Tomorrow (November 26) is Marshall “Major” Taylor’s birthday, and to celebrate we have a limited number of copies of his fascinating 1928 autobiography for sale in the Seattle Bike Blog Shop.
The book is a classic, providing detailed insight into both the culture of bicycle racing and intense racist discrimination around the turn of the 20th century. His story has inspired many bicycle organizations, including Cascade Bicycle Club’s Major Taylor Project and annual Major Taylor celebrations at Bike Works, who just held their 2025 Major Taylor celebration last week.
The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World was originally self-published in 1928 and was 460 pages long. It is in the public domain so you can read it for free via Archive.org, which also hosts versions for e-readers. The copy available on our shop is a condensed 215-page edition from Microcosm Publishing that includes a foreword by pro racer Ayesha McGowan and an Introduction by Adonia E. Lugo, Phd, author of Bicycle/Race: Transportation, Culture, & Resistance, which is also available on the Seattle Bike Blog shop.
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