The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 5, No 2
Articles in this issue
- The Racing Board met at Philadelphia on September 29 and amended the racing rules — requiring costumes to cover shoulder and knee, separating referee and judge duties, and allowing League clubs to hold race meetings without prior sanction if run under League rules and reported within ten days.
- The League's full nineteen-point racing code republished, defining amateur status, standing starts, passing and fouls, and championship and handicap procedures, with appended Board regulations naming Fred Jenkins of New York as official Handicapper.
- Official rules setting out the duties of race-meeting officers — Clerk of the Course, Starter, Scorer, Timekeepers, Judges and Referee — along with the procedures for starting signals, inner grounds and the finish line.
- Standing directory of the League — membership-application instructions to Corresponding Secretary Fred Jenkins plus the full roster of the Board of Officers, standing committees, Chief Consuls, Representatives, and Division Secretaries and Treasurers, with a Notice to Bicycle Clubs on League membership clauses.
- Treasurer W. V. Gilman explains that the lithographers mistakenly stamped duplicate red numbers on this year's membership cards, and tells members the true number is the one in the lower centre preceded by the letter D.
- Lists the many railroads — the Baltimore & Ohio, Grand Trunk, Wabash, Illinois Central and dozens more — that carry bicycles free in baggage cars at owner's risk for holders of first-class tickets.
- Notes the rates charged by lines that do not carry wheels free, including the Boston & Albany, Boston & Maine, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia & Reading, and Eastern Railroads.
- Official list (No. 39, total 168) of applicants for League membership organized by state division and club — among them the Branford, Haverford College, Lehigh University, Wilkesbarre and American Star clubs — published for member objection under Article III of the Constitution.
- President N. Mason Beckwith announces the appointment of L. M. Wainwright of Noblesville, Indiana, and Theo. J. Richardson of Minneapolis as Chief Consuls, dated New York, October 3, 1883.
- The Membership Committee, chaired by Stephen Terry of Hartford, finds that Frank Lamkin of Norwalk, Ohio raced for a money prize at a Mt. Gilead county fair while a League member, and declares him a professional expelled from the L. A. W.
- Race report on the tournament run jointly by the Brockton, City and Union clubs and drawing 209 visiting wheelmen; H. A. Carr won the five-mile Plymouth County championship, E. P. Burnham of Newton took the two-mile and one-mile tricycle events, and A. H. Robinson of England won the half-mile (Boston Herald).
- Account of the Boston Bicycling Club's 100-mile road race from South Natick — the first long bicycle road race ever held in the United States — won by Thomas Midgley in 9 hours 47 minutes over Theodore Rothe and L. A. Peabody, despite a heavy headwind.
- Two-day report on the Capital Club of Washington's annual fall races of October 4-5 at the Athletic Grounds; B. W. Hanna won the five-mile open handicap, English professional John Keen beat J. S. Prince across the three-mile professional heats, and J. McK. Borden won a novel bicycle ring tournament.
- Standing notice directing League correspondence to Corresponding Secretary Fred Jenkins rather than the paper's office, asking members to quote their League number and report address changes, and to sign all contributions confidentially.
- Editorial alleging that E. C. Hodges & Co., publishers of the rival Bicycling World of Boston, instigated a Post Office complaint that suspended The Wheel's mailing for three weeks; the editors recount travelling to Washington to prove the paper's legitimacy and win readmission at second-class rates.
- Report on the October 10 tournament — a morning parade of 157 wheels through New Haven under Chief Marshal N. Mason Beckwith, then races at Hamilton Park where George M. Hendee won the one- and five-mile scratch races in record time and William C. Palmer took the three-mile State Championship.
- Editorial paragraphs gloating over the paper's reinstatement to second-class mail after the postal fight, reporting record League paid membership of 3,125 (up 994 on the previous high), and noting wheelmen's complaints about being barred for racing in circus "open competitions."