The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 13, No 1
Articles in this issue
- Wide-ranging editorial covering English cycle manufacturers Rudge, Cunard and Humber floating public shares; W.A. Rowe's training and prospects against British champion Howell, quoting the Cyclist's sarcasm and rebutting it; a disputed referee decision upheld by the Racing Board; John A. Wells' contested Pennsylvania appointment to the L.A.W. Board; the paper's position on the Henry George Liberty Bill misrepresented by the Bicycling World; the New York Herald's pavement survey; and an invitation to the Ladies' North Shore Tricycle Tour.
- Part II of a travel narrative by 'Bon' recounting a multi-day bicycle tour through the Hudson Valley and New Jersey — from Port Jervis and the Shawangunk Mountains to Middletown, Poughkeepsie, Highland Mills, the Ramapo Valley, Greenwood Lake, Longwood Valley, Morristown and Somerville — describing roads, scenery, hotels including the Russell House and County House Hotel, a railway collision at Greycourt, and the pleasures of autumn touring with four Brooklyn companions.
- Club column noting J.W. Powers Jr.'s planned sub-2:40 mile attempt at Roseville (with club-mates wagering on the result), F.L. Bingham's Bowling Club initiative, the upcoming New York A.C. bicycle race with entries including Harris, Hall and Gibson, Phil Fontaine and E.I. Halstead's 66-mile Sunday ride to Greenwich, and the notable mileage of Mrs. Dr. Marshall, who has ridden some 1,300–1,400 miles since January and attributes her improved health to cycling.
- Wide-ranging weekly news column covering Dingley's 100-mile track record, Howell's retirement at the Leicester 50-mile championship won by Frenchman Dubois, W.A. Rowe's impending marriage, T. Lambert of Humber & Co.'s U.S. visit, Overman Wheel Company's new 20,000-square-foot Chicopee Falls factory, teams entered for the Boston-Chicago road race (Pope, Overman, Gormully & Jeffery, Springfield Bicycle Co.), the Missouri Club smoker, the Callicycle novelty (a typewriter attached to a bicycle), Osmond's amateur records at Crystal Palace, and Morgan and Temple's Welsh tour.
- Full announcement of the third annual Ladies' North Shore Tricycle Tour under tourmaster W.W. Stall of Boston, giving rules (tricycles only, no bicycles; gentlemen must escort a lady), a $3 subscription fee covering baggage wagon and repairs, and the four-day programme from Maiden Square to Salem, Gloucester via Cape Ann (picnic lunch on the rocks at Pigeon Cove), Magnolia with visits to Rafe's Chasm and Norman's Woe, and Nahant, running October 6–9.
- Full report of the Albany Wheelmen's meet at Ridgfield Park on September 21, listing officials from clubs including the Trojan Wheelmen, Troy Bicycle Club and Buffalo Bicycle Club, and results of nine events: One-Mile Novice (C.L. Sterling, 3:12½), N.Y. State Championship (H.L. Burdick, 3:26¾), One-Mile Star Wheels (C.A. Stenken, 2:55), One-Mile Tricycle Open (W.E. Crist, 3:26), Five-Mile Albany and Rensselaer Counties Championship (Burdick, 16:58), One-Mile Ride and Run (H.J. Hall Jr., 4:30½), and others.
- Account of Frank E. Dingley of Minneapolis's new 100-mile world record of 5h. 38m. 44⅕s. at Lynn on September 22, besting American amateur and professional records from 26 to 100 miles and English records from 51 to 100 miles; Dingley rode a Gormully & Jeffery Champion roadster weighing 36 pounds, was paced by Munger (miles 10–20), White (miles 21–36) and Knapp (miles 36–51), finished perfectly fresh, and had W.A. Rowe as referee.
- Summary of seven wheel events at the W.P. Athletic Association games in West Philadelphia, covering the One-Mile Novice (H.C. Middleton, protested as not a novice), Two-Mile Lap Race (Harry Swartz of Reading, 7:15), Pennsylvania Club Championship (T.A. Schaeffer, 3:21½), Vesper Wheelmen's Championship (H.T. Harding, 3:29½), and the Inter-Club Race won by Schaeffer in 3:14½ with Harding of Vesper second.
- Results of the Tennessee Division League of American Wheelmen meet at Memphis on September 13, with R. Slusser dominating — winning the One-Mile Open (3:30), Half-Mile Open (1:32), Two-Mile Lap Race (taking every lap) and Five-Mile L.A.W. Championship (19:41½) — while E.H. Wilcox took the One-Mile League State Championship and the One-Mile Handicap (3:27).
- Report of the ten-mile team road race at Valois on September 17, won by E.P. Baird's team over L.H. Robertson's team by a score of 19–16; Baird's winning time of 37:51 set a new Montreal road record for the distance, with J.T. Barlow as starter and F. Gnaedinger and L. Rubenstein as timekeepers.
