THE WHEELMEN. - The San Francisco Call, 28 Sep 1895
THE WHEELMEN.
Two Road Races From San Leandro to Haywards To-Morrow.
CLUB EVENTS TO-MORROW.
Bay City Wheelmen - Century run.
California Cycling Club - Centerville.
Camera Club Cyclists - Mill Valley.
Crescent Athletic Club Wheelmen - Races Oakland Trotting Park.
Diamond Cycling Club - Haywards.
Golden City Wheelmen - Blind run.
Golden Gate Cycling Club - Haywards.
Liberty Cycling Club - Camp Taylor.
Liberty Cycling Club Ladies' Annex - Crystal Springs.
Lily Cycling Club - San Mateo.
Olympic Club Wheelmen - San Jose.
Olympic Cyclers - San Leandro.
Outing Road Club - Century run.
Reliance Club Wheelmen - San Jose.
San Francisco Road Club - Road race Haywards.
Verein Eintracht Cycling Club - Road race Haywards.
Waverly Cycling Club - Haywards.
Road racing still continues in high favor among the various cycling clubs and the results of so many of them should materially aid the handicapper of the ten-mile event of the California Associated Cycling Clubs which will be held October 13 either around the San Leandro triangle or from Fruitvale to Haywards. There will probably be from seventy-five to 100 entries in this race and but for the many club tryouts now being held every Sunday the handicapper would be in a sorry plight to try to place them correctly.
The two races to-morrow will be among members of the San Francisco Road Club and the Verein Eintracht Cycling Club. The former will start from San Leandro at 2:30 in the afternoon and the latter half an hour earlier. There will be a big crowd at the finish, as several other clubs will go to Haywards to see the races. The entries and handicaps for both events were published in THE CALL yesterday.
The benefit for the California Associated Cycling Clubs will be held at the Columbia Theater next Thursday evening. The money derived from this source will be expended on prizes for the annual ten-mile road race to be held October 13, and therefore the theater party should be supported by all the cycling clubs. The Bay City Wheelmen, California, Imperial and Olympic Cyclers can be depended upon to take the largest blocks of seats, but the other clubs will all be represented, and will make up in enthusiasm what they lack in numbers. Not to attend this affair will be for a club to acknowledge that it is "not in it", but they'll all be there, so there's no fear of that. "Our Sett," the "Blow Club" and the "Thirteen Club" (minus Jimmy Joyce, who is East) will occupy box seats, as will the press and other cycling dignitaries.
The annual election of the Associated Clubs will be held Saturday evening, October 5, at the rooms of the California Cycling Club. H. H. White of the Olympics will undoubtedly secure the presidency and J. F. Hancock, the present secretary of the association, will unquestionably be reelected, as he is capable and efficient and represents a big club, the support of which he can depend upon to carry him through.
The application for membership of the Call Cycling Club will be presented to the California Associated Cycling Clubs at its next meeting, October 5. It is the desire of the Call Club to enter a team in the next relay and also in the 25-mile race on February 22. Individual members of the club have also been strongly advised by the directors to join the League of American Wheelmen. The club will shortly secure clubrooms and adopt some distinctive uniform. There is no run called for to-morrow. M. D. Orr and Edward Distel have been appointed first and second lieutenants respectively. The club's membership is now eighty-three.
The ladies of the Camera Club Cyclists should have an enjoyable time to-morrow. A run has been specially arranged for them, the objective point being the grounds and residence of George T. Marsh, the Japanese curio collector, at Mill Valley. The distance is about eight miles, over good roads and no hills. Friends of members are invited. Take the 8 o'clock Sausalito boat.
The Golden Gate Cycling Club will have a run to Haywards to-morrow to witness the two road races. The joint run with the Diamond Cyclers of Alameda last Sunday through the park was very much enjoyed. After the run all returned to the Golden Gates' clubrooms and the visitors were royally entertained. The club has a member, Harry Fowler, who is quite a trick rider.
The California Cycling Club will follow Captain Burke to Centerville to-morrow, where they are assured of a splendid dinner. Members will take the 9 A. M. creek-route boat. The club is enthusiastic over the proposed theater party of the Associated Clubs and will attend to a man.
The Olympic Club Wheelmen have a run to San Jose to-morrow to witness the contest between the Olympic and Garden City Cyclers' shooting annexes. The latter team is said to be particularly strong, and Scovern, White, Allen and others of the Olympics must shoot true or they will stand little chance.
The Pacific Cycling Club had a very enjoyable run to Camp Taylor last Sunday under the command of Captain L. W. Pryor. The roads were found in splendid condition after the recent rains. The club is in a very prosperous condition and as the members take great interest in its welfare they all turn out on the runs. The club always has a run every other Sunday.
The Reliance Club Wheelmen will journey slowly to San Jose to-morrow, led by "Pop" Jerome, who has made pre-arrangements for a splendid lunch at the Vendome. The ride is styled an "old men's run" and necessarily the pace will be slow. The start will be made from the Reliance Club rooms at 9 A. M.
