High Wheelin'

High wheel bicycles (also known as penny-farthings) introduced cycling to San Jose and Santa Clara Valley in the 1880s. The Garden City Cyclers (later Garden City Wheelmen) was the first club in the county when it was founded in 1884. By 1896, there were eight bicycle clubs in San Jose, with more throughout the county. The first "safety" bicycle (modern-day style with wheels of equal size) was ridden by Irving L. Ryder, later the Santa Clara County Surveyor. Women joined these clubs as well and also founded their own Ladies Cycling Club.

Movin' Into High Gear

In the 1880s high wheel era, cyclists would race at Agricultural Park's horse track on Race Street and The Alameda. Entering the "safety" bicycle era, tracks were built specifically for bicycles in San Jose as well as the city of East San Jose. The Agricultural Park Velodrome was a one-third mile track with curves banked at 20 degree angles. It was built at a cost of $9,000.00 and was said to be "the best of its kind in the world." Another velodrome was later built on the current site of Lincoln High School's athletic fields in 1936, and then torn down during WWII. San Jose's fifth and current velodrome was built at Hellyer Park in 1963.

And so San Jose and Santa Clara County, with its fair weather and relatively flat roads, has had a long love affair with the bicycle. Even our first City Historian, Clyde Arbuckle, was a member of the Garden City Wheelmen, racing bicycles from 1917 through 1926.

Exhibit:  San Jose's Love Affair with Cycling

About the Exhibit

A collection of original photographs and memorabilia from the Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History and Ralph Pearce

More Details

• Date:  February 7 - April 30
• Time:  During California Room hours
• Where:  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library California Room 5th floor
• Cost:  Free

Further Reading in the California Room:

• A History of Bicycle Track Racing in San Jose: the Burbank Velodrome Years, 1935-1941 by Tracy Ann Delphia
• The Fresno and San Francisco Bicycle Mail of 1894 by Lowell B. Cooper
• Sourisseau News:  The Valley's Love Affair with the Bicycle (video)

• The Valley's Love Affair with the Bicycle by Ralph M. Pearce