Major Taylor Club doesn't slow at 10,000 miles

By Ross Tierney

In its inaugural season, the Major Taylor Cycling Club Chicago, founded on Chicago’s South Side, was extremely active tallying miles, touring the region and working with community partners to build local cycling. Now in its second season, the club is bringing cycling to its community in a major way.

“On the South Side, most of the people are purely recreational riders — usually riding along the lakefront,” said Jesse Williams, the club’s ride captain and Active Trans member. “They’re not accustomed to invitationals, touring, cyclocross. We were hoping coming together in an organized way would allow us to get more people riding.”

Williams estimates that last season, members of the club collectively rode more than 10,000 miles. “Most riders never rode more than 10-15 miles before joining the club,” Williams said. Now, the club’s members are riding an average of 40 miles on a typical ride, with pace groups ranging from 10-12 mph to 20+mph.

The club organizes a variety of rides, often five rides a week, to offer something for everyone. In addition to their day rides, the club also organizes multi-day tours in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The club started with 10 members in the fall of 2007; today they have more than 30 and are continuing to grow.
The club has worked with Active Trans and Blackstone Bicycle Works to coordinate their membership drives and increase the club’s exposure.

“Organizing residents around biking or walking hugely increases its presence in a community,” said Active Trans Executive Director Rob Sadowksy.

Williams emphasized that the club members are a general riding group aimed at getting more folks in their community on their bikes.

“The idea was born to try to incite more riders on the south end of town — to try to bring more cyclists together. We wanted to help members understand a little more about riding and how to improve their riding.”

The club’s name comes from the renowned Black cyclist, Marshall “Major” Taylor, whose accomplishments at the turn of the 20th century had him revered as the greatest cyclists alive. Moreover, he was known as a compassionate man who wouldn’t allow racism to deter his goals. Williams said the club’s name is steeped in the history and sport of riding and was intended to appeal to all groups regardless of age, race or ability.

To learn more about the club, e-mail clubcaptain@mtc3.org.

Ross Tierney is a ModeShift contributor.