The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 9, No 25
Articles in this issue
- The editor praises the new Inter-Club Team Road Racing Association's inaugural meeting and argues at length that the L.A.W.'s existing amateur definition—imported from English class distinctions—is unjust and should be replaced by a simpler rule barring only those who race for stakes or gate money.
- The L.A.W. Racing Board issued four-form suspension notices to 22 American riders—including Rowe, Burnham, Ives, McCurdy, and Munger—and 11 English riders, charging them with receiving money or travel expenses from bicycle manufacturers, with 30 days to respond or be declared professionals.
- A Boston correspondent describes the outrage across New England cycling circles over the Racing Board's suspensions, reports that Springfield riders threatened League withdrawal, and includes a candid interview with a leading Boston maker's amateur who admits receiving payment from a manufacturer but insists he rides purely for love of the sport.
- Brief Boston notes cover the Massachusetts Club's upcoming moonlight runs, the Harvard Bicycle Club dinner, John Amee's appointment as League consul for Cambridge, work begun on the Lynn Cycle Club track, and the Nonantum Cycling Club's threat to withdraw from the League over the suspensions of Burnham and Huntley.
- Gormully & Jeffery will present Albert Schock a gold medal for his Champion-bicycle long-distance record; Jens F. Pedersen moves to 134 Maiden Lane to accommodate his rapidly growing medal and chronograph business; and Boothroyd's new tangent piano-wire spoke front wheel—spokes weighing only 5 oz. in a 54-inch wheel—has gone on the market.
- The H. B. Smith Machine Co. has published its first formal 37-page illustrated catalogue for the Star bicycle, covering its history, specifications, accessories including a cyclometer and touring bags, and the notable 1885 path and road performances by Weber, Kluge, and Powell.
- Miscellaneous notes include the Minneapolis six-day race gate of $2,087.50 and the Schock–Woodside prize split, Karl Kron receiving a postal card from Thomas Stevens at Tehran dated February 1, the Kings County Wheelmen's bicycle drill at Madison Square Garden, John S. Prince's return from England with a challenge to race Woodside 25 miles at Minneapolis for $250, and a five-mile Globe Rink race in St. Louis awarded to Belcour on a foul claim after Morris won by six yards.
- Sixteen metropolitan New York clubs met at the New York Bicycle Club House to form an Inter-Club Team Road Racing Association, electing E. J. Schriver chairman and M. L. Bridgman secretary, proposing a $250 trophy requiring three wins by any club, teams of eight riders, and gold souvenirs for the first five finishers in each race.
- A coalition including the Long Island Wheelmen, Kings County Wheelmen, and Buffalo Bicycle Club endorsed George R. Bidwell of New York for Chief Consul and a 19-man slate of representatives—including Luscomb, Bridgman, Schwalbach, and O. G. Moses—for the New York State L.A.W. election closing April 10.
- Albert Schock on the first 'American Champion' shipped rode 1,009 miles and 3 laps in 72 hours (12 hours per day) at Minneapolis, March 6–13, defeating William Woodside by 74 miles and eclipsing the previous world record of 1,007 miles held by F. J. Lees of England.
- The Century magazine's March issue opens Mr. and Mrs. J. Pennell's account of an Italian tricycle tour, with Mrs. Pennell's narrative—praised for the same quaint style as 'A Canterbury Pilgrimage'—complemented by Mr. Pennell's masterly sketches of Italian scenery and peasant life.
- Robert D. Mead of the Essex Bicycle Club, Newark, N.J., rode 5,040 miles over 254 days in 1885 on a 48-inch Harvard, including an 814-mile October featuring a two-week tour through the Hudson Valley, the Berkshires, and Lake George, with a single-day best of 70 miles from Fort Edward to Schodac Centre.
- Detailed round-by-round instructions are given for crocheting a bicycle cap in star-light Scotch yarn, working from a 5-stitch center through eleven widening rounds to form the crown and thirteen further rounds for the headband, finished with a sarcenet lining.
- The Orange Wanderers drew 3,000 spectators to the Park Rink, Orange, on March 15 for a programme featuring a Hudson County Wheelmen drill, a Star polo match won by Elizabeth Wheelmen's Roorbach, an open mile race won by Fred Yates of the Plainfield B.C. in 3:46 (with Lawrence falling and letting Kluge take second), and exhibitions by Finlay on the Star, Leopold on the crank, and the Giefort Brothers.
- Boston committees convened at the New Marlboro Hotel under Chief Consul Ducker to plan the L.A.W. annual meet, settling on a three-evening programme of concerts, a skating-rink entertainment, and a hall banquet large enough for the expected overflow crowd, with races likely at the Union Athletic Grounds and Hotel Vendome as headquarters.
- Club reports cover the Chicago B.C.'s upcoming athletic entertainment, the Detroit Bicycle Track Association's $3,000 incorporation, the Elizabeth Wheelmen's plan to total 60,000 road miles for the year, the Binghampton B.C.'s annual dinner after electing Captain Gerry Jones, the Waterbury Wheel Club's City Hall reception featuring Finlay's Star riding and a polo game, and the St. Louis Ramblers' election of new officers headed by President J. S. Rogers.
- The American Wheelman's national 50-mile road race scheduled for April 24 will be run over the Clarksville Belt Road—a gravel turnpike 75 miles west of St. Louis with only gentle hills—where St. Louis riders expect to break Rhodes's American record of 3h. 32m. 20 2-5s. set in September 1885.