Walter Romain Lovegrove
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Clubs
Frank L. Hunter, the first lieutenant of the wheelmen, is satisfied to devote his energies almost exclusively to cycling, considering it the greatest of all sport. W. H. Haley, the second lieutenant, is perhaps the speediest rider in the club, and bids fair to develop into a great racing man. Lewis C. Hunter, the secretary of the wheelmen, is also secretary-treasurer of the California Associated Cycling Clubs, to which position he was elected at the meeting of the board of governors of the associated clubs held in this city on the 7th inst. Martin Espinosa, Edward Stack, J. A. R. Johnson, J. H. Ballin, O. A. Weihe, J. H. Dieckman Jr., F. L. Fuller, O. B. Burns, L. B. Thomas, H. C. Massie, L. H. Cox, W. R. Lovegrove, L. D. Owens, J. L. Fagothey, G. H. Stratton, S. G. Scovern, H. C Hahn, H. S. Russ, N. A. Robinson, J. M. Rogers, Henry Rogers, Harry Gibbs, J. W. Mullen, W. P. Fuller, T. C. Mastelller, Frank Twichell, Cress Unger and H. H. White are some of the prominent and active members of the wheelmen. Director J. R. McElroy is the presiding officer of the wheelmen, and represents them in the board of directors of the Olympic Club.
I immediately began planning the trip and soon induced Dr. Lovegrove, Will Haley, Frank Fuller, Frank Hunter, George Pollard and Jack and Howard Alexander to join the party. What a time we anticipated; a regular club run, but Haley, Fuller and Frank Hunter found it impossible to go, and as the San Jose boys started some days before Dr. Lovegrove and myself could leave, we found it imperative to abandon the original intention of riding all the way through, and instead to take the steamer to Santa Barbara and join forces there.
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"Then I went on, back-pedaling most of the way down the steep and dusty road. At the bottom I waited and it was nearly an hour before the others put in an appearance. They were white with dust. At the beginning of the second grade they had tried the trick again and with great success. Only the one who rode behind was lost in such a cloud of dust that he was totally covered. Then the brush in front would smooth over the road so that the other would ride into chuck holes without seeing them. Still they said they would be willing to repeat the operation. We arrived late in the afternoon at Santa Barbara, where we expected to meet Lew Hunter and W. R. Lovegrove, but were obliged to push on to Los Angeles before seeing them."
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Jack and Howard Alexander were determined to go down to Tia Juana, some fifteen miles, so that they might say they had been in Mexico. The rest of the party returned to Los Angeles, where Dr. Lovegrove wished to engage in a game of chess with Dr Lipschutz. While he was thus employed I rode out to Pasadena. The road to Pasadena is a slight incline, and the surface is sandy and almost unfit for wheeling. In fact, in no place in Southern California can the roads be said to be really good. The next day we took the train for home, completing a trip which I should advise any who may contemplate making to take early in the spring.
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W. R. Lovegrove, well known to members of the Mechanics' Institute as one of San Francisco's champion chess-players, and Lewis C. Hunter have just made a flying trip to Catalina from Los Angeles, whither they came by steamer as representatives of the Olympic Club Wheelmen. H. A. Alexander, J. E. Alexander, who has a fine racing record, and George W. Pollard, members of the Garden City Cyclers were also of the party, having wheeled down to Los Angeles from San Jose via San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. The five merry bicyclers will make a trip in company to San Diego soon after reaching the mainland, returning north by steamer.
