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Jimmy Michael

Personal information
Full name	Jimmy Michael
Height	A little over 5'
Team information
Discipline	Track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Stayer

Jimmy Michael (18 August 1877–21 November 1904), was a world cycling champion and one of the top riders in the sport for several years.

Origins

Jimmy Michael was 5ft 1½in tall and is described as looking 14 even when he was 18. He was born in Aberaman, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales. He was brought up by his parents, who had a butcher's shop in the town, and started cycling when he was 12. His first successes were at sports meetings in Glyn Neath and Mountain Ash. He went on to win larger meetings in Cardiff, Newport and Merthyr. He also won Welsh championships at five and 50 miles.

Michael went to London in July 1894 to ride the Surrey Hundred at Herne Hill velodrome. Mal Rees, writing in Sporting Cyclist after an interview with Michael's brother, Billy, said:

The crowd laughed to see such a 'David' having the temerity to start in a race of that length against so many six-footers. Cycling chroniclers of the day, reporting on the event, were astounded as the Welsh boy matched every attack in the hectic early stages. 'Who was this youth who dared to hang on to London's speediest riders?', they wrote. In the first hour, 24 miles 475 yards had been covered and 'the little hero' Jimmy Michael dogged the heels of the leaders until he succeeded in breaking away himself to lap the field at 46 miles.

At two hours, with 48 miles 377 yards covered, he was just outside the record, but at the 50-mile mark was inside with 2h 4m 42s. There seems to have been no serious threat during the second fifty for Michael consolidated his lead and went on to win in 4h 19m 39s with a seven-minute margin from the runner-up. This was a new record..

His performance brought him two contracts to ride in Paris.

Professional

Michael turned professional in 1895 for the Gladiator bicycle company, where he joined Arthur Linton, another rider from his town; Both were coached by Choppy Warburton. becoming world stayer (motor-paced) champion the same year. He was coached by and trained with the help of Arthur Linton. Michael and Linton became rivals. In 1895 Michael equalled Linton's record for 50km. He beat the French champion, Lesna, and at the end of the year he became the world motor-paced champion at Cologne. Linton had a poor year and their relationship soured.

Linton's brother, Tom, made some comment in 1896 that prompted this newspaper letter from Michael:

Seeing that Tom Linton has been boasting in the South Wales papers that he can beat me, and that he would be willing to ride me any time, and also that his brother Arthur was 'champion of the world,' I will ride either of them, and will give them two laps in 100 kilometres, three in 100 miles, or four laps in six hours for £100 a-side and all gate receipts, race to be ridden at Buffalo or Winter track in Paris. I have deposited £20 with Sporting Life, so all they have to do is cover it and they can be accommodated at once, or give over talking. Anyone else in the world can be taken on the same terms, as I am middle-distance champion of the world and not A Linton. I am, &c.,

Jimmy Michael, 19 Avenue Phillipe le Boucher, Neuilly, Paris

The match may never have happened. Arthur Linton died in June that year, six weeks after winning Bordeaux-Paris.

Retirement and death

He retired from cycling to become a jockey, and later owned a racing stable. When this venture failed he decided to return to the US, but died aboard the liner Savoie crossing to New York in 1904. The cause of death was noted as delirium tremens, probably brought on by drinking.

Toulouse-Lautrec

Michael was also drawn by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the French art nouveau artist, for a poster to advertise his sponsor, the Simpson chain company. The National Museum of Wales bought one of the posters in the 1960s although it is not on display.

Palmarès

1895

1st World Stayers Championships - Professional

1902

3rd European Stayers Championships - Professional

References

• Encyclopédie mondiale du cyclisme (Pascal Sergent - Editions de Eecloonaar)
• Memoire-du-cyclisme.net

External links

• Photographs of cyclists - including Jimmy Michael