Santa on Bike; Letters to Santa, 1897

From the Richmond Dispatch newspaper, December 19, 1897. Illustration above accompanied the text of dozens of letters to Santa Claus from children in Richmond Virginia, including these that have requests for bicycles.

Dear Santy Claus:
I want you to bring me a bicycle, a lock-bracletle, a doll-baby, sewing machine, and nuts, candies, fruit of all kind,and popcracker all kind; and bring them to my address, 216 N. 21 St.
Your little friend.
NORVELL EUBANK

The next letter is from the same family ~

Dear Saunta Cause:
Please bring me a gun, a pound of shot, a bicycle, and some fireworks; that is all. I live at No. 216 21st Street.
Your little boy.
WILLIE EUBANK.

1212 Floyd Avenue,
Dear Santa Claus:
I want a bicycle and a watch and chain and a harp and a drum. That's all.
Your little boy, ELLETT READY.

Dear Santa Claus:
I wish you would bring me a bicycle and a bunch of switches; a pack of popcrackers, a box of candy, a air-rifle, and a pound of shot. Yours truly,
THOMAS MOSELEY.
1401 Grove avenue.

Several letters are worded as if Santa's delivery of the items personally isn't part of how they understand things ~

Dear Santa Claus:
Richmond. Va. Dec. 2d.
Please send me a bycycle, and it will be thankfully received.
Yours respectively,
HEBERT GILMAN.

Dear Santa Claus:
Please send a bicycle and a wagon & goat and harness. From your little boy,
OWEN LEWS,
1123 Floyd Ave., Richmond, Va

A number of letters included requests for others ~

Dear Santa Claws:
I am a little boy 3 1/2 years old. I want you to bring me a bicycle, and a pack of popcrackers, a horn, and some candy. Phase bring Minerva (our colored girl) a bicycle, too, and my little brother Harold, something pretty. I am going to be a good boy, and go to bed real soon. Please come, Santa Claus; don't forget.
FRANK CAVEDO.

I was surprised by the extent of the requests made by many of the children's letters; this one balances that out somewhat.

Richmond, Va,
207 S. Pine St
Dear Santa Clause:
Christmas is nearly here, and I would like for you to bring me something nice. I will be thankful for anything that you bring me. From your little boy,
LYNWOOD BRYANT.

A few years ago I had a blog post with the similar illustration, shown below, taken from an ad for Stearns bicycles from the bicycle industry journal "Cycling Life" (issue for December 24 issue, 1896).

Christmas-time & New Woman Cycling Attire (1897)

Sarah Grand was a British feminist and writer - somehow an article about her development of a more modern cycling costume for women riders came to be published in a newspaper in Los Angeles in 1897. Wikipedia notes that she had traveled in the U.S. to publicize her novel mentioned in the article. The byline for the article is given as London.

From "The Herald" (Los Angeles) December 26, 1897.


The illustration shows a much more structured design than the article describes

I have reproduced the highlights of the article, below.

By a judicious combination of ideas based on Shakespeare and common sense, Madame Sarah Grand, the world famous authoress of "The Heavenly Twins," has evolved a bicycle costume for women that is a startler. She calls her new bicycle dress for women her "Christmas bicycle costume,"and considers that in devising it she has given additional cause for rejoicing among women during the coming holiday season.

To begin to explain Madame Grand's costume, it is necessary to take the Rosalind of Act II, in "As You Like It," and, using her as a lay figure, to build the Madame Grand costume around her. Madame Grand is an enthusiastic admirer of Shakespeare, and the more she studied the free and easy grace of Rosalind of the russet doublet and hose, the more she became convinced that, had bicycles been in use during the Shakespearian era, the doublet and hose would have been the costume that level headed women would have adopted. . . .

So Madame Grand proceeded to think out her Rosalind bicycle costume, discarding one by one the nineteenth century articles of dress that fettered the sex when awheeling.

"No waist for me," said Madame Grand, at the beginning of her studies. "A waist on a bicycle is absurd. I can never bear to ride In anything tight, especially corsets, and I like to feel free and comfortable." And away went the corsets, and after them the waist, then the skirt and the bloomers, until Rosalind the lay figure was deprived of everything that pertained to modern costuming, and stood ready to be rehabilitated . . .

