The Bike Geek

As some of you may know, I am a librarian by day…and that’s a good thing, because I love to read!

So, I figured I’d share the bicycling books I read with the rest of you — call it my “public outreach”, one of the basic principles a librarian must strive for! We’ve done mini- book reviews before…here’s a page that has a variety of bike-friendly books I reviewed in June of last year.

I recently finished Major: A Black Athlete, A White Era, And The Fight To Be The World’s Fastest Human Being by Todd Balf (New York: Crown Publishers, 2008).

This is an exhaustively-researched “untold story” of the world’s first black superathlete, Marshall “Major” Taylor. Major Taylor set a number of world records and set the bicycling world on fire in the early part of the 20th century. Loved abroad, he received a much colder reception in many parts of the U.S., where racism was the order of the day.

This book tells the story of Major’s upbringing, family life and racing career both in the United States and in Europe and Australia. The highs are presented — white men like Louis De Franklin “Birdie” Munger and William A. “Bill” Brady stepping across color lines to help Taylor achieve world dominance in bicycle track racing — as well as the lows; trickery, predjudice and outright violence from other prominent white racers and from the American public.

The book climaxes with the “East Meets West/Black vs. White” matchup between Taylor and his archrival Floyd McFarland, and the buildup to this monumental race is both poignant and awe-inspiring.

Todd Balf, the author, closes his book with a couple modern-era tales of the legacy of Major Taylor, from the first black Little 500 racing team to his meeting with Taylor’s 96 year old daughter. Overall, the book is inspiring, if a bit painful to read — America’s history of racism and bigotry is a pretty ugly thing to think about. If you care for the history of bicycle racing, I highly recommend the book — because Marshall Taylor was the predecessor for ALL of America’s great athletes, both black and white.