LAKEHEAD WHEELERS BICYCLE CLUB

AN INTRODUCTION

Fort William Bicycle Club Members L-R: E.Burla, C.Bottos, C.Menuz, F.DeGiacomo, J.Walker

Have you every been riding alone along Lakeshore Boulevard or down Route 61 towards the US Border and felt a presence, that someone was on you wheel? Then you looked around and no one was in sight. Well, somebody was there; it is the spirits of former cyclists who traveled these roads. This story is about a group of bicycling enthusiasts who captured the interest of sports fans at the Lakehead during the 1930s.

This fall a good friend, Joanne Dagsvik lent me her deceased father's (Sec Brunello) "Scrap Book of Fort William Wheelers Association". In the scrapbook is a collection of newspaper articles from the Fort William Daily Times-Journal, Toronto Daily Star and the Winnipeg Tribune as well as some exciting personal photos.

The scrapbook depicts the popularity of bicycle racing at the Lakehead. In the 1930s bicycle races were an important part of popular culture in Canadian society. The newspaper clippings note that races were held at the half-time of football games on dirt tracks that surrounded the football field. The Labour Day Sports Celebration was held at the Fairgrounds and between the foot-races for boys and girls, horse racing and jumping and tug of wars etc., were the cycling events. These included five events for the District Bicycling Championships: ¼ mile, ½ mile, 1 mile, 5 mile and 10 mile. "All entrants must use fixed wheels with no brakes and be in possession of their C.W.A. cards" (The Canadian Wheelmen's Association was formed in 1882). In the 1935 competition Johnny DeGiacomo was the winner of three events: ¼ mile, 1 mile and the 10-mile. Paul Presidenti won the ½ mile and Sec Brunello won the 5-mile.

Johnny DeGiacomo

Johnny DeGiacomo was the riding captain of the Lakehead Wheelers and was the leader of a group of guys that called themselves the Fort William Wheelers. This included Sec Brunello, Paul Brunetta and Joe Brescia. These riders trained hard and had good endurance and speed. In one of the photos in the scrap album are shots of the riders on a dirt road in Nipigon after a ride there.

In one time trial event held at McKeller Park Johnny DeGiacomo set a local record for the ¼ mile winning in 37.2 seconds. The competition also included a motor paced race that was won by Arnold Walsh, with Jimmy Walker second and George Seabrooke third. Featured in this program was a 5-mile team race, fashioned after the Six-Day Bike racing event.

Six-Day racing started in Europe in the 1890's and became very popular in Canada and the United States during the 1920s-30s with events held at Madison Square Gardens in New York, in Chicago, Toronto and Montreal. The Six-Day event was a race that was held on indoor or outdoor-banked tracks. The event nicknamed the "races to nowhere" lasted for 144 hours, 24hrs/six days with at least one rider of a two-rider team being on the track all the time.

In 1935 Johnny DeGiacomo travelled to Montreal to participate in a Six-Day Bike Race. Also at meetings of the Lakehead Wheeler's Association executive, President Walter Sargent headed a committee to investigate the possibility for erecting a banked track. Establishing " a saucer track of five to ten laps to the mile, in a central location. This would be a decided factor in the training of new material for the teams, and would present unlimited possibilities for new events and the promotion of the popular sport." One of the most accomplished six-day riders was a Canadian, W.J. "Torchy" Pedan from Victoria B.C. He won 36 six-day events and was reputed to have been well off financially as the results of his winnings. With Torchy as a role model many Canadian cyclists aspired to the 6-day races in the 1930's. With the start of World War II bicycle racing waned in popularity in Canada. Today in Europe there are at least 8 six-day races usually held indoors at velodromes during the months of October - March in cities such as Ghent, Amsterdam Dortmund, Grenoble, Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin, and Bremen. Today 6-day cyclists don't ride for 24 hours but will ride for 6-7 hours in the evening and early morning in sprints, Madison and an event paced by a motorcycle called a derny.

Participants in the 50-mile Bicycle Race

The scrapbook as well details an important road race held July 13, 1935. This was a 50-mile Bicycle Race that started at McKeller Park and then travelled through the streets Westfort to the Grand Trunk Bridge, where the race really began. The riders rode on the International Highway to Cloud Bay and back finishing at the G.T. Railway Bridge. The first across the line was Paul Brunetta in 2:15.49, Johnny DeGiacomo 2nd, Joe Brescia 3rd, and Sec Brunello 4th.

The 50-mile Bicycle Race was a qualifying event for the Winnipeg Tribune's 50-mile Bicycle Race from Winnipeg to Winnipeg Beach held on July 29th, 1935. The Lakehead Wheelers sent the four riders mentioned previously. In the Winnipeg Beach race Paul Brunetta came in one second behind Theo Dubois of St. Boniface, who won in 2:29.15. Sec Brunello finished fourth, Joe Brescia 5th and Johnny DeGiacomo 6th. DeGiacomo crashed badly with 2 miles to go and finished with a sprained ankle, several cuts and a damaged bike.

The scrapbook only has newspaper clippings for three years 1933-1935. The photos are of great interest as upon close examination you can see that some of the bikes appear to be modified standard bicycles. When the cyclist were on the track they used fixed gear bikes with no brakes. For the road races the cyclist used a fixed gear and adapted the pedal stoke to the terrain. It is hard to imagine the Lakehead Wheelers screaming down some of the hills on the road to Nipigon or Cloud Bay without brakes. The photo of Paul Brunetta shows a fixed gear bike.

Several bike shops at the Lakehead are mentioned in the articles: Brunetta's Bicycle Shop on McTavish Street in the East-end and M. Dolcetti Bicycle Shop in Port Arthur. New bicycles at this time would cost as little as $30 and second-hand bikes were selling at half that amount. The LWBC (Lakehead Wheelers Bicycle Club) had a winged crest as a logo on their jersey and the riders used toe clips but no helmets, maybe just a baseball cap. The LWBC also was instrumental in offering after school cycling for those youngsters interested in the sport of cycling.

That's the story from the scrapbook of "The Fort William Wheelers Association." So now when you are riding along the streets and roads of Thunder Bay and you experience that mysterious presence just say hello to the Lakehead Wheelers as they join you on another training ride.