It’s weird to think that I ride a similar bicycle and it’s still going strong today. She looks very slim and elegant doesn’t she – but maybe that’s because of the ‘rations’ of spam!
Another stylish vintage picture
1920s picture
This is one of the pictures I bought at the Cycle Jumble that I will hang up in my house. I quite like the 1920s style. For more, there are advertising postcards in the Robert Opie Collection which I have put a link on this website on the right.
Ripley Cyclejumble 29 March 2008
This is the first time I went to a ‘cycle jumble’ and I was given a lift by a Veteran Cycle Club Member.
Ripley in Surrey is a famous ‘cycling destination’ or rather a destination they like to pass through. It was also a village that H G Wells mentioned in his book ‘Wheels of Chance’. In fact there is a museum near the Village Hall where there’s some information on him as well and an old cycling game.
I was amazed at how many cyclists turned up. The village hall was packed with stalls and there plenty of stalls outside too. They sold bike parts, books, memorabilia and of course bicycles both new and old. I was determined just to get books even though there were lots of things I liked. I ended up just buying some books, vintage pictures and some really smart gloves (a bargain at £3). The books were a bargain too and some were far too cheap for what they’re worth. I picked up a ‘classic’ cyclist cartoonist book by Helms for example, for only £1. Not bad at all.
One thing I did notice was that there were no bicycle sculptures or gardening ornaments. In fact there were virtually no bicycle ornaments. This was very odd! or even bicycle art stalls. They would have made loads of money. Maybe it was because it ‘s quite ‘male domininated’ – more ‘gadgety’. But hey, us girls like bicycles too and I for one like to hang more works of art in my house .. or even garden. It would be good to also have some bicycle advocacy stalls, green stalls or cycling club stalls. Maybe the cycle jumble isn’t marketed that well to other groups.
The weather was drizzly at first but later it became sunny. The atmosphere was friendly but not ‘snooty’. There were loads of blokes there, which was odd, as jumble sales are usually tended by women! I think a lot of women refused to go with them. God knows why, as I really enjoyed it! They don’t know what they’re missing.
Next time I go, I’m going to take more money with me!!
Major Taylor – Champion Black Cyclist is honoured with a statue
When I speak to fellow cyclists (both modern and vintage cyclists) I mention his name and the reply is often ‘Who?’.. In view of the fact that he is setting professional racing cyclists ‘an example’ of determination despite opposition and success without doping, I thought I would share his biography with you.
Major Taylor (1878-1932) black cycling champion in America, to be honoured with a statue in May. Marshall W. Taylor, nicknamed ‘Major’ was a professional athlete and track cyclist, largely forgotten nowadays by cyclists both in America and Europe.
In his home town of Worcester, in the US, they now want to honour him for his remarkable achievements as a sportsman and for his integrity and service to others. It is expected that it will be attended by various sporting legends. He has been regarded as the equivalent, in his day, to Lance Armstrong.
He was nicknamed “Major” as a teenager because he wore an army uniform when he performed stunts with his bicycle outside a cycle shop. The shop owner recognised his talent and encouraged him to race where he won his first race in 1892, at just thirteen. He faced much racism in the sport but continued to carry on despite heavy opposition from ‘the establishment’. Black cyclists were even banned from amateur racing in the 1890’s.
Back in Indianapolis in 1896, Taylor unofficially broke two world track records, for paced and unpaced one mile rides. But this offended white officials, and he was banned from doing any more. His speed proved he was ready to turn professional, and the Racing Board in New York, where the colour line had been opposed, finally agreed to register him as a professional.
The “Worcester Whirlwind” as he was known continued to win races and set records. He was the second black world champion in any sport. His first professional race was one of the toughest, most controversial contests, a six-day race in New York. Begun in Britain still in the days of the six-day was an agonizing endurance test. Cyclists would ride almost continuously for six days and six nights, stopping only to eat or sleep, covering as many miles as possible on a indoor track.
Taylor was very religious after his mother’s death. For years, he resisted cycling on Sundays.
He died in his fifties and was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in America. A few years later, a group of former professional cyclists had his remains exhumed and placed in a part of Mount Glenwood Cemetery in Illinois, with a plaque that says: “World’s champion bicycle racer who came up the hard way without hatred in his heart, an honest, courageous, and God-fearing, clean-living, gentlemanly athlete. A credit to his race who always gave out his best. Gone but not forgotten.”
The new statue of the “Worcester Whirlwind”, as he was called, created by sculptor Antonio Tobias Mendez will be unveiled on 21 May 2008 at the Worcester Public Library in America.
For more information on Major Taylor, see www.majortaylorassociation.org.
And here are some books written by him or about him:-
“The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World,” Major Taylor’s self-published autobiography.
A Forgotten Hero
by Ken Kifer is an essay on Major Taylor’s life.
Neighborhood Fought Sports Hero’s Residency
by Albert B. Southwick details one of Major Taylor’s many struggles against prejudice.
Major Taylor was Much More than Just a Bicyclist
by Albert B. Southwick discusses Major Taylor’s pioneering role as an African American athlete.
Cyclists Armstrong, Taylor Have Much in Common
by Albert B. Southwick compares cycling greats Major Taylor and Lance Armstrong.
Major Taylor
The Extraordinary Career of a Champion Bicycle Racer
by Andrew Ritchie is an engrossing and thoroughly researched biography of Taylor.
Major Taylor, Champion Cyclist
by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome is a picture book suitable for children in grades 2 to 4.
Cyclejumble
Three times a year, Ripley, in Surrey (a true cycling town) has three cycle jumbles a year and this year I have been invited to go there experience it. I am really looking forward to rummaging through the vintage clothes and books… and bicycles.. I just hope I won’t bring one back! It will be held at the weekend and I will take photos and write up an account of my ‘bargains’..
Life as a Vintage Cyclist... say yes to Elegance 