Cafe Bookshelf: MAJOR [Major Taylor, U.S. track racing history]

This book has been on my “to buy” list for a while, now.

Does it have the story about Desgrange paying him with a wheelbarrow full of coins after one race in Paris?

and have been blown away by the experience. First, this guy was badass ! He beat the best riders of his day, over an over again. In an era when blacks we’re suffering through the height of American apartheid, he battled on, refused to move to Europe where life would have been easier and remained a tremendous symbol of overcoming adversity.

Often excluded from participating in World Championships, by racist who’s shenanigans make today’s conflicts pale in comparison, Major would just wait until that race was over and then challenge the winner to a two up race against him. More often than not he won.

Reaching back to the very the beginnings of modern cycling, when raw speed was the only goal and cycles were the fastest things on the planet, Major paints an amazing portrait of the first modern cycling super star.

Imagine the US being the hub of the most popular sport on the planet, and the the world champion of that sport…..all while denying him the most basic human rights. All the makings of a gut wrenching story.

A word casually thrown around, but never more applicable, in my opinion.

actually owns this book. i just put it out on one of my displays

until I fell in behind a Major Taylor Club ride in NYC (in ’00 or ’01) and was wondering who/what the hell Major Taylor was. A lot more info avail now than there was then.

Until I happened upon the Major Taylor Trail on the south side of Chicago during one of my early morning “see how lost i can get in the city” rides. Thank you for the review. I’m going to order the book today!

My man GR (Gravel Road) sent me a link to the Rough Rider’s site. Really Good stuff, the tag line says it all… “Any bike Anywhere”. Looks like a lot of road bikes on dirt roads, (mmmm, love me some dirt roads).

Anywho, while perusing the site I came across this great post on the MAN himself, Major. Here is a linky to a good little post on the man and his steed.

and it’s interesting to note that doping was alive and well even in Taylor’s day. i was idly reviewing this topic and pulled the following off Wikipedia:

1896

Marshall Taylor of the USA was the American champion. He refused to continue a New York race, saying: “I cannot go on with safety, for there is a man chasing me around the ring with a knife in his hand.”4 Nitroglycerine was used to stimulate the heart after cardiac attacks and was credited with improving riders’ breathing, but they suffered hallucinations from the exhaustion and the drugs.5

From Foul Play (Drug Abuse in Sports):

"The riders’ black coffee was ‘boosted’ with extra caffeine and peppermint, and as the race progressed the mixture was spiked with increasing doses of cocaine and strychnine. Brandy was also frequently added to cups of tea. Following the sprint sequences of the race, nitroglycerine capsules were often given to the cyclists to ease breathing difficulties. The individual 6-day races were eventually replaced by two-man races, but the doping continued unabated. Since drugs such as heroin or cocaine were widely taken in these tournaments without supervision, it was perhaps likely that fatalities would occur."

That’s about the track at the end of the c19th / early c20th, before Teddy Roosevelt sissified the sport by restricting riders to no more than 12-hours a day on the track.