The costume is made for winter wear, although it can be fashioned readily enough into an attractive summer rig for the athletic girl. It is made of white fur . . .

"Nothing is unfeminine for a woman," she said, when asked about this point, "unless she chooses to make it so. I think we are beginning to show nowadays that we can do many things which used to be thought 'unfeminine,' and be womanly nevertheless. Bicycling Is one of them, and the wearing of a rational bicycle costume goes with it. The skirt is evidently not the thing. I have had two bad accidents from mine catching, and it was made by an excellent tailor. This is what led me to devote a good deal of thought to the subject, and made me come to the conclusion that an
easy and pretty costume might be modeled from Rosalind's dress."

One of several copies of a photo of Sarah Grand with a bicycle in 1896, but nominally under copyright of some sort.

Unfortunately I do not see any immediate possibility for access to Cycling World Illustrated, the magazine from which the image of Ms. Grand and her bicycle was apparently taken. The Online Bicycle Museum does have some pages of 1896 issues on line that are entertaining and particularly about women riders, but not complete issues.

Since I wrote this post, I discovered another later article about Sarah Grand and her cycling attire that I have a separate blog post about.

Early Bike Commuters - 1899 Video

44 second video copied from American Memory

It appears that the film starts just as the rush of workers on bicycles and on foot begins at the end of the work day. Was the policeman at left there every day to maintain order? While the copyright deposit date is given as 1903 the actual date of filming is July 5 1899. They would be just back from the previous day's national holiday (one assumes). Filmed in Detroit.


Screen grab - note a fair number of the riders are women

TITLE - Parke Davis Employees

CREATED/PUBLISHED - United States : American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, 1903.
SUMMARY - Photographed from a single-camera position, this film encompasses a scene of a large number of people either walking or riding bicycles as they leave what appears to be a factory. The title indicates they are employees of a drug firm.

NOTES - Copyright: American Mutoscope & Biograph Company; 11May03; H31670.
Cameraman, F. S. Armitage.
Cameraman credit from Niver's, Early motion pictures, p. 245.
Duration: 0:44 at 20 fps.
Filmed July 5, 1899 in Detroit.
Source used: Niver, Kemp R., Early motion pictures, 1985.
Received: ca. 1991 from LC lab; ref print and dupe neg; preservation; Paper Print Collection.


Number of riders builds . . . no one wears a helmet, of course, but they all seem to wear hats


One fellow politely doffs his hat to the police officer

Early Cycling Videos

Posting some "found" materials from the Library of Congress site these days.


Bicycle Trick Riding, No. 2 from American Memory

Bicycle trick riding, no. 2 from (or by) Thomas A. Edison, Inc.

CREATED/PUBLISHED-United States : Edison Manufacturing Co., 1899.

SUMMARY-Opens with a man riding a bicycle in a backwards circle, on a stage with a painted backdrop of a city street. He dismounts, then remounts the cycle and rides in a forwards circle, pausing and balancing for a moment as he rears up and spins the front wheel. Continuing in the circle, the man moves in front of the handlebars and continues pedaling briefly. For his next trick, the cyclist makes one circle and then pauses center stage as he does a balancing act to the left side of the bike, with his left leg on the pedal and his right on the front wheel. Ends after he remounts but continues to hold the bicycle motionless.

From Edison films catalog: "Neidert," of national fame, does stunts on his wheel that are simply wonderful. Makes his bicycle rear up, and rides around the stage on his back wheel; besides a lot of other easy things, such as riding on one pedal and riding backward, seated on handlebar. 50 feet. $7.50.

One wonders where this last paragraph comes from - presumably some documentation from that period since his trick riding is not all that exciting today.

"A Brilliant Idea" - Bicycle Comedy of 1896

I found a script deposited for Copyright in 1896 for a "comedy sketch" about bicycling in American Memory - a married couple's adventures in owning bicycles.


