National Identity, Club Citizenship, and the Formation of the Canadian Wheelman’s Association, 1883–87

Abstract

This article draws on commentary and articles published in the Canadian Wheelman’s Association’s (CWA) journal—The Canadian Wheelman—during its first four years (1883–87), as this group of elite young men developed a distinctive Anglo-Canadian cycling identity in the face of pressure from their US counterparts to become a subordinate state division of the larger US Wheelmen organization. The League of American Wheelmen proposed the absorption of the CWA as a fitting termination. In a small way, this episode exemplifies American attitudes toward Canada at a time of rapid American expansion and Canadian resistance to that project. Events indicate the emergence among Canadian wheelmen of a distinctive national identity that retained close allegiance to British cycling culture, adapted to the long winters by engaging in complementary winter sports, took pleasure in boisterous club gatherings, rode with enthusiasm during the cycling season, and ultimately defied geopolitical pressure to be absorbed into the American system.