The result of the Garden City Cyclers' election as shown by the telegraphic reports is not as complete as we would like it and the following shows the actual vote cast for every man and contains some surprises:
President-H. M. N. Spring 139, J. B. Lamkin 53; vice-president, S. G. Tomkins; financial secretary-Howard A. Alexander 120, Joseph A. Desimone 71; recording secretary, George A. Pollard; directors-A. C. McKenney 184, Joseph A. Delmas 178, James A. Chase 174, George Anderson 168, Henry Lion 143, Fred Seyboldt 93 (all but the latter were elected); captain-Joseph B. Carey 104, Charles P. Jarman 59, Ed Williston 15, William Lipsett 13; first lieutenant-Joseph Edwards 123, Al Holloway 62; second lieutenant, W. J. O'Brien; bugler, L. E. Whiting; color-bearer-John Dermoody 131, A. von Bendeleben 28.
They say it was a very hotly contested election and the 192 votes cast for president show that a large proportion of the membership was present. There is a rumor that the new directors will arrange for a club road race at once, though this is not authentic. President Spring will make an excellent officer for the club and no better choice for the captaincy could have been made than Mr. Carey, who is well known as the editor of that up-to-date sheet known as Cycling.
The ladies' annex of the Liberty Cycling Club will have a run to Crystal Springs tomorrow, starting from Twenty-fourth and Howard streets, at 7 A. M.
The Golden City Wheelmen have a "blind" run scheduled for to-morrow, destination unknown.
F. G. Lacey and H. E. McCrea, Bay City Wheelmen, will go East shortly and meet the National Racing Circuit when it reaches Denver. They have been training assiduously for some time past, and hope to be in splendid condition by the time they are ready to race.
To-morrow the members of the Outing Road Club will have a century ride around the bay. H. Whipple and J. Morrison of the club made the trip last Sunday; and report the roads in splendid condition.
I guess the Pacific Cyclist has departed this life, for the little pink-covered cycling weekly has not been regularly issued since September 5. Some few copies of the issue of the 12th were given out. The advertisers did not look upon it with favor, and as it was never up to date in cycling news it could not survive. This is the paper that entered into a dispute with THE CALL's cycling correspondent some months ago over Foster and Jones and the Olympic Club Wheelmen, and retired from the fight with its colors trailing in the dust created by its own retreat.
The Liberty Cycling Club has decided to join the Associated Clubs again, this time "for keeps." To-morrow the club will have a run to Camp Taylor. W. Hochna, George Springer and H. A. Hall have been elected members. The club is just quieting down after an exciting election, particulars of which appeared exclusively in THE CALL yesterday.
The Olympic Cyclers will have a run tomorrow to the Souther Farm, near San Leandro, taking the 9 A. M. boat. The trampers' annex of the club goes to the same place half an hour earlier, and they will join together in the merry-making. The new wheeling organization in the Olympic Club, it will thus be seen, has made itself popular with the devotees of other outdoor sports, which could never be said of the old annex. The latter is probably on its last legs now, as since the Fuller-Hunter regime has been broken up the better class of members are fast deserting it to join the Olympic Cyclers. As the membership of the latter will be limited to a hundred, however, a good many who come late will be left out in the cold, and as Jimmy Coffroth puts it: "That's the intention. We can have our pick of the best members and make the Cyclers what the wheeling annex should be - a band of young gentlemen interested in wheeling. With a limited membership we can close the doors in the faces of undesirable members. There will be no factions, party fights or axes to grind with us. We have no enemies among the other clubs - we want none. One of the first things Captain Butz will do will be to arrange a joint run with the Bay City Wheelmen, that we may extend the glad hand we have so long been forced to withhold against our wills just to suit the whims of a few disgruntled ex-members of the old San Francisco Bicycle Club." To all of which his fellow-members surrounding him cried: "Vive la Olympic Cyclers; away with the wheeling annex."
The Diamond and Alameda Cycling Clubs will have a joint theater party at the Oakland Opera-house on Friday evening, October 11. To-night the former club has a run by moonlight to Haywards.
The Bay City Wheelmen are booming now as never before. A large influx of desirable new members has brought the list up to nearly 175, the limit. The club's annual election seemed to suit all the members but one, and he has been compromised, and the newly elected officers, as announced in yesterday's CALL, have taken hold of things with a vim worthy of emulation by other clubs. The clubrooms are to be all retinted and every carpet in the house is to be taken up and cleaned. A new flooring is to be laid in the wheel-room, and the training-rooms are to be provided with additional accommodations. A ladies' night will be given in a couple of weeks. Captain Plummer has called a run to Stockton by boat Saturday evening, October 5, which will doubtless be attended by all the members and their friends. If the following Monday is a holiday (Labor day), as some think, a two days' stay will be made. The club's annual entertainment at Odd Fellows' Hall will be a high-class vaudeville instead of a minstrel show this year, and the date has been set for Monday evening, November 4. To-morrow a number of the members, paced by George Andrews and Alfred Griffiths on a Rambler tandem, will endeavor to ride a century under seven hours. If it is as warm as at this writing they will have a hot time of it surely.
