The Six Day Race: The Story of Marshall 'Major' Taylor

[Music] Marshall major Taylor was the first international african-american superstar he did more than cross the color barrier he was absolute best in his sport [Music] he was a pioneer before the pioneers [Music] the story starts with the six-day race in Madison Square Garden to go from being an amateur cyclists into the world of professional cycling the six-day race at Madison Square Garden is the most prominent race in the world it was an endurance event the how far could they cycle in six days you could rest if you did rest others recycling you are speeding around

the track at 40 miles an hour which in those days was faster than an automobile keep ride and keep riding whatever it takes it's absolutely about how much willpower you have to give to that [Music] we hit the third turn and the pack thinned out I felt that if I could stay up near the front I could make it I was the only sprinter in the field the only black man and for 18 straight hours I managed to stick to my wheel my greatest difficulty was staying awake 24 hours before the main event the named

marshal major Taylor is on the lips of many people the idea of a black man in a white sport there was a certain amount of dramatic possibility in that who is this person and what's going to happen to him in the next six days this was my first attempt at such a distance the other riders didn't think I'd last they were matured developed used every trick all their physical force against me it's not about lasting for six days though he goes out too fast he clocks 300 miles in the first 24 hours which puts him

right up with the leaders he was about ten years younger than the average contestant but it was very important to him to be counted marshal seller broke down barriers he change perceptions he did something I was on president we're talking about 30 short years after the abolishment of slavery being in some of these races where no one that looks like him no one I was from his environment no one understood or was like to be him where was your mindset when you made that decision to say I'm gonna do this the bike didn't have brakes

if I stopped I crashed I had to keep going I was tired hungry my legs were weak and my mind wandered just imagine there's a beacon coming off of your body discomfort extreme discomfort it hurts that's the point where it's just mental fortitude because your body is rapidly declining it's back weights with the mental strain not necessarily the physical strain that can do the most how much can you take how much can you tolerate like anything in life you have to figure out how to actually do it for examples like this I want to go

jump off this bench and do a 180 I can like visualize that I didn't take my bike and go execute it and it wasn't easy it was a learning curve it fell down a lot a lot of scrapes and bruises in the latter stages of this race they're totally delusional you are literally asleep on your bike you're not coherent not awake we had that motivation I just want to finish I finally earned my right to be here I want to see what I can do by day five the field has been winnowed down to half

and major Taylor is surprisingly shockingly one of them the top rider said the sixth day would kill my career that I was done there surges there's lulls the pain happens but it's not necessarily continuous everyone is human they have their human limits he has to Moodle crashes when you love something pulling down isn't gonna stop you if you truly want it that's the thing that separates good great marshal major Taylor completed over 17,000 laps which is roughly the distance between New York and Houston Taylor finished in eighth place there's also concerned that he's permanently injured

that he will not live to race another day the track teaches you one thing it's not where you start it's where you finish [Music] he achieved exactly what he set his mind to achieve people accepted him finally for what he could do someone of his stature is at least known in the african-american cycling community there are major tailor clubs all around the country I'm very inspired by what I see my goal is to become the first-ever african-american female professional road cyclist so that barriers crushed that's not a thing anymore and the next person can swoop

in and do something even more awesome I want to smash the glass ceilings similar to mr. Martelly and that's the thing Isis fires me okay cool uh can I take this bike ride anything in mind so much further everybody from the cyclists who are racing under his name to the amateur teams that are out there I mean we're all sort of taking a little shovel of dirt off that story that had been buried for so long and bringing it to light in a word I was a pioneer and therefore had to blaze my own Trail

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