Mr. Thayer was the consummate bicycle tourist who made a circuitous
seven-month pleasure trip of 11,000 miles across the United States and
back by wheel, ship, and train. He was not averse to taking freight or
passenger trains when tired of riding or afflicted by ailments such as
boils. In his book Pedal and Path Across the Continent (p. 79) he
tells us, "After six hundred miles through the states of Illinois and
Iowa, over the prairies, both level and rolling, I am frank to
acknowledge that the prospect of five hundred miles more of the same
kind of scenery did not make me over enthusiastic to travel it on my
wheel. The object of the trip was not to make or break records, and thus
far, whenever I have found it desirable to take a train, I have done
so." His short stature that restricted him to riding a small wheel
bicycle proved an advantage on the train for he could comfortably nap on
the seats. He provides a description of life on the train. "The newsboys
on the trains out here are newsmen, full grown men. The one on the train
worked steadily all the afternoon with his papers, books, oranges,
bananas, etc., and finally when every one was tired of the very sight of
him he brought in a basket of toys and sitting down on the arms of the
seats, amused the children in the car with snakes and jumping jacks for
half an hour or more. Great liberty is allowed passengers traveling such
long distances and little boys play leap-frog and perform all sorts of
gymnastic exercises in the aisle." (Hartford Evening Post, June
15, 1886)
In Karl Kron's book (xcviii) we are told that Thayer was born of May 13,
1853 in Vernon, Connecticut and that he was engaged in the grocery
business until the end of 1885. His love affair with the bicycle began
in the early 1870s when he rode boneshakers. He graduated to high
wheelers and was quite proficient since he rode 2,500 miles in 1885 with
only a few falls.
He
began his pleasure trip, at age 33, from Vernon on April 10, 1886 riding
a 46" nickel plated Columbia Expert that he became quite fond of by the
time he reached California. "And it would be almost ungrateful to the
machine now not to say a word in its favor, for I have a feeling of
affection towards this particular Expert that is akin to that felt by an
equestrian for a strong, able horse that has carried him safely over so
much country." (Hartford Evening Post, August 13, 1886)
His Columbia was equipped with a Larkin cyclometer and he wore a
corduroy suit with a leather seat. Unlike most riders who carried a
satchel attached to the handlebars, Thayer wore a knapsack that weighed
about 15 pounds and included some spare parts. His only complaint about
this arrangement was the fact that when he took a header the knapsack
struck the back of his head.
His ride began by crossing Connecticut to reach the lower Hudson Valley
and then north to Albany. He followed the route used by Stevens and
Spier to Cleveland and then he went south to Columbus, Ohio and took the
National Pike toward Chicago. He crossed Iowa and Nebraska and went a
bit south into Colorado before heading for Salt Lake City and then
reaching San Francisco by train. There was a great deal of sightseeing
en route. He visited Hudson River attractions, was shown Niagara Falls
by members of the Buffalo Bicycle Club (they had also hosted Stevens),
and viewed President Garfield's (assassinated July 2, 1881) home near
Cleveland. Several days were spent in Chicago to visit the stockyards,
the parks, and other attractions. He also paid attention to state
capitol building along his route, went to the top of Pike's Peak, and
saw Lake Tahoe. There were also stops to see relatives or friends. He
saw a brother in Grinnell, Iowa, accidentally met Frank Van Meerbeke in
Green River, Wyoming Territory, and stayed with Connecticut friends in
San Francisco.
When he arrived in San Francisco about July 29, 1886 he was able to
fulfill one of his goals as reported in the Hartford Evening Post
of August 13, 1886. "The prime motive of the journey was to see the
Yosemite and carry that bottle of liquid to California. The cork was not
even drawn during the entire journey, and yet that liquid had a
wonderful power in keeping my spirits up. Last fall while riding along
the rocky shores of Nahant, I filled a small bottle with water from the
Atlantic Ocean. To-day I emptied part of that water into the Pacific
ocean near the Cliff house and now I have a bottle filled with water
taken from the Atlantic and from the Pacific oceans and in the bottom of
the bottle are some pebbles and sand, the former from the Atlantic, the
latter from the Pacific."
After visiting the sights in California, Thayer traveled by ship to
Portland, Oregon. His return to the East began from that point and he
went through Idaho, Salt Lake, Denver, and St. Louis to Kentucky, West
Virginia and Maryland by bike and train. More stops and sightseeing were
done in route. One of the most colorful events was the St. Louis parade
in which he participated as an aide to the grand marshall on the cold
frosty evening of October 1, 1886. "I rode to the natatorium about dark
where the wheelmen had already begun to congregate and it was
interesting to witness the transformations in their appearance. One
after another came hurriedly in, wearing his ordinary clothes, and
disappeared in the numerous dressing rooms in the building. Very soon
out would come an immense green frog nearly six feet high, waling on his
hind legs, then came a gorilla soon after a great white rooster came
strutting about. Then appeared the devil in red tight closely following
him was 'Cupid' in white tights with nothing to keep him warm but a pair
of tiny wings and an eyeglass. Cupid is better known to Hartford
wheelmen as George W. Baker, who made the wonderful ride from St. Louis
to Boston last year in nineteen and one-half days.The machines were
variously and tastefully trimmed with different colored paper and hung
with Chinese lanterns. One machine, or rather three bicycles fastened
together and supporting a sort of canopy was festooned with nearly a
hundred lanterns." (Hartford Evening Post, October 13, 1886)
Thayer arrived back in Connecticut in November, having covered 4236
miles by bicycle and 7000 miles by train. He was employed by the
Hartford Evening Post and his weekly articles about the trip that
had been published by the paper were incorporated into the book,
Pedal and Path Across the Continent that was published in 1887. He
and two companions made a 2,600-mile bicycle tour of Great Britain,
France, Germany, and Switzerland during the fall of 1888 and the spring
of 1889. The Bicycling World correspondent commented (May 18,
1888), "We wish we could join that party. Mr. Thayer is just the sort of
a man we should like to tour with." About a decade later Pvt. Thayer
served in Company K of the Connecticut Volunteer Infantry during the
Spanish-American war. Mr. Thayer died in 1928.
Photo: George B. Thayer in Etching Based on Photo Taken in
Rockville, Ct. Source: Frontispiece from book,
Pedal and Path.
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