THE WHEELMEN. - The San Francisco Call - August 29, 1896
THE WHEELMEN.
Entries and Handicaps of the Liberty Cycling Club's Road Race.
Club runs are becoming less frequent as the Sundays pass by, owing to the dusty condition of the roads and the heat of the country. After the first rains, however, touring will be renewed one might say, for in California the best time for riding is in the fall months.
There is one road race scheduled for to-morrow, that of the Liberty Cycling Club, which will be held over the San Leandro-Haywards course at 2 P. M. The entries and handicaps are as follows: Albert Shieb, F. R. Haley, F. Struven, scratch; Thomas White, H. Wahnig, 30 seconds; Ben Muller, Charles Lieb, Fred Rusher, 1:00; M. Kielberg, Charles Barnes, 1:30; H. Griffith, Fred Koch, 2:00; Joseph Holle, H. Roberts, 2:30., The club members will have a run to witness the event, taking the 10 o'clock broad-gauge boat.
The Alpha (ladies) Cycling Club will have a run to the park to-morrow, leaving their clubhouse at 10:30 A. M. under Captain Mahony.
George E. Sheldon of the Bay City Wheelmen has returned from an extended trip to the north. Victor A. Hancock of the same club left Stockton Wednesday morning en route to Lake Tahoe in the interest of the league road book, a new edition of which will be issued about September 15. The Tahoe trip has never appeared on the road maps of former editions, and Mr. Hancock makes the trip for that purpose.
David Marshall of the Bay City's has returned from Stockton, where he has been for the past week on a business and pleasure trip.
If W. A. Terrill, the champion professional rider of the coast, cannot get a match race with Downing of the Garden City Cyclers, or does not care to ride against Downing, he can have a match with Oscar Osen at Stockton on September 9, and the athletic club there will put up a good-sized purse for the event. The Stockton half-mile track is being watered and rolled daily and will be a fast course on the day of the races.
There are a number of the cracks now in training on the San Jose three-lap track, and the Garden City Cyclers meet on the 9th prox. will draw a large number of entrants and the usual crowds of spectators. Ed Chapman, one of the Olympic Wheelmen's promising amateurs, has joined the professional ranks, more at the suggestion of the racing board than of his own volition. He should do well in handicap events.
J. L. Bothwell, a prominent member of the Garden City Cyclers, is in the City on a visit. Bert Thorndyke of the same club is also here on his return from Stockton, where he has been visiting relatives.
The Eintracht Cyclers will have a club run to Camp Taylor to-morrow under Captain Frank, leaving on the first boat.
The women riders of the East have effected a pretty combination for the warm days. The hot and cumbersome leather and canvas leggins are not worn so generally as they were earlier in the year. The skirts have been lengthened slightly and ordinary stockings are worn. These look neat and comfortable. The women are also wearing a fetching shirt waist in pleasant colors with very wide sleeves. The effect is pretty. As they skim by with these X-ray sleeves fluttering in the wind they look not unlike gigantic butterflies.
The North California Division, League of American Wheelmen, has issued the following circular to all local consuls, league hotels and representatives, which explains itself:
SAN FRANCISCO, August 20, 1896. Dear Sir: I beg to advise you that certain parties, professing to be connected with the North California Division, League of American Wheelmen, are soliciting advertisements for a road book, announcing that it is the official League of American Wheelmen road book. Such statements are false, and you are urged to use your power among your townspeople, informing them of this fact.
The official league road book of this division is now being completed, and will be issued about September 30, and the only advertisements to be found therein are from the tradespeople of San Francisco.
Kindly give this the publicity which it deserves, thereby aiding the board of officers of this division. Fraternally yours,
North California Division, League of American Wheelmen.
FRANK H. KERRIGAN, Chief Consul. STANLEY G. SCOVERN, Secretary-Treasurer.
The San Francisco Road Club will have a run to-morrow to Mill Valley and Larkspur, under Captain Pixley, taking the 9 o'clock boat from this side.
President Conwell of the Cycle Board of Trade has appointed J. W. Maguire, I. Schwartz and James M. Hamilton a committee to arrange a banquet of the board with the South Side Improvement Club, a little feature which has been on the tapis ever since the big parade on July 25.
Walter B. Fawcett has resigned the captaincy of the Olympic Club Wheelmen, but this fact has created little surprise, as he has been so employed of late in the conduct of race meets that he has had little chance to give any attention to the club, and T. G. Spillane has been acting as captain in his stead. Mr. Spillane may now be honored with the captaincy, or the honor may fall upon Lieutenant Plageman.