Chief Consul Melrose tells me the new league roadbook will surely be ready for delivery by October 15. Several vexatious delays have held it back longer than was intended. Mr. Melrose has worked hard and earnestly for the completion of this work, and long after his term of office has expired he will be remembered by this very book, to which he has devoted all his spare time for many months past. To him and to Victor A. Hancock, who toured the country securing data for the roadbook, belong all of the credit accruing, and it must be a relief to them to now approach the end of their arduous task. The new book will be of inestimable benefit to all wheelmen, and can only be obtained by joining the league. The initiation is $1 and the yearly dues $1. The book itself is worth five times these figures, to say nothing of the many other benefits you gain from membership.
The ticket for new league officers, which names Frank H. Kerrigan for chief consul and Stanley G. Scovern for secretary-treasurer, seems to meet with general approval, and there will hardly be any opposition.
Sydney B. Vincent of the Bay City Wheelmen, whose picture is presented this week, is built like a racer and rides as one. He has long been known as a particularly fast man on the track and road, and it was not a great surprise when he won the Bay City Wheelmen's five-mile road race last Sunday, though he had to put forth his best efforts to do it. Last May and June he was riding second to Harry F. Terrill in class A, which of itself is a reputation for any man. He has not given much attention to racing of late, except on the cable slot going home every morning at 3 A. M., for he works nights for the Associated Press. He's been doing this so regularly and often that all the people along his route home know him, and when a dark streak crosses their vision for a second and soon is lost to sight in the distance, they think: "Syd must be late to-night, or else he's training again."
E. Ross Lozier has been spending the past week with friends in San Jose, and doesn't seem in any hurry to return to business.
On Sunday, October 20, Emil Languetin, the fast class A rider of the Bay City Wheelmen, will try for the five-mile coast road record, now down to 11:35, over the course from Warm Springs to Milpitas, paced by three tandems.
The Lily Cycling Club has organized at Twenty-seventh and Folsom streets, and will have a run to-morrow to San Mateo. The road officers are: David Hanley, captain; James Sheridan, William Conroy, George Smith, Edward Rosenburg and August Butler, lieutenants. Thomas Hughes is secretary.
The latest convert to cycling is "King" McManus of the Potrero, and he is frequently seen gliding along Kentucky street.
Three prominent Eastern traveling men were here this week. They were Messrs. Dickinson (Henley), Larson (Fowler) and Benjamin (Barnes). They visited some of the clubs and were entertained so well they thoroughly enjoyed their stay in the City.
The Cleveland people have received a wheel which has on it a 120 gear, the front sprocket has 30 teeth, the rear one 7.
The way to tell the gearing of a machine - a principle which all should know - is to multiply the number of teeth in the front sprocket by the diameter of the rear wheel - invariably 28 inches - and divide the sum by the number of teeth in the rear sprocket. Thus: 30x28 – 840; divide by 7, and you have the gear of this new wheel, 120. T. A. Griffiths, the Bay City scorcher, is thinking of riding it in the ten-mile road race on October 13.
George Conroy has been elected second lieutenant of the Olympic Cyclers.
The Olympic, a popular local cycling journal, has given an elegant silver cup to the Associated Clubs, to be contested for in the three annual road events of the association. The possession of it will be decided by the number of points scored in the three races, the winner counting 5, the next man 4, and so on. It is a beautiful trophy, and, unlike any similar prizes heretofore given, it is fully up to value.
The Crescent Athletic Club Wheelmen of Berkeley will hold several club races at the Oakland Trotting Park track tomorrow.
The Waverly Cycling Club, resplendent in white duck suits, will journey to Haywards to-morrow to witness the road races.
THE CYCLER'S SONG.
There's joy in a sail in a merry gale
On the deck of a flying yacht, And a burst of speed with a gallant steed
Is with liveliest pleasure fraught. And an ocean trip on a bounding ship
On the breast of the sparkling sea Brings vigor again to the weary brain,
But a spin on the wheel for me.
Wheeling, wheeling, swift as the rushing wind,
The wrinkles of care fade away in the air as the city we leave behind,
The heart grows light and the eyes grow bright as the kiss of the breeze we feel
While speeding along with a merry song astride of the noiseless wheel.
We hold in disdain the clattering train
As it flies o'er the gleaming rail,
No joy is so bright as our rapid flight
As we speed over hill and dale;
Through beautiful lanes where the leafy manes
Of the trees in the breezes play,
With a laugh and a song we speed along,
From the cares of the world away.
Hurrah for the wheel, for the whirling wheel,
Hurrah for the riders so gay,
A rollicking cheer for the country dear,
And the scent of the new-mown hay.
Hurrah for the blush of the cheeks aflush
With a ruddy and healthful glow,
And a three times three for the life so free
Which the cyclers alone may know.
