Velocio

Paul de Vive, better known as Velocio was the father of bicycle touring and randonneuring, and an early advocate of the derailleur gear system. He lived from 1853 until 1930 and was the publisher of Le Cycliste - an early cycling journal - in which he wrote eloquently of his tours:

"After a long day on my bicycle, I feel refreshed, cleansed, purified. I feel that I have established contact with my environment and that I am at peace. On days like that I am permeated with a profound gratitude for my bicycle. Even if I did not enjoy riding, I would still do it for my peace of mind. What a wonderful tonic to be exposed to bright sunshine, drenching rain, choking dust, dripping fog, rigid air, punishing winds! I will never forget the day I climbed the Puy Mary. There were two of us on a fine day in May. We started in the sunshine and stripped to the waist. Halfway, clouds enveloped us and the temperature tumbled. Gradually it got colder and wetter, but we did not notice it. In fact, it heightened our pleasure. We did not bother to put on our jackets or our capes, and we arrived at the little hotel at the top with rivulets of rain and sweat running down our sides. I tingled from top to bottom."

A vegetarian and classical scholar (he began most days reading ancient Greek literature), he is best remembered today for his bicycling code - a set of guidelines which continues to influence contemporary cycling culture:

1. Keep your stops short and few.
2. Eat before you're hungry, drink before you're thirsty.
3. Never get too tired to eat or sleep.
4. Add a layer before you're cold, take one off before you're hot.
5. Lay off wine, meat and tobacco on tour.
6. Ride within yourself, especially in the first hour.
7. Never show off.

Velocio was the antithesis of the brightly-colored spandex clad posers we see riding high end carbon fiber racing bikes today - he was in many ways the original cycle hipster. He disliked competition, preferring to use bicycling as a discipline which, if pursued regularly, enriched body, mind, and spirit.