Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World: A Black Boy’’s Indomitable Courage and Success Against Great Odds

Born in 1878, bicycle racer Marshall ＂Major＂ Taylor became the first Black sports star to become a global celebrity when he won the world cycling championship in 1899. Throughout his bike-racing career, he won awards and set records on and off the track. But in his native United States, he faced racist discrimination and violence at every turn, causing him to spend most of his time in Europe where fans saw his value. After he retired from racing, Taylor wrote and published his autobiography and traveled the world promoting it. Written in the 1920s, his story feels fresh, contemporary, and readable. His life was too short, but his legacy lives on in the many organizations and clubs that bear his name, and the generations of new cyclists who look up to him. His intelligence, good humor, and global perspective shine through on every page in this candid account of a remarkable life. This new edition features an introduction by bicycle advocate Adonia Lugo, author of Bicycle / Race, as well as a foreward by Ayesha McGowan, the first Black US woman to be a member of a professional road cycling team.

Adonia Lugo, PhD is an urban anthropologist, bicyclist, and activist in Los Angeles. She collaborates to envision a sustainable transportation future centered in the needs and experiences of historically marginalized communities and people of color like her. She has written extensively on the socioeconomic implications of bicycling.