PART II
The male cyclist had a simpler time dressing than his opposite number. The proper male attire for a spin consisted of knickers, a sack coat or sweater, a shirt and tie, high-top shoes, and a cap with visor. As spring approached, the city’s newspapers advertised sales of cycling garments, among them Frederick M. Atwood, the proprietor of a clothing store at Clark and Madison streets who featured “extra strong knee pants with reinforced seats.”
E.A. Erickson, a member of the Columbia Wheelman, with his ordinary in 1890
Touring to new places became popular by the mid-1890s, and a timely article by James B. Townsend in Harper’s Weekly in 1896 listed the materials needed by a cyclist making an excursion. Considered essential was a copy of the road book published by the League of American Wheelmen, because of “the absence of sign posts and the impossibility of depending, as a rule, upon information as to the condition of roads, distances, etc. from the average person one meets . . .”
In addition, the author suggested that the touring cyclist should take a waterproof coat, a change of underwear, and toilet articles. And to be fully equipped, he should pack court plaster, needles, thread, safety pins, a bottle of Pond’s Extract (the Universal Pain Extractor), and salve. Last, but certainly not least, he should carry a small flask of whiskey or a bottle of Jamaica ginger, to be added to water from roadside wells or pumps. The whiskey was to be used sparingly: Townsend admonished the touring cyclist never to indulge in liquor “except perhaps at the end of the day at dinner.” Champagne, apparently even more dangerous, was to be “shunned as poison.”
The cyclist out for a shorter spin could simply wheel to the Saddle and Cycle Club, Fisher’s Beer Garden on the north end of Lincoln Park, or to the Auditorium Hotel for dinner. And whatever the mileage, cycling received the physician’s stamp of approval. As one doctor wrote, although “the bicycle has come among us
with such volcanic suddenness as a force … it is inducing millions of people to take regular exercise who could never be induced to take it by any means hitherto
devised”
The Lake View Cycling Club at 401-403-Orchard Street, ca 1890.
After buying a wheel, most Chicago cyclists joined one of the city’s cycle clubs. By 1895, ; five hundred clubs of varying size, its own colors and a distinctive uniform for rides and competitive events. Club members could enjoy reading rooms, group outings, and a variety of social events from conventions and banquets to dances.
Reprinted from Chicago History
The Magazine of the Chicago Historical Society
Fall 1975, Volume IV, Number3