Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/168

 On September 10 I raced at Terre Haute, Indiana winning the one-mile professional open event in the fastest time ever made in competition on the new track there, 2:04. In my second start on that occasion, the two-mile professional handicap, I was unable to place.

In my preliminary heat in the one-mile professional open event I won over Howard Freeman, the time being 2:29. In the final of that race Jimmie Bowler of Chicago was second and Lew Gordon third. Pease won the two-mile professional handicap with Gordon second and Bowler third. I was slowed up in my heat by Freeman for three laps but sprinted the next two laps and caught the bunch. Stinemetz thwarted my efforts thereafter and I was too exhausted to overtake the bunch again. The time for this two-mile event was 4:38.

On September 17, at Erie, Pennsylvania, I was scheduled to meet the three fastest sprinters in America, Frank Kramer, Owen Kimble, and Otto Maya, in a special four-cornered race. It developed to be a case of three against one in this event, however. I knew in advance that the odds were decidedly against me but decided to do my utmost to win especially as I recalled it was one of the last events of the season and my initial appearance in Erie. Fortune smiled on me that day and I led the field home.

On the day after the race the Erie Dispatch printed the following article: “Major Taylor, the colored bike star, who attracted so much attention here at the race meet yesterday, is a rare exception to his class generally. He is fairly modest, rather conservative, and not overly proud nor stuck up. He is very white for a colored man and has other qualities that should recommend him to the public generally. He does not drink or use tobacco in any form, never uses profane language, does not race on Sunday and attends church regularly. He is a married man and has saved $25,000 from his winnings and investments covering the past four years.

“Taylor rode in excellent form in the four-cornered special match race yesterday always holding himself back until just before the tape was reached, just to encourage the boys, then he darted ahead with ease and grace that was alone worth going to the track to witness. Later in the season he will ride a special match race with Willie Fenn, the amateur champion, to decide the National Championship for the year of 1900. Major Taylor won about $300 in the races here.

“Major Taylor is not as light in complexion as George Dixon, but he is a dandy in dress and he has a muscular development that is the envy of every slim-jim that sees him.”