Canal-side ride Steve Carter, a member of The Indiana Wheelmen, rides his 1885 Columbia along the canal during the Heritage Transportation Festival. This high wheel bicycle was made in the 1870s and 1880s. Comet photo by Jennifer Archibald A past title holder in The Guinness Book of World Records took part in Delphi's Heritage Transportation Festival last weekend.

Steve Carter of Plainfield and fellow members of the Indiana Wheelmen, a vintage bicycle organization, were on hand at Canal Park in Delphi. They brought with them several oldfashioned bicycles, all built before 1900. To the delight of onlookers, they rode their cycles along the canal towpath, dressed in period clothing.

One of the bicycles was Carter's 1885 Columbia, a high wheeler called "an ordinary." He said the diameter of the larger front wheel measures 52 inches.

In 1992, Carter set a Guinness World Record with his Columbia, in "High Wheels Transcontinental Crossing." He recreated a ride made by Thomas Stevens in 1884 from San Francisco to Boston. Stevens rode a 50-inch Columbia high wheel, covering over 3,300 miles in 104 days.

Carter rode approximately the same route, documenting 3,428 miles in 33 days, seven hours. His record held for several years before being broken.

"The Wheelmen is a national organization with international membership," Carter said. "The Midwest has the most members. Our Indiana Wheelmen has a membership of about 50 families."

The total membership of the nonprofit organization, according to The Wheelmen website, is more than 1,000. Carter is a past national commander and past national historian of the organization.

"We try to re-create the golden age of cycling (1880s and 1890s)," Carter said.

Members collect and restore antique bicycles, and go to meets, seminars, and social events. They display, demonstrate, and go on rides with each other. One ride is called the Century Ride, which is 100 miles in one day.

The Wheelmen takes its name from The League of American Wheelmen, which existed in the 1880s.

Carter said the bicycle gave an alternative means of travel to the horse.

"The bicycle is always saddled," Carter said. "It can go as great a distance as a horse and it never has to be fed."