The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 9, No 21
Articles in this issue
- Second chapter of the serial bicycle romance by Harry Myrtle, in which professional racer Percy Harrington visits the recovering Ethel Clayton at her hotel to say goodbye before leaving for Baltimore, is confronted by her jealous suitor, and is then ambushed and knocked senseless in a dark street.
- Editorial praising group bicycle touring for its physical, social, and mental benefits, citing Thomas Stevens's round-the-world solo ride and a projected cycling excursion to Bermuda as examples of the sport's broader appeal.
- Regular news department covering T. W. Eck's correction that Albert Schock rode a Columbia—not a Rudge—to win the Minneapolis six-day race with 923 miles, San Francisco Bicycle Club absorbing the California Cycling Club, the Elizabeth Wheelmen's new medal scheme, and a Westfield mileage contest won by C. M. Goodnow with 5,056 miles in the 1885 season.
- Boston correspondent covers Chief Consul Ducker's plan to raise $5,000 for the L.A.W. annual meet on May 27–29, a proposed four-day cycle exhibition under J. S. Dean, W. W. Stall's planned three-day ladies' tricycle tour, and an editorial arguing that the makers' amateur rule should be abolished and all racing opened on a handicap basis.
- Letter from the Elizabeth Wheelmen reporting a January road record of 922 miles by 21 men—A. S. Brown leading with 157 miles—and the club's 1885 total of 38,476 miles, with D. B. Bonnett heading the individual list at 3,440 miles and 19 members each exceeding 1,000 miles.
- Preview of the Springfield Bicycle Club's Washington's Birthday ball at City Hall, featuring a grand international march with costumed riders on period machines, fancy riding by Willie Harradon, a phosphorescent demon drill by eight bicyclists, and a trick-mule boneshaker contest offering a gold watch to any rider who completes three laps.
- The Ilderan Bicycle Club of Brooklyn announces its first race meeting on March 3rd at the Fifth Avenue Roller Skating Academy, with a one-mile novice race, two-mile club championship, three-mile handicap, tricycle race, polo on Star bicycles, and a Hudson County Wheelmen's drill under L.A.W. rules; entries close with secretary H. C. Mettler at 75 Astor House.
- The Harlem Wheelmen and New York Bicycle Club are coordinating with city, Brooklyn, and New Jersey clubs to organize a series of team road races for a cup to be won three times outright, with the Ixions, Citizens, Kings County Wheelmen, and others invited to appoint delegates.
- Supplementary report on the Harlem Wheelmen's January 28th entertainment, noting performances by a quartette, Miss Baxter on piano, boy soprano Harry Brandon ('The Sands of Dee' and 'To Sevilla'), recitations by J. S. Burdett, and dancing attended by representatives of the Ixion, Yonkers, and Citizens clubs.
- J. R. Hoag of North Shields and F. Cathcart of Alexandria Park have invited American racers Rowe, Weber, Hendee, and Burnham to an Anglo-American tournament circuit from May 22 through late June; the column also notes the arrival of the Wheeling Christmas Annual and reports that the Springfield timing-records controversy has driven McCandlish, E. Percy Lowe, and Hildreth from Bicycling News to Wheeling.
- The paper notes that Thomas Stevens, cycling around the world, wrote six months ago of evading brigands near Scutari by departing from Ismidt instead, and wonders why no further news of his whereabouts has since reached America.
- Autobiographical note by racer and bicycle dealer Cola E. Stone, reprinted from the American Wheelman, recounting his first ride in June 1881, a longest day's ride of about 80 miles from St. Louis to Clarksville on railroad track, and an estimated annual mileage of 6,000–7,000 miles through 1882–84.
- Geo. H. Allen, reprinted from The Companion, testifies that the bicycle transformed him from an invalid into an athlete, arguing that no other exercise engages every muscle while providing such pleasurable sensation, and urging all sedentary men to take up the wheel.
- Comic Valentine's Day poem by Clif. S. Wadv., reprinted from the Bicycling World, in which a wheelman drafts love verses with wry bracketed self-commentary on each couplet, ultimately winning his lady's hand.
- Club news reporting new officers for the Cleveland Bicycle Club (Captain F. P. Root), the Akron Bicycle Club with Chas. E. Caskey re-elected president and a membership of about 30, and the Fort Schuyler Wheelmen of Utica, N.Y. (president C. H. Metz).
- Brief British cycling notes covering the N.C.U. January meeting, 18-year-old Mills of the Anfield B.C. credited with the 24-hour road record, the N.C.U. local centre officers re-elected for 1886, and L.A.W. membership renewals totalling 2,721 with 845 new applications.