Paul de Vivie - Death and Memorial

Death and Memorial

De Vivie was a vegetarian, a speaker of Esperanto and a strict man who started every day of his later life by reading ancient Greek. On February 27, 1930, the last words he read were from Seneca to Lucius:

Death follows me and life escapes me. When I go to sleep, I think that I may never awake. When I wake up, I think that I may never get to sleep. When I go out, I think that I may never come back.

Then he collected his bike and began pushing it across the road. He stepped back to avoid a car and was hit by a tram. His memorial is at the top of the col de la République. Its inscription reads: "Paul de Vivie, alias Vélocio (Pernes 1853 - St-Étienne 1930). Apostle of cycle-touring and promoter of gears . Monument erected by the town of Pernes-les-Fontaines on the 150th anniversary of his birth. Inaugurated 20 April 2003."

His memory survives in the French word cyclo-tourisme, which he coined. He is buried in the cemetery at Loyasse, near Lyon. His plaque reads: "To their venerable master, the cyclo-tourists of St-Étienne." A road is named after him in St-Étienne.

The American writer, Clifford Graves, said in May 1965:

Velocio's influence grew, not because of his exploits on the bicycle, but because he showed how these exploits will shape the character of a man. Velocio was a humanist. His philosophy came from the ancients who considered discipline the cardinal virtue. Discipline is of two kinds: physical and moral. Velocio used the physical discipline of the bicycle to lead him to moral discipline. Through the bicycle he was able to commune with the sun, the rain, the wind. For him, the bicycle was the expression of a personal philosophy. For him, the bicycle was an instrument in the service of an ideal. For him, the bicycle was the road to freedom, physical and spiritual. He gave up much, but he found more.