Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/443

 or maimed for life in the pursuit of success on the track. I am grateful for having escaped serious injury in my races, and that I was able to leave the track in perfect physical condition.

I recollect that my good friend and team-mate, Harry D. Elkes of Little Falls, New York, as fine a motor paced rider as ever sat in a saddle, and the king of them all in his day, was instantly killed during a race on the Charles River Track, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Among other brave riders who lost their lives on the track were Joe Greibler, Myles, Aronson, Stafford, Nelson, McEchren, Leander, McLean, Mettling and the great Jimmie Michaels.

Floyd MacFarland was instantly killed in a quarrel over some trifling matter at the Vailesburg track where he had become manager after retiring from racing.

These athletes were killed on American tracks and I could recount a number of others who met a similar fate overseas. And still my friends wonder why I quit the game when I did!

Anybody that has followed bicycle racing knows that it is a hazardous pastime even when played fair. In my day I saw chances for fatal accidents, especially among followers of motor pacing, materially reduced through changes in the racing rules. One of the most notable of these common sense changes in the code book was the placing of the rollers on the motors back farther from the rear tire of motor pacing machines.. This idea was adopted in order to place the rider so far back from the machine that he would have to combat greater wind resistance. Thus while he would be compelled to ride harder behind pace, his speed would also be retarded. Before the rollers were pushed back it was not an uncommon thing for a rider to be up so close to the motor that his head touched the back of the pacemaker. In another day I saw many other bad smash-ups on the track caused by the high speed of a rider. Friction caused the air in the tire to expand to such an extent that it burst, throwing the rider to serious injury or even death.

Upon being introduced to the late ex-President Roosevelt several years ago he grasped my hand with a hearty grip as he said:

“Major Taylor, I am always delighted to shake the hand of any man who has accomplished something worth while in life, and particularly a champion. I know you have done big things in your profession because I have followed your racing through the press for years with great pleasure. I was especially pleased and interested while you were racing abroad, defeating all the foreign champions, and carrying the Stars and Stripes to victory. Taking into consideration all the millions of human beings on the face of the earth, whenever I run across an individual who stands out as peer over all others in any profession or vocation, it is indeed a wonderful distinction, and