Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/87

 stunt a rider must have a lightning like “jump,” and he should also develop a wonderful bunch of nerve to put it over. I actually had the trick down so fine at certain times that I have often really invited a pocket as a matter of tactics, when I had a dangerous man on my rear wheel I would slip right into a pocket, making no effort to get out until just nearing the tape then timing my jump perfectly I would suddenly hop through leaving my rival in the lurch. The chances were a thousand to one that he would make no attempt to follow me through, and in case he did get through successfully it would be too late, as I would invariably be over the tape yards ahead.

In the middle of a turn I always found the most favorable spot on the track to get out of a “pocket’ because it is almost impossible for a rider to tear off a dead sprint at top speed without swerving, or wobbling more or less, and therefore even more difficult and dangerous for three or more riders to engage in a furious sprint on the steep banking and ride steady, and at the same time carry out their part of the plot, then crouching very low, I have often started through with scarcely space enough for my front wheel to pass, and having been so well protected from wind resistance, since the pocket formed a sort of a vacuum I was able to kick through like a cork out of a champagne bottle as I have often heard remarked. As a matter of fact I consider this the most skillful bit of tactics in bicycle racing.

As a rule it requires at least three good men to form an effective pocket, for example, one man leading on the pole, with the pocketed rider on his rear wheel, when the second man comes with a rush and suddenly eases up when slightly in advance of the pocketed rider, the third man quickly comes around from the rear of the pocketed man and dashes for the tape, defeating all the others, the two men forming the pocket sacrificing their chances by holding their victim in the pocket. The winner would of course be expected to split the spoils with the riders who formed the pocket.

What I considered the most vicious practice in the way of foul riding on a bicycle track was often staged by two riders, while we were entering home stretch, or on the back stretch at a break-neck speed, with one leading on the pole, the other close on his right, at this point the man on the right would swerve out just enough to tempt the rider following to pass between them, they would suddenly then close in on him, causing him to bump the track with a terrible crash. If he came through the experience alive it’s a safe bet he would never try it again.

These treacherous tactics were nothing less than an attempt to kill, and riders guilty of such fiendish practices should be dealt with severely, or at least permanently eliminated from the sport. I have often been criticised for going through a pocket on the pole, and it was a strict violation of the racing rules, but my answer was this: I was always on