Probably The Greatest Athlete You've NEVER Heard Of

[steve B]

One of the greatest cyclists of all time.
He was basically shut out of racing in the US, but found more success, acceptance and fame in both Europe and Australia.

At the time the top cyclists also made appearance money just for showing up to race.

Major Taylor was not only a sprint champion, but set several world records in paced races run behind a bike with 2 riders or more. Here, some tracks "fixed" his races by either providing him with the worst pacing teams, or pacing teams paid to slow him down. At least once he rode some distance yelling at them to speed up, then went past them to finish and win. Which is way harder than it sounds, at 30 mph, 80% of the riders power goes to pushing through the air. If the pacing guys are doing it, a rider con go very fast.