Page 4 of the 10 pages of script

Jack and Fan (short for Fannie) attempt amusing dialog - Jack dirties up the living room pillows while working on his bike while Fan is out learning to "mount" (get on) a bicycle. And while she was out, Jack bought her a new "wheel" for her birthday! Eventually it segues to a discussion of her desire to modify her cycling attire - "not too short," says Jack (not surprisingly).

One could easily read too much into this, but overall this short vignette suggests how bicycling introduced new aspects to social life.

Bicycle Polo in 1896

As usual, I have noticed a drop-off in the number of bicycle commuters and other riders as the weather gets cooler (and wetter).

In the 1890s, there were various attempts to encourage cycling during cooler months - in 1896, one strategy was to encourage new indoor cycling activities, including an article in the October 17 1896 Washington Evening Times about "Bicycle Polo".

The most exciting novelty of the wheeling season has been bicycle polo, which was practically unheard of until about a month ago. It is a rather dangerous game, but not more so than polo as played with ponies at an East Indian gymkhana or a Meadowbrook Hunt meet. A low-geared bicycle has decided advantages in playing it, because it is so much easier suddenly to check or start it. Precisely so, a low-geared pony-that is to say, one that can start or stop promptly and is quick in turning is preferable to one that is merely fast. Of course, the rider in bicycle polo must have a quick eye for distance, be able to ride "hands off" at any angle, and to turn in the shortest compass. In spite of Its difficulties. the game will be the principal attraction at most of the big exhibition meetings in the riding academies this winter.

Bicycle polo is still around . . . photo from Del~Uks Flickr offerings

Another Shaft-Drive Bike Poster from BnF

In my previous post I wrote about the use of Pinterest to present bicycle posters from the French National Library on Gallica. My example was a poster for a chainless shaft-drive bicycle - I didn't notice that there was another poster in their Pinterest collection that is a shaft-drive bike, and one that shows the shaft-drive aspect better.

Source: gallica.bnf.fr via GallicaBnF on Pinterest

Did chains break all that often?

The BnF has posters not just from France but from other European countries on their Pinterest "Velo Board." It appears that the above chainless bicycle was made in Denmark by Nordisk Cyclefabrik - ah the things you can discover with Google. Small print on the poster indicates that while the bicycle was made in Denmark and the poster was likely intended for use in Denmark (since it advertises a Danish location for purchasing the bicycle) the printing was done in Paris - so presumably this is how it got into the BnF, through some sort of copyright-like deposit.

Someone in Denmark created a blog post (in English) describing this Danish chainless bike if one wants to know more.

This poster, as with the other, emphasizes the reliability of a shaft-drive bike over a bike with a chain - that chains break and you can avoid that with a shaft drive. It may have been that manufacturing practices at the time produced chains that were less reliable than today - other than bikes from box stores, I think most chains are pretty reliable nowadays (unless abused). Modern attempts to market chainless bikes have focused more on their being cleaner and easier to maintain, particularly for belt-drive systems combined with an internal hub gear system.

The one somewhat fanciful aspect to this poster is the effortless way the rider is proceeding up what looks to be a reasonably steep hill - this shaft-drive bike is still a single speed bicycle and riding up a hill while seated would generally require a fair application of effort. (While I have seen many photos and images of both men and women in the 1890s bent over their bicycles to ride quickly in so-called "scorcher" position, I have never seen a photo where the rider has stood out of the saddle to ride up a hill.)

Chainless Bike Poster from BnF via Pinterest

The National Library of France Gallica digital library now has a Pinterest account that includes a set of bicycle posters.

Source: gallica.bnf.fr via GallicaBnF on Pinterest

One of the posters from Gallica's Pinterest selection

This poster for a chainless bike; that is, for a bike using a shaft drive rather than a chain, is less detailed than most bicycle posters that show the bicycle accurately. This appears to have the shaft drive on the left side of the bike, but typically it was put on the right side - the same side where a chain would run.

While there are still occasional efforts to revive shaft drive systems for bicycles today, they aren't very successful. More successful has been the effort to adapt disk brakes for road racing bikes - I was interested to see Leonard Zinn "throw some ice water" (as he put it) on this notion in his column today. My own experience with Avid cable-actuated disk brakes on a road bike (although not for racing) has been that they are more maintenance headache than they are worth.

