In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

SIX-DAY RACES
In the Berliner Volks-Zeitung of Saturday, November 6, the coverage of
the six-day bicycle race being run at the Sportpalast describes a particularly
dramatic incident. Though some participants have already been
eliminated after only thirty-six hours of competition ("the six-day field
is thinning out"), it is the performance of the American athlete Horder
that first excites intense interest: "The American, lagging behind the
other competitors, suddenly collapsed and lay motionless on the track.
The doctor ordered an hour-long break. Then Horder reappeared, much
to the general enthusiasm of the crowd, his arm and head bandaged. He
rode a lap but fell down again with glazed eyes, as if dead. The situation
was clear: he was too doped up. Yet not even now did Horder quit.
Instead he got better and better, won several prizes in grand style, and
proved himself a true six-day man." For a moment, the spectators have
seen death in Horder's eyes, and this extreme circumstance, together with
his ability to face and overcome it, earns him the honorary title of "true
six-day man." [see Boxing, Dancing, Mountaineering, Mummies, Immanence
= Transcendence (Death)] Six-day bicycle races, like dance marathons,
were invented in the United States (Chronik, 26), and just as in
the ongoing competition for cross-Channel swim records [see Endurance],
Americans excel in pushing their bodies to the absolute limit-the
moment when spectators can watch the competitors face death. The use
of performance-enhancing drugs, which increases both physical energy
203