Salt Lake Tribune | 1914-05-24 | Page 18 | Baker Tells How He Broke Record

BAKER TELLS HOW HE BROKE RECORD Edwin G. Baker, who recently broke the coast to coast motorcycle record, gives he following account of his experiences. Mr. baker says: While I arrived in is'ew York City at midnight May 14, clipping approximately nine days from the previous transcontinental record, according to my wav of thinking, J really achieved the feat four months" before. What, I mean by that is, thorough thor-ough preparation and endless calculation cal-culation preceding the trip is what brought me through. First, I laid out ray route a matter of no small importance in selecting roads and towns through which to pass. Then, having done this, I enlisted the co-operation of a. weather expert and together we . examined weather conditions over my chosen territory for ten years past. Analysis showed that, contrary con-trary to general opinion, May was the "best month for me to undertake a coast to coast ride on a motorcycle. motor-cycle. So, relying on the weather's weath-er's past performances, I determined deter-mined to start in May, leaving San Diego May 3 at 12 o 'clock, Eastern East-ern time. Another factor, of eourse, was my machine. ' I rode a 1914 seven-horsepower twin two -speed Indian with electric equipment and cradle spring frame. In all the distance of 3497 miles I had no mechanical difficulties whatever, what-ever, and I encountered all the different road conditions known to travel. Four mountain ranges were negotiated. ne-gotiated. At one point at the northern end of Arizona I climbed from 200 feet below &ea level to an altitude of 947 feet into the mountain snows. It was in this mountain work that th two-speed showed its supreme qualities. My brake power, too. in making the precipitous descent of the winding mountain trails, never failed me for a moment. If it had, I might not be able now to tell this storv. Total time for the trip was ll days, 12 hours and 10 minutes, during which 1 took only forty- six hours' sleep about four hours per dav. Average mileage per dav was :j.fU. T took along an extra electric light bulb, expecting to need it with such hard ridincr. But I arrived ar-rived in Xew York with the original orig-inal bulb still in its socket and burning brightlv. My batteries Were still in fine condition anji needed no recharging or attention during the ride. In my estimation it was the cradle spring frame above all that contributed to mv success. It ab-porbed ab-porbed all road shocks and vibrations, vibra-tions, and this, of course, saved all my strength and besides enabled en-abled me to make speed over the roughest roads.