The Major Taylor Bike Trail is named for Marshall W. Taylor, an African-American cyclist who set speed records in the late 1890s while battling prejudice across the US.

Taylor has become an inspiration to many not only for his cycling achievements, but his religious beliefs and his ability to succeed.

Born in 1878 and raised in Indianapolis, Taylor learned to perform bike tricks at an early age while wearing an Army uniform, earning the nickname Major. He took to bike racing, and before he was 20, he had broken two world track records for paced and unpaced one-mile rides. His reward --he's banned from ever racing again at Indianapolis' Capital City track.

Taylor next went to New York where he finished eighth in his first pro event, the 6-day endurance bike race at Madison Square Garden. Within two years (1898), he held 7 world records. In 1900 he was finally allowed to compete in the national championship series and earned the American sprint title.

He continued on to race throughout Europe, Australia and North America, retiring at age 32. He suffered illness and failed business ventures. He died in Chicago in 1932 where he had gone to peddle his 1928 autobiography, "The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World." He's buried at the Mount Glenwood cemetery in Glenwood, Illinois.

More information and pictures are available at the Major Taylor Society website. There's also Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis, a Major Taylor Cycling Team in Palo Alto, California, a Major Taylor Bicycling Club of Minnesota, the Chicago Major Taylor Bike Society, and a Team Major Taylor that competes in Little 500 at Indiana University.

The Chicago Sun Times reported the city has been wrestling with the 6.5-mile bike trail for 8 years. The 100-foot-wide right-of-way was acquired from Conrail; but turning it into a bike trail has been "complicated."