The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 9, No 10
Articles in this issue
- The regular weekly roundup covers T. W. Eck's new 10-mile tricycle record at St. Louis (35:32 2-5), Whittaker's 20-mile rink attempt, bicycle-vs.-skater contests in Boston, P. W. Stone's win in an 18-mile St. Louis road race, and a brief history of the bicycle from the Draisine to American manufacture.
- Grant Bell, champion bicyclist of the Northwest who twice defeated Woodside at five miles, walked in his sleep through a window at his St. Paul home and fell 23 feet, permanently injuring his spine.
- Boston correspondent I. Harris covers Robert Neilson's $500 challenge to John S. Prince (with $50 deposited with the Boston Globe), the Massachusetts Division's complex plans for hosting the 1886 League Meet, and the Boston Club's return to League membership, proposing a 15-member joint committee to manage the meet.
- Account of the libel suit between Chas. Renton and Aaron, secretary-editor of the L.A.W., heard on Staten Island, which was settled when Aaron drew a check to cover expenses in exchange for a brief explanation in the Bulletin — with the editor noting the case should warn clubs to reserve the right to eject entries.
- A letter from Karl Kron, New York, advises wheelmen that Thomas Stevens can be reached at Teheran, Persia, by a five-cent letter or one-cent postal card, urging friends to send congratulations to this intrepid round-the-world cyclist.
- William M. Woodside on a 57-inch Columbia light roadster defeated Grant Bell (on his 40-pound Star) in a five-mile rink race at the Washington Rink on Nov. 24th, covering the distance in a rink-record 15m. 19 2-5s., more than four minutes faster than Prince's previous best in a Boston rink.
- On Nov. 21st at the Washington Rink, Woodside broke H. W. Higham's 10-mile professional American safety record of 38m. 12 1/2s., riding the distance in 31m. 54s. on a track surveyed at 683.65 feet per lap — within two minutes of the world record set by F. Lees at Leicester in 1884.
- On November 14th, John S. Prince lowered the 50-mile bicycle record at the St. Louis Fair Grounds, finishing in 2h. 53m. 54s. (about three minutes better than Woodside's mark), while T. W. Eck simultaneously set a new quarter-mile tricycle record of 44 2-5s. on a Columbia despite a strong crosswind.
- Detailed account of the Nov. 27th 50-mile race at the Washington Rink between Woodside and Bell in which Woodside rode 50 miles in 2h. 47m. 34 3-5s. on a 57-inch Columbia — within seconds of the world professional record held by Wood of England — while Bell, given a five-minute head start, retired at 37 miles.
- Thomas W. Eck at the St. Louis Fair Grounds on November 19th lowered the ten-mile tricycle record by 4 minutes 28 seconds, riding 35:32 2-5 on a Columbia with John S. Prince as pacemaker — the first professional tricycle record made on an American-built wheel.
- The Dutch Cyclists' Union's four-clause definition of 'professional' is reprinted, covering competition for money, knowing contact with professionals, participation in mixed races, and cycling as a livelihood; the editor endorses the rule but argues the word 'knowingly' in clauses (b) and (c) should be struck out.
- Stillman G. Whittaker of St. Louis on November 20th broke the 10-mile amateur tricycle record at the St. Louis Fair Grounds in 32:56 2-5, lowering it by 2 minutes 35 seconds and taking the six-to-ten-mile records away from Boston's John Williams — coming within 23 seconds of the world record held by M. J. Lowndes.
- Boston cycling correspondent C.S.H. discusses the effective end of the 1885 season, defends L. D. Munger's disputed 24-hour road record of 259 13-16 miles (supported by a Boston Globe letter naming his pacemakers and route through Newton Centre and Newtonville), and reports on the rival claims of the Massachusetts and Boston clubs over the 1886 League Meet, proposed for May 27-29.
- Brief notes on Vermont cycling clubs: the Springfield Wheel Club's name change, the new Mt. Kilburn Bicycle Club of Bellows Falls (which ran a 40-mile handicap road race), the new Bennington Bicycle Club, and the replacement of the disbanded Brattleboro Cycle Club by the new Vermont Wheel Club with 18 members and furnished rooms in Harmony Block on Elliott Street.
- Report on the third private concert given by the Ixion Club on December 2nd at 351 West 59th Street, New York, where the club orchestra under musical director O. L. Moses performed an eight-piece programme including works by Suppe, Mozart, Waldteufel, Sullivan, and Puerner to a large attendance of members.
- The Massachusetts Bicycle Club — officers including A. A. Pope, C. P. Shillaber, and President Henry W. Williams — formally applies for membership in the Citizens Bicycle Club of New York, citing its new bylaw admitting non-resident cyclists and expressing a desire to strengthen fraternal ties between the two clubs.
- The Keystone Club of Pittsburgh held its fourth annual dinner on November 25th at the Seventh Avenue Hotel, with a humorous cycling-themed menu in which every dish bore a bicycle trade name — 'Salmon, Steamed, Victor backbone,' 'French Peas, balls all round,' 'Bisque Ice Cream, Nickeled and Enameled' — to much amusement.
- Election results and organizational news from ten clubs across the country: Yonkers B.C. (NY), Owl B.C. (Chicago), Eurota B.C. (St. Louis), Pilot Wheel Club (Lancaster, NH), Roselle Ramblers (NJ), Cheyenne B.C. (WY), Empire B.C. (Smyrna, NY), Junior Wheelmen (Washington, D.C.), Maryland B.C. (Baltimore), and the new Vermont Wheel Club (Brattleboro).