Van Meerbeke is described at a young athlete from the New York City area who, Karl Kron (Ten Thousand Miles on a Bicycle, 1887) believed, was born about 1865. He must have been a dedicated cyclist for, although it was not given press coverage at the time, he is thought to have made a round trip ride between New York and Denver in 1885 (Kron, xcvii). Not wishing to cover much of this route again on a transcontinental ride in 1886, he took a southern route west. He began the ride from the New York City Hall at noon on March 1 on a Columbia ordinary with the hope of reaching San Francisco in 150 days.