Champion Lady Bicycle Rider

The Planet writes of the “good deal of talk” concerning a female bicyclist who is in Richmond on a “two weeks visit.”

A good deal of talk has been going on concerning the lady that straddles the wheel on upper Leigh St. The lady in question was visited by the “Planet” reporter and the wheel and costume rigidly inspected. Her name is Miss Mary Elizabeth Epps. She is here on a two weeks visit to her parents at No. 915 W. Leigh St. She has been to New York City for several years and has been riding the wheel only about six years. During the past 18 months she has been taking parts in races. She won a silver medal in a century run in Greater New York and on another occasion she won the race from New York to Cooney Island.
She rides a Pierce wheel, diamond frame patern and geared up to about 80 or 85. Her bicycle skirt is made in the latest bloomer style, blue colored and with numerous little brass buttons. One a lady’s wheel her skirt would not be noticed, but on the diamond shaped gent’s wheel the skirt divides and one would think she had on pants.
She has been on the road several times with some of our fastest riders and has made them push the wheel for all it was worth to keep up with her. A certain gentleman, who has won several medals for fast riding and now uses either the horse or a wheel, was sent home a few evening ago by the lady as the second best rider. She is a pleasant talker and takes delight in wheels. She left the city on yesterday, and said if any of the wheelmen of our city come to Greater New York she would carry them over the city.

“Champion Lady Bicycle Rider,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed March 21, 2025, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1704.