"Nobby" Bicycle Suits (1896)

Cycling attire ad, 1896

From "The Referee and Cycle Trade Journal: a Weekly Record and Review of Cycling and the Cycle Trade." Volume 17, Number 1 - May 7, 1896.
archive.org/details/refereecycletra171896chic

Women cyclists of the 1890s often wore special clthing specifically created and intended for cycling, such as bloomers. I usually think of the tweedily attired male cyclists from the 1890s as riding in a version of their regular clothes, but this kind of ad suggests otherwise.

The slogan of this company, Rosenwald & Weil, seems a bit obscure - "Distinctive gentility in style - like brevity in composition - represents greatest merit."

Nice 1891 Paris Poster

From the Library of Congress

Title: L'Etendard français, bicyclettes et tricycles / J. Chéret, 91.
Creator(s): Chéret, Jules, 1836-1932, artist
Date Created/Published: Paris : Imp. Chaix (Ateliers Chéret), 20, rue Bergére, 1891
Medium: 1 print (poster) : lithograph, color ; 123 x 88 cm.
Summary: Poster showing a woman riding a bicycle, carrying a tri-color pennant.
Library of Congress
www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004675012/

Many such posters include a fair amount of accurate detail of the bicycle but this on is more impressionistic.

"Punctured" - Love & Cycling, 1898

"Punctured"

From the Library of Congress - full record
Title: Punctured
Date Created/Published: c1898.
Medium: 1 print : lithograph.
Summary: Man with arrow in chest, on a road holding a bicycle, facing a woman with a bicycle. Love.
Notes:
* Lithograph copyrighted by Henry Graves & Company, Limited, London.
* This record contains unverified, old data from caption card.
* Caption card tracings: Bicycles; Love and courtship; Shelf.

Ah, librarianship - able to reduce anything to rather a musty discussion. Still, a nice lithograph, and amusing.

Betsey Jane On Wheels - Fiction & the 1890s Cycling Craze

Betsey Jane on wheels; a tale of the bicycle craze. - I found this online recently, digitized for preservation (and access) reasons at the Library of Congress.


Title page for "Betsey Jane on wheels," published in 1895

Online record for this book
Personal name: Brown, Herbert E.
Main title: Betsey Jane on wheels; a tale of the bicycle craze. By H. E. Brown.
Published/Created: Chicago, W. B. Conkey company, 1895.
Description: 285 p. incl. front., plates. 19 1/2 cm.
Subjects: Cycling--Fiction.

PDF of the entire book

Set of many of the illustrations from the book


The heroine in her bloomers

This book was apparently part of a subscription series that readers would receive "issues" of as one subscribes to a magazine - but each would be a different book. (Oddly this title was deposited on copyright promptly after publication in 1895 but apparently not cataloged for ten years. Keep in mind that I'm also a librarian, so such things are of mild interest - if only to me.)

This work of fiction, over 200 pages, describes a family and then town's infatuation with bicycles and cycling. It precedes from one son taking it up, to the daughter (who wears risque bloomers), to the father and then finally the title character, the mother of the family, Betsey Jane. Issues such as whether women should ride bicycles (and if so, what they should wear) and the views of churches and government on cycling are dealt with directly (more or less - considering it is a work of fiction). Written in 1895, before the cycling craze hit its peak and was then overcome by the automobile, some of the suggestions about the future of cycling are optimistic or anyway didn't come to pass - are the suggestions about uses of bicycles on farms at all serious? I don't know.

The author steps out of his fictional role (as Betsey) and has the following conclusion, which is editorial in its tone.

IN CONCLUSION.

As the most interesting part of a book is usually the conclusion I have concluded to finish this work by writing a conclusion, but will leave the reader to form his or her conclu­sion in regard to its merits.

I have attempted to give some idea of the bicycle craze which is now so prevalent, and although some cases may be slightly over­drawn, I think that I am justified in such overdrawing, as the bicycle craze will undoubtedly reach more alarming proportions another season.

