The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 12, No 19
Articles in this issue
- Editor F.P. Prial defends L.A.W. President Kirkpatrick against the Boston Globe's claim that he was a makeshift choice, arguing Kirkpatrick was fit for the office and that doing nothing in his first term is a negative virtue rather than a disqualification.
- The Capital Club of Baltimore departs August 5 by steamer for a summer tour to Boston, the North Shore, and Martha's Vineyard, where member H.S. Owen will host the party at his Cottage City cottages for three weeks.
- The Cleveland Bicycle Club's three-day race meet at Athletic Park, August 11–13, offers a full programme of novice, championship, handicap, and tandem events; entries close August 8 with George Collister at 147 Ontario Street.
- Interview with American bicycle champion Billy Rowe of Lynn, who explains why he refused to race McCurdy again on unfavorable handicap terms and outlines plans to compete at Roseville on August 9 and at the Cleveland tournament August 11–13.
- Cyclist Tom Eck of Toronto eloped with seventeen-year-old Jennie Carlisle of Minneapolis to Omaha, where the Rev. Dr. Maxwell married them at John S. Prince's residence; accounts are reprinted from the Minneapolis Tribune and an Omaha society column.
- Results of Newton Bicycle Club's twenty-five-mile handicap road race from Newton to Natick and return: E.S. Martin first in 1h. 35m., W.H. Barker second, and scratch man W.K. Corey third in 1h. 24m. despite a twenty-minute deficit.
- Report on competition for the Kings County Wheelmen's 2,000-mile medals: H.J. Hall Jr. led May with 740 miles and T.J. Hall Jr. led June with 525 miles, among ten active riders who collectively covered 3,933 miles in May and 3,375 in June.
- The Harlem Wheelmen offer gold and silver medals for highest 1887 mileage and Century medals for 100 miles in ten hours; E.I. Halsted leads with 1,671 miles through July 1, including a solo ride of 101¾ miles in 9h. 10m.
- Notes from Richfield Springs, N.Y.: the Fort Schuyler Wheelmen will hold their annual tournament there on August 10, inviting all New York State wheelmen; the town of 1,800 has about forty-five wheels and a Star-riding Wyontha Club, and the Darrow House is now a League Hotel.
- The L.A.W. Records Committee ratifies path tricycle records by J.B. King at Alexandra Park (21–25 miles) and extensive records by T.R. Marriott of Nottingham at Crystal Palace (101–150 miles), plus a tandem tricycle record by E.P. Turner and P.E. Kiderlen at Long Eaton and a 100-mile road tricycle record by C.W. Brown of Finchley.
- L.A.W. Bureau of Information chairman A.B. Barkman issues corrections to the New York Road Book for routes 20–52, including revised directions through Poughkeepsie, Hillsdale, and Buffalo, and notes the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Road Book is out of print pending a 1888 revision; Long Island ferry connections to Connecticut are also listed.
- Editor Prial responds to 'Bon' in the L.A.W. Bulletin, arguing the League's Cabinet should have actively condemned road-racing rather than ignoring it, and notes that under the Racing Board's by-laws amateurs who compete in unsanctioned road races are already liable to suspension.
- Brooklyn correspondent 'Bon' reports on members' summer activities including a quiet ten-mile Irvington-Milburn road race (Todd first in the championship, 40:20; Mead first in the novice), criticises the $300 spent by the N.Y. Division to attend the St. Louis meet, and urges more road-sign work at home.
- Correspondent 'Keystone' covers Pittsburgh cycling: the Allegheny Cyclers' ten-mile road race on Butler Plank Road is set for August 3; bids are in for a quarter-mile track inside the Gentlemen's Driving Park; and Mr. Swartzwelder of the S.V.W. and Keystone Clubs was the first local rider to complete a century this season.
- Correspondent 'Stylus' argues the L.A.W. should abandon racing as a priority and that road-racing at speed risks hostile legislation for all cycling; he also questions why Boston, with the most wheelmen, cannot hold a decent race meeting and reports on Cape Ann tourists from the Boston, Lynn, Newton, and Salem clubs.
- Investigative account exposing Newark cycle dealers Daniel Rogers and James W. Smith of London, who ran up debts of several thousand dollars to cycling papers, Chicago and Milwaukee dealers, and local creditors, then absconded, leaving chattel mortgages of $585 and a month's unpaid rent; all wheels had been supplied C.O.D. by the Cunard Cycle Co.
- Directory of L.A.W.-approved League Hotels across New York State, listing agents and repairers in twenty-nine locations from Nyack and Batavia to Buffalo, Albany, and Brooklyn.
- Wide-ranging news items: Rowe, Crocker, and Hollingsworth named as Columbia's Fall racing team; A.P. Englehart rode five miles in 13:35 3-5 on a safety at Coventry, beating Howell's records from two miles up; E. Kiderlen sets new mile tricycle records at Long Eaton; F.J. Osmond wins the Crystal Palace mile handicap in 2:38 1-5; the Owl Club Chicago ten-mile road race won by H.R. Winship in 36:09.
- The N.Y. State Division meet committee announces the annual meet will be held at Cooperstown on Friday and Saturday, September 23–24, with full details promised in the following issue.
- New Jersey correspondent 'Jonah' reports that the Roseville track meeting scheduled for August 6 has been postponed to the 20th due to rain damage, with an expanded twelve-race programme featuring Rowe, Whittaker, Crocker, and Hollingsworth promised; negotiations for bi-weekly baseball tie-in meets have collapsed.
- Jonah offers a spirited dissent from Mr. Luscomb's legal argument that road-racing is illegal under common law, noting that Luscomb himself helped found the Inter-State Road-Racing Association, and arguing that wheelmen deserve the same reasonable tolerance extended to trotting races, yacht races, and other sports that temporarily inconvenience traffic.
- Summarises Charles Richards Dodge's article in August Outing urging the L.A.W. to campaign for better public roads through lobbying for new legislation, abolition of the road-tax labour system, and establishment of a bureau publishing route surveys and legal digests—keeping cycling in the background to avoid unfavourable public sentiment.
- Second gossip column: W.M. Woodside breaks the English professional ten-mile record at Long Eaton in 28:34 2-5; the Massachusetts Division's programme for its Martha's Vineyard meet (August 4–6) is detailed; the Long Island Wheelmen vote to withdraw from the N.Y. and N.J. Team Road-Racing Association; Gormully & Jeffery will field a Fall racing team under Tom Eck at Roseville.
- First instalment of a travel narrative by 'Stamson' (of Stamford) describing the outward Atlantic crossing aboard the steamer Wisconsin from New York to Liverpool, bound for a cycling tour from Liverpool to London; includes observations of shipboard life, a French steerage passenger's burial at sea, and the approach to Queenstown.
- Miscellaneous trade notes: the Overman Wheel Co. has released Harold Serrell's new lamp with air intake at flame level to prevent blow-out; cyclist A.B. Rich endorses Graff's racing shoes; Messrs. Bidwell, Gilfillan, Share, and Luscomb have left for the Massachusetts Division meet at Cottage City.