Head Over Wheels by Irene Davis

head over wheels

It's a Gilded Age sports romance (!), featuring a rower hero who's also an investor, and the pretty bicycle-entrepreneur heroine who, uh, beat him up that one time.

(It's based on this real 1897 cartoon of a lady cyclist thrashing a drunk man and using her fists "in a scientific fashion." Truly, is this not the greatest thing you've ever seen?)

We've got a fake relationship, a disapproving family, and hurt/comfort after a stray polo ball knocks out the heroine. Tons of trope-y goodness here!

thrashed by a lady cyclist 1897