Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/89

 stretch to complete the job, and sail across the tape a winner amid the roaring cheers of the spectators.

With this victory, came the sublime thrill that was beyond the power of words to express, and the fact of having defeated single-handed the whole crooked outfit, the riders, their trainers and managers, as well, made it a victory fit for the kings. Having won over them in a clean-cut decisive manner I considered it ample compensation for

all their unfair and cunning schemes. It was as sweet a revenge as one could wish for.

“The next Taylor to set the one-mile human-paced record was Edward Taylore, the French rider. He spells his name with a final “e,” simply to distinguish himself from Major Taylor. Edward Taylore won the honors at Philadelphia in 1898 when he lowered J. Platt Betts’ record of 1:35 and set a new mark of 1:32-3. It was thought that these figures would stand for a long time but within a few months Major Taylor had whittled the record down to 1:31-4 and insisted he could lower it to better than 1:30. With that end in view the maker of the bicycle Taylor was riding at the time offered his pacemakers a bonus of $10,000 if they succeeded in aiding Taylor to turn the mile inside of 1:30.

“In the past 20 years the world’s record for one mile has been reduced nearly one half. In all, it has witnessed 48 reductions in which no less than 25 riders have taken part. America and England are the only two countries represented in the table and of course this country takes the lead.”