Fast Digs: The Cleveland Cup Relay of 1901
In advance of the annual fifty-mile Cleveland Cup relay race, a party consisting of race official Loos along with a number of riders, rode a preliminary check of the course on Monday 25 February. They found the roads to be in fine shape except for a stretch of the fourth relay which was very rough in spots, and the crossing of the San Gabriel River between Monrovia and Azusa. The river was running high forcing the party to hoist their bikes over their heads and ford through the waist deep water. There was no expectation that conditions would change before the race the following Sunday.
Four riders from each team - the Tufts-Lyons, Orient, and Roamers - contested the five "stage" relay. The defending champions, the Los Angeles Athletic Club, had folded, guaranteeing that a new champion would take possession of the cup for 1901.
Elysian Park and the Buena Vista Street Bridge (in background) c.1901 (USC Digital Library)
Fred Maier (Turfts-Lyons), Tommy Morris (Orient), and Frank Beyea (Roamers) rode off from the Buena Vista Street Bridge (the bridge occupying the same spot today is also known as the North Broadway Viaduct) at 9:00am sharp on Sunday, 3 March. Thirty-two minutes later Maier was the first to reach the exchange in Pasadena, with Morris a mere fifth of a second behind, and Beyea not far off the pace. It took just shy of ten minutes for W. Horner Jr. of the Roamers to reach Monrovia junction, followed in close order by Fred Dee (Tufts-Lyons) and Guy West for the Orients. The Orients rider, John Duval, then stepped up on the third relay stage, reaching Azusa in 10:29, beating out "Bones" Knight of the Roamers and Frank Pearne for Tufts-Lyons. The gap between the riders had grown to a second. The fourth relay was carried on by Ralph Hamlin of the Orients, Frank Florentin for Tufts-Lyons, and Benjamin Percy for the Roamers. Hamlin was the first to reach the end of his relay with a gap of two-fifths of a second over Florentin, and a whopping seven minutes over Percy. Thirty-six minutes, seventeen seconds after taking up the final relay for Tufts-Lyons, F. J. Hoffman crossed the finish line at Canary Cottage a second up on Orients rider A. C. Muff, with Charles Fuller Gates finishing for the Roamers twelve minutes later. The cumulative winning time added up to 2.38:57 1/5 for the fifty miles,
What was it that caused Percy to lose so much time during the 4th relay, you might ask? Percy blamed his problems on deep sand which caused the riders to dismount and run, a problem familiar to followers of modern day cyclocross. As was noted at the time, "Percy is a poor sprinter when carrying weight, and was left plodding through the heavy going by Hamlin and the Frenchman (Florentin)."
Frank Hoffman
Four riders from each team - the Tufts-Lyons, Orient, and Roamers - contested the five "stage" relay. The defending champions, the Los Angeles Athletic Club, had folded, guaranteeing that a new champion would take possession of the cup for 1901.
Fred Maier (Turfts-Lyons), Tommy Morris (Orient), and Frank Beyea (Roamers) rode off from the Buena Vista Street Bridge (the bridge occupying the same spot today is also known as the North Broadway Viaduct) at 9:00am sharp on Sunday, 3 March. Thirty-two minutes later Maier was the first to reach the exchange in Pasadena, with Morris a mere fifth of a second behind, and Beyea not far off the pace. It took just shy of ten minutes for W. Horner Jr. of the Roamers to reach Monrovia junction, followed in close order by Fred Dee (Tufts-Lyons) and Guy West for the Orients. The Orients rider, John Duval, then stepped up on the third relay stage, reaching Azusa in 10:29, beating out "Bones" Knight of the Roamers and Frank Pearne for Tufts-Lyons. The gap between the riders had grown to a second. The fourth relay was carried on by Ralph Hamlin of the Orients, Frank Florentin for Tufts-Lyons, and Benjamin Percy for the Roamers. Hamlin was the first to reach the end of his relay with a gap of two-fifths of a second over Florentin, and a whopping seven minutes over Percy. Thirty-six minutes, seventeen seconds after taking up the final relay for Tufts-Lyons, F. J. Hoffman crossed the finish line at Canary Cottage a second up on Orients rider A. C. Muff, with Charles Fuller Gates finishing for the Roamers twelve minutes later. The cumulative winning time added up to 2.38:57 1/5 for the fifty miles,
What was it that caused Percy to lose so much time during the 4th relay, you might ask? Percy blamed his problems on deep sand which caused the riders to dismount and run, a problem familiar to followers of modern day cyclocross. As was noted at the time, "Percy is a poor sprinter when carrying weight, and was left plodding through the heavy going by Hamlin and the Frenchman (Florentin)."
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