Probably The Greatest Athlete You've NEVER Heard Of

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by steve B

One of the greatest cyclists of all time.
He was basically shut out of racing in the US, but found more success, acceptance and fame in both Europe and Australia.

At the time the top cyclists also made appearance money just for showing up to race.

Major Taylor was not only a sprint champion, but set several world records in paced races run behind a bike with 2 riders or more. Here, some tracks "fixed" his races by either providing him with the worst pacing teams, or pacing teams paid to slow him down. At least once he rode some distance yelling at them to speed up, then went past them to finish and win. Which is way harder than it sounds, at 30 mph, 80% of the riders power goes to pushing through the air. If the pacing guys are doing it, a rider con go very fast.

Waltham was a center of cycle racing from 1893 to just before WWI. A velodrome, was built just to the west of South Street. Most people in the area know it as Nipper Maher Park, a series of 3 little league fields and an older league field (Connie Mack league when I was growing up). To many people it is still known as 'Bike Park'. Concrete blocks that were part of the grandstands are still visible in the woods on the edge of the park. Waltham Manufacturing Company (bikes and cars) was based in Waltham. They build a very popular and fast bike (Orient and Waltham) and sold about 100,000 of them from the 1890's to 1910's. The Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation website has some good videos and articles about cycling. https://www.charlesrivermuseum.org/the-bicycle-craze

My alma mater U/Mass Boston (Go Beacons!), besides being the home of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, houses the largest cycling archive in the U.S.