The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 12, No 10
Articles in this issue
- Editorial urging every New York State cycling club to petition Governor David B. Hill to sign the Rights and Privileges bill before his ten-day deadline, warning that wealthy opponents have organized against it and that the votes of 40,000 wheelmen should carry weight with the likely 1888 Democratic nominee.
- Full race report of the Citizens–New York Inter-Club 25-mile road race on Decoration Day from Milburn to Irvington, N.J., with 28 starters from seven clubs; H.J. Hall Jr. of Kings County Wheelmen won in 1:33:53, edging C.A. Stenken of Hudson County Wheelmen, Kings County retaining the cup on 77 points, and C.E. Kluge setting a new 25-mile tricycle record of 1:34:40 on a 37½-pound Cunard Cripper.
- Regular news department: Fred Foster training at Woodstock, S.P. Hollingsworth resigning from the L.A.W. to ride professionally, Karl Kron sending out the first 300 bound copies of 'X.M. Miles' to England and abroad, the C.T.C. annual meeting in Birmingham reporting 22,316 members, and Furnivall winning the Surrey Challenge Cup at Lillie Bridge in 32:45 with H. Synyer subsequently suspended for roping.
- Report of the first major race meet of the season at Lynn, Massachusetts on May 30, featuring a ten-mile amateur handicap won by P.J. Berlo over H.C. Getchell in a dead-heat run-off, a three-mile professional handicap won by A.A. McCurdy on 300 yards, and a one-mile team race won by the Lynn Club (Whittier, Barnet, Hitchcock) over the Boscobel Club in 3m. 10s.
- Results of the Ramblers Club of Waltham, Massachusetts Decoration Day road races: A.W. Hails won the 25-mile race in 1h. 37m., A.J. Cushing the 6¼-mile race in 26m. coached by E.T. Bigelow, Bigelow himself the half-mile dash in 1m. 41s., and W.B. Youngman the 12½-mile match race for $20 a side after rival Haines took a header at the start.
- Account of the 20-mile championship match race between Howell and Woodside at Leicester on May 15 before 8,000 spectators; Howell won by a yard in 1h. 54s., the two men riding level through ten miles at 30:08 before Howell dashed away on the last lap; Temple won the supporting one-mile professional handicap in 2:36.
- Report of the Cambridgeport Bicycle Club's Decoration Day 25-mile road race starting at River-street bridge, Cambridge, over a course through Brighton, Newton Upper Falls, and Chestnut Hill reservoir; H.L. Caldwell won in 1h. 45m. 35s., ten minutes clear of E.C. Himeon and George W. Bean, while L.W. Briggs retired after two headers in Newton.
- The Wayside Wheelmen of New Bedford held a road-race meet on the Point road on May 30: Frank L. Wing won the five-mile race in 19m. 13s., Waldo Wade the one-mile event in 3m. 4s., Frank Weaver the novice one-mile in 3m. 12s., and Dr. A.F. Wyman finished last to claim the leather medal for the slowest novice rider.
- Dispatch from London dated May 30 reporting that Howell won the bicycle mile championship at Wolverhampton by eight yards in 2m. 47s. over Woodside; with three consecutive victories secured, the remaining two races of the series will not be contested.
- City letter reporting C.G. Stevens of Millville won both bicycle events at the Athletic Club Schuylkill Navy Games on May 28 (3:09 mile, 6:35 two miles) in the absence of Wilhelm and Pearson, T.J. Kirkpatrick re-elected League president, and the Germantown Club's enjoyable three-day tour to Maurice River, N.J. with sixteen members.
- Colorful first-person narrative by 'Jonah' of the Decoration Day inter-club road race, describing the excited gathering of seven clubs, the miserable dinner at the Hilton House, Hall's strategic shadowing of Stenken for 24 miles before spurting past, and arguing that multi-club road races are the truest test of men and wheels.
- City letter from the Cincinnati/Covington area: wheelman Jerome Clark photographed a consumptive child at her father's request near Independence, Ky.; Prof. Geo. Beach covered 2,700 miles last season before moving to Wichita; Dayton is taxing bicycles at $50 nominal value; and there is talk of legal action to contest exorbitant bicycle tolls on the Covington–Cincinnati suspension bridge.
- Detailed itinerary of the Ilderan Bicycle Club's 1887 summer tour departing July 9 via West Shore Railroad to Niagara Falls, then cycling via Toronto, Newcastle, Brighton, Belleville, Napanee, Kingston, the Thousand Islands, Morrisburg, Cornwall, Coteau, and Montreal, covering roughly 230 miles by wheel at total expense under $50, managed by R.L. Calkins with a party limit of fifty.
