The San Francisco call., 1897-02-06
THE WHEELMEN.
A Proposed State Racing Circuit
for the Crack Riders Here.


Another stormy week has prevented the
laying out of any trips for tomorrow in
the country, though If it is clear there
will doubtless be small army of cyclers
headed for the park, and as the roads
there dry quickly land the cycle paths in
particularly riding should be fairly good.
The panhandle will be in poor shape, how
ever, and riders shoulI take the street on
the north side of it, Fell street, which is
bituminized from Baker to Stanyan and
affords an excellent riding surface.
Not much interest seems 10 attach to
the Velodrome meet scheduled for next
Saturday, and little is heard about it.
Manager Shafer has announced that none
OF his men will ride, and, as his team is
comprised of all the best professionals now
on the coast, he would seem to have the
reins in his hands. He does not want
them to do any track work now, but 10
devote all their time to training.
1t is also said that the proposed indoor
tournament scheduled for March 13 10 q
has fallen through, which was not uneX-
pected by those who knew, as 1t received
little or no encouragement from the riders
and dealers,
Shafer's team is now composed of
Loughead, Ziegler, Wells, the Terrills
Stevens, Mcfarland. Jones. Downing.
bOVec, DdVlS, w nlImdD
and Slater. and he may pick up couple
of more good ones, like Boyden or Dow.
With this aggregation he proposes to
start a coast circuit, to com mence at Peta-
luna on February % and go TO Santa
Rosa, Healdsburg, Dixon, Woodland,
Chico, Sacramento, Stockton, San Jose
and to San francisco, II there Is a n indoor
meet here about the middle of March
under satisfactory management. Such
Team as this would not fail to be a star
attraction wherever it goes, particularly
in competition with all the local talent TO
be met at the various places.
c. \. Ravlin IS arranging the circuit
dates, and the meets Will be handled by
the clubs in the various towns. The pro-
gramme will include four professional
events a day. Multicycle pacing ma
chimes Will be taken along and used to
make the races fast. Flying starts in
scratch competition events Will be tried,
similar TO horse-racing, and under such
conditions, on good tracks, fast time will
be the rule.
The Ziegler- Mcfarland match will be
the star event of the opening day at Peta-
luna, and the much-Inooted question Tin
the minds of some) as to which is the bet
ter rider will then be settled, although nv
personal conviction is too strong in favor
of Ziegler ior me TO change that opinion.
Meanwhile the men are in active train
ing at San Jose, ready for any good meet
oughly conditioned. Shafer Is in the City,
stopping at the Bay City Wheelmen's
clubhouse, making arrangements for the
circuit aud the coming season.
The California Associated Cycling Clubs
will meet tonight at the rooms Of the
Acme Club, Oakland. Several amend.
mems to the bylaws will come up for con-
sideration and the approaching twenty
five mile road race of the 22d inst will be
discussed.
1t can be said on good authority that
many OF the makers are thinking seriously
about putting racing teams on the circuit
for the coming season. With State and
interstate circuits the expenses will be
reduced to a minimum. Ten teams are
now known 10 be forming for another
season.
w. A. Terrill, the popular Bay CITY man.
has been allowed the mite professional
compe tition record of 2:08 Is, made at the
Velodrome November 81. w. Foster has
been allowed the five mile paced com petit
ton record of IL :13 As. made on the same
track, when he defeated Wells Tie three
and four mile records of 7 :01 and 900 A. 5.
respectively, also go to him. Tom Cooper
gets the two-mile competition professional
record, Alb, made at Memphis Novem ber
3. This race was single paced.
Los Angeles has more riders under sus-
pension than any district in the country
for participating in Sunday racing against
the L. A. w. rules.
All the old-timers here will remember
Will NJ. Meeker, who was prominent in
the Bay City Wheelmen ten or a dozen
years ago. He was hardy road rider,
and sixty to a hundred miles day on an
old ordinary was nothing for Meeker,
Knapp, Sheldon and that crowd. He is
now in Passaic, n. j., and / received a
letter from him recently which is interest
ing. After referring TO some personal
matters, he says:
see you still keep up your edftorship of the
wheel column OF THE CALL, for the folks send
me the paper regularly and am thereby able
10 keep IN Touch with wheeling matters on the
coast l did a little riding myself lastyear
covering some 1000 miles between May, iS 90,
and January /, 1897. all of which goes to show
that your uncle is still in the ring We have
some splendid roads radiating from this sec
ton, and one can ride all day long with
hardly an exception on good macadamized
roads. won't say straghtaway, for the State
is hardly extensive enough The only trouble
is they are not all level or downhill both ways
and so for the honor OF California l am forced
TO climb up and down everything that comes
along. l twisted a crank axle clean off a
couple OF months ago going up little hill
had rather an enjoyable ride about the LIST
OF January, and one which would make YOU
exotics wonder at, for while the roads we're
good, we passed innumerable banks of snow
alongside the pixies, and passed many ponds
large and small, covered with skaters and ali
this, mind you; on bright, sunny day almost
equal TO one OF Callfornia's much-adVertised
winter days. l confess, though, that the Their
mometer aid not range far from 30 or 80 but
as there was no wind, the coolness was re-
freshing. Since the 1st the climate has been
bad, and when it isn't blowing a gale the
ground is covered with snow, and snow is not
the finest kind of riding, all those manlacs in
the l.. A. w. bulletin to the contrary notwith-
standing. Wheeling on snow may possibly be
all right for the North West, but here so
near the coast IL is spoiled by the sadness in
the air, and that means continual thaws or
freezes.
The Bay City Wheelmen have a curious
entertainment scheduled for next Satur-
day night, the 18th. 1t will be sort of q
smoker and each membe present will be
allotted three minutes, no more no less,
in which to entertain the others in some
way such as he pIeases. This should
prove very funny and will produce some
ludicrous effects. The proposed Laundry
Farm run IS still in allegiance.
The North California division of the
league gained twenty-eight new niembe
during the last week. The total M em ber-
shipi IS now 1851 and that of the parent
body a, ,922. As soon as the riding season
opens these mum bers will be greatly
swelled. Chief Consul Kerrigan and R.
NJ. WEIGH of the racing board are now on