By the Numbers

by Dan Schmalz

It sits up there every month. In the top left corner it quietly announces the age of our club, it's 1898, the year our club was established. As we enter our 106th year, I thought it was time to look at our club's place in time.

First, let's take a look from a cycling perspective.

• Our club is older than all three major cycling tours. And, a bonus factoid, the CRCA is also older than the current constitutions of Italy, France and Spain.
• We aren't older than all bicycle races, though. Paris Roubaix outdates us by two years. Paris Tours also began in 1896, and Paris Brest started in 1891.
• We aren't older than the modern "safety bicycle" and its two equal size wheels, but we do predate the derailleur and every other major technical development in cycling.

But how do we rank against other sports? Well, I'm glad you asked.

• The modern Olympic Games are two years older than us.
• The CRCA is older than both the professional baseball teams currently playing in New York. The Dodgers (1884) and the Baseball Giants (1879) would be older, but of course, they've moved, so tough luck!
• The NHL was established in 1917, a mere baby in comparison.
• Professional Football isn't even close, as the NFL started in 1920.
• The NBA goes all the way back to 1946, at 48, the CRCA was well into middle age.
• The Indianapolis 500 didn't start until 1911, and that's if you consider it a sporting event. Is it just me, but how does turning left, braking, accelerating and staying conscious for 500 miles qualify as a sport? I think auto racing needs a new term for their category of event. Motorsports is ok, but not really precise enough for me. Maybe Staying awake and swerving at high speeds would be good enough?

In 1898...

• Mark Twain had just finished his novel Following the Equator in 1897.
• Thomas Edison was working in his research and development center in West Orange, New Jersey
• John D. Rockefeller had just given up day to day operation of Standard Oil.
• Typhoid Mary was looking for work in the New York area.
• The Schwinn company was 3 years old.
• There were 44 states in the US.

We're older than: the motion picture, zippers, diesel engines, x-rays, radio, aspirin, the paper clip, the tractor, insulin, the iron lung, PVC, and, of course, television. Imagine living without an iron lung!

We are also older than the discoveries of: viruses, helium, electrons, krypton, hormones, the theory of relativity, the test for syphilis, and the lie detector. So, in 1898 you could lie about having syphilis and no one would be the wiser! Good if you wanted to keep it a secret, but bad because penicillin didn't come along for decades after.

The CRCA was born before Strom Thurmond, but only barely!

Otto Rohwedder didn't develop his bread slicing machine until 1912. So this proves that we might be better than (or at least older than) sliced bread!