Bicycle clubs of old (Comments: 0)

The New York Times ran a piece today on bicycle clubs of yore. Here’s the intro:

The Bittersweet History of Bike Clubs
By J. DAVID GOODMAN

Neither snow, nor sleet, nor bone-chilling cold can keep the members of New York’s assorted recreational bicycle clubs from the swift — or, often, leisurely — completion of their appointed rides around and out of the city. The New York Cycle Club, the Five Borough Bicycle Club and Fast and Fab, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender bike club, are some of those that lead outings and other events year round. And while none of these was around at the turn of the last century, each traces its lineage back to the ubiquitous clubs that dominated the earliest years of cycling.

In the 1880s and 1890s, growing middle-class participation in cycling lead to the formation of hundreds of clubs across the United States. The first to form was the Boston Bicycle Club, created on Feb. 11, 1878. The following February saw a club formed in Buffalo, and the first New York City club came in 1880, also in February (something about the cold seemed to drive riders to associate in those days, perhaps for the warmth of the pack).

Read the rest of the article.