The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1908-11-29
Thirty-Eight Years Ago j. 7.
Johnson Rode Thirteen
Miles in the Hour.
IN 1908 ARTHUR WILLS
RODE OVER 81 MILES
Paul Guignard, French Pace
Follower, viii Try to
Break Record.

NEW YORK, Nov. 2s.-The Bicycle
World gives an interesting account Of
the hour record
More thar thirty eight years ago j.
T. johnson, mounted on high bicycle,
rode IS miles 500 yards in one hour,
at Aston Cross, Birmingham. 1t
then was considered a wonderful
feat of speed and endurance. A
little more than two months ago
Arthur T.. Wills rode sixty.one miles
nine hundred and five yards in one
hour. Il also was wonderful feat,
In tbirty-eight years the hour record
has been increased at the rate OF con
siderablv more than one mile per year.
Ii it continues to grow at the same
rate the hour record n 1910 will be
more than 100 miles. Which may
cause one TO ask: ''Is there limit
TO speed?'
So far as is known. Johnson's ride
on May 20. 1870, when he covered thir-
teen miles six hundred yards IN sixty
minutes, was the first attempt TO ere
ate an hour record. A brief resume
Of the succeeding attempts is interest
ing.
It was within two days of eight
years later that hour record riding be-
came fashionable, and in 1875 A a;
Johnson g figures TO II miles l29O
yards. Two or three weeks after, Jack
Keene added 80 yards to the record.
Record il 1880.
The first attempt to cover twenty
miles in the hour was made by 81. L.
Curtis, al SurbiJon, on September %,
1880. Curtis put up magnificent ride,
but fell short of the mark, covering in
the sixty minutes Of riding l9 miles
1920 yards. Two years later, however,
he was successful, and thereafter by
yards the record began to approach the
twcnty-one miles mark, W. A Rowe
having covered 20 miles 1912 yards at
Springfield, Mass, October 10, 1883.
These records were all made on high
bicycles, George Gatchouse was the
first man to ride tricycle. twenty miles
in an hour, this being accomplished in
1856. During this same year, when w.
a Rowe, on q high bicycle, made his
memorable ride of % miles $50 yards
10 America. This teat seemed so Won
derful that it was doubted in England
for q long time. The first tandem tri-
cycle record was made by Allard and
Oxborrow at Coventry, Enoland. Oc-
tober II, 1887. They covered 20 miles
7l5 yards, and, so far as can be ascer-
tained, this still is a record
New Cycle Epoch.
With the introduction of the safety
bicycle a new epoch in record.break-
ing began. although the first attempt
did not reduce the figures made by
Rowe in America. The first authentic
safety record was made by A. P. Engle~
hart at Coventry, England, and stood
at 20 miles 474 yards, From the fore
going it will be seen that until 1883 all
the hour records had been made and
broken in America and ENGLAND. To
an American, S. G. Whitaker, is as
cribed the honor of making the first
hour record on that part Of Europe des-
was on visit to France and at Bor.
deaux, August Is, 1883, he covered p
miles l26 yards on safety bicycle,
solid tire records then being still IN
vogue.
Then came the pneumatic tire, which
created such q revolution IN bicycle
sport and IN the industry, and to r.
honor Of the first hour record on pDeu'
matte tires. On July 20. 1890. Me
credy rode q miles IS yards, but the
figures did not stand long, as R- 4
Lloyd added 300 yards to them, and
later In the same year Harry Parsons
rode % miles go yards.
Titus Heard From.
Parsons record remained on the
books until the following year, when
r. L. Eide and T. J. OsmoDd success.
sively bettered Parsons performance
by doing % miles 1860 yards in tho
SO minutes. Henri Fournier was the
first rider to cover q miles in the hour;
is was done az the Buffalo track, Paris,
August 13, 1892. America then again
began to figure in the running, and at
Springfield, Mass, September IA, 1893,
l.. f. Meiptjes. visiting South
african crack, was described as hur.
ricane when be crowded 26 miles 107
yards into go minutes Of riding. The
same was said about Fred Titus year