The large manufacturers of buggies, wagons and street cars having noticed a decided fall­ing off in the demand for their goods, and, profiting by this experience, have concluded to meet the popular demand by converting their plants in bicycle factories. They have declared their intention to place wheels on the market at less than one-half the present prices, which will bring them within the reach of nearly every­one. When a good wheel can be purchased for twenty-five or thirty dollars, few people will be without one, for as a means of conveyance the cycle eclipses all four-footed beasts, as it is cheaper, safer and faster.

That cycling is a healthy and profitable recreation, none can deny, but, like all other good things, there will be plenty of people who will carry it to the extreme, and many others who will condemn the whole business on account of the injurious use which is made of it by a few.

Cycling is one of the few sports in which ladies can indulge with the same freedom and good results as the more fortunate masculine element of society. There has long been a want of something which will afford the ladies both sport and exercise, but so far nothing has been introduced which equals the cycle. Men can play base ball, run foot races, hunt, fish, box, wrestle and jump, but poor woman has so long been debarred from any active amusement, that, physically, she has been deteriorating, and now the cycle comes in as a good Samaritan. It affords an asylum, a refuge, a sort of fire escape, and gives the gentler sex an oppor­tunity to build up their well nigh lost physical powers.

What if some do abuse the sport and themselves also? It does not follow that cycling is wrong, any more than a great many other institutions which have suffered from the same cause, or that because a few church members do not live up to what they profess, that the church is entirely wrong, yet there are people who will argue on this basis, and tell you that cycling is not right, and that no intelligent or sensible person will ride a wheel. But the world would not be able to move in its accustomed orbit without some cranks, as the millenium would soon arrive and put an end to cycles, cranks and all.

The coming "car craze" had not yet tempered this fanciful view of the future

Seasonal Cycling Attire (1895)

All these are taken from the August 11 1898 issue of the Washington Times. This newspaper later cultivated its cycling readership with stories on cyclist matters, but at this point apparently the paper was still unsure how seriously to take the topic, resulting in these somewhat less than flattering illustrations with the caption, "Experience with a garment."


Winter


Rainy weather


Summer (in Washington)

Belling the Bike (Not the Cat)

With the trails busier, some use bells to indicate they are passing but most don't (where I ride, anyway). I saw someone the other day with "jingle bells" on his handlebars, ringing more or less continuously, although not very noticeably.

I then happened upon this ad from 1898 - for the the Saks [chain] stores, in Washington DC. "Looking towards spring season sales of bicycles and bicycle 'sundries.'"


Full ad is here, with many bike accessory prices from 1898 (not just bells)

The "continuously ringing bicycle bell" is apparently not a new idea.

Bicycle Bells. Easily the best, pronounced by all the most expert riders, is the Saks' Continuous Ringing Bell. It "winds like a watch," is simple of mechanism, nothing to get out of order, and will ring from 10 to 20 minutes with one winding .... $1.

A dollar for a bicycle bell is pretty pricey for those times. The ad lists a "single stroke, large size" bell for only 12 cents. More exotic "bell grips, a handy combination of grip and bell" were 25 cents (each - unfortunately no illustration of what these looked like). In general, by 1898 the prices for bicycles had collapsed to a considerable degree - the Spalding price was only $50 for their best bicycle, down from more like 100 dollars a few years earlier.

"Lamps On All Vehicles" (1896 Newspaper Article)

1896 article about lighting for bicycles and other vehicles

The article text is as follows:

The District division of the League of American Wheelmen is still working for the interests of the bicycle rider.

In answer to a request from the Commissioners, Chief Consul Robertson yesterday mailed to them his reasons for thinking that all vehicles should carry lamps [at] night. The letter reads:

"August 29. 1896.
"Hon. Commissioners, District of Columbia.

"Gentlemen: In reply to your request that I should submit facts showing the necessity for all kinds of vehicles carrying lamps, I would respectfully submit the following reasons:

"Bicycles have been adjudged by the courts all ever the country as vehicles with equal rights on the streets and roads.

"Bicycles are required to carry lights. Private and business vehicles are not so restricted. According to this discrimination a bicycle for hire (which is a public vehicle) should be required to carry a light, but not the machine used as a private conveyance.

