Coast to Coast Bicycle Race
In early 1934, prominent bicyclists in various parts of the country received letters announcing that two transcontinental relay races were being planned for later that year. The events would take place simultaneously; one route would be from New York to California and the other from California to New York. A group of seasoned bicyclists, some of whom had participated in an 1896 transcontinental relay race, came up with the idea.
Judging from the numerous newspaper articles I’ve read, the 1896 race was quite an event. The west-to-east race started in San Francisco on August 26. It was estimated to take between 12 and 14 days, with 600 participants riding in teams of 2 and 300 relay stations along the route. Several thousand spectators came out to give the first riders a rousing send-off. According to one account,
“Riders were kidnapped by rival clubs, relays were delayed by cloud-bursts on mountain trails, and bicycle clubs carried ‘shooting irons’ in the tracts of the couriers through their sections to see them safely on their way.”
Medals for Cyclists
Participants received a medal suspended from an orange ribbon and a pinback top bar with an eagle perched on a bicycle in the center. The legend YELLOW FELLOW is beneath the bike, with EXAMINER to the left and JOURNAL to the right. The medal’s obverse depicts a bicyclist handing off an object to another rider, with YELLOW FELLOW above. Yellow Fellow was the name of a lightweight bicycle manufactured during the 1890s by E.C. Stearns and Company of Syracuse, New York.
The reverse of the medal reads THE JOURNAL—EXAMINER/TRANS-CONTINENTAL RELAY RACE around the rim. Within that, the name of the recipient is engraved, with PRESENTED TO above and TRANS-CONTINENTAL RELAY RIDER below. The names of the two newspapers that sponsored the race, The Journal of New York and The Examiner of San Francisco, and the date 1896 are beneath that.
and a pinback bar like the one shown here.
(Photos: David Schenkman)
Popular Race
By comparison to the 1896 race, the 1934 event was rather tame. The goal was to beat the 1896 time of 13½ days. Participants in the first race maintained that if the time was beat, it would be because of better roads and more sophisticated equipment, not better riders.
Many people were interested in participating, and they had to compete for the available slots. For example, the July 14 St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that 60 riders had already filled out entry applications for the tryouts, which would be run over a 25-mile course.
The Allen Wheelmen Cycling Club
In Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Allen Wheelmen cycling club staged a race on August 7, with the first 3 finishers qualifying to participate in the segment of the transcontinental race going from Philadelphia to Baltimore. The Shelby Cycle Company of Shelby, Ohio, donated a Shelby road racer to be awarded as the first prize for the qualifying race. Twelve additional prizes were given to those with the best times.
The Trans-Continental races were sponsored by the League of American Wheelmen. The August 18 issue of The Manhattan Mercury, a Kansas newspaper, announced that “gold and silver medals will be awarded to all participants in the contest.”
(Photos: David Schenkman)
I’ve never encountered an example in either metal, but I’ve seen several medals like the one illustrated here, all struck on 50mm bronze planchets. The engraved names indicate they were awarded to participants, and I thought it unlikely that gold medals of this size would be given to the approximately 1,500 riders. This is confirmed by an article in the November 6 Indianapolis News, stating that the medal, which was described in detail, was “made of bronze” and would be awarded to every rider.
The Shelby Cycle Company donated a Shelby road racer to be awarded as the first prize for the qualifying race.
Bronze Bicycle Medals
The medal depicts a bicycle, with 19 to the left and 34 to right. Above is a blank rectangular area for engraving the recipient’s name, and over that is a large eagle with wings outspread and a sun setting behind mountains. TRANS-CONTINENTAL BICYCLE RELAY/LEAGUE OF AMERICAN WHEELMEN is around the rim.
A. E. CO. UTICA, N.Y. appears in tiny letters below the bicycle’s wheels. This was the signature of the American Emblem Company, a firm well known to collectors of military insignia for the items it manufactured during World War I and II. The medal’s reverse features a large map of the United States, with PACIFIC vertically to the left, and ATLANTIC vertically to the right. Stars on the map mark the race’s eastern and western starting points.
The races, which started on August 19, bested the 1896 times by several days. There were actually two teams from California: the group starting from Los Angeles reached New York City in 7 days, 2 hours, and 51 minutes, while the San Francisco team took 7 days, 6 hours, and 18 minutes. The team starting in New York City reached San Francisco in 7 days, 6 hours, and 27 minutes—only 9 minutes behind the San Francisco-New York team.
I welcome readers’ comments. Write to me at P.O. Box 2866, La Plata, MD 20646. If a reply is desired, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
A version of this article appears in the December 2024 issue of The Numismatist (money.org).