Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/60

 race at the Manhattan Beach track, and considered myself very fortunate to finish in second place.

A week later I went to Philadelphia to take part in the Castle Wheelmen's event on the Tioga four-lap cinder track which was remarkably fast. Following the rough treatment I received in my race a few weeks previous at the Manhattan Beach track, in my race against Eden, Simms, Freeman and Gardiner, and later on the same track against Tom Butler, Cooper and Gardiner, I decided on a plan of action to offset any rough tactics that my opponents might attempt to pull on me in future races. My trainer bitterly opposed my putting the plan into practice, but I insisted and it so happened that they were to be tried out in this Philadelphia meet. In the first race referred to above I was the object of some clever pocketing. My strategy now was to avoid both in my future starts by beginning my sprint from the front of the field. Hitherto I had always started my sprint from the rear of the field, and naturally in doing so had to sprint past all my rivals giving them an opportunity to elbow me or force me into a pocket, or otherwise make me the victim of rough riding tactics.

"In this Philadelphia meet," said the Philadelphia Press, "besides Eddie Bald, three times winner of the cycling championship of America, there were 25 of the fastest racing men in the world, including the pick of America's best sprinters and the recognized champions of Europe." I won the third of a mile championship event from that field and was mighty proud of my conquest, but I believe I was more pleased at the way my new tactics worked out for me in this hectic dash.

Now to explain my new tactics. In the finish of the quarter-mile championship race at Manhattan Beach, a short time before, the riders, including myself, covered the last 200 yards in faster time than we covered the same distance in this Philadelphia event. The Manhattan Beach race was a much more difficult one to win than that in Philadelphia. The reason was that up to and including the one-quarter-mile championship event, all of my races had been ridden and won in the most difficult manner possible—namely by trailing along in the rear of the field in order to avoid pockets or a fall until the last lap, by which time the riders would be sprinting for all they were worth for the tape. Then I would undertake to ride outside the field in my dash to the finish line. Even if I was successful my victory would be only by a very narrow margin, and in many close finishes I saw a well-earned victory wrest from me by the officials. It is a fact that the verdict rendered against me in one of these so-called blanket finishes, caused me to adopt my new riding tactics.

My plan of action henceforth was to start my sprint from the front