Fast Digs Update: North v. South at Agricultural Park in 1894

S. G. Spier can be counted upon as one of the best of Los Angeles' early competitive bicyclists, having won medals in nearly every state, and riding from New York to San Francisco in eighty-four days, a record; even after retiring from the sport his involvement with it continued. Thus when formative plans for a twenty-five mile race pitting riders from northern California against those from the southern part of the state, the reins for organizing and managing the event were given, with full confidence, to Spier. Scheduled to take place on October 27 at Agricultural Park, promoting of the big event was begun weeks in advance with no lack of glowing praise; "Never before in the history of the west was there such an important single event", said one reporter.

$1500 worth of prizes were being proposed, with a grand prize being a $600 piano, sure to guarantee participation by the states' finest racers, including Otto Ziegler, Wells, Foster, Upson, Edwards, Long, and Terrill for the north, and McAleer, Cattleman, Shoemaker, Ulbricht, Jenkins, Burke, Cowan, Fox, and others for the south. By October 14, thirty-eight riders had entered the race, with between fifty and seventy-five starters expected.

Though the southern men counted among their number Tom McAleer, the Pacific Coast record holder at twenty-five miles, the north's fast men were not to be denied, sweeping the top three spots. While the southern state riders did manage to claim one of the top two spots at individual miles - Kitchen, second at the fifth mile, Castleman, second at the ninth, Cowan, second at the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth, first at the 19th and 20th, then second again at the 21st through 23rd miles, the remainder of the first and second placings by lap were claimed by the men from the north, particularly Ziegler, Wells, Osen and Wilbur J. Edwards. Never-the-less, eleven riders were bunched from the eleventh lap to the end of the race. On the 24th lap Castleman, having charged back into fifth place following an early mechanical, and looking like he would challenge for the win, was again forced out due to a mechanical issue. Ten feet from the line, World Champion Ziegler had the lead when Edwards suddenly surged ahead to finish first by one fifth of a second, in a time of one-hour, nine-minutes, eleven-seconds. Behind Ziegler, by another sliver of a second, came Osen.