`Major' Taylor in bicycling's Mecca
Peoria bike clubs honor black racing champion
PEORIA — Marshall “Major” Taylor, a world champion bicycle racer who competed in Peoria more than 100 years ago, is back on track thanks to a television commercial.
The exploits of Taylor, an African American who dominated bicycle racing in the late 19th and early 20th century, are featured in a recent TV campaign by Hennessy, a French firm that's the world's largest producer of cognac.
Known as the “Colored Cyclone” by newspapers of the day, Taylor competed despite facing hostility from white riders. Taylor held seven world records in 1898 and won the world championship in 1899.
Members of Peoria bicycle clubs saluted Taylor at a luncheon and open house Saturday afternoon held at the Peoria Bicycle Club's indoor training facility at 620 SW Water St.
“(Taylor) put up a lot of numbers that would be hard to achieve today on a modern bike,” said Tim Beeney, a Bike Peoria board member and longtime biking advocate.
“Major was one of the highest-paid athletes in the world at the time he competed. He was probably as young as 13 when he first competed in Peoria in the 1890s,” he said. The 21-year-old Taylor defeated top rival Tom Butler at Lake View Park in 1899.
Peoria's Lake View Park, located along the Illinois River near where the Komatsu plant is located today, was a major stop on the U.S. bicycle racing circuit. In his autobiography, Taylor noted that “Peoria was the Mecca of bicycle racing in those days. On its historical track all the fastest riders in the world struggled for fame and glory.”
Lake View Park was “a half-mile track that was one of the top places in the world for the international bicycle racing circuit,” said Peorian Steven Streight, whose 1990 book, “Bicycle Fever,” recalls Peoria's bike history in the 1890s.
“Before you had cars, people came out to see horse racing and bicycle racing,” said Beeney, who hopes that renewed interest in Taylor's efforts could spur biking interest in the Peoria area.
Attending the open house at the indoor training facility above Kelleher's Irish Pub on Water Street was Cheryll Boswell, who represented the area's newest bicycle club, Black Girls Do Bike.
“Peoria has one of 100 charters across the country. It's an inclusive club, but the intention is to get more people of color on a bicycle for health reasons,” said Boswell, noting that the group held a five-mile ride in October
between Manual Academy and Proctor Center.
Other area bike group members were also in attendance Saturday, including Mike Robertson, president of the Peoria Area Mountain Bike Association, and Chris Swindell of the Peoria Bicycle Club.
Swindell said that the indoor facility on Water Street provides equipment that allows up to seven people to turn their bicycles into stationary bikes and work out before big screens that indicate speed and distance covered by the cyclist.