An electric bicycle light, shown in the article

"A number of business houses require their drivers to carry a light within or about their vehicles, more for their own safely than for that of others. This can also be said of some of the owners of private carriages. At times it is very difficult to determine the direction in which a vehicle is traveling, or on which side ot the street it happens to lie, by the noise occasioned by the horses' feet. A light would show just what part of the street it occupies. One might advance the argument that if it were approaching it would be on the left hand side of the street, and on the right hand side if going in the same direction. This would be so if everyone obeyed the rules of the road, but unfortunately, this is not so, and more wagons are on the incorrect than on the correct side, else there would be less necessity for lamps on horse-propelled vehicles.

"A carriage or wagon is often collided with by both bicycles and other vehicles. This is especially the case when drawn up alongside of a curb awaiting the owner. In this instance the horse, not being in motion, no noise is made. A vehicle in this connection occupies the same relation to the street as a pile of mortar or bricks, and should be provided with a light. It is it temporary obstruction, and one is more liable to danger than if it were known to be there, like mortar or bricks.

"A cycler generally leaves his lamp lighted when stopping before a house, because he knows his machine is in danger
of collision if he does not take this precaution.

"Therefore, I would respectfully request that all vehicle, be required to carry lamps.

"Very respectfully,
"WM. T. ROBERTSON,
"Chief Consul D. C. Div. L. A. W [League of American Wheelmen]

Fanciful Bicycle Propulsion - Sails (1896)

Article from the 1896 Washington Times describes a growing (at the time) popularity for sails fixed to bicycles.

Possible to Equip the Wheel Like a Ship - WINGS OF WHITE SILK
Connected to Bamboo Poles, the Sails Are Ran Up and Down as the Wind May Turn - They Make Wheel the Ideal Locomotion for a Sultry Day.

There is activity at the sailmakers, though this is the season when all sails should be finished and floating the blue horizon.

This unwanted activity is caused by the sudden appearance of the bicycle sail, out of which has sprung a demand for sails, unprecedented even in cup years. The bicycle sail is a little affair. It is made of duck or sailcloth, and its dimensions are a little more than a yard square.

Somewhat fanciful illustration that accompanies the article

The cost of white sails for a bicycle comes to something like $3, if you are contented with a good quality and a fairly white sail. If you want the silk finish and the dazzling white, you must pay for it fully twice as much.

This is not a perfect propulsion system, however.

HARD TO MANAGE

In rigging up a bicycle's sails there is a great deal of care necessary. A person not an expert, starting off swiftly upon a wheel rigged with sails of his own making, would undoubtedly get a fall of the most sensational description. His sails being raised too high would carry him along at a top-heavy pace and he would be unable to keep back his machine by back-pedalling, or any of the arts known to the wheelman. More than that, it would throw him forward upon his wrists in a frantic effort to keep his seat. And the result would be awkward, even if he escaped calamity.

Another trend from the 1890s that met with some success in the press, but not in reality.

Russian Diplomats as Cyclists in 1895

Article in the Washington Times from 1895 describes the spread of cycling among foreign diplomats assigned to Washington, including the Russian minister.

Diplomats Proficient Upon the Shining Wheel

Russian and Austrian Ministers Are Expert Riders, and the Chinese Attaches, in Gay Costumes, Are Bicycle Devotees.

The bicycling craze has taken a strong hold on Washington society, and has extended into the diplomatic corps.

The foreigners have become greatly interested in the fad of the hour, and many of them are already proficient riders of the shining wheel.

The first to lend in this respect was the Russian minister, Prince Cantacuzene, who no sooner was able to keep his equilibrium upon the "bike" than he induced his daughter to become accomplished in the same manner. Every afternoon during last autumn, and almost every late afternoon during the winter, the Prince and Princess Cantacuzene might have been seen spinning over the miles of smooth asphalt in the city on their bicycles.

At first, of course, when the bicycles were brought out and placed in front of the legation they created no end of excitement in the neighborhood, and the dwellers along that particular square made a brave showing on the front porticos and at the windows to watch the mount and triumphal start.

Gradually, however, as tho novelty wore off, the prince and his young daughter, who were debarred from taking any active part in the season's gayeties on account of the fact that the Russian legation was in mourning for the death of the Czar, were allowed to depart upon their afternoon bicycling trip without this attendant notoriety.

