The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 7, No 7
Articles in this issue
- Short cycling news items: Karl Kron's forthcoming road book 'Ten Thousand Miles on a Bicycle' nears publication, the Amateur Athlete renames itself the Cyclist and Athlete, the Pawtucket (R.I.) Club reaches thirty-five members, Louise Armaindo endorses the Duryea Saddle, Frank A. Elwell prepares his Bermuda tour, and the Kangaroo goes on show at Geo. R. Bidwell & Co.
- Reports that Thomas Stevens has completed the most notable long-distance ride yet, San Francisco to New York, finishing August 4th after three-and-a-half months, and has written a full narrative to appear exclusively in Outing as four illustrated ten-page papers.
- J. S. Smith and W. Brown cut the two-mile tandem tricycle record to 6m. 6s. at Crystal Palace on October 17th, then Cripps (Notts) and H. F. Wilson (Surrey B.C.) surpassed both the one- and two-mile records the following day, with Pembroke Coleman serving as official timekeeper.
- A comprehensive table of English amateur bicycle records for distances from one to fifty miles, compiled by Pembroke Coleman, official handicapper and timer of the N.C.U., showing holders including H. L. Cortis, G. L. Hillier, R. H. English, H. F. Wilson, M. H. Jephson, and Hon. I. Keith-Falconer.
- Frank A. Elwell of Portland, Maine, announces a January 22nd cycling tour to Bermuda, naming party members including Joking Joy of the Old Massachusetts Bicycle Club, Dr. Coleman, Geo. R. Bidwell, and Clarence H. Dimmock of Nova Scotia, and extolling Bermuda's sand-papered roads and warm winter climate.
- A correspondent reports the fifth annual tournament of the Rochester Bicycle Club held October 15th on their eight-lap track, where Charles Smith won the one-mile open for the Coleman medal a third and final time and also took the two-mile open (7.11) and three-mile club race (11.23), with eleven of thirteen prizes going to Star riders.
- Members of the Elizabeth Wheelmen, including A. S. Roorback, the two Browns, L. B. Bonnett, and W. C. Fink, ran a club road race from Irvington to Milburn and back on Election Day despite a downpour, with Roorback winning in 40m. 16sec. and the club reporting membership grown from ten to forty-three since April.
- F. S. Buckingham of the Brixton Ramblers rode 262 miles in 24 hours starting from the Mansion House in London on October 24th, taking the Bath Road to Devizes and back then the Kangaroo route to Biggleswade with pacemaker Dan Albone, beating the previous club best of 235 miles by P. A. Nix on a heavy 50-inch roadster.
- Writing as 'Neutral,' a contributor presents the views of an ordinary C.T.C. member who joined purely for practical touring benefits, dismissing the agitation around the club's executive as tiresome 'teacup' politics and arguing the leadership deserves a 'not proven' verdict rather than condemnation on unsubstantiated charges (reprinted from Wheel World).
- A comic poem by Tom Merrie in which the narrator meets a battered, repeatedly-failed suicide and recommends riding a bicycle down a steep hill as the one infallible method of departure, a wry satire on the dangers of cycling.
- The paper promotes a grand wheelman tour organised by Burley B. Ayers uniting riders from New York, Chicago, Buffalo, and Boston, routing through the Thousand Islands, Kingston, the Mohawk Valley, and Albany, with Fred. G. Bourne named Commander and division leaders Bidwell, Whitney, Bull, and Pierce, timed to coincide with the 1885 League Meet at Buffalo.
- A woman correspondent, reprinted from Wheel World, argues against competitive bicycle and tricycle racing for women, contending the modest gains of a prize or some endurance are outweighed by the loss of the 'respectful homage' due womanhood and the degrading publicity of race-course crowds.
- Correspondent X. Y. Z. surveys the Citizens, New York, and Ixion clubs, noting the Citizens' planned 'Stag Racket' on December 3rd, the Ixions' Election Day Road Race medal won by Harris, and the growing informal 'Bidwell's Brigade' of thirty to forty self-taught riders storing machines at Geo. R. Bidwell's school on East 60th Street.
- A column of brief humorous anecdotes culled from other publications plus trade notes, including a thin-legged cyclist's retort to a bookseller, a tricycle agent's failed sale to a vain spinster, the Western Union's bicycle messenger service in Washington, and the Overman Wheel Company's annual meeting in Hartford electing A. H. Overman president.