Marshall "Major" Taylor
Monday in the USA is the national holiday to remember Martin Luther King. He was a great man but he was no cyclist. Fifty years before MLK, Major Taylor was the Eddy Merckx of cycling. In 1900 cycling was the king of sports. Outdoor tracks and velodromes dotted the country. Taylor was the original Cannibal, regularly winning sixty percent of the professional races he entered and he was the first black world cycling champion.
A real honest-to-goodness champion can always win on the merits.””Marshall Taylor
Despite longstanding racism in the United States, Major Taylor fought his way to the top of his profession. He traveled the world kicking ass and maybe changing some minds. More than a hundred years later, the velodromes in the USA have mostly disappeared, cycling is a marginal sport and in the USA cycling is still too often a white person’s sport.
What I find encouraging is the changing face of the professional peloton. It is starting to reveal the expanding nature of cycling’s popularity. In last year’s Tour de France we saw Chinese rider Ji Cheng doing his daily Sean Yates impression- crushing breakaways all day long. It is a universal cycling language; put the strong bastard on the front and keep him there. African team MTN-Qhubeka rode well in its first Vuelta. From the insanely fast stage racing I’ve seen in Africa, MTN-Qhubeka should eventually be a powerhouse. Athletic excellence knows no national boundaries or race. If one has the massive talent and desire there is a decent chance one can find a way up to the professional ranks.
Thirty years ago an all Dutch Grand Tour podium may have been unremarkable, now that podium usually represents three different countries or just as easily, three continents.
The bike is the vehicle of youth and it is there the fire starts to burn. And we are now all adults still obsessed with riding around on those same two wheels. Why does this melding of human and machine so captivate some, where ever they live? I’m already looking forward to seeing the great huge unknown kid from the Mongolian steppes. He herded horses on a bike to the dismay of all around him. Headwinds are all he has ever known. Bidons, what are those? When he first rides the stones of Roubaix they will be the smoothest thing he has ever raced on. He might not know Merckx from mare’s milk but he will float over the pavé like he was born to it.
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View Comments
@RedRanger
Look at the geometry of that bike: the fork rake, the crazy bars. Something tells me it was a bitch to steer. And his position makes Kelly's look good and that's saying something. Didn't stop him going batshit fast though . . .
Great article, great cyclist: pure sport. It's a little sad to think that as velos were exchanged for race tracks, NASCAR may now be the sport of the people in the US and too few modern cyclists and trackies in particular know about Major! And, bel mezzo to the man. I read that none of his bikes exist today....
@wiscot
not to mention the rolling resistance on those tires. But those legs though.
@Gianni
And you could actually watch a madison at Madison Square Gardens (albeit in a different incarnation).
@wiscot
You mean he didn't just bend those bars down at the stem in an effort to gain a more aero position? And you don't really need to steer when you're going around a track and you're in front of everyone else.
Great write-up. For those who haven't read Major Taylor's book, I recommend it. He used to run some ridiculous gears, 92 inches and 120 inches, if I remember correctly. Lots of V to turn those buggers.
@Gianni
That climb's a ba-stahd. The good Major would climb it on his track bike in some faakin huge ass gear "to build leg strength." I'll climb the thing, but not while anyone is looking
Gianni, MT was the Eddy of his day. My old Waltham Massachusetts workshop was across the river from the now buried Waltham track. It was set into a hill and was sheltered from the wind so the times there set records. Crowds would be in the thousands while across the street the baseball field would get a few hundred.
Also, I have seen a Wooster, MA pre WWI racing bike that weighed 16 1/2 lbs!
lastly, sadly, a guy here was wearing a Major Taylor jersey from the west coast , mentioned above but he did not know who Major Taylor was FFS!
Talk about having to HTFU. Less than 50 years from emancipation, in the midst of northern Jim Crow, and constantly competing with ignorant fools. Amazing accomplishments in the face of incredible adversity. Thanks for the article. I wish there were more like Major Taylor.