On a whim I typed in "Randonneurs" and Google popped up something in Wikipedia. So I clicked on it and got this:
The Patron Saint
The patron saint of cyclotouring and randonneuring is Velocio, whose real name is Paul de Vivié.
You can read all about Paul De Vivie here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocio which states he helped promote the derailer.
A long in depth write up www.ahands.org/cycling/bicycling/velocio.html here.
A bit of what he writ:
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.[3]
If you don't read the Wikipedia information, I have to share the part about his death and memorial:
De Vivie was a vegetarian[3], a speaker of Esperanto[1] and a strict man who started every day of his later life by reading ancient Greek[3]. 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.[3] His memorial is at the top of the col de la République.[2] Its inscription reads: "Paul de Vivie, alias Vélocio (Pernes 1853 - St-Étienne 1930). Apostle of cycle-touring and promoter of gears [changements de vitesse]. Monument erected by the town of Pernes-les-Fontaines on the 150th anniversary of his birth. Inaugurated 20 April 2003."[10]
His memory survives in the French word cyclo-tourisme, which he coined[4]. 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.[3]
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