NIGHT PARADE OF CYCLISTS.
Over Four Hundred Wheelman Rode in Processional Array Down Town Last Evening.
TO USHER IN THE BIG TOURNAMENT.
All the Principal Clubs of This City, Oakland, San Jose and Stockton Represented With Decorated Wheels.
The bicycle tournament which opens tomorrow evening at the Mechanics' Pavilion was ushered in by a street parade last night in which the leading clubs of this city, Oakland, Stockton and San Jose participated.
Four hundred bicyclists wheeled their way along the downtown thoroughfares.
One fortunate line of wheelmen planted their pneumatics in the cable slots and rode on easily, while the outer lines strained their tires on the cobblestones and tried to look comfortable.
The parade rendezvous was on Golden Gate avenue, and the line of march was from Van Ness and Golden Gate avenues to Market, down Market to Kearny, down Kearny to California, where the cyclist counter-marched to Market, and out Market to Golden Gate avenue, where the parade was disbanded.
The start was made promptly at 8 o'clock and the procession wheeled along in the following order:
POLICE IN MILK-WHITE GLOVES.
First came a platoon of mounted police, in charge of Sergeant Birdsall, each policeman wearing milk-white gloves and club-belts.
The officers of the parade followed, including the Grand Marshal, Captain Thomson [Thornton, I think - MF] of the Olympic Club, Judge Kerrigan, First Assistant Grand Marshal of the Bay City Wheelmen, and Jack Kitchen, Second Assistant Grand Marshal of the Acme Club, Oakland.
Cassassa's Exposition Band was next in line.
The Olympic Bicycle Club, in charge of First Lieutenant Monyhan, paraded eighty men.
The Imperial Club, commanded by President Worth, was represented by forty riders mounted on handsomely decorated wheels.
Captain Rosenburg led the Crescent Club riders, who wore blue sweaters, with the emblems of the club - a crescent and a star -worked in yellow silk threads.
The Acmes of Oakland, commanded by John Kitchen, appeared with forty-five men wearing blue sweaters and white acorn club emblems.
The Young Men's Christian Association Cycling Annexes of San Francisco and Oakland, in charge of Secretary Ernest C. Brown, had thirty men in line.
Delegations from the Garden City Club and the San Jose Road Club of San Jose followed, headed by Captain McFarland of the San Jose Road Club.
The Bay City Wheelmen had forty men in line.
The California Club was not officially represented, but several members participated in the parade, and there was a delegation from Stockton.
A FISHPOLE OF LANTERNS.
Many of the riders had their wheels decorated with Japanese lanterns and flags, and Secretary Hunter of the Olympics made his wheel particularly attractive by a display of lanterns pendent from a fishpole extending from the handle bars. Another Olympic rider decorated his bicycle with tiny lanterns hung from the handle bar and saddle.
The wheelmen moved along as smoothly as could be expected until the junction of Kearny and Market streets was reached, when they struck a "tangle" on account of a break in the street caused by repairs that were not completed.
After the parade disbanded the visiting wheelmen were informally entertained at the headquarters of the Bay Citys apd the Olympics.
THE TOURNAMENT.
Clubs and Counties Will Divide Time - The Championship.
There are over 400 entries for the cycling tournament to be held in Mechanics' Pavilion, beginning Monday evening.
Each of the clubs participating will have a night specially dedicated to itself, and they have shown the interest taken in the tournament by the liberal manner in which they have engaged seats in advance.
The Bay City Wheelmen have bought two sections, 500 seats, for the opening night. The seats will be decorated in the colors of the club. Tuesday night will belong to the Imperial Club, the members of which have engaged 250 seats. The Olympic Club has engaged for Wednesday night 500 seats, the decoration of which, in the club colors, is now under way,
One of the events of Monday evening will be the ten-mile cup race to be contested by one man from each club: The Olympic, San Jose Road Club, the Garden City Cycling Club, the Imperials, the Reliance, the Acme Wheelmen, the Y. M. C. A. of Oakland and the Y. M. C. A. of San Francisco.
Another feature of the opening night will be the one-mile invitation race, in which contest the two champions, Otto Ziegler and Wilber Edwards, will come together. The latter has lowered the world's record to 1:34 1/4. The other entries in this race ara Harbottle, Fennell, Foster, Haley, Delmas, Lacey, Osen, Coulter, Davis, Wells, Cushing, Ulbrecht and Smith. There are to be three heats.
The one mile invitation race will with out doubt settle the question as to the championship between Ziegler and Edwards, both of whom came from San Jose.
The Alameda County clubs will have Thursday night for their own. A special race is to be held for the championship of the county, the clubs participating being the Reliance, Acme, Y. M. C. A. of Oakland and the club of the State University. The race is to be open only to members of the clubs of that county.
Friday night will be dedicated to the Garden City Wheelman, about which will be centered special interests, as both the champions, Ziegler and Edwards, are members of the Garden City Club and San Jose Road Club, respectively.
The track at the Pavilion is said to be one of the fastest ever laid, and is the work of F. Elwell, who designed the Bay City track and the one at the Midwinter Fair. The Bay City track was the first scientific track ever built on this Coast, and is held in high regard by the wheelmen. It is the same kind of track on which Zimmerman made the world's record.
Messrs. Ziegler and Edwards think it will prove very fast for an indoor track.
No comments:
Post a Comment