The Wheel World - vol1s-2
Articles in this issue
- Opens the New Series' second number by arguing that Sunday cycling must be faced squarely by riders, noting that wheelmen in Connecticut have taken the matter in hand and Massachusetts men are beginning to stir, and setting out both the moral and the policy sides of the question.
- A companion piece on Sunday riding, opening with a Deerfield clergyman's pointed question to the author and arguing that no one should be ashamed of doing what he believes is not wrong; observes that in England no distinction is made over the bicycle's use on Sundays.
- An essay encouraging cyclists to plan tours with specific destinations or objectives rather than aimless riding.
- A wry first-person account of the Hampton Court Meet, in which the writer is accompanied by 'the festive Chump' and 'The Shadow', with banter over whether the Tricycle Union outranks the Codgers Debating Society.
- A ballade by Bab Yardley in praise of summer cycling, with the refrain 'When summer laughs lightly, and kisses earth's hand!' and an Envoi inviting the reader to 'ride in your pride with our bad mad glad band.'
- A narrative account of a scenic cycling tour around Loch Tay in Perthshire, Scotland.
- A light-hearted piece exploring camaraderie and conversation among cyclists during rides.
- A biographical profile and portrait of cyclist H.R. Reynolds of the Oxford University Bicycle Club.
- A report on the annual long-distance touring event covering English roads.
- A cycling tour narrative through the picturesque Dove Valley in the Peak District.
- A club song by Chas. Le Sueur with the refrain 'Blow the horn', describing the run, the halt for tea at a good old hostel and the ride home by bell-light, closing with three cheers for the club, its captain, sub-captain and secretary.
- A humorous account of a cycling ride that resulted in financial, physical, or mechanical disaster.
- Chapter I of a three-part story by Phillip Dacre, introducing Frank Hardy, a strong and healthy young man living in a fine old house outside the country town of Midborough.
- A comic poem on the rider's relationship with his machine — 'we agree, my wheel and me, as man and wife would ne'er agree' — cataloguing torn clothes, headers taken 'upon my noble face', and grazed knees and elbows.
- A descriptive account of a one-day cycling tour through the scenic Wye Valley.
- A comic ballad of a run out of London past Hadley Green, floundering through dust and stones for the best part of a mile, told in the metre and refrain of the carol.
- An essay arguing that nearly every term in cycling has had to be 'coined', beginning with the word 'bicycle' itself — whose unknown originator's coinage has been adopted by Act of Parliament — and ridiculing those who would replace it with inventions such as 'twy-wheel'.
- The magazine's news and comment department: Fred Woad twice beating the professional champion over twenty-five and twenty miles though Cortis's time still stands, and J. Weston Bland of the Speedwell B.C. riding 125 miles without a dismount in a twenty-four-hour club contest cut short by weather.
- Reviews the 1883 racing season, observing that unlike previous years it has given no clear line on ultimate results, and attempts to forecast the championship winners despite the many complicating considerations.
- A nostalgic look at early bicycle touring in Britain, comparing old routes and conditions with the present day.
- Club notes: the Æolus B.C. secretary Mr. Roberts resigns and is replaced by Mr. E. J. Sans, the Alert's forty-strong tea attended by 'one juvenile waiter', and the Minerva hon. sec.'s coinage of the verb 'to spectate'.
- Path and track notes reporting that the season is still without any wonderful performances, while good handicaps were run on cinders at the Crystal Palace, Romford and Stamford Bridge.
- Irish club and racing notes: criticism of a club inflating its numbers in procession, praise for the Waterford B.C. for adding two flat races to its meeting, and the I.B.A.'s one, four and ten mile championships held alongside the Dublin A.C.'s.
- Tabulated results of Irish and English meetings, including Co. Kerry A.C. at Tralee on 10th and 11th June, with placings, handicaps and times for the novices', one-mile and three-mile events.