Monday Blues: Give the Man His Due

 William H. "High Gear" Wheeler was a highly regarded and successful Pomona rancher whose name regularly appears as an award winner at agricultural fairs and exhibitions, a founder and officer of the Claremont Citrus Union (later the Indian Hill Citrus Association), an early proponent of agricultural practices using less water, and an early devotee of healthful living through exercise and meatless eating. In many ways a man very much ahead of the times. 

"High Gear" also took great pleasure from entering bike races and later, marathons and trail runs. You will never find Wheelers' name anywhere near the top half of a results list, and he often came in dead last and many minutes behind his next nearest competitor during those bike races of the 1890s and earliest 1900s. Not so impressive you may say. 

But...

Yet at the same time, Mr. Wheeler was more than twice the age of many, if not all, of his fellow racers. Additionally most of those races, remember were pretty short in distance - anywhere from a couple miles to twenty-five. 

sporting goods ad from the Los Angeles Evening Express noting Wheelers' double century ride

They say that a person's ability to produce bursts of great speed decreases with age - and the fastest sprinters do tend to be younger. They also say that endurance can improve with age, and this is where "High Gear," who competed in his forties, fifties and maybe sixties, seems to have made his mark. The earliest note of Wheelers' ability to endure over long distances appeared in the Pomona Progress in November 1899 which noted that he had completed a run of one-hundred seventy-three miles in a day, on his bike geared to 124 inches. The story quoted Wheeler as saying that "the trip was made with no more effort or fatigue" than he has often experienced on runs of from 100 to 125 miles on his old wheel geared to 68 inches. Darkness, fog and poor roads between Los Angeles and Spadra, and through Glendora kept Wheeler from making 200 miles. "Taking into account the riders' age, forty-four," the reporter noted, "the record is a good one."

In early April of the next year, Wheeler was back at his distance runs, riding 200 miles through high wind in the afternoon, and after being off the bike for three months. "If this is not the first 'double century' made in Pomona, Mr. Wheeler would like to know of it." A week later, while on a spin to Ontario "High Gear" decided to give his best shot at the run up Euclid Avenue (you may remember Ye Olde Bridle Path should actually be called Ye Olde Bicycle Path). When he reached the top after 5.4 miles, his watch registered twenty-five minutes and fifteen seconds. Any record this might have been would, of course, been unofficial, but "one prominent Ontario wheelman" wrote, "I know of no one who has equalled this record on any wheel, regardless of gear." 

At the end of June 1900, the Pomona Progress, clearly proud of this leading citizen proclaimed "Another Bicycle Record" in a headline, noting the 1285 miles ridden by Wheeler between Pomona and Highland Springs (120 miles north of San Francisco), and return. Wheeler accomplished this ride in thirteen days, averaging 99 miles each day. The editor of Wheeling magazine considered this a record ride, made all the more impressive by the fact that Wheeler rode both directions, whereas most others only ride north or south and then take the train, or steamer back. This was Wheelers' third presumed record ride in less than a year.

Another year later, June 1901, the Pomona Progress was again writing about Wheeler who, in the company of Allen H. Nye of Monrovia, rode to San Francisco in three days and twenty hours, a record time for the north-bound trip. The round trip was made in a week due to tire problems which caused "long and vexatious delays."

In December 1902, the Los Angeles Times noted that Wheeler, now forty-seven years of age, had improved upon his double-century record by thirty-four miles, riding 244.2 miles in twenty-four hours. On New Years' Day 1903 Wheeler and Nye rode what was believe to be the first century of the new year. Not content with that honor, Wheeler continued on to Pasadena where he watched the parade, before returning to Pomona, for a total distance of 163.9 miles. Then, at the end of January 1901, the Star-Gazette of Elmira, New York noted another record belonging to Wheeler, a record for coasting. The story claimed that Wheeler, while riding 100 miles coasted for 65.2 of the miles, or nearly two-thirds the distance. Admitting the difficulty in judging such a thing, the story noted Wheelers' "reputation for honesty and accuracy."

Wheeler would repeat his "earliest century of the year" in 1904, making a double-century out of it, by riding 202 miles, and filing the claim with the Century Road Club of America. Three months later, Wheeler rode what was believed to be the years' first triple century - 300 miles ridden within 36 hours - and, "undoubtedly" the first ever in southern California. He rode the first 100 miles without stopping in six hours, fifty-five minutes. To "prove that he wasn't dead," Wheeler got up the next morning and rode a fourth century for good measure. The Los Angeles Times noted the ride was "legally witnessed" and would be recorded with the Century Road Club of America.

In August 1908, Wheeler, now fifty-three years of age, petitioned for entry into the Los Angeles Athletic Club's annual marathon between Los Angeles and Venice, but was denied for not being a member of the club. The story about the upcoming running event noted that Wheeler had recently completed the Mount Wilson trail run with a time "remarkable for a man of his age." Wheeler would return to that same Mount Wilson Climb in 1909, the final finisher in 14th place, with a time of 2:19:05. In June of 1909, Wheeler sold his ten acres orange grove on North San Antonio Avenue at the corner of Central Avenue; this was a property he had owned since planting it in 1887. Sometime relatively soon after, Wheeler moved from Pomona to Los Angeles where he resided at 600 North New Hampshire.

Not satisfied with retirement, Wheeler in 1910 at 55 years old, got back to his record-setting ways, making "four round trips up and down the steep and dusty trails of Mt. Wilson," in twenty-one hours and twenty minutes, and taking only ten minute rests between each journey. The accomplishment was "performed in demonstration of the value of the simple life and a vegetarian diet." Wheeler made the entire trip of 56 miles on a food supply of "only one raw egg, a handful of raisins, and a pint of unfermented grape juice." But for the heat, and trouble with his lamp, Wheeler said he could have made five round trips. As it was, he finished "neither lame nor noticeably footsore." Wheeler's times were tracked at both the bottom and top of the climb.

Henry H. "High Gear" Wheeler passed away in October 1916 at the Good Samaritan Hospital, an unaccomplished bicycle racer, but an enviable endurance athlete. The brief notice of funeral services note that he was formerly of Claremont.

The Monday Blues has been an occasional feature here at the blog since inception; the blues, an emotion, a color, a genre of music, with a cycling twist.