Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1893-07-18
WHEELS.
GREELEY, Colo, July 0, 1893.

Editor Democrat:
This community has been much ex-
cited recently on account Of bicycle
racing. A new park has been made near
Greeley, and on the Fourth, the State
Division Of the League Of American
wheelmen met here. This little city OF
1000 inhabitants can boast of at least lG9
wheels, which cost between $4,000 and
$4,000.
We have quite q number Of lady rid
ers. One Of these appeared In the great
street parade, dressed In striking cos
tune OF red, white and blue. With her
graceful liberty cap, and star span
gled raiment, there was no mlstaking
that she was the Goddess Of Liberty
the beautiful goddess, not on trlum-
phal car, but on the machine, that may
yet In some respects revolutlonlze the
arts of love and war.
As she gracefully Joined the process
sion where hundreds participated, some
on nickel wheels sparkling In the bright
July sun, some on fine bronze machines,
and some on wheels decorated ingeni-
ously with our national c0l0rs, l could
not help thinking what would have been
her fate had she ventured thus upon the
streets when witch finders were abroad.
Or again, what would any Of US thought
II while out at night on some obscure
country road twenty years ago, q flash
of lightning had revealed one OF these
fellows In black regulation suit, mount
ed on his cleaning machine, striding
past like the wind, noiseless
as ticking watch, bending forward In
that peculiar lmpish attitude sometimes
assumed by the best Of wheelmenf
Could We have adequately described
what we saw, or describing accurately
who would have believed our rep0rtY
The morning before the day of the
tournament q lady came In from Denver,
flfty-two miles, In about four and n
quarter hours, distance usually made
By the trains In two hours.
Arrived ut the trottlng park II bcc'm
evident that the bicycllst was more pop
ular than the horse trainer. The gener-
nj sentiment seemed to be that the rela-
lions OF man with the noble horse had
not improved the man as much as II had
the beast. Distrust OF the jockeys was
quite general, and the opinion often ex.
pressed that quite likely the better horse
would not he allowed to win.
The sulkles with pneumatic tires are
certainly u great Improvement ON the
old kind.
Il Ia not impossible that We saw that
day a blcycllst destined one day to he y
world beater. Ills name Is w. W. Ham.
ilton, a Young man Of remarkable mus
cular development, whose home u
Pueblo, Colorado. lie isa hard work
Ing man Of good character, and has
trained Ne cyclist only few months.
There Ia something 40 superb In his APP
pearance that you name him winner ut
sight.
And then he has q record behind this
meet. mo pun intended.) Last Def
Grafton Day q race was run by lGG
wheelmen, from Denver to Plattevillr,
twenty-five miles. On account Of his
previous record Hamilton was not al
lowed to start until the last but two.
The wind was blowing q terrific gale,
dead ahead but he passed l02 men, rid
Ing the twenty-five miles In eight-One
minutes and fOrty-hve seconds. Mr..
Renshaw crossed the twenty-five mile
mark first and won the plano, but Ham
ilton accomplished the same distance In
nine and a quarter minutes less time
than he, and won five prizes.
During the afternoon he made the
following time: 2 miles, 8 M, IS kcc /;
Ia mile, M, Is Is sec. I mile 2 m,
20 IS acc. lie Lost the two-mlle race by
coming In holding both hands up. The
rules require that the hands shall DO on
the handles. In tho fve-mIle race he
oct the pace, and refused to give any
man the inside. 30 round and round
tho five athletes went, 90 close that they
could almost reach out and touch. When
within Q few yards Of the fnish, Boles,
late state champion, "sneaked" out, and
In beautiful squirt beat Hamilton by
six inches. Il was . beautiful "sncak",
n there ever was one, and it surprised
everyone, and doubtless disguised Ham,
ilton. That was Boles' way OF teaching
another man, 10 the words OF the late
Samuel Patch, that "Some things can be
done % well % Others"
And now let me whisper q secret In
your ear: Hamilton, bic trainer says,
has actually run half.mlle In one min.
ute. Even Zimmerman, the word beat
o., has never claimed hs could do that.
n. n.