The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 10, No 23
Articles in this issue
- Opening column with miscellaneous news items including the reported recovery of rider Howell, G.P. Mills' Land's End tricycle record attempt, the Springfield club's $150 fund to bring an Irish racing team to the fall tournaments, and pointed criticism of G. Lacy Hillier, editor of Bicycling News.
- Unsigned editorial analyzing the stalled negotiations between the L.A.W. Racing Board, the A.C.U., and the N.C.U. over English competitors at American fall tournaments, concluding that international racing prospects look dubious; also encourages readers to support Karl Kron's forthcoming bicycle touring book.
- Report on the New Jersey L.A.W. State Division annual meet at Milville Driving Park, where J.B. Pearson won the one-mile State Championship in 2:54½, Harry Schwartz dominated the handicap classes, and C.R. Hoag and T.L. Hand fought closely in the five-mile State Championship.
- Telegraphic race report from the Troy Bicycle Club meet of September 1st, where A.F. Edmans won the two-mile County Championship in 6:37¾, E.P. Baird of Brick Church won the three-mile open and one-mile open, and the Troy B.C. team beat Albany B.C. in the two-mile team race.
- Notice that the Orange Wanderers' meet will be held at the new Roseville track near Newark that Saturday afternoon, with excursion train times listed from New York via the D.L.&W. Railroad.
- Brief column noting a planned stocking race in Philadelphia, J.E. Fenlon's win in the fifty-mile English amateur championship at Lillie Bridge in 2h. 47m. 21 1-5s., and the founding of the Wanderers bicycle club in Gloucester with twelve members.
- Obituary for George E. Weber, widely regarded as the best long- and short-distance rider in the United States, who died of typhoid at Smithville, N.J., at the height of his career; chronicles his Boston century road-race victories in 1884 and 1885 and his 50-mile road record of 3h. 7m. 38½s. at Clarksville, Maine.
- Report on the Massachusetts Division L.A.W. annual business meeting at Young's Hall, covering rule amendments establishing a legal rights committee, appointment of standing committees for racing, touring, and finance, and authorization for a state road book.
- The L.A.W. Rules and Regulations Committee proposes nine radical constitutional amendments to be reported at the Buffalo Board of Officers meeting, including popular election of the president, a reserve fund, a salaried treasurer at $200 per annum, and greater autonomy for large state divisions.
- Frank Aloy Egan recalls riding with the Ixion Club near Yonkers in the early days of New York cycling, centering on Edwin Oliver's bugle serenades to Victoria Morrosini from the roadside and the rainy-day snub that ended his courtship.
- Karl Kron writes to the editor defending his vigorous public condemnation of a New Jersey cycling club president who endorsed illegal local ordinances requiring bells and lanterns on all cyclists, arguing that sincere invective for the public good is entirely different from personal malice directed at private individuals.
- Race report for the Springfield Bicycle Club's preliminary meet, where F.F. Ives broke the mile-without-hands record with 2m. 44 1-5s., and both W.A. Rhodes and W.M. Woodside made near-record attempts at the five-mile bicycle records.
- Feature story about an unidentified young man who rode a 50-inch bicycle across the one-foot-wide stone coping of Cabin John Bridge near Washington, D.C., 125 feet above a rocky gorge, to the horror of spectators and picnickers below.
- Report on the Scranton Bicycle Club's annual meet featuring a 150-man parade through the city and a race meet at Driving Park, where J.R. Schlager won the two-mile State championship in 6:10½ and C.C. Titchener of Binghamton took the one-mile open in 2:46½.
- Comprehensive three-day report on the Cleveland Bicycle Club tournament at Athletic Park, August 26-28, with A.B. Rich of New Brighton dominating multiple events and, on the final day, George Collister and J.T. Huntington setting an American tandem-tricycle quarter-mile record of 43½ seconds.
- Report on the Toronto Bicycle Club meet of August 21st, where Harry Davies won the mile scratch in 2:58 1-5, W.S. Campbell took both the two-mile handicap and five-mile scratch in 17:16½, and F.J. Brimer dominated the 3:40 class heats.
- Editorial notes on the progress of the new Roseville track in preparation for the Orange Wanderers' race meet, describing the hardening surface, new grandstand with dressing rooms and shower bath, and the many racing men now training there nightly.
- Egan's editorial column ranging from commentary on English cyclists' complaints about britannia-metal prizes, to the origin of Jerome Park Lane's 'Break Neck' hill name from W.M. Woodside's 1881 bicycle accident, to a comic account of Egan's accidental role as tipsy toastmaster at the Springfield Bicycle Club's 1883 temperance dinner.
- Touring account of a solo bicycle journey through Wisconsin in August, covering roads from Watertown through Oconomowoc and Pewaukee to Waukesha, with candid notes on road quality, the famous Silurian Spring, and crowded summer hotels catering to Southern visitors.
- Calendar of upcoming cycling events including the New York State Division meet at Buffalo (Sept. 3-4), the L.A.W. grand tour from Niagara Falls to Harper's Ferry, the Springfield Grand International Tournament (Sept. 14-17), and the Roseville three-day meet (Sept. 30-Oct. 2).