Later in the article it is noted that at this time there was some modesty among cyclists ~

As a matter or fact, the favorite place with the members of the diplomatic corps, and society generally who ride the bicycle, is the great open space back of the President's mansion, "Executive driveway," as it is sometimes called now, since the old name of "White Lot" has been abandoned by the fashionables.

There the bicyclers congregate in large numbers all during the spring and autumn evenings directly after dark, for as yet the majority of society has no fancy for being stared at in daylight when bicycle riding.

The Czar who died in 1895 was Alexander III, the father of Nicholas II, who was overthrown by the Bolsheviks in 1917. I hadn't realized, but his heir for a time was his brother, who was killed in a bicycle accident in 1899: "The death of Grand Duke George, Czarevitch of Russia . . . the hemorrhage which caused the death of the Czarevitch was the result of a fall from his bicycle which be sustained while on an excursion in the hilly country near Abbas Tuman. The paper adds that he died near the scene of the accident." (From another newspaper article.)

It does seem Czar Nicholas II did ride bikes, as shown here and here

The most well known photo of a cyclist in Russia from today is shown below, taken by a writer for the New Yorker who lives in Moscow:

Russia's Tianamen image. twitter.com/ioffeinmoscow/…

— Julia Ioffe (@ioffeinmoscow) May 6, 2012

.

Memorial Day Bike Event (1897)

From the Los Angeles Herald, May 31 1897
At this time Memorial Day was known as Decoration Day.

SUNDAY SPORT - Decoration Day Bicycle Meet at the Park
A VERY GOOD TURN OUT LARGE FIELD OF PROFESSIONALS AND A GOOD TIME
Balsden, the San Francisco Crack, Makes a Fine Exhibition of Trick and Fancy Riding

The Decoration day race meet yesterday attracted quite a large crowd to Agricultural park, and if the attendance was any criterion by which to form an opinion as to the popularity that may attend Sunday racing, then the program as outlined ln the future may be considered assured. . .

Illustration that accompanied the article

Blessing of the Bicycles ~ May 12, 2012

In a previous post I talked about the relationship between churches and the popularity of cycling in the 1890s - cycling was viewed by some as bad for morality, giving too much independence to women, and also provided an (unwelcome) alternative to Sunday church worship. This was before you got to aggressive rider behavior!


A view of how the bicycle could be a means to get to church
chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024442/1896-08-09/ed-...

The church that I attend (when I'm not out riding my bike ~) is having a "blessing of the bicycles" on May 12, this Saturday, in the Washington DC area.

Concerned for the safety of bicyclists, Dumbarton United Methodist Church will hold a “blessing of the bicycles” for all riders on May 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Fletcher’s Cove, where two bike paths intersect (a spot along both the C&O Canal and the Capital Crescent bike trail). Pedalers on a Saturday morning outing will be able to take their bikes to a quiet setting of
trees and grass near Fletcher’s Boat House and receive a brief blessing from the church pastor, Rev. Mary Kay Totty.

More details are available here.

Tweed Ride - 1896

The other day, I mentioned to someone that I had a blog where I discussed cycling history from the 1890s - he immediately replied, "oh, do you go on tweed rides? I can't say the idea hasn't occurred to me, but I haven't.


A "tweed ride" from the 1890s

(This is a new derivative JPG I produced from the TIFF that is better than the 90KB one available online at the moment.)

Title: [Tourists riding bicycles] / A.B. Frost.
Creator(s): Frost, A. B. (Arthur Burdett), 1851-1928, artist
Date Created/Published: [1896?]
Medium: 1 drawing : wash.
Library of Congress
www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010715930/

The post-2000 period tweed ride phenomena seems to have been a coming together of a retro fashion interest with a retro cycling interest in fixed-gear cycling. Over time, however, the fixed-gear aspect seems to have fallen away.


A tweed ride rider in Washington, DC, 2011

One obvious difference from the 1890s experience emulated is that the modern tweed ride is far more urban. Nevertheless, a good opportunity to build good karma for cycling.


More DC tweed ride 2011 photos