- Detailed account, reprinted from the Cyclist, of the Surrey Ten Miles Challenge Cup race at Kennington Oval on September 10, watched by about 7,000 spectators, in which Percy Furnivall (Berretta) won outright possession of the cup with his third consecutive victory over W.F. Ball (Speedwell) and F.J. Osmond (Norwood Safety), setting grass-track records from three miles upward and beating the previous ten-mile best of 33m. 40⅖s. by over one minute.
- Club and road notes from Brooklyn correspondent 'Alert' covering the broken arm suffered by Canadian visitor A.S. Rennie of the Toronto Wanderers Bicycle Club after coasting the West Drive hill in Prospect Park, a proposal for an annual Central Park cycling parade on Thanksgiving Day, the forthcoming K.C.W. lantern parade with two lanterns per rider on Bedford Avenue on September 29, and teams expected for the coming road race (Ilderans and K.C.W. confirmed, with Hall, Knox and Bradley as likely riders).
- Report on two upcoming Baltimore road races: the Citizens' Cup ten-mile team race on September 30, with Maryland, Baltimore, Rambler and Centaur clubs competing for a $150 silver punch-bowl surmounted by Mercury clasping a wheel; and the M.S.S. Co. 25-mile road race over hilly ground offered by Bosley & How, agents for Victor cycles; Kingsland of the Ramblers swept four firsts at the recent Easton State Fair races.
- Short K.C.W. column noting the Street Cleaning Department's promise not to water Bedford Avenue before the Annual Lantern Parade, W.E. Crist's friendly visit to Brooklyn, R.L. Calkins' election as captain of the Ilderans, K.C.W. informal runs to Roslyn and New Jersey, and thirteen entries already filed for the Hudson County Wheelmen's Championship Road Race.
- Reader's letter from C.H.K. of Buffalo warning cyclists against using illuminating oil (kerosene-lard mixture) as a bicycle lubricant; the author used it unknowingly for weeks, found it left a thick gummy residue on axle bearings that steadily stiffened the machine, and recommends plain machinery oil after learning the same lesson had plagued a New Jersey machinist whose entire works seized up from lard oil.
- Report of G.M. Nisbett of the New York Club's August riding log totalling 633 miles over 22 riding days, with routes ranging from Garrison's-on-Hudson and Catskill to Freehold, Long Branch and Yonkers, including 75 systematic miles on Riverside Drive on August 21.
- Report of the North Road Cycle Club's second annual 24-hour open road race on September 2–3, starting from Hatfield and running to Hockering (146½ miles) and back to Hitchin, with 37 contestants on five ordinaries, twenty safeties, ten tricycles and one tandem; T. Waterhouse on a safety led with 270½ miles while G.P. Mills on a tricycle set a new record of 266 miles in the 24 hours.
- Table of Harlem Wheelmen mileage from January 1 to September 1 for the ten highest records, topped by Captain E.I. Halsted with 2,885 miles over 91 days, followed by E.C. Parker with 1,927 miles over 120 days and A.T. Steiner with 1,581 miles.
- Calendar of upcoming cycling events for late September and October 1887, including the Allegheny Wheel Club Tournament at Pittsburgh (September 29), Missouri Division L.A.W. Meet (September 30–October 1), Detroit Bicycle Club Races (September 30–October 1), Poughkeepsie Race Meet (October 1), Boston-Chicago Road Race (October 6), East Road Club's Road Race (October 8), Columbia Bicycle Club Races at North Attleboro (October 16), and the Ladies' North Shore Tour (October 6–9).
- Account of the New York Division L.A.W. meet at Cooperstown on September 23–24, describing the journey from New York via the West Shore Railroad with about 100 wheelmen changing cars seven times, the Fennimore House supper and Landlord Brown's hospitality, Division business electing W.S. Bull of Buffalo as Vice Consul and Raymond S. Coon of Albany as Secretary-Treasurer with $400 for clerical expenses, and a hill-climbing contest won by A.F. Edmans of Troy.
- Detailed L.A.W. reorganization plan reprinted from the Baltimore Argus, proposing a paid Secretary-Editor elected for life at $1,800 per annum, State and Territorial Divisions requiring a minimum of 150 members, annual dues raised to $5 per member ($1 forwarded to the national treasury), and a full-time salaried Division Master at $3 per member per year devoted entirely to road-posting, road advocacy, cultivating County Road Commissioners and championing cyclists in lawsuits.
- Washington Letter reprinted from the Philadelphia Record describing the 100 women who ride tricycles in Washington D.C., noting the Misses Gallaudet — daughters of the President of the Columbia Institution for Deaf Mutes — as the most proficient and graceful riders, the prevalence of evening riding in riding-habit costumes, the encouragement of male club members, and the various tumbles and dress-caught-in-wheel accidents that accompany women's cycling in the capital.