Good little film

[Andrew G]

Good little film about one of the greatest of Legends .
After the short info text just click the link at the bottom.
[url=http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/0-9/3MWbicycle/kate_siney.html][color=#000080]BB[/color][/url]

[carl f]

Thanks for the pointer Andrew,great little film,although shame its only 3 mins long
World champ and a mother and worked up to 10 hours a day,amazing!!

Does anyone know anything about Marshall.W Taylor,world champ track cyclist from the late 19c ?
My son heard about him in black history month at school,but there wasn't much info on him
Carl

[John the old'un]

I had the privilege of meeting her and chatting with her at the Welwyn track in 1962.
She was awesome.

[Roy Green]

Beryl caught me a couple of times in TTs in the 1960s. Smooth as silk, just a "Come on, lad!', and she was fast disappearing up the road.
Roy

[Apples]

That was pre-metric miles though

[Jon H]

Aye, proper Yorkshire miles, none of them namby-pamby southern softie miles

[Grahame]

Beryl is one of my cycling heroes.

Where I used to live (Harrogate) there is a section of bike path dedicated to her memory, and a bench with a good view in her name. People I knew who had met her said she was always encouraging of all cyclists of all ages and abilities.

She, apparently, used to compete in time trials and then ride home if the course was in easy rech (less than 100 miles) or get her husband to drop her off about that distance from home and cycle the rest of the way.

She was so dedicated, that she even died on the bike - she was found by the side of a road in Yorkshire with no apparent injuries, but all the signs of having died of a massive heart attack. She was in her eighties (I think), and her friends said that she loved her cycling and couldn't think of a way that she'd have prefered to go.

A hero to us soft southerners too.

Some little extracts from an interview with her.
[quote]
Have you a secret formula? "No , it's no secret what I do. Out of season, no real training at all. In season I do 45 miles every day, from Monday to Thursday, on my own. Friday is blank".

I made a note of this. No riding on a Friday night? "Well, I might fetch a chicken from my sister's or do some shopping and a few other things". How many miles does that come to - on this day off? "About 40 miles, but they don't count because I'm not down on my drops trying hard you see. My 18 work miles are not training either". Now let's tot them up, Beryl. It looks like you've had a slack week if you only do 300 miles, before the serious business of the weekend.

[tel]

Was there a falling out with her daughter, who happened to beat her one year in the Nationals-seems to ring a bell?

Terry

[Apples]

She was only 59 when she died !

Beryl Charnock, cyclist: born Leeds 12 May 1937; MBE 1964; OBE 1968; married 1954 Charlie Burton (one daughter); died Harrogate 5 May 1996.



She married Charlie when she was 17 and he remained in the backgrond throughout her career as helpmate, mechanic and companion. His family provided Burton with the support that allowed her to continue her racing career after [size=150]daughter Denise was born in 1955.

Denise herself grew into a powerful cyclist, representing her country at international level. Relations between mother and daughter became difficult as they emerged as racing rivals in the 1970s. After Denise ousprinted Burton in the 1975 national road race championship to take the title, her mother refused to shake hands with her on the podium.[/size]

[the other Steve Dennis]

kicked ass.

started off as a trick cyclist - he could strip a penny farthing down to just the big wheel whilst he was on it (so they say).

then he outclassed every rider out there in track sprinting at the turn of the century when cycling was at its heyday.
He dominated cycling even whilst the majority of white riders and society worked against him.
Probably the first ever black world champion at any sport (maybe one boxer before) and certainly one of the highest paid sportsmen of his time ($25,000 at his peak compared to $2000 for baseball's Cy Young - though technically baseball was not professional yet)

Anyway I don't have time to get on my soapbox so instead try these resources:

The Major Taylor Association - [url]http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/JimCrow.htm[/url]

Major Taylor by Todd Balf - fantastic book - [url]http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307236586[/url]

Major Taylor - kids book - its great too -[url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0689831595/majortayloras-20[/url]

just found this flickr group too - [url]http://www.flickr.com/photos/dubteka/370568156/[/url]

[John the old'un]

One of my favourite bike bits when I was young was a Major Taylor stem.
Fantastic bit of kit.
It was square in cross section, but set corner upwards, and it had a slider which clamped onto it into which the handlebars fitted, slung beneath the square stem.
Thus it was adjustable in length.
Good old steel. Heavy, but fantastic chrome.
Found this link, but I used mine with the bars underneath the stem.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/kan ... 6.tif.html

[Jon H]

Blimey John, you'd really want to make sure that clamp bolt was done up properly; the consequences of the clamp sliding forwards and off the end of the stem would not be pretty.

[John the old'un]

[quote="Jon Hemming"]Blimey John, you'd really want to make sure that clamp bolt was done up properly; the consequences of the clamp sliding forwards and off the end of the stem would not be pretty.