The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 12, No 22
Articles in this issue
- Chief Consul George R. Bidwell of the New York State L.A.W. Division appeals for voluntary contributions to cover roughly $800 in expenses incurred by the passage of the Liberty bill and publication of the Road Book; early donors including John C. Gulick and Simeon Ford ($10 each) are listed, totaling $86.50.
- Plans are being finalized for a 1,024-mile road race from Boston to Chicago, tentatively set for around October 5, 1887, with manufacturers entering riders on stock machines at $50 each and a $1,000 fine levied on any employer whose rider uses means other than his own wheel.
- Letter from Edward J. Shriver, President of the Team Road Racing Association, defending road racing on the Irvington-Milburn course against critics including Mr. Luscomb, arguing the races caused no public nuisance and that the L.A.W. has no right to restrict members' private sporting choices.
- G.W. Nellis Jr. writes from San Francisco with a day-by-day mileage log of his cross-country bicycle journey — 3,369 riding miles across 72 days from May 24 to August 1887 — totaling 544 hours and 54 days of actual riding time.
- Report on the 25-mile state championship road race around Lake Harriet in Minneapolis on August 15, won by Charles Barwick on a Victor light roadster in 1h 50m, with J. Purvis-Bruce second (1:53) and J.R. Stockdale third (1:54); Barwick received a gold watch, Bruce a diamond ring, and Stockdale a combination gun and rifle.
- The L.A.W. Uniform Committee has concluded that satisfactory uniforms cannot be produced from paper measurements; at the February 1888 Board Meeting it may propose supplying cloth directly to members, letting each man use his own tailor, which should produce a better-dressed crowd than the currently 'dowdy' League uniform.
- Detailed coverage of the Roseville Cycling Meet (attendance ~1,200), sharply criticizing poor handicapping and negligent clerks of course who did not place competitors on their marks; race results include W.E. Crist (Washington) winning two amateur events, S.G. Whittaker taking the professional mile in 2:41 4-5 on a Humber racer with five-inch cranks, and the Crist-Hall tandem tricycle combination dominating their event.
- S.G. Whittaker of Chicago, currently training at Roseville under T. Eck alongside Knapp and Munger, will soon formally challenge Billy 'Record' Rowe to race any distance up to one mile; private trials at Roseville show him riding a third-mile in 47 seconds (a 2:21 pace), corroborated by multiple timekeepers.
- Calendar of upcoming cycling race meets from August 25 through October 1, 1887, covering events in Worcester MA, Melville NJ, Lynn MA, Hartford CT (Charter Oak Park September 7), Philadelphia, Cincinnati OH, New Orleans LA, Albany NY, and the New York State Division Meet at Cooperstown NY on September 23-24.
- Miscellaneous racing news: J. Dubois breaks English professional records at Long Eaton from six to ten miles on August 5; Fred Wood's arrest in Australia called 'trumped up' by returning witness R. James; De Blois of Hartford has ridden under 2:40; Powers is reported ill with malaria and retired from path racing; W.I. Wilhelm has built a 29-pound Star racer for the fall meets.
- A.B. Barkman's column, drawing on the Badminton Library's 'Cycling,' advises prospective tourists to join the L.A.W., plan moderate daily distances of 40-50 miles rather than overambitious targets, travel with one to three companions for best enjoyment, and complete several weeks of preparatory training before departure.
- Brooklyn Club members Corby and Elsall recount their multi-day tour from New York through Yonkers, Tarrytown, Fishkill, Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, and the tornado-damaged Hillsdale area into the Berkshires through Lenox and Pittsfield to Williamstown and Vermont, finishing at Lake George where League consul John R. Calkins at the Rockwell House provided exceptional hospitality.
- Six members of the East Cambridge Cycle Club hired a wagon and horses for a fortnight's August 1887 outing through New Hampshire's White Mountains from Haverhill, camping from Manchester through Gilford, West Thornton, Crawford Notch, and Bethlehem; five members climbed Mount Washington and total expenses for the party came to just $18.15.
- Eugene Sanger and Carle P. Cubberly of the Somerville Cycle Club recount their two-week July-August 1887 tour: riding sixty-three miles to New Bedford for the Massachusetts Division L.A.W. meet at Cottage City, then wheeling north through the Hudson Valley to Albany, visiting Saratoga Springs, riding the Berkshires through Pittsfield and Great Barrington, and returning via Worcester.
