The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 11, No 1
Articles in this issue
- The Owl's humorous opening column ranges from a pun-laden parade of bicycle brand names (Singer, Rudge, Rover, Columbia, Victor, Star) to a rebuke of Connecticut-born Kennedy Child for disparaging American cycling records, praising the Ixion Club's plan to post telegraphic race bulletins for members and closing with a plea for Hudson County wheelmen to support the proposed riverside boulevard.
- Stillman G. Whittaker rode without a pacemaker on a surveyed straightaway at Crawfordsville, Indiana on September 24th, covering 50 miles in 2h 55m 46.5s—beating Geo. Weber's American record by nine minutes and Golding's English record by eleven—and 100 miles in 6h 43m 59s, breaking McCurdy's record by over an hour, on a 51-inch American Champion.
- The editor announces The Wheel's subscription price rises to $2.00 for Volume XI and calls for correspondents and cycling stories, then rebukes Bicycling News editor G. Lacy Hillier for claiming American criticism of him originates with Mr. Ducker, insisting Hillier's 'assininity, stubbornness and incredulity' toward American records is the true cause of his poor reputation.
- News briefs include the Springfield Club's $1,000 tournament loss, a benefit race meet for trainers at Lynn on October 9th, the Elizabeth Wheelmen's ten-mile club championship road race over the Irvington-Milburn course, the launch of the Cleveland sports weekly Athlete and Quirk, and an upcoming meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Cycling in West Philadelphia.
- Calendar of upcoming cycling events for October–November 1886: Boston Bicycle Club's 100-mile road race on Oct. 2, the three-day Roseville meet starting Sept. 30, the Wheelmen's Illuminated Parade and L.A.W. interstate meet at St. Louis on Oct. 1, the Ixion Bicycle Club's grand meet at Roseville on Oct. 16, and the Inter-Club Road Racing Association's 25-mile race at Roseville on Nov. 2.
- Three-day race report from Lynn, Massachusetts (Sept. 24–26): professionals Wood, Woodside, and Frazier dominated the track events; promateurs Rowe and Hendee contested brilliantly in handicaps, Rowe winning the three-mile scratch in 8m 22.2s; amateurs Foster, Crist, and Rich featured in class races, and Rich set a new American tricycle record over one mile (2m 51.5s).
- G.E.D. Todd won the second Brooklyn Bicycle Club championship road race on the Coney Island Boulevard in 22m 5.6s over a heavy, carriage-crowded five-mile course, beating F.B. Hawkins by about an eighth of a mile, with Wm. Vail third.
- Results of the first Associated Wheelmen meet at Pittsburgh Exposition Park on September 18th: W.I. Wilhelm of Reading won the five-mile L.A.W. championship (18.02.5) and half-mile State championship (1.28.5); W.D. Banker of Pittsburgh took the one-mile 2.55 class and multiple other events.
- Summary of the Passaic Wheelmen's annual meet at a half-mile trotting track in Clifton, N.J. on the 18th: C.R. Hoag of Newark won the two-mile State championship in 6.34 and the one-mile 2.55 class; G.E. Todd of Brooklyn took the half-mile in 1.37.2; D.E.W. Romaine won the three-mile handicap from scratch.
- Report of the first annual tournament of the Wilkes-Barre Rambler's Bicycle Club at Athletic Park, with over 100 wheelmen in parade from clubs across northeastern Pennsylvania; J.R. Schlager of Scranton dominated, winning the quarter-mile dash, three-mile lap race (9.27), and ten-mile Pennsylvania State championship (34.10.5); world unicycle champion W.H. Barber of Rochester gave exhibition performances.
- Preview of the three-day Roseville, N.J. tournament (Sept. 30–Oct. 2): all racing-circuit competitors will attend, with special D.L. & W. trains at 60 cents round trip from New York including admission; full prize list across all three days includes cash prizes up to $75 for the one-mile professional and gold watches worth $60 for promateur events.
- Two-day report of the fourth annual meet of the Minnesota State Division of the L.A.W. at Winona: E.A. Savage dominated throughout, winning the three-mile open (10.32.2), three-mile State championship, and five-mile championship of the Northwest (17.31.2) on day one, then the half-mile open, half-mile State championship (1.25.2), one-mile record (3.08.4), and twenty-mile L.A.W. championship (1h 11m) on day two.
- Announcement of the Massachusetts Bicycle Club's annual road races on October 16th from 152 Newbury Street, including a 30-mile open amateur event (first prize a $50 gold medal), a 13.5-mile club bicycle race, and a 12.5-mile club tricycle race, with detailed route descriptions through Boston, Brighton, Chestnut Hill, Newton, and Needham.
- Correspondence from 'Independent' covering Brooklyn area news: a Sunday run by Independent Wheelmen to Roslyn, L.I.; Harry Farr of the Ilderan Bicycle Club's illness; F.B. Mirick injured on the Parkway; A.E. Palmer of the New York Tribune applying to the Long Island Wheelmen; the Brooklyn Bicycle Club's new rooms at 112 St. Felix Street; and A.B. Barkman leading the club's road-mileage competition.
- Humorous account of a challenge issued at Springfield among editors of The Wheel, The Bicycling World, and The Bulletin to race one mile in under 18 minutes; first prize is a lock of Lacy Hillier's hair; professional pacemakers Wood, Rowe, and Hendee are to be solicited, with refreshments served every eighth of a mile.
- Comic editorial deflating rival papers' reports that Springfield girls shed tears when George Hendee was beaten by Rowe at the championship, mockingly imagining 3,000 weeping women flooding the grandstand, rivulets streaming through the floor, and the Connecticut River running salt.
- Trade notice for four imported Cunard machines available from D. Rogers & Co. of Newark: the 32-pound Cunard roadster bicycle, the Ladies' Cunard Tricycle with lever-folding handlebar for easy mounting, the Cunard Automatic Steering Tricycle for rough roads, and the Cunard Automatic Steering Tandem, praised by Wheel World as the only convertible tandem that correctly distributes the rider's load in both single and double form.
- Reprint of a Wheeling editorial condemning the National Cyclists' Union for barring English amateurs from the 1886 Springfield Tournament, arguing that leading British racers are effectively promateurs riding on manufacturers' support, and attacking G. Lacy Hillier's role in poisoning Anglo-American cycling relations.