The Wheelmen. - San Francisco Chronicle, 25 May 1891
The Wheelmen.
The preparations for the twenty-five mile road race of the Alameda Bicycle Club, to take place at San Leandro on Saturday, May 30th, are almost completed.
The entries include among others E. E. Stoddard, W. R. Lee, T. H. Doane, A. T. Pickett, Alfred Alcyago, W. Marshall, F. G. White, W. F. Foster, Charles H. Bliss, H. F. Williams, J. F. Ives, W. H. Hebard, J. E. Larder and Fred Brannan. The San Jose entries will bring the total to about twenty, and the result should be a race worth going a long way to see.
As the medals and other prizes are already on hand, the race will be run rain or shine. The road is made of such material that rain will not affect the surface.
The contestants will go over on the 8:30 o'clock boat, which will give ample time before the start of the race, at 10:30 o'clock. The timing will be in the hands of Captain G. H. Strong, which is a guaranty that the times will be correctly taken.
The road is reported in fine order and very fast time should be accomplished.
Mr. and Mrs. Chester Wright, Mr. Kobbe, and Miss Florence Kobbe rode from this city to San Jose last Sunday. The trip was made by easy stages in less than nine hours. The lady members of the party now enjoy the distinction of being the first members of their sex who ever made the entire distance of fifty-two miles in a single day.
Ere another week shall have rolled around we will have seen the twenty-five-mile road race of the Alameda Bicycle Club on the San Leandro triangle on Decoration day, May 30th, and the much-talked-of league century run to San Jose and return next sunday, May 31st. There are some fifty odd cyclists who have signified their intention of going on the run, and as there are sure to be more names come in during the week the projectors may reasonably hope to have as many men finish as were on the celebrated century run to Hollister last year, when fifty-three men completed the run.
As was mentioned in the last week's "Niche" it will be rather a long run before breakfast is served at Redwood City, about twenty-five miles from Twenty-first and Mission streets, and the advice is again repeated to "eat something" before starting. The start will be from Twenty first and Mission streets at 5 A. M. A photograph of the party will probably be taken at San Jose.
The training for the road race goes on apace. Stoddard is living at San Leandro and is delighting the hearts of the Bay City Wheelmen at the way he reels off the miles. Lee, Marshall, Doane and others stick to the park for their training, while the Alameda Bicycle Club men take advantage of the triangle itself. It is understood that the race will be run on a different idea from most of the others, namely, that it will run out the Haywards road and turn to the right to make the triangle. It may be that some of the Oak Leaf Wheelmen may have entered in this.
The committee work of the league meet at Stockton on July 4th is getting into shape so that we may soon expect so know exactly what there will be to entertain those on the trip. The programmes which will be issued will have complete information of the different routes to The Slough City and of the accommodations there, so that visiting wheelmen may not be placed at a disadvantage upon arrival.
There are some delightful little rides around San Francisco and Oakland, and for those who do not mind lifting their wheels over ditches, etc., once in a while some notes are given of a jaunt taken by W. M. Meeker and S. H. Knapp Jr. of the Bay City Wheelmen. From Oakland they went out to Berkeley and then back to Claremont. From there they struck back East into the hills and followed in an old toll road leading to Walnut creek. This road was never opened to the public. When near the summit they turned and struck off in the direction of the Jack Hayes canyon, through which they rode and turned around into Fruitvale, covering about twenty miles of as interesting and pretty country as can well be found around Oakland. On the boat Meeker was asked by a juvenile rider, who informed them that he had ridden from Oakland to San Jose in 4-1/2 hours, if he, Meeker, had ever ridden to San Jose. Think of that you old timers, who, under command of Captain Meeker, rode many a trip to the Garden City and return, and wonder.
L. G. Hodgkins, A. J. Stewart, Charles Dietle, H. B. Sperry, C. A. Howard and A. J. Storey of the Bay City Wheelmen, with a large party of unattached wheelmen, rode to Camp Taylor yesterday. They report the roads very fair. There were eighteen bicycles on the boat.
Thomas H. Doane and Fred W. Ray, Bay City Wheelmen, rode to La Honda from Redwood City Saturday on a fishing excursion. They return this morning.
R. M. Welsh has again made his appearance on cushion-tired safety.
Notwithstanding the fact that the captain of the San Francisco Bicycle Club called a run to the Cliff House for breakfast the temptation to enjoy the excellence of the roads in the vicinity of San Jose was too much for Cobden, the club bugler. So, mounting his wheel at a little after 6 A. M. he started by way of San Bruno road and, stopping only at Redwood City for breakfast, he reached San Jose by 11:30.
After a hasty lunch he again mounted his wheel homeward bound, arriving at Redwood City again by 3:30 P. M. and San Bruno by 6 o'clock.
The return trip was a tough pull, owing to the head wind, which was uncommonly strong. While in San Jose Cobden found time to pay a flying visit to the Garden City Wheelmen's clubrooms, and was welcomed and introduced to the members who were present.
Two members of the San Francisco Bicycle Club, Gus Mayer and Levitt H. Cox, enjoyed a delightful picturesque ride to San Mateo by way of Crystal Springs. The roads were quite rough, but nevertheless the riders managed to pull through after a tedious ride of three hours. The homeward trip was made in two hours.
