pace-maker vitiated the amateur status of the record-maker.
- A St. Louis correspondent describes the plans for the city's illuminated nocturnal wheelmen's parade on 1 October, with an expected three hundred riders, a brass band, the Missouri Club Flambeau Battalion, a Mephistophelean "Demon Drill Squad," and a route winding through the city's best-lit streets.
- An extract from Chief Consul Kirkpatrick's address to the Ohio Division of the L.A.W. details four cases where the Division successfully had anti-bicycle ordinances withdrawn and aided a member assaulted by a drunk who shoved his wheel to the ground, resulting in a fine of $15.40.
- Full race-by-race results and lap-by-lap times for the four-day Springfield Tournament (14–18 September 1886) and other recent meetings at Providence, New York, San Francisco, No. Attleboro', Greensburg, and Brattleboro', including the Springfield World's Championship heats won by professionals Wood, Neilson, and Woodside, and promateur honours taken by Rowe and Hendee.
- Tabulates the new American and world records set at the Springfield Tournament across all four days, including American amateur tandem records by Crist and Brown, American promateur safety records by Kluge, and American professional tricycle records by Crocker.
- A complete finishing-position table for all professional, promateur, and amateur competitors at the Springfield Tournament, showing prize money for professionals (Woodside led with $511.25) and placing summaries for each rider across all events, followed by the editor's notes on the meet.
- A calendar of upcoming cycling races and club events for late September and October 1886, including the Lynn Track Association tournament, the Roseville (Newark) three-day tournament of the New Jersey Cycling and Athletic Association, the St. Louis illuminated parade and inter-state meet, and the Massachusetts Bicycle Club's annual fall road races.