The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-02-02

/ Here is the story OF the most remark
/ able century ever ridden on a bicycle.
! 1t is a story i'm which drifted snow, icy
4 gales, indomitable perseverance. snow
/ ploughs, and a woman in a cutter play
] conspicuous parts. Ii is the story of Il
! hundred-mile ride that began at Eighth
! avenue and Fifty-ninth street. New
J York, at 10 o'clock on Monday morning,
4 in several inches of snow, with the
flakes still thickly falling. and ended at
| twenty minutes after midnight yeSter-
| day morning. with the woman in the
| sleigh making the pace, and a snow
| plough cutting passage through the
| drifts
L. : Edwards. of the Century Wheel
| men. New York. who began the new
year With the self-imposed task of COW
| ering 100 miles on bicycle every day
| during 1898, started on his thirty first
| consecutive century at the time and
| place indicated above Unaccompanied.
he ploughed through the snow to the
| East Twenty-third street ferry. half an
hour being occupied in getting that far.
| He then followed the customary route
to and along the Merrlck road to Valley
Stream and Springfield. l.. l.
The latter place was reached at a
| quarter To -. but the snow was so deep
and the storm SO binding that he al
most gave up the task at that point.
The propTietorS of the road houses
| between Springfield and Valley Stream.
who have taken great interest in Ed
wards rides. got out snow ploughs at
| noon and cut a path for the century
compiler through the drifts between
| the two villages. Edwards. refreshed
| by a meal and rundown at Spring
field. followed the ploughs at almost a
snails pace until they had partially
cleared a trail for l6 miles. Then he
rode alone for several hours backward
and forward in this course. but the
snow fell SO heavily and the wind
caused such big drifts that the ploughs
We're unable to keep the trail open.
Then they confined their work to
strip Of ) miles. and finally were forced
to shorten it to 3.
Neighboring villagers by this time
lined the shortened course and people
with cutters drove back and forth up
on il in a futile attempt to beat down
the snow. As night came on Edwards
frequently lost the narrow trail and fell
headlong into drifts Of snow. On such
occasions he was revived by beverages
and started on his wheel anew.
Shortly after II o'clock when he was
almost exhausted. Mrs. Crawford of
Springfield. came on to the course with
horse and cutter and asked that she
be allowed TO pace Edwards until he
had completed his ride. A gale was
then blowing and the bicyclist was only
too willing to use the cutter as a wind
shield and pacing machine At mid
night the woman in the sleigh was still
pacing the man on the wheel. The
gale amounted almost to blizzard. At
twenty minutes past l. the long ride
was ended. Edwards fell exhausted
from his wheel.
After short rest he returned to New
York by train early yesterdaymorning
His friends admiring his pluck, later
sent him To Lakewood. y. j.. in order
that he might not fail in his thirty-sec-
ond consecutive century, due yesterday.
A telephone message was received in
New York late last night to the effect
that Edwards had completed his thir-
ty-second century.