The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 12, No 17
Articles in this issue
- Editor F.P. Prial comments on Frank H. Rich's Westchester hills tour, dismisses the American Prevaricator's accusations of editorial blackguardism, addresses the American Wheelman's criticism over the Bidwell League-presidency item, discusses the New Orleans Division L.A.W. meeting and the Bay Beach shell road dispute in Mobile, and endorses the New York State Division's plan to introduce a road-improvement bill at the fall legislative session.
- Official letter from C.H. Luscomb, chairman of the L.A.W. Rights and Privileges Committee, arguing that road-racing by bicycles and tricycles on public highways is unlawful under common law and statute, and urging League members to withdraw from all road-racing and actively discourage the practice.
- Frank H. Rich describes a 56-mile solo ride on a 52-inch Expert from New York City through Fordham, Bronxdale, White Plains, Pleasantville, Chappaqua, Croton Lake, and Lake Mahopac over Decoration Day weekend, detailing road conditions, scenery, and encounters along the way.
- Reprinted from the Elizabeth Journal: a grocery clerk cyclist and a clergyman stage an impromptu race—the clerk on his wheel against the clergyman on the Central Railroad branch train to Newark—with the clergyman winning the return trip by seven minutes after the cyclist was delayed by a fellow rider.
- Results of the Terre Haute Bicycle Club race meet held July 13 before 1,500 spectators, with Anton Hulman winning the one-mile club championship and three-mile championship, T.B. Nicholson taking the two-mile state championship, and Prince Wells entertaining with fancy riding and a one-wheel mile in 4:47.
- Report on the Minneapolis illuminated bicycle parade of July 9, with 171 wheels decorated with Chinese lanterns led by the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Mercury Bicycle Clubs; mounted police provided escort and thousands of spectators lined the streets with no accidents or disturbances.
- Tour narrative of the Ilderan Bicycle Club (Brooklyn) traveling through Canada: the party rode with the Toronto Wanderers through the city, encountered a hostile road-hog near Norway who was physically corrected with his own whip, then proceeded through Whitby, Newcastle, Coburg, Port Hope, Belleville, and Napanee toward Kingston and the Thousand Islands, praising Canadian hospitality.
- Report on the East Hartford Wheel Club's second club race (one mile, won by C.T. Richmond in 3:08½) and announcement of a novel upcoming relay race in which members will be divided into two equal teams riding half-mile legs, with the losing side providing ice cream for the winners.
- Regular news department covering: Pennsylvania's new road-book plans; Karl Kron's book; Kansas Division meet at Paola; Ralph Temple's quarter-mile bicycle grass record at Norwich; W.A. Illston's twelve prizes won; the Cambridgeport Cycle Club joining the East Road Club; the Pennsylvania Division resolutions on appeal rights and dues allocation; and Kluge's effort to re-enter amateur ranks on a Columbia.
- Boston cycling column by 'Stylus' covering Chelsea Cycle Club's Cape Ann run under Capt. F.A. Woodman; a description of the Victoria six-in-hand tandem photograph featuring W.B. Everett, Dr. Kendall, Frank Weston, H.W. Gaskell, C.W. Fourdrinier, and Joe Dean; the Quebec touring party's departure; and an extended account of a tandem owner at a seaside resort converting reluctant women to cycling.
- Minneapolis correspondent L.B.G. reports on the July 9 lantern parade (175 wheels in line), organizational details including S.F. Heath as Chief Marshal and Paul Archard commanding the Mercury Club, and a comedic dramatization of a wheelman drawing a revolver to claim half the road from a road-hog on the way to Minnehaha Falls.
- Roster of 21 riders in the Quebec touring party led by F.A. Elwell, departing Boston in a special Pullman car for Edmunston, New Brunswick, with a planned ten-day itinerary through Rivière-du-Loup, Cacouna, Quebec City, the Saguenay River, and returning via North Anson, Maine.
- Report on the New Orleans L.A.W. Division meeting of July 8: constitution adopted, R.G. Betts elected Secretary-Treasurer, W.W. Crane presented the Mobile Bay Beach shell road access case, resolutions passed urging League action, the new Louisiana Cycling Club formed July 7, and century-ride records set by Bob Abbot (101 miles), A.M. Hill (125 miles), and R.G. Betts (131 miles).
- Letter from Bloomfield Cyclers announcing that the township ordinance prohibiting bicycle riding on sidewalks has been rescinded, inviting wheelmen to enjoy their roads, and pledging courteous behavior—yielding to children and women—in return for continued public goodwill.
- Report on the Lynn Cycle Club Track Association directors' meeting, which voted to hold a Firemen's Muster at Lynn Bicycle Park in August with $1,500 in prizes for horse racing, hook-and-ladder, and hand-engine contests, and discussed a bicycle tournament tentatively scheduled for September 3 and 5.
- Editorial reprinted from 'Wheeling' lamenting that Irish visitors to the tournament were surprised by the scarcity of ordinary bicycles compared with safeties, arguing that the road-racing mania is to blame, and declaring that for an active young man on good roads the 53-inch ordinary is still the superior machine.
- From the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Frank F. Austin and Harry G. Stuart of the Outing Cyclists rode from Kansas City to Paola, Kansas and back—80.5 miles total—claimed as the longest such ride west of St. Louis, on bad roads in extreme heat, with Stuart's rear wheel breaking near Paola and darkness halting him at Lenexa.
- Account of Fox v. Sylvester at Elizabeth, N.J. District Court (Judge Gilhooly), in which cyclist Sylvester was found liable for $300 after his bicycle struck and injured a boy on October 5, 1886; the jury discounted his alibi and treated his earlier offer to pay $25 as an admission of guilt.
- Satirical letter from Thomas Stevens mocking a Natal editor who accused him of taking steamers across the China Sea and Pacific Ocean during his 'Around the World on a Bicycle' journey, insisting he pedaled both oceans—racing the Yokohama Maru to Nagasaki and overtaking the City of Peking in mid-Pacific—arriving in San Francisco in seventeen days.
- The Wheel reprints a New York World editorial pointing out that New York City's streets are shockingly inferior to the smooth pavements of London and Paris, welcoming it as the opening salvo in the fight for better roads and expressing hope it will rally support for the League's road-improvement campaign.
- Race results from Aston (July 2–4): R.J. Mecredy won the five-mile tricycle championship (17:22 2-5); E. Kiderlen won the one-mile tricycle championship (2:54 2-5) after two rounds of heats; and W.A. Illston won the twenty-five mile bicycle championship in 1:19:02 3-5.
- Adventure narrative by G.W. Nellis Jr. of a 175-mile bicycle ride from Denver Junction through Nebraska and Wyoming to Rawlins, July 4–8, 1887, featuring a half-mile chase by a tethered bull near Bushnell, a lost saddle bag, a silent Fourth of July in Cheyenne hosted by the Cheyenne Bicycle Club, and grueling mountain roads between Laramie City and Fort Steele.
- Advisory piece reprinted from the Irish Cyclist comparing the ordinary bicycle, tricycle, and rear-driving safety across speed, safety, comfort, luggage capacity, and road conditions, concluding: ordinary for active young riders on good roads; safety for bad roads or riders wanting pace; tricycle for those prioritising comfort and complete safety.
- Second instalment of the news department: New York Division membership 2,032; Rich Kluge and Stenken ride five miles at Roseville in 14:50; C.S. Luscomb resigns from the Team Road Race Association; Karl Kron's book distribution in Cleveland, Hartford, and New Haven; Labor Day tournament at Washington Park, Brooklyn; and Jonah's description of a scenic route from Eagle Rock to South Orange avenue, Orange, N.J.