The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 8, No 22
Articles in this issue
- Front-page editorial paragraphs reporting that the Cleveland track is among the fastest in America, the Missouri B.C. of St. Louis will spend $15,000 on a new clubhouse, the New Jersey State Division L.A.W. holds its first annual meet at Milburn, N. H. Van Sicklen will attempt the 24-hour road record, the Coventry Machinists Co. won a gold medal at the International Inventions Exhibition, and Dr. N. P. Tyler was named the League's Official Handicapper; it also condemns an Erie, Pa. accident in which bicyclists racing a team frightened the horses and killed driver August Guelcher.
- On July 29 J. E. Gibson, captain of the Garden City Bicycle Club of San Francisco, rode 211 miles in 24 hours, beating F. R. Cook's American road record by 3½ miles, though he was criticized for repeatedly re-riding the same stretch and L. D. Munger had since bettered the mark by a half mile.
- The Corning Bicycle Association inaugurated its new track at Corning, N.Y., on August 22, where Wm. Woodside beat John Brooks by a few feet in the five-mile professional match race in 15:00¾ (a record), Brooks led at four miles in 11:59, and T. W. Eck rode a one-mile tricycle exhibition in 3:37.
- The Genesee B.C. of Rochester, N.Y., announces its third annual tournament for September 17, listing the program of amateur and professional bicycle and tricycle events with prize values up to $150 for the one-mile open, entries closing September 12 with A. B. Rapalje.
- Report on the professional race meet at Athletic Park, Washington, August 24th, where John Brooks beat William Woodside in a 20-mile match race in 1h 2m 21s, breaking multiple distance records; H. W. Higham and T. W. Eck also competed before Higham's tricycle chain snapped, and Louise Armaindo won the half-mile heat and one-mile handicap.
- W. N. Oliver & Co. are compiling a comprehensive book of cycling records — American and English, amateur and professional, bicycle and tricycle — to be distributed free at the Hartford, Springfield, and Brooklyn N.Y. State Division meets.
- J. H. Polhill of Macon, Ga., Wm. Maxwell of Charleston, N.C., and Frank Steffner of Nashville, Tenn. rode from their home cities to New York en route to the Springfield tournament, covering stretches of ninety-five miles in under nine hours through Kentucky and the South; Polhill rode a Rudge Light Roadster with a Duryea saddle and recounted his disputed amateur status with the L.A.W. Racing Board.
- The first contingent of English cyclists — including T. Lambert of Humber & Co., Philip Furnival of Beretta Cycling Club, W. A. Illston of Birchfield Harriers, and Robert James — arrived in New York on August 20th ahead of the Hartford and Springfield tournaments; a larger party under Harry Etherington, editor of Wheeling, was expected shortly aboard the City of Richmond.
- The Clerical Wheelmen's Tour concluded in Toronto after three weeks, having ridden through Ontario with receptions and banquets at Woodstock, Goderich, Seaforth, Mitchell, and Stratford; the party found Canadian roads no better than those of New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania.
- Miscellaneous short notes covering Lewis Hamilton's convalescence, the Troy B.C. races at Island Park on September 3rd, L. D. Munger's 26-mile Detroit-to-Pontiac road ride in 1h 52m, and the Peoria B.C. Tourists then at St. Paul, Minn.; also previews the Hartford meet where Hendee is entered in the one-mile open race against visiting English cracks.
- Boston cycling correspondent C.S.H. reflects on the decline of formal club runs and the amateur question ahead of the Hartford and Springfield meets, noting the return of E. W. Pope and English visitors Richard Howell and Ruben Chambers (both to ride Rudge machines), and reporting that Lindell Gordon of St. Louis ordered an 18-pound racer from W. B. Everett & Co.
- Results from recent English race meets: at the Birchfield Harriers' Aston Lower Grounds meeting J. H. Adams won the half-mile handicap in 1:18 2-5 and B. Ratliff won the five-mile scratch in 15:41 4-5; at Wolverhampton, R. Howell won the first heat of the professional one-mile championship in 2:46.
- Alfred Nixon, one of England's foremost long-distance road riders, contributes excerpts from Wheeling on the physical and mental demands of road riding versus track racing, covering training, diet, pacing, and preparation — including his practice of leaving pre-addressed letters along the route and breakfasting late on the road.
- Report on the Chicago Bicycle Track Association's extra day of racing on August 15th, where N. H. Van Sicklen broke the 25-mile record on a Columbia racer with a time of 1h 21m 14½s, also setting new marks from 1 through 24 miles; G. H. Ley set a new unicycle record of 1:08½ for one mile, beating Prince Wells's standard.
- Club news and race fixture calendar listing upcoming meets at Cleveland, Hartford, Troy, Springfield, Rochester, Brooklyn, Pittsburg, Binghamton, and Omaha; includes notes on the Wakefield, Mass. B.C.'s seaside vacation at York Beach as guests of the Rockingham Bicycle Club, and the Canton (Ohio) B.C.'s annual race at the Stark Co. Fair.