Frank Lenz (cyclist)

Frank Lenz (probably died May 1894) was an American bicyclist and adventurer who disappeared somewhere near Erzurum, Turkey in May 1894, during an attempt to circle the globe by bicycle.

Frank Lenz was born in 1867 in Philadelphia to Adam Reinhart and Anna Maria Reinhart, born Schritz, immigrants from Malsch, Germany. His father died while Frank was still a child, and Anna Maria moved to Pittsburgh. When Frank was six years old his mother married William Lenz, another German immigrant.

At the age of 17, Lenz took up cycling, joining the Allegheny Cycle Club, and started exploring the roads of Pennsylvania. He soon went on longer trips, riding his bike as far as New York, St. Louis, New Orleans and Chicago. He was also an avid photographer, who would bring his camera on his biking trips.

The Englishman Thomas Stevens had completed the first circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle in 1887, and Lenz wanted to make an attempt of his own. He was hired by the magazine Outing (for which Stevens had worked) to publish reports and take photographs from his journey, and set out from the Smithfield Street Bridge in Pittsburgh on a Victory safety bicycle on May 15, 1892 with 800 onlookers wishing him well.[1]

Going first to Washington D.C. and New York he then traveled west across the United States and parts of Canada, reaching San Francisco on October 20.

From San Francisco he sailed to Japan, where he rode from Yokohama to Nagasaki before crossing to China. While he seems to have had a pleasant trip through Japan, which he praised in his reports, China proved a tougher stage of his journey. Japan had good roads for the time but the roads in China were in poor condition, especially in winter, and the locals were often hostile or fearful. He had expected to cross China in three months, but it took him six, and he was very happy when he reached Burma, part of the British Empire.

...
Wikipedia