The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 8, No 8
Articles in this issue
- A wide-ranging column of short cycling news items covering clubs and riders across the U.S. and Britain, including the L.A.W. admitting 64 new members, Harvard and Columbia college bicycle races, Hendee's attempt on the mile record on Decoration Day, A.H. Padman's record ride from Adelaide to Melbourne, and the Ramblers' races at St. Louis featuring S.G. Whittaker of Boston.
- Reports on recent British racing including a 23-mile tricycle road match between P. Larrette and A. Nixon (who holds the Land's End to John O'Groats record), the Keen meet at Alexandra Palace where Furnival won the mile handicap and Gatehouse of Cambridge University impressed, and R. Howell's victory in a 20-mile professional safety race at Belgrave on a Rudge.
- Describes a 621-mile cycling tour for clergymen organised by Rev. Sylvanus Stall of Lancaster, Pa., departing August 5th from Niagara Falls and running until August 26th; tricyclists are invited and the prospectus pamphlet is available by enclosing a stamp to Stall.
- Reviews the opening of the 1885 American racing season, with accounts of a two-mile race at the 9th Regiment armory won by P.M. Harris of the Ixion B.C., Lewis Hamilton's near-incredible 7m. 12s. for two-and-a-half miles at the Yale Games, and a close two-mile contest at the Staten Island Athletic grounds between A.B. Rich and E.A. Hoffman Jr. of the Citizens B.C.
- Full results from the New Orleans Bicycle Club's first two-day tournament on May 7-8 on the West End Shell Road, covering events including the quarter-mile dash (C.M. Fairchild), the one-mile State Championship (E.P. Baird over A.M. Hill), and a ring tournament on the levee won by Lieut. A.P. Keaghey with 9 rings.
- Announces the Louisville Wheel Club's first annual spring race meet at the Southern Exposition Grounds on May 29-30 on a quarter-mile clay track with raised corners, listing events including five-mile scratch and half-mile heats, with entries at 50 cents to secretary Chas. Van Overbeke.
- Previews the Indiana Division L.A.W. annual meet and race tournament at Indianapolis on June 8-9 under the auspices of the Indianapolis B.C., with races at the Exposition grounds and an evening programme at the Meridian Rink including amateur and professional fancy riding events.
- Reports on the Kings County Wheelmen's plans to promote cycling in Brooklyn, including a moonlight parade on June 18th and a grand tournament on June 20th at the Williamsburg A.C. grounds on a five-lap cinder track, with events including the three-miles L.A.W. championship and a ten-miles scratch open race.
- Reports on the Philadelphia Bicycle Club's annual meeting on May 12th at which the existing officers were re-elected (President Geo. E. Bartol, Captain Ewing L. Miller), H.R. Lewis was noted for the club's top individual mileage of 854.5 miles, and Captain Miller offered a solid silver cup for any member logging over 1,000 miles in 1885.
- A humorous poem in the style of Leigh Hunt's 'Abou Ben Adhem,' signed M.I.D., celebrating Ben Ayers as the founder of the Big Four Tour and placing his name at the head of all 'noted wheelmen, flyers all, record breakers, century makers.'
- An editorial response to Frank H. Clark's (C.C. for Wyoming) letter in Bicycling World criticising the League of American Wheelmen, arguing the League's 'kickers' offer no constructive alternatives and suggesting the League should fund state divisions to pursue lawsuits protecting wheelmen's road rights, such as the exclusion of cyclists in South Carolina.
- A Boston correspondent's detailed description of the Coventry Machinists Co.'s new American branch at 239 Columbus Avenue, managed by H.W. Gaskell, featuring the Ranelagh Club tricycle (already sold out), the club tandem, the Imperial Club, the American Club bicycle built for U.S. roads, and the Universal Club bicycle at $105.
- A humorous narrative poem signed 'Cap.' about a cyclist named Bill Friar who lures an aggressive dog from its yard, ties it to his bicycle with a cord, and races through town with the terrified animal in tow before taking a fall and releasing it, the dog thereafter hiding whenever it hears a cyclist's bell.
- A section opening with the season's race fixtures (May-September 1885, from the Ixion fifty-mile road race on May 30th to the L.A.W. sixth annual meet at Buffalo on July 2-3) and closing-of-entries notices, followed by officer-election results for clubs including the New Britain Wheel Club, Milwaukee B.C., Connecticut B.C. (with Colonel Pope at their dinner), and the Rockingham Bicycle Club of Portsmouth, N.H.
- An editorial notice of the June number of Outing magazine, highlighting Joseph Pennell's illustrated 'With the Veloce Club to Ostia,' the third instalment of Thomas Stevens' round-the-world tour, Dr. George F. Fiske's 'Ten Days in Holland and Westphalia,' the article 'Women as Cyclers,' and serial fiction by Julian Hawthorne and Gottfried Keller.