When you stand with a crowd cheering closely-matched rivals, you may feel your own heart race in sympathy with the athletes. But when you read about a contest held 120 years ago, and your heart rate shoots up anyway, what explains that?
Your heart will race for The World's Fastest Man: The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist Major Taylor, America's First Black Sports Hero. Author Michael Kranish achieves this in chapter 14.
Before then, Kranish chronicles the life of young Marshall Taylor, son of a Civil War veteran, who earned the nickname "Major" doing stunts on bikes to promote a cycling shop. Coached by a white man, former cycling champion Louis "Birdie" Munger, Major Taylor trains with determination and perseverance, competing whenever possible -- when white men would allow him. Taylor repeatedly faced cycling star Eddie "Cannon" Bald, famous for hanging back in the slip stream of a pack and then passing all with an explosive surge at the last minute. Taylor stunned Bald with his own surge, his "jump."
By chapter 14, Major Taylor is a controversial star in America's most popular, most lucrative, sport:
Now time and money and athleticism had made him into a marvel of a man: muscular, handsome, well groomed, clean shaven. He took great care in his clothing, being able to afford the most fashionable suits, usually of three pieces, a watch on his wrist, a hat to be doffed upon entrance. He delighted in sitting at the piano, playing popular tunes and composing his own music. He wrote poetry and became an amateur photographer... He was also a man of deep faith, entrusting that God would watch over him as he regularly risked his life in such a dangerous sport. (Kranish 150)
Kranish often pauses the hero's life story for a lateral view of his world, so that we appreciate not just one athlete's stats, but what his wins and losses meant as the 20th century approached. Whites north and south were clawing back the gains blacks had made during Reconstruction. Democratic President Grover Cleveland accepted the supremacists' narrative that Southerners were magnanimous in "forgiving" blacks the indignities whites suffered during Reconstruction (48).
Major Taylor threatened the prevalent white supremacist dogma. An editorial in Cycling Life, bearing a cartoon of an ape on a bicycle, asserted that the black man is "a creature of today... a lazy, happy-go-lucky animal" unworthy of competition with whites, and unlikely to afford the $2 entrance fee to race, anyway (50). Taylor proved his stamina finishing 1787 miles in six days of continuous riding -- any time off for sleeping or eating was ad hoc -- before a sellout crowd at a New York velodrome, finishing 8th after a crash in the last 30 minutes. [See The Six Day Race, a video re-enactment of that event.]
Someone defending their identity can't accept facts. If they can't deny a fact, they have to destroy it. Taylor so threatened the white men's identity that a white man who finished after Taylor at the next big race strangled him into unconsciousness before Taylor even got off his bike (97). Southern cyclists refused to compete in a race that Taylor was expected to win and promised to harm him (98).
Racism in one way benefitted Taylor throughout his career, as any race promoted as the showdown between white and black drew huge crowds in the USA, Europe, and Australia.
Such was the case with the rematch between Taylor and a French rider named Edmond Jacquelin in May of 1901, detailed in Kranish's Chapter 14. Jacquelin had mocked Taylor after defeating him at their first match. Who will win the title of World's Fastest Man is answered in the book's title, but Kranish puts us in the saddle to appreciate what it takes for Taylor to do it, and the set up makes victory so satisfying.
[Photograph: Before their rematch, confident Jacquelin offered a handshake with a smirk. Taylor kept his game face on.]
Not long after, one white man named Kimble, outspoken racist defeated by Taylor, does an unexpected thing. With his hand on Taylor's shoulder, Kimble squares off against Taylor's nemesis Floyd McFarland, who colluded with other riders in attempts to beat Taylor. "Yes, Major Taylor did defeat me, and he didn't have to run me off the track or foul me to do it, either."
Taylor was stunned as Kimble continued to face down McFarland. "I do not consider it a disgrace to be beaten by him because he always does it fairly and that is more than any of you can do," Kimble said. Shaking Taylor's hand, he continued, "Major Taylor, I congratulate you on winning this championship race. You're the fastest and squarest man among us" (209).
From this pinnacle, the story slopes downward, as auto racing and other diversions eclipse cycling in popularity. Bitterness at continuous racism estranges his beloved wife Daisy and Sydney, their daughter born in Australia [family pictured below].
Kranish keeps the story interesting, always with those sidelong looks to the broader culture. Among the things about cycling itself that struck me:
- Mark Twain wrote, "Get a bicycle. You won't regret it, if you live" (42).
- New York's young police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt established a bicycle unit capable of outspeeding and outmaneuvering thieves on horseback (84).
- A black fan of Taylor's, injured during a bike race, became a champion boxer, Jack Johnson (253).
- Brakes were an afterthought to the bicycle, as were helmets. When Taylor landed on his head and failed to finish the race, commentators had no concept of concussion; they attributed his poor finish to insufficient training (201).
- At first, cars were considered a fad, noisy, smelly, and dangerous compared to the elegant bicycle (197).
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