The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 10, No 20
Articles in this issue
- The weekly miscellany column covers international race results including F. Wood's win in the English 20-mile professional race at Belgrave, A. M'Cormack's victory in the Irish 50-mile road championship in Phoenix Park in 3h 18m 39s, the English 25-miles tricycling championship won by R.J. Mecredy, A.P. Fletcher and A.W. Gamble's tandem road record of 100 miles in 8h 4m, and commentary on American cyclists touring England.
- The Wheel critiques Wheeling magazine's poll of twenty-one prominent cycling men who ranked the six best path riders past and present — Cortis first, Furnivall second — arguing that M.J. Webber is the best all-round English rider and that Hendee and Rowe are worthy American comparisons to Furnivall and Webber respectively.
- Drawing on a conversation with General Echols, this piece describes how Dr. Robert J. Breckenridge pioneered macadamized road improvement in Kentucky by persuading farmers to subscribe to private road companies that received $1,000-per-mile county co-investment, resulting in nearly 800 miles of paved pikes across four small counties and sharply increased real-estate values.
- A detailed cycling route guide describes the ride from Riverside Drive via the Manhattanville ferry to Fort Lee, north along the cliff-top Palisade Avenue through Alpine and Sparkhill to Piermont and Nyack's Tappan Zee House, with advice on road conditions, a recommended hill walk, and the return by Tarrytown ferry.
- A letter from Karl Kron of Washington Square argues against the Orange Wanderers' endorsement of a municipal ordinance compelling cyclists to carry lanterns, bells, and whistles, noting the resolution was pushed by a minority of the club, that similar horse-drawn vehicles were exempted, and that bells and whistles have done the cause of cycling more harm than good.
- Race report from Long Eaton on July 24th, where P. Furnivall won the final heat in 14:44 1-5 before 3,500 spectators on a rain-soaked track, edging W.A. Illston in a hard last-lap sprint after E. Hale and H. Wade had led for much of the race, with heat-by-heat results listed.
- T. Battensby of Newcastle-on-Tyne rode a 42-lb. Rudge Crescent racing tricycle at the new Coventry track on July 26th, establishing professional records from one-quarter to ten miles and world's records from six to ten miles, though The Wheel disputes the claim for shorter distances where Springfield marks held by Hendee and others still stand.
- Committee contacts are provided for the L.A.W. New York State Division meet at Buffalo on September 3-4, with Dr. C.S. Butler handling hotels and entertainment, John R. Williams coordinating reception at incoming trains, W.S. Bull overseeing transportation and the programme, and C.F. Hotchkiss managing race entries and the track.
- The Cleveland Bicycle Club's annual three-day meet on August 26-28 offers $1,500 in prizes across events including Ohio State bicycle and tricycle championships, open and class races, tandem tricycle races, a foot race, and consolation heats, with entries closing August 21st with John J. Van Nort.
- A letter from D.G. Biggs of Louisville describes his Balance Crank Shaft Bicycle, which transmits additional arm power via rods and auxiliary cranks attached to the pedal pins and worked by spade handles on low curved handle-bars, claiming improved speed and reduced headers after 400 miles of road testing.
- Short gossip items report that Chairman Bassett has invented cycling trousers with silken-cord lacing, that L.D. Munger has severed his connection with W.B. Everett & Co. and will race no more this season, that R. Howell broke his collar-bone in a header, and that a new monthly paper, The Pacific Wheelman, is about to launch in San Francisco.
- Club and race news covers upcoming meets at New Castle Pa., Scranton, Albany, and Millville N.J.; the Boston Bicycle Club's 100-mile road race on September 27th under A.C.U. rules; R. Howell's severe header at the Belgrave grounds that broke his collar-bone; and the Sacramento wheelmen's successful campaign to open the riverside turnpike to cyclists at a ten-cent toll.
- Rufus H. Stickney, a partner's son at the Boston mustard firm Stickney & Poor and a member of the Massachusetts Bicycle Club, was killed near the Chestnut Hill reservoir when his English tandem tricycle overturned while descending a hill, dying of brain congestion at twenty-nine; his wife, seated in front, was badly hurt and her recovery was in doubt.
- Excerpts from W.B. Page of Philadelphia's summer tour recount his northward route from Market Street Wharf through Bristol, Newark, Sing Sing, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Saratoga, Lake George, and into the Vermont Green Mountains, covering 464 miles in roughly two weeks while pausing frequently to sketch scenery.
- About sixty Kings County Wheelmen attended a banquet at Dillard's for the formal presentation of the solid silver inter-club challenge cup — eighteen inches high, fifty-two ounces, valued at $250 — won by the K.C.W. team in the road race of June 12th, with toasts responded to by E.J. Schriver, T.B. Hegeman, C.L. Meyers, and others.
- Major William M. Durell, Chicago agent of the Pope Manufacturing Company, Confederate veteran, and one-armed soldier, died of apoplexy on August 6th; detectives concluded the stroke resulted from kicks and blows received in a Clark Street saloon brawl involving pugilist Paddy Ryan and others, though the exact reason Durell was set upon was unknown.
- The four-day schedule for the Springfield international tournament, September 14-17, lists heats and finals in amateur, promateur, and professional bicycle and tricycle races each day, including the world's championship one-mile bicycle run over nine heats to a final, the A.C.U. ten-mile promateur championship, and L.A.W. tandem and tricycle events.
- Results of the Chicago Bicycle Club's meet at the Base-Ball Park on July 31st show Van Sicklen winning the open one-mile (2:59½) and the five-mile handicap (16:33 1-5), with Gus J. Kluge finishing second in the novice mile won by M. Bowbeer and veteran Ned Oliver riding the half-mile chestnut members' race for comic effect.
- Short items report Rowe's practice mile at Springfield in 2:29 3-5, the Roseville tournament set for September 30-October 2nd, the Orange Wanderers' hill-climbing contest at Eagle Rock, and Gormully & Jeffery's groundbreaking on a new five-story Chicago factory expected to produce seventy-five bicycles per day and employ four hundred skilled mechanics.
- Calendar of upcoming cycling events from August 17 through October 3 lists meets at Weedsport, New Castle, Scranton, Cleveland, Albany, and Millville; the N.Y. State Division meet at Buffalo; the L.A.W. grand tour from Niagara Falls to Harper's Ferry; the Springfield international tournament; the Lynn tournament; the Roseville three-day meet; and the L.A.W. interstate meet at St. Louis.