The Cycle, Vol 1, No 8
Articles in this issue
- The editorial argues that L.A.W. members have been stripped of meaningful voting power—unable to amend the constitution or the amateur rule—and calls on them to reclaim lost rights at the Boston Meet. It also urges the incoming president to fill appointments during the Meet and warns against re-electing the current Racing Board chairman.
- A round-up of pre-Meet preparations reporting that committees have discharged their duties, attendance is expected to exceed all previous years, and upwards of ten thousand wheelmen may be in Boston during the three days with about fifteen hundred in the parade.
- Announces arrangements for storing wheels at the lower dining hall of Mechanics' Building during the League Meet, describing how machines will be suspended by their handle-bars, carefully checked, and available for collection from Wednesday 26 May through Tuesday 2 June.
- Describes free baggage-transfer arrangements made with Armstrong, Simonds', and Hadwen's transfer companies to move wheelmen's luggage from each Boston depot to their hotels via a numbered-coupon system, with a flat fifty-cent charge for those wishing to send their wheels separately.
- Lists hotels selected by the League's Hotel Committee with rates, plans (American or European), distances from Mechanics' Building, and notes on whether a wheelman can ride to the door, ranging from the first-class Vendome (L.A.W. headquarters) to the economical Crawford and International.
- Announces a promenade concert at Music Hall on Thursday evening 27 May with a forty-piece orchestra under William Hayden, listing the full fourteen-item programme of popular marches, waltzes, solos, and descriptive pieces, with refreshments served and the public admitted to the galleries for a fee.
- Previews the minstrel show at Music Hall on Friday evening 28 May, noting that the Jeffries men are being reinforced by local club talent and listing the full programme of solos, end songs, a banjo quartet, gymnastics by the German Turners, and a Freenology lecture.
- Announces the Boston Club's annual tricycle road race on the morning of 28 May, running from Bailey's Hotel in South Natick to a point on Beacon Street opposite the Public Garden, with two prize medals and a one-dollar entrance fee payable to R. J. Tombs.
- Lists the riders entered for the L.A.W. championship races on Saturday 29 May, covering the one-mile national championship, one-mile tricycle championship, one-mile Massachusetts championship, one-mile novice, one-mile handicap, and one- and three-mile invitation races.
- Opens the reader-letter section with three contributed pieces: 'Chicago Crumbs,' a lively dispatch from a correspondent ('Senator') covering the city's cycling scene amid the labour riots, the Owl Club's gaudy decorations, a projected fifty-mile Chicago–St. Louis road race, and gossip about dealers and racers; 'Question,' a brief query from a trike rider whose hand swells in cold weather; and 'The Suspects,' a Memphis wheelman's defence of the Racing Board's expulsion of pro-amateurs and his proposal that a separate class be created for them.
- Describes John Harrington's two patented spring appliances—one for Humber-pattern tricycles and one for rack-and-pinion steering—that give fly-to-centre automatic steering by means of coiled wire springs, predicting the rack-and-pinion version will be widely adopted as it lets the rider remove a hand from the steering-handle.
- Reports that ground has been broken on the new club house of the Capital Club of Washington D.C., which faces the White House grounds; the first contracts total $8,000, with the completed building expected to cost $15,000 on land worth $6,000.
- A New Orleans correspondent reports that the cycling trade is the healthiest it has ever been, that touring riders Hill, Fairchild, and Fairfax are progressing through Virginia in good health, and that the N.O. Bicycle Club will hold its annual races on 29 May alongside three bicycle races at the Young Men's Gymnastic Club tournament.
- A Boston lady ('Daisie') describes plans for a ladies' annex to the League Meet: a leisurely 15-mile run starting from the Vendome at 10 A.M. on Thursday, with a committee to receive guests and an emphasis on quiet informality rather than public display, concluding with a recommendation that lady cyclists wear a helmet rather than a wide-brimmed hat.
- Lists four new U.S. cycling patents: bicycle saddles by R. Bean of Springfield, Ohio; velocipedes by T. J. de Sabla of New York and E. G. Latta of Friendship, N.Y.; and a bicycle by B. S. Whitehead of Newark, N.J.
- Announces the Racing Board L.A.W.'s assignment of 1886 national championships to five clubs: the half-mile to the Genesee Club of Rochester, two miles to Cleveland Bicycle Club, three miles to the California Division, five miles to the Connecticut Club of Hartford, and ten miles to the Michigan Division, with the twenty-mile bicycle and five-mile tricycle championships still to be assigned.
- A New Jersey correspondent surveys the five League clubs within twelve miles of New York—Hudson County Wheelmen, New Jersey Wheelmen, Essex Bicycle Club, Orange Wanderers, and Elizabeth Wheelmen—assessing each club's membership, racing strength, road-racing prospects, and uniforms in a series of dry, ironic observations.
- A touring narrative ('Stamford') recalls a pleasant July ride near Austinburg, Ohio, where a carriage of young ladies greeted the cycling party with parasols and fans, followed by reflections on Buffalo's rough stone pavements and a proposal that money be spent on macadamising through-routes rather than building expensive race tracks.
- A short poem by A. S. Hibbard addressed to L.A.W. members, urging wheelmen everywhere to show their badge when meeting a fellow rider on the road and join in the fraternity of the League.
- Racing section reporting the conclusion of the six-day Minneapolis race (Prince 1,042 miles, Schock 1,028), Prince's record-lowering fifty-mile attempt with pacemakers, and results from Winona, Amherst College, and the Brockton City Bicycle Club tournament, plus announcements for the upcoming Prince–Neilson professional championship race at Lynn and races at Woodstock, Canada.
- Lists officers of newly organised or recently updated clubs across the country—Crescent Club (Gloucester, Mass.), Sewickley Club (Pa.), Le Mars Club (Iowa), Vermont Wheel Club (Brattleboro'), Connecticut Bicycle Club (Hartford), Macon Club (Ga.), and Alert Club (St. Paul)—together with run announcements from the Brockton City, Dorchester, Lynn, and Somerville clubs.
- A dated calendar of upcoming races and meets from 22 May through 5 July 1886, covering the Boston League Meet programme in detail (27–31 May), the Prince–Neilson championship series at Lynn, the Canadian Wheelmen's Association annual meeting in Montreal, and tournaments at New Haven, Detroit, and New York.