Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Back in the day...henry miller and jockeying.

I have been doing some reading latley and found some interesting items.

Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer etc.) said that his best friend was his bicycle, a bohemian made track bike he bought from a six day racer at madison square garden. He also aspired to be like the track heroes of his youth. Henry egg etc.

The Garden was built as a velodrome back in the day when cycling was the hottest thing in American sports.

The national pastime used to be track racing.

The real name for what we now call the "track stand" is "jockeying", the origin of the phrase "jockeying for position".

No ****...

Jockeying for position didn't come from horse racing?

I don't know, but the use of the term "upset" in sports did come from horse racing.

Sweet! I'm gonna jockey at all the lights on the way to work!

I posted this a while ago in the image section:


http://www.petergowland.com/images2/PG378M24b.jpg
http://www.petergowland.com/images2/PG378M25.jpg

looks like that bike

I don't know, but the use of the term "upset" in sports did come from horse racing.

In what original context?

In what original context?

an unfavoured horse's victory over the favoured horse I think, but relating to the defeated horse

That's the modern meaning of an "upset."

I wonder if the old Henry Miller bike still exists...Wouldn't that be an awsome bike to ride.

an unfavoured horse's victory over the favoured horse I think, but relating to the defeated horse
This is what I found online:

One of the legendary origins of sports terminology is that the term upset, meaning an unexpected defeat of one favored to win, is from a classic 1919 horse race that pitted Man o'War, probably the greatest race horse of all time, against an unlikely opponent named Upset.

During his career, Man o'War lost only one race, the 13 August 1919 Stanford Memorial at Saratoga. Man o'War was heavily favored to win, but lost to a horse named Upset. This, the legend goes, is where the sports term upset comes from. Man o'War would face Upset in five other races, winning every one, but this one loss early in his career would be the one to make lexicographic history.

Most lexicographers and etymologists thought the story too good to be true, but no one could disprove it. Sporting usages of upset prior to 1919 just could not be found. Then in late 2002, researcher George Thompson, using the newly available tools of full-text online searching of the New York Times databases, turned up a string of sporting usages of upset dating back to the mid-19th century. Thompson traced the verb to upset to 1865 and the noun to 1877. There are numerous uses of the term in 19th century sportswriting, proving beyond a doubt that it was well-established by the time Man o'War lost his only race. Upset did not father a term, he was just well named.

Source: http://www.wordorigins.org/wordoru.htm (http://www.wordorigins.org/wordoru.htm)

This is what I found online:

One of the legendary origins of sports terminology is that the term upset, meaning an unexpected defeat of one favored to win, is from a classic 1919 horse race that pitted Man o'War, probably the greatest race horse of all time, against an unlikely opponent named Upset.

During his career, Man o'War lost only one race, the 13 August 1919 Stanford Memorial at Saratoga. Man o'War was heavily favored to win, but lost to a horse named Upset. This, the legend goes, is where the sports term upset comes from. Man o'War would face Upset in five other races, winning every one, but this one loss early in his career would be the one to make lexicographic history.

Most lexicographers and etymologists thought the story too good to be true, but no one could disprove it. Sporting usages of upset prior to 1919 just could not be found. Then in late 2002, researcher George Thompson, using the newly available tools of full-text online searching of the New York Times databases, turned up a string of sporting usages of upset dating back to the mid-19th century. Thompson traced the verb to upset to 1865 and the noun to 1877. There are numerous uses of the term in 19th century sportswriting, proving beyond a doubt that it was well-established by the time Man o'War lost his only race. Upset did not father a term, he was just well named.

Source: http://www.wordorigins.org/wordoru.htm (http://www.wordorigins.org/wordoru.htm)


Rad.
But yeah, too good to be true.

HANK!


Everybody go read the Rosy Crucifixion. Right now.



OK, at least Sexus.

Upset hasn't been through many twists and turns in usage, compound word and all

HANK!


Everybody go read the Rosy Crucifixion. Right now.



OK, at least Sexus.

and for those of you disinclined or otherwise unable to read books of any significant length, just go rent "Quiet Days in Clichy."

hot.

UNDER THE ROOFS OF PARIS. (miller was paid $1 per page to write porn. god bless him)

nabokov was also a track racing fan.

Sounds like you guys should all read Hearts of Lions: History of American Bicycle Racing.
Really awesome book.
I had no idea that bike racing was invented by Americans.
You can also find out who was riding a polished chrome bike long before the pista so he could see other racers in his down tube.

You can also find out who was riding a polished chrome bike long before the pista so he could see other racers in his down tube.
Who? Tell me now!

I mean, isn't that why people ride chrome bikes? Hipster hunting?

...Anais Nin's saddle myself;) ....all of those "bohemian cats" were very into bikes. At that time it was transortation they could afford. I love Miller's writing...just started Plexus...

This is what I found online:

One of the legendary origins of sports terminology is that the term upset, meaning an unexpected defeat of one favored to win, is from a classic 1919 horse race that pitted Man o'War, probably the greatest race horse of all time, against an unlikely opponent named Upset.

During his career, Man o'War lost only one race, the 13 August 1919 Stanford Memorial at Saratoga. Man o'War was heavily favored to win, but lost to a horse named Upset. This, the legend goes, is where the sports term upset comes from. Man o'War would face Upset in five other races, winning every one, but this one loss early in his career would be the one to make lexicographic history.

Most lexicographers and etymologists thought the story too good to be true, but no one could disprove it. Sporting usages of upset prior to 1919 just could not be found. Then in late 2002, researcher George Thompson, using the newly available tools of full-text online searching of the New York Times databases, turned up a string of sporting usages of upset dating back to the mid-19th century. Thompson traced the verb to upset to 1865 and the noun to 1877. There are numerous uses of the term in 19th century sportswriting, proving beyond a doubt that it was well-established by the time Man o'War lost his only race. Upset did not father a term, he was just well named.

Source: http://www.wordorigins.org/wordoru.htm (http://www.wordorigins.org/wordoru.htm)


damn, you just gave me the url to a site i'll be spending a lot of time on now...i love this ****.

oh, and speaking of writers and bicycles...i found a great jack london quotation...let's see if i can find it again...here we go:

"Ever bike? Now that's something that makes life worth living! I take exercise every afternoon that way. Oh, to just grip your handlebars and lay down to it, and go ripping and tearing through streets and road, over railroad tracks and bridges, threading crowds, avoiding collisions, at twenty miles or more an hour, and wondering all the time when you're going to smash up. Well now, that's something! And then go home again after three hours of it, into the tub, rub down well, then into a soft shirt and down to the dinner table, with the evening paper and a glass of wine in prospect - and then to think that tomorrow I can do it all over again!" -- Jack London

and for those of you disinclined or otherwise unable to read books of any significant length, just go rent "Quiet Days in Clichy."

hot.

no - read it. it's beautiful.