To Haywards and Back by Bicycle. - Tue, Nov 12, 1878 - Page 1 - Oakland Tribune

To Haywards and Back by Bicycle Tue, Nov 12, 1878 – Page 1 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) · Newspapers.com

To Haywards and Back by Bicycle.

Two gentlemen made a trip from this city to Haywards and back last Sunday on bicycles. They report the journey as being pleasant and enjoyable in all respects. The roads were found to be favorable to such novel locomotion, with the exception of one or two sandy places. After leaving Oakland a moderate pace was kept up and four stops were made, we suppose for lubricating purposes. After leaving San Leandro, the road to Haywards via San Lorenzo was taken, and the sixteen and a half miles from Market Street, was made in two hours and ten minutes. At Haywards the bicyclists partook of a light lunch at the house of Tony Oakes. Mr. Oakes courteously refusing compensation in honor, it it is supposed, of the first visit of the kind to Haywards. The return trip was made at a more lively pace, notwithstanding the wind had to be faced all the way. The run back to Market Street was made in one hour and fifty minutes. Bicycle clubs have been formed in Boston, Washington, Lynn and Bangor, and the vehicle is in use in other large cities. There are nine bicycles now in use on the Pacific Coast and others have been ordered from the eastern states and from England.

More posts about bicycles and 1878 are here. I would bet one of those two riders was George H. Strong. A month later:

A couple strangers came spinning into town Saturday on bicycles and remained a few hours to rest. Tue, Dec 31, 1878 – Page 3 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) · Newspapers.com

A couple strangers came spinning into town Saturday on bicycles and remained a few hours to rest. They were on a pleasure excursion from Oakland.