- City letter from L.B.G.: five Minneapolis Club members rode 66¾ miles to Hastings in 6h. 15m. actual riding time, one continuing 103¾ miles; Rev. A.D. Graham departs for a cycling tour of Scotland and England; the L.A.W. Minnesota Division tour rescheduled to June 20 over a prairie route from Minneapolis to New Ulm and Redwood Falls; Grant Bell's repair shop crowded with work.
- First installment of a transcontinental touring narrative by Geo. W. Nellis Jr. of Medina, New York, covering 259 miles in five days from Herkimer, N.Y. westward on 52-inch Expert Columbia bicycles via Utica (guided by sprinter 'Charlie' Metz), Syracuse, Auburn, Geneva, Canandaigua, and Albion to Medina on Lake Ontario, with vivid accounts of mud, a Cayuga Lake ferry crossing, and roadside hospitality from Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Phipps.
- Notice and brief review of Volume 1 of 'Around the World on a Bicycle' by Thomas Stevens, published by Scribner's at $4 with a preface by Thomas Wentworth Higginson; the 500-page book covers Stevens' route from San Francisco to Teheran and is dedicated to Colonel Albert Pope, with Stevens offering special inducements including a $500 gold prize to the person sending the most orders when 10,000 copies are sold.
- Short city letter: the Star Wheel Club rode 76 miles to Lorain and Elyria, John T. Huntington departed for Beaver Falls, local Star riders were disappointed by the Clarksville result, and an American Star safety bicycle that appeared at Ripley on Sunday caused curiosity but was left untried by onlookers put off by its complicated and 'perfectly hideous' appearance.
- Correspondent 'Alert' reviews Kings County Wheelmen's victories in all three inter-club road races since June 1886, analyzes Hall's and Stenken's tactics in the latest event, praises rising riders Bradley of the Ilderans and Knox of KCW, and predicts the next Election Day race will see a strong five-man Star team from Brooklyn.
- Detailed St. Louis Post-Dispatch account of the 100-mile road race at Clarksville, Tennessee on May 23; Robert A. Neilson (52-inch Victor, 6h. 46m. 27s.) nipped William A. Rhodes (59-inch Victor) by 50 feet after shadowing him for 80 miles, with H.G. Crocker third in 6h. 51m. 27s. and L.D. Munger finishing on a Quadrant tricycle in 10h. 4m.
- Letter from Karl Kron of West Springfield responding to the English Cyclist's criticism by reprinting court testimony from a November 1886 London libel trial showing H. Sturmey of Iliffe & Sturmey drew commissions on C.T.C. printing contracts in breach of Council rules, which Kron argues explains why the Coventry cycling press suppressed the C.T.C. secretary-editor forgery scandal.
- Report of the great bicycle handicap race from Chicago's Leland Hotel through South Park to Hotel Florence at Pullman, organized by the Chicago, Owl, and Illinois Bicycle Clubs with 34 starters and $786 in prizes over 16½ miles on Michigan Avenue and Stony Island Avenue; H.R. Winship finished first on corrected time, ahead of C.H. Sieg and W.J. Maas.
- Miscellaneous notes: Phil. Fontaine of Citizens B.C. beat the Tarrytown-to-60th Street 25-mile record in 1:59:50; the Hagerstown Maryland meet on June 13 to feature an 80-mile road race to Baltimore; W.B. Page broke the American high-jump record at the Brooklyn A.A. games with 6ft. 2 1/16 in. before departing for English championships; and General Sheridan examining the bicycle as a military adjunct after Kennedy-Child's army paper.
- Letter from Geo. W. Rouse & Son of Peoria, Illinois to Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co. reporting that Bert Meyers won the Peoria Bicycle Club's ten-mile road race on a 52-inch Light Champion in 40:27 over fourteen hills, with the second man also finishing on a full Roadster Champion.
- H.A. Ditson of Boston discusses prospects for lawn tennis in the coming season, noting new courts being laid out across the country and clubs forming everywhere; he announces a trip to England to observe the northern championship tournament in Manchester and the Wimbledon world championship, reporting back improvements for American players.
- Report of progressive lawn tennis at the Franklin Archery Club grounds at Nutley, N.J. on May 30, with guests including Mr. and Mrs. Brunner from London; Mrs. J.R. Kingsland won the ladies' prize (won 7, lost 2) and Mr. Van Zandt the gentlemen's prize (won 6, lost 3), with 'booby prizes' to Miss Talman and Dr. Satterthwaite.
- Report of the Marine and Field Club open tennis tournament at Bath Beach, Brooklyn on Decoration Day, described as the great society event among the Brooklyn elite; Grant Notman of the Brooklyn Heights Club won the singles, defeating J.W. Raymond 6–4, 4–6, 6–3, 5–6, 6–4 in the final, with handsome silver cups as trophies.