The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-19
2OO-N|LE RECORD broken
GLOBE CYCLING EDITOR LOWERS
STATE MARK TwENTY-sEVEN
MINUTES
FINISHED IN COOP CONDITION
Took Nights Rest and Started
at an EARLY Hour to Make
Record Tor Triple
Century.

James McIlrath, cycling editor Of the
Globe, went after the 20O-mile record
over the Mortified course yesterday and
broke it by twentyzseven minutes.
McIlrath began his hard ride at pre-
cisely o'clock yesterday morning and
at exactly 6:7 last evening he jumped
off from his wheel at Rice park, having
finished the first 200 miles in II hours
and AZ minutes. OF this, however only
1871 was actual riding time, as he
rested for one hour and ten minutes
when he arrived in st. Paul after the
first hundred miles before starting out
on the second century.
Mr.. McIlrath appeared in very good
condition when he arrived last evening
and he expects to start out again ab5ut
o'clock this morning to esta blish a
2O0-mile record, which, according to the
rules, must be finished before o'clock
this afternoon.
The former record for the double CEN
fury was IS hours and IA minutes and
was established by Vim A Powers last
fall. According to the time made by Mr.
McIlrath yesterday. he averaged trihe
less than a mile in five minutes, which
is exceedingly good considering the
rough road over the Mortified course.
On the first century ridden yesterday
morning Mr.. McIlrath was paced by Tom
Pird, well known in bicycle circles The
trip was attended by no accidents until
they reached Mortified, where McIlrath
accidentally ran into a dog and took a
header His knee was bruised some
what, but he Immediately got on his bicy-
Gle and proceeded on his way as if moth
ing had happened.
puncture to his wheel, and he had to
stop and repair it. In the meantime Nc
1lrath kept on riding, but in some way
he lost his road and when Bird caught
up to him a few minutes later he found
him trying to find the right road again.
According to Bird, he must have gone
about three miles out of the way.
No more accidents happened on this
trip with the exception of the chain on
McIlrath'S wheel coming off a couple of
times, and the rider arrived in St Paul
from the first trip at 1880, just seven
hours and ffty-tWo seconds after he
started on his hard journey.
BEGINS SECOND TRIP.
McIlrath rested until IL o'clock, when
he started on his second century feeling
in the best of condition. The roads. how
ever, were so rough that he took Tom
Birds wheel with two-inch tire to
make this trip. He was unpaced until
he reached Pennington coming back
when f. A Mills met him and paced
him into st. Paul Several of McIlrath S
IIleHuS met MN at the halfway house
coming in and escorted him back to Rice
park.
Mr.. McIlrath has for several years
been regarded as one of the hardest of
the North Star wheelmen, and holds sew
eral long7distance records. This is the
1lrst time that an attempt to establish a
triple century record over the North
field course has been made
Wheelmen who have been over the
Mortified course know that it is one of
the hardest in the country. The road
yesterday was in bad condition, being
very rough. There are at least a half
in length, and the majority of the level
stretches are SANDY The last three
miles of the course on the Mortified
end are over Ma eAdamized road, which
is almost always, in good condition. The
other forty-seven miles, however. are
made up Of country. roads which are
none too good at the best and which were
in very poor condition yesterday