Sunday, July 15, 2012

Eagle Archive: Saluting Carroll County's love of that dangerous 'foreign invention' ... the bicycle




More than 100 years ago, "bicycle riders and racers, were filled with excitement over an event to take place at the Pleasure Park, a newly built horseracing track with grandstand one mile north of Westminster on the road to Littlestown."

That property is now known as Carroll County Regional Airport.

Thanks to research for the Historical Society of Carroll County by historian Mary Ann Ashcraft, we know that on June 25, 1898, the now-defunct American Sentinel wrote that "Thursday, the 30th day of June, will be the greatest day among cyclists in Carroll County that has ever occurred in its history.


One of my passions for July, besides thoroughly enjoying the heat, is the Tour de France. This year, June 30 was one of my greatest days of summer.

That was the day that the 99th Tour de France began with the "prologue" event. What follows, until July 22, is a tour of France's picturesque and agriculturally dominated countryside, in 20 stages that will cover 3,497 kilometers… http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/carroll/news/community/ph-ce-eagle-archive-0715-20120711,0,1917523.story




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