George Street Bike Challenge for Major Taylor - 2023

Описание: How fast you can pedal up George Street, a two-block quad-buster that was a training ground for 1899 world champion Major Taylor? It's one rider at a time against the clock in this steep uphill time trial in downtown Worcester, presented by Landry's Bicycles and the Seven Hills Wheelmen. The distance is 500 feet, and the average grade is 18 percent. The contest is open to riders age 12 and up. Proceeds benefit the Major Taylor Association, Inc.

American bicycle racer Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor (1878-1932) was the world’s first black sports superstar. He was world cycling champion in 1899, American sprint champion in 1900, and set numerous track cycling records. Nicknamed “Major” in his youth in Indianapolis and later known as “the Worcester Whirlwind” after his adopted hometown in Massachusetts, he was the second African-American world champion in any sport (after Canadian-born bantamweight boxer George Dixon of Boston won his title in 1891). In the Jim Crow era of strict racial segregation, Taylor had to fight prejudice just to get on the starting line. He faced closed doors and open hostility with remarkable dignity. In his retirement he wrote his autobiography, “The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World.”