Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 23 JUNE 9, 2015 P131 at the foreign sound of a noisy motorbike causing the Shepherd to offer some choice words to the rider. Wyman often had to assist the feeble 90-pound motorbike by peddling up steep grades, some- times having to get off and push the bike through miles of deep sand and or mud. Not only did he have to be supremely fit to tackle the country's crossing, he also had to be an excellent mechanic and often used whatever material he could find roadside to make improvised repairs. Finding gas and oil along the route also proved to be a major challenge, in spite of the fact that his little Califor- nia got 120 miles per gallon. Just before reaching Chicago in mid-June his motorcycle's engine broke a crank. He waited in the Windy City for five days waiting for replace- ment parts to arrive. He unflatteringly told of Chicago's insect infested hotels, drunken citizens and shady merchants and said how happy he was to leave the city once he made repairs on his bike. He also gave accounts of acts of kindness of people along his long journey. In Wyoming a rancher hitched up a team of horses to pull his motorcycle out of a gumbo mire of mud. In Buffa- lo, New York, an automobile manufacturer owner put his mechanics to work on Wyman's bike and gave him a car to tour the city. As Wyman's epic trip wound down his Califor- nia motorbike began to break down more and more often. At one point he described how he had to stop five times in one mile to make repairs. He became so frustrated that he said he felt like shooting his mount full of holes and abandoning it. In Albany the worn out motor finally was beyond repair and Wyman was forced to pedal the final 150 miles to New York City. In New York he was greeted by members of the New York Motor Cycle Club. The California was put on display at the club grounds while Wyman recovered from his grueling journey at the Herald Square Hotel. Wyman was present in the first meeting in New York City that formed the Federa- tion of American Motorcyclists (F.A.M.) and it was reported his hands were still in bandages from the trip. He then took a short vacation in the Catskills courtesy of the Motorcycle magazine. Wyman and his bike returned to San Fran- cisco by train in August and the bike was put on display in Golden Gate Park, in a special exhibi- tion commemorating the trip. Two years after the trip Wyman married Nellie Lovern, raised a family and worked in various jobs, primarily in auto-related industries. In May of 1958 an elderly Wyman was interviewed about his historic cross-country adventure for a feature in the Oakland Tribune newspaper. Wyman died on November 16, 1959 in Stock- ton, California, at the age of 82. He was survived by three sons. Shortly after Wyman's transcontinental trip California Motor Bicycle was consolidated and eventually bought by the Yale Motorcycle Com- pany. Yale advertised Wyman's accomplish- ments as being done on a Yale, even though the companies had not yet merged at the time of Wyman's ride. In the late 1970s a Marks mo- torcycle was found in an old barn north of San Francisco. The bike proved to be almost an ex- act duplicate of the California ridden by Wyman. The Marks was in fact a prototype for the Califor- nia and was the only known surviving motorbike so closely related to Wyman's California. Thanks in large part to Roger Hull and Road Rider magazine, Wyman's story was revived in the 1970s. His outstanding accomplishment of being the first to cross America on a motorcycle was finally recognized for the major milestone it represented. Wyman was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

• Cover