23/05/2025
This is Charles Minthorn Murphy, better known as ‘Mile-a-Minute’ Murphy for what he is doing here. Setting one of the first speed records on a bike. He did it on June 1st 1899, when he rode 1 mile in 57.8 seconds, more than 60 mph.
Murphy was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1870. A good cyclist, his record attempt came out of an argument with friends in a bar when he was asked how fast a cyclist could go. His reply was it depended on the rider, the gears, the track and the pacemaker. “There isn’t a locomotive built that could get away from me,” he boasted, by way of example.
He’d already ridden a mile in 37 seconds on competition rollers, so was confident, he just needed a compliant railway company to prove his boast, and he found one. The Long Island Railroad agreed to lay down 2 miles of smooth boards between the rails of a straight stretch of track near Babylon, New York. They supplied a fast locomotive and fitted a fairing and viewing gallery to the back its coach. The record was on!
The first run proved difficult. The locomotive couldn’t reach 60mph, and Murphy encountered the unnerving feeling of cycling on a wave as the weight of the train pushed the track into its sandy bed. The second run had to be better.
Murphy told the engine driver Sam Booth to open up everything, while he steeled himself to deal with the wave action caused by a passing train at speed. It wasn’t easy, the steam train flung out hot cinders and a shower of sand and pebbles that all hit Murphy. But he focused on a white line on the carriage in front of him, and the mile in a minute barrier was broken.
It wasn’t the end of the drama, though. Approaching the buffers at speed, the engine driver had to hit the brakes, but did so when Murphy was still pedalling 15 feet behind. He couldn’t stop and would have collided with the carriage if two men on the observation platform hadn’t grabbed him at the last second, and hauled him aboard as his bike fell onto the tracks. What a record, what bravery!
📸 Cycling Legends Collection
🖋 Chris Sidwells