- S.L. Cromwell of the Ilderan Bicycle Club, Brooklyn, presents a day-by-day wheeling itinerary from New York to Albany via Tarrytown, Garrison's, Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, Hudson, Great Barrington, Lenox, Lanesboro, Williamstown, Hoosick Falls, and Melrose, with distances and road quality notes for each leg.
- Chief Consul Bidwell's circular to the 140 New York State Consuls directs them to identify Highway Commissioners and press for guide posts at all highway intersections, citing New York Revised Statutes Chapter XVI (Sections 12, 13, 20, 21) mandating such sign-boards at post-road crossings.
- Local correspondence from Albany: recent club runs to Chatham meeting the Berkshire Wheelmen, and to Round Lake to hear revivalist Sam Jones; announcement of the second annual Race Meeting September 21 at Richfield Athletic Grounds for the L.A.W. New York State one-mile championship; Joshua Reynolds and wife to join on a Royal Salvo tandem tricycle.
- Correspondent 'Norb' from Covington, KY reports a chaotic watermelon-rind battle at a local cycling club gathering, disputes Karl Kron's negative portrayal of Kentucky roads, and describes Nashville tourists Fisher, Combs, Petrie, and Gibson wheeling 553 miles north through Tennessee and Kentucky toward Niagara Falls; the Central Wheelmen of Cincinnati now have thirty-eight members.
- The city of Beatrice, Nebraska has repealed its ordinance prohibiting wheelmen from certain roads after the L.A.W. retained eminent counsel to fight an appeal of the District Judge's unconstitutional ruling, deterring further litigation and saving the League approximately $100.
- At the February 1888 Board Meeting the Executive Committee will present a full financial statement revealing a previously unreported ~$2,000 additional deficiency from 1886, caused by $1,900 in 1887 receipts incorrectly credited to the prior year's account.
- L.A.W. President Kirkpatrick has issued a circular to all State Chief Consuls requesting information on highway-improvement laws, road-rights statutes, speed regulations, sign-board requirements, and the prospects for passing a 'Liberty bill' equivalent in each state; all replies due by September 15.
- The L.A.W. Reorganization Committee will likely convene at Cooperstown during the New York State Camp and is open to suggestions on League reorganization; those with ideas are invited to write to C.S. Luscomb, Stewart Building, New York City.
- Reprint of the Pall Mall Gazette's critical double review: Thomas Stevens's 'Around the World on a Bicycle' is praised as a remarkable feat but faulted as dull, inaccurate, and poorly written; Karl Kron's 'Ten Thousand Miles on a Bicycle' is dismissed as an 800-page monument to egotism — 585,000 words of self-referential matter impractical as a road-book.
- Three cooling beverage recipes for touring cyclists: Claret Cup with Soda Water, Badminton (claret, curaçao, orange, cucumber, and soda), and Cider Cup (cider, sherry, brandy, crushed strawberries or pineapple, and soda), reprinted from the Boston Globe.
- Reprinted from The Cyclist, a note on a Hastings Volunteer Fire Brigade tricycle co-invented by the brigade captain and J. Compton Merryweather, ridden from London to Oxford carrying hose, standpipe, portable fire escape, jumping net, and a small engine within three hundredweights; the crew responded to a simulated fire in six and a half minutes.
- Announcement of the Albany Wheelmen's second annual race meet at Ridgfield Park on September 21, with programme including 1-mile novice, 3-mile handicap, 1-mile L.A.W. New York State Championship (prize: a diamond medal), 5-mile Albany and Rensselaer County championship, 1-mile tricycle scratch, and other events; entries close September 17 with Henry Gallien, 289 Washington Avenue, Albany.
- Miscellaneous notes: H.H. Newhall returns after six months cycling in Europe; France's War Minister recruiting cyclists as military messengers; Louise Armaindo, professional racing cyclist, has married wealthy Eau Claire real-estate owner Mr. Burnett and retired; Bordeaux declared cycling capital of France; Kansas Division L.A.W. races at Paola show Gormully & Jeffery Light Champions winning eight of thirteen firsts; editor rebuffs British Bicycling News editor George Lacy Hillier's disparagement of the American cycling press.