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The run of the Bay City Wheelmen on July 28 was a most enjoyable one, but it was eclipsed on the 5th inst by the picnic run, that, for variety, could hardly be equaled anywhere. The members of the club and four of the Oak Leaf Wheelmen, of Stockton, who were their guests, left this city at 8:30, and riding leisurely down the Bay road reached San Mateo (twenty miles) at 11:30. The run was met a short distance from town by S. H. Knapp, Jr of the Commissary Department, and the usual refreshments in the shape of milk and crackers was dispensed. Wheels were again mounted, and the picnic grounds were soon reached. Here were found a number of the Garden City Wheelmen, of San Jose, who had ridden up thirty miles to attend the run. The lunch was soon attacked, and its disappearance was a matter of a very short time. The committee, with wise forethought, had provided an extra supply of everything, and this supply followed the course of the other edibles. After dinner the members and guests, numbering fifty-five, were photographed, the photographer finding great difficulty, as usual, in keeping his subjects still. After dinner the riders visited the great dam of the Spring Valley Water Works and viewed it with much interest. This dam has been in course of construction for five years, and has had at times nearly one thousand men working on it. Over 200,000 barrels of the best Portland cement were used in it, and it is to cost about $4,000,000.
The first club to build a track, worthy of the name, was the Alameda · Bicycle and Athletic Club, which, at a large expense, put in a fine four lap record breaker and gave several successful meets at which many of the coast records were broken. Then Stockton fell into line and at Goodwater Grove the Oak Leaf Wheelmen put in a splendid track, acknowledged to be the fastest in the state and here D. L. Burke broke the quarter and half mile records with apparent ease. Riverside and Los Angeles came along a little later with good tracks and last, but not least, San Jose with a park and track second to none, and next year the California Division will have a regular circuit and with new men and first-class tracks it is hoped that some of the world's records may journey across the continent. Among the new lights of the track who have come into prominence during 1892 and eclipsed the stars of former years are D. L. Burke, of Los Angeles; W. Edwards, of Stanford University and E. S. Wells, of Sacramento.
When the time came for locating the annual meet of 1888, the Oak Leaf Wheelmen of Stockton made such a generous offer that it was decided to hold the meet in that place. The Oak Leaf Wheelmen built a quarter-mile track at their own expense, and made most elaborate arrangements for the accommodation of its guests. The track was in perfect order, and the intense rivalry between the San Francisco Bicycle Club and the Bay City Wheelmen made the excitement at fever heat. All the interest was centered in Davis and Elwell, who were to come together again for the first time since Davis won from Elwell at Alameda in 1886. These two men were the representatives of the rival clubs, and they knew full well what was expected of them. They were perhaps the coolest of the thousand or more people on the grounds, and their outward appearance, as they lined up for the start, showed little of the intense fire that was burning within them. A slight delay kept the crowd at fever heat, and when at last the men were off the spectators breathed a sigh of relief, and settled down to watch what proved to be the greatest race ever ridden on this Coast.
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