Yes, and Australia is a place he was very respected, far more than he was in America. In fact, a film about him was made in Australia. Someone was nice enough to send me a copy many years ago.


First, all the more reason to fear him. As for the story, well...you see, I was Maj.Taylor long ago. I was the very first person to provide same-day race results from around the world. This was at a time when race results otherwise took up to two weeks to filter to America. I started by posting results that cyclists in other countries would send me in the Usenet forums (i.e., rec.bicycles.racing). From there it grew into the internet's first cycling-related journalism service. I had "correspondents" from around the world--Russia, South Africa, Australia, Japan, Colombia, Germany, Denmark, France, England, and many other places. There are cycling web sites today that got their start from me. Many Net ol'timers actually know me quite well.

I guess it's all sorta like Dave M. At some point I moved on. However, the service was continued by one of my subscribers, Frank Gonzalez, for many years thereafter. Believe it or not, I provided race results to the major cycling publications (e.g., Velonews) and also to many professional racers. Somewhere here there is a story about how I met Lance. It may be difficult to believe, but it was Lance who walked up and introduced himself to me. He saw me at one of the big-time races, walked up, tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Are you Maj.Taylor?" And that is how I came know him a bit, have his private e-mail address, and his mom's phone number. That is how I came to meet and ride with Eddy Merckx. It's how Phil Liggett came to call me if he needed certain cycling information he could find nowhere else. It's how I came to have opportunity to be associated with Paul Sherwen, Motorola, WordPerfect, Chris Carmichael, Davis Phinney, and many other well-known names in cycling.

As "Maj.Taylor," I provided race results and information to almost every professional team, and they made certain to send me their results so they would be publicized. I would compile the information from my correspondents and the teams each day, and resend it via e-mail to several thousand people around the world. I guess you could say I was one of the very first people to recognize the power of the internet and its facilitation of information flow. My efforts were known as "Maj.Taylor's News & Results Service." However, all of that was in another life, but it still occasionally affords me an inside line to people and events of which I would otherwise be no part.

Quite frankly, I am still sometimes surprised to find people remember "Maj.Taylor." It happened only a couple of weeks ago in another internet forum. When they saw a posting of mine, they asked if I was indeed the same Maj.Taylor of the internet's very early public days. I sometimes still go to races and the race announcer will broadcast that "Maj.Taylor" is in attendance! Then, and sometimes now, it affords me opportunity to have a seat in teams' or officials' cars, or even on Moto 1.

So that's it. I've come clean. You have doubts? All can be confirmed in a book, which I think is now out of print, titled "Cycling in Cyberspace," by Kienholz and Pawlak. It devotes more space to me and my service than to anything else. I do not intend to brag, but it states I was the best that could be found if you wanted to keep up with the world of cycling. (That's the same thing Lance's mom said after he literally ran upstairs to her hotel room to get her. He said she was one of my biggest fans. That is also why I have a standing invitation to her home whenever I might be in Austin.) These things can be confirmed on pages 65 and 66 of the book. To provide a quote from the book:

"Maj.Taylor operates Maj.Taylor's News & Results Service, which delivers same-day professional race results and other news directly to your e-mail address. "Virtual" correspondents and reporters from all over the world provide same-day race commentary and results that are forwarded to subscribers in the United States, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Denmark, Japan, and many other countries. If you're [still] uncertain [about the service], ask to see why Lance Armstrong, Paul Sherwen, Phil Liggett, and many other stars of the cycling world subscribe."

Short of a couple of words, that is directly quoted from the book. So there, you have what I've avoided telling up until now. That should also answer a few questions I've previously chosen not to answer. For example, it is how I came to have a custom-built Litespeed that isn't exactly the standard "custom" bike they might build. (Some of the tubing is even more special than what you see on a Litespeed Vortex.) It's how I came to have certain components from other manufacturers delivered exactly how I requested them. In each case, they were repaying a favor or two I had done for them.

Now, back on topic....