WHEELMEN'S RUN IS ONE ROUND OF FUN - San Jose Mercury-news, 7 October 1907

=== WHEELMEN'S RUN IS ONE ROUND OF FUN ===
==== But Series of Misfortunes Befalls Captain Maggini. Mobbed When He Umpires Ball Game, Beaten in Match Race and Pursued by Bees. ====
WHEN the fifty cycling enthusiasts who attended returned from the Garden City Wheelmen's club run to Centerville yesterday they all voted that they had crammed more sport into eight hours and a half than would have ordinarily fallen to their lot in a month. From the moment the "bunch" pedaled from the Wheelmen's headquarters in the Turn Verein Hall until 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when they returned to San Jose, fun fast and furious reigned. The "run" was well managed. The dinner served at Centerville at the Gregory House was exceptionally good, and the program of athletic events held after they had arrived at their destination proved both interesting and in many cases laugh producing.
Fun on the Road.
The ride from San Jose to Centerville, a distance of 20 miles, was made at a moderate gait. The morning was ideal and every one was in good spirits. The roads were fine and the antics of a few irrepressible ones - Plinn Maggini, Ben Murphy and others - prevented the ride being monotonous, and the merry hum of a hundred tires and the whirr of wheels were inspiring to the true devotee of the wheel.
Captain "Moike" Maggini led the bunch; and, as no one cared to pay a fine, they did not ride ahead of him. Arriving in Centerville at 10 20 o'clock, the wheelmen immediately carried out their program of athletic events.
Athletic Program.
One of the most interesting closely contested events of the day was the married men's race, in which there were four contestants: William Moon, Frank Hodges, Joe Desimone and Willie Mitchell. Moon beat Hodges by two inches, after a hard sprint, and the others finished in the order named.
The tandem match race between William Moon and Snedigar and Holmes and Krusich was won by the latter by over 200 feet, and the former pair will pay for a French supper for the quartet.
There were a dozen entries in the one-mile open race, in which Howard Waltz sprang a surprise by beating Waibel in an easy fashion by several lengths. Charlie Chaboya finished third.
The one-mile handicap went to R. Bryant, who started with a handicap of 20 yards. Howard Waltz, who started from scratch, finished second. Ferd Halla won the foot race, beating Ben Murphy by 15 feet.
The match race between Charlie Roberts and Captain Moike Maggini "brought down the house." Many small sums were wagered on this race, and as both men had never ridden a race before, nobody was sure which would finish first. Maggini might have won, but when he neared the finish he shut his teeth and also his eyes with the intensity of the effort which he placed in the sprint. The blind effort carried him off the road into the dust and Charlie Roberts won sitting up, while the crowd went off into a paroxysm of mirth over Maggini's unfortunate finish.
Umpire Is Mobbed.
After dinner two baseball teams were selected, one captained by Levi Maggini and the other by Frank Hodges. The former aggregation won by the score of 7 to 5, Moike Maggini umpired the game and very unsatisfactorily. Both teams, however, accepted his rulings, but after the contest all eighteen players started after him and gave him a good-natured but rough mobbing in which his sweater was torn to pieces.
"Misfortunes seldom come singly." quoted Moike Maggini before the day was over, for a short time after the mobbing a mass of bees which swarmed on a building in Centerville fell and struck him on the head and shoulders. Fortunately, Maggini is not blessed with a superabundance of hair, and the insects did not become entangled in his locks, but slid to the ground. However, some of them remained long enough to produce a painful swelling on the very crest of his cranium.
Cheer the Waitresses.
The dinner which was served in the Gregory House will long remain in the memory of the cyclists. Neither quality nor quantity were lacking. It was such a meal as only the chef in a country hotel knows how to serve. It consisted of the following dishes: Soup, shrimp salad, cold tongue, cold ham, chicken, roast beef, French fried potatoes, string beans and corn, pie, coffee and watermelon. The wheelmen surrendered just before the roast beef came onto the table and spent the rest of the time cheering the hard-working, fair country lassies who acted in the capacity of waitresses.
The run home was made without incident. The scorchers started in one bunch and the others remained together and returned at a moderate gait.
WHEELMEN'S RUN IS ONE ROUND OF FUN - San Jose Mercury-news, 7 October 1907