Well, here is a Wild West story for you all. In 1886 wheelman Stephen G. Speir supposedly rode his velocipede from New York to San Francisco in 84 days; there is only a newspaper article from the San Francisco Morning Call, on September 11, 1886 stated that he had rode the entire distance, but, as usual, there was a controversy over this adventures task, well I would think there would be, just like the tall tales of the western gun fighters with there fast draws and notched gun handles; cyclists (wheelman) where caught telling tall tales about there long distance feats, the truth eventually came out that a lot of these guys admitted that they hopped the trains and rode them a distance, then they would unload them selves and there cycles from the train and get back on the roads; of course there was the newspapers just ready to print anything that would sell papers, even if the truth was stretched or fabricated, hmmm, imagine that, well nothing really has changed to much from those old yesteryears of tall tales to today’s published scratch pads we call newspapers, but don’t we all just love adventures tall tales and this one is no exception, can you imagine riding a velocipede on trails they called roads, fending off wild animals, robbers, and possibly an Indian or two then there’s the possibility of getting run off the road by one of those wily stagecoach drivers, now that is what I call adventure and a true iron butt ride! One other point here, try riding into town with a gun tucked in your belt today, now that might be an adventure!
Once again I took an old photograph and did my enlarging process and touched it up and added some color and gave it a western era poster look.
Bill