Messrs. Stratton, Cosgriff, Edwards, Ravlin and Hadenfeldt of the Olympic Club Wheelmen will ride to San Jose to-day, returning to-morrow. They compose a committee from their club to arrange for a joint road race with the Garden City Cyclers at five miles, to take place about September 20. Such an event should be of considerable interest.
Chief Consul Kerrigan has called a meeting of the North California Division, League of American Wheelmen, for Saturday evening, September 5, at the rooms of the Bay City Wheelmen, and all delegates and representatives are requested to be present.
The Raisin City Cyclers of Fresno have elected the following officers, directors and committeemen:
John McMullin, president; John Reichman, vice-president; B. J. Metzler, treasurer; A. Newhouse, secretary; Dr. A. J. Pedlar, captain; C. H. Markham and F. H. Freman, lieutenants.
Board of directors - Frank H. Short, Harry W. Skinner, B. J. Metzler, T. J. Hay, John McMullin, Dr. A. J. Pedlar, C. H. Markham, John Reichman and A. Newhonse.
Committee on good roads - James Porteous, George C. Roeding, Dr. T. M. Hayden, George W. Jones and A. Gartenlaub.
The club starts under auspicious circumstances, having a charter-roll of eighty-four members. Besides these, twenty-eight more were elected at the last meeting. R. M. Thompson is the local consul of the league at Fresno and will do all in his power to have the Raisin City Cyclers made a league club. Mr. Thompson is in the cycle business there and is very popular with all the riders.
The entries for the race-meets at Stockton and San Jose on September 9 (Admission day) will close next Wednesday with the secretaries of the Stockton Athletic Club and the Garden City Cyclers respectively. The handicaps will be announced a few days later.
The brake is bound to grow in favor. Circumstances during the last few weeks force this conclusion upon the students of the cycle trade. Accidents, several fatal ones among the number, have occurred in the East lately and it has been shown that in each case a brake, had there been one attached, could doubtless have averted the fatality. It now apparently remains for a really clever device to be placed upon the market for it to score a great success. A good brake is really wanted. The cyclists realize it and each day they are becoming more and more convinced of its necessity. An expert rider has said: "If brakes were in universal use the number of accidents would be decreased nearly 50 per cent. Even the dreaded and universally condemned scorcher would not be so terrifying if he had a brake on his wheel. It would be of decided benefit even on level places where a stop could be made quickly. No one needs to be told that it would be a decided advantage on hills.
"The novice, above all others, should not attempt to ride in a hilly country without a brake. The art of back-pedaling is an accomplishment which should be acquired by all, but there are times when even that does not avail. The foot may slip at a critical moment, or any one of a dozen minor accidents happen, which makes it imperative that the speed of the wheel be checked at once. That cannot be done successfully and without risk of injuring the rider or the wheel without a brake, all assertions to the contrary notwithstanding."
Entry blanks are out for the road races to be held over the Ross Valley course, from Tamalpais to San Rafael, Sunday, September 13. There will be a five-mile handicap, starting at 11 A. M., and a mile handicap, starting at 2:30 P. M. Entries should be sent to Frank M. Byrne, box 715, San Rafael, not later than Thursday, September 10. The events are open to amateurs only, and will doubtless attract a large number of riders if the prizes are at all valuable. The prize list has not yet been given out, however.
The annual meeting of the Bay City Wheelmen will be held next Tuesday evening, September 1, at the clubrooms, 441 Golden Gate avenue.
Fred C. Chandler, who manages the interests of the Lozier people on this coast, returned from his Australian trip, via Honolulu, Thursday. He reports the cycle trade as brisk in Australia, but there are any number of different makes of wheels, agencies and rental places, and the business is likely to be overdone, as it was here a year or so ago. There will always be a demand for high-grade American-made wheels there, however, and Australia will hereafter cut a large figure in our bicycle export trade. The riders there prefer wheels somewhat heavier than those in use in America. Bicycle races are largely attended, it being the reigning sport. It is nothing to see from 30,000 to 40,000 people at a meet, the grounds being always built with a view to accommodating that number. To them 10,000 would be a poor crowd; to us it would be an immense mob. Professional racing is the proper thing, of course, and there is a great deal of betting on the results. The sport is squarely conducted, there seldom being any crooked work heard of, which probably accounts for the support it receives from the public.
Neat cards are out for the twenty-eighth annual outing of the Red Rock Juveniles to Wildwood Glenn, Sausalito, to-morrow. The Red Rockers never do anything by halves and invariably manage to invent some new pleasure during those semi-occasional events. On this occasion there will be a 100-yard race between Officer Bill Harrison and Henry Hart and fancy bicycle riding by Captain Rome Harris and Billy Driscoll. The ladies will sing and dance with their customary skill and afterward entertain the party at a choice repast at a fashionable restaurant on Bush street. The club will give the second smoker on September 24.
