The Audax Club Parisien (ACP) is a French Cyclist Touring Club. It is a non-profit voluntary association formed in Paris in 1904. It organizes long-distance rides in France. The most popular event is the Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur, held every four years. The Audax Club Parisien is also the international reference for randonneuring and works with other randonneuring organizations worldwide through the international association Les Randonneurs Mondiaux (LRM).

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History

April 1904 – Creation of the Brevets Audax Cyclistes

In April 1904, Henri Desgrange, the editor of the French daily sports paper L’Auto, organized a 200 km Brevet from Paris to Gaillon and back, in groups led by so-called road captains in charge of maintaining an average of 18 km/h. He was inspired by Italian cyclists who attempted in June 1897 the challenge of cycling from Rome to Naples, a distance of 230 km, during daylight hours. The Italians had called their event Audax, which means, in Latin, audacious (daring), and Desgrange adopted the name.

30 November 1904 – Foundation of the Audax Club Parisien

The non-profit voluntary association Audax Club Parisien is formed by a group of friends, some of whom had ridden the Brevets Audax. The purpose of the association is "to encourage the development of long-distance bicycle touring, to educate cyclists, to turn them into ardent bicycle tourists and confirmed randonneurs, and to organize excursions". The ACP registered office is located at Café du Vaudeville, 29 rue Vivienne, Paris. The birth of the club was announced in the Official Journal of the French Republic on 28 December 1904.

 

1906 – Organization of the Brevets Audax

In 1906, Henri Desgrange entrusted the ACP with the organization of the Brevets Audax. The club then contributed for fifteen years to the prosperity of these Brevets.

 

1921 – The Split

In 1921, two reasons are leading Henri Desgrange to withdraw the organization of the Brevets Audax from the ACP. First, when organizing the Polymultipliée de Chanteloup (a climb race, see below), the ACP forms a partnership with the paper L'Echo des Sports, a rival to Desgrange's 'L'Auto. The second reason is that the ACP road captains are accused of not having observed the 18 km/h required average during a Brevet Audax run on 10 April 1910. Following this, some road captains leave the ACP and form the Union des Audax Clubs Parisiens, known today as Union des Audax Français. That is the body that Desgrange begins to favour, entrusting them with the organization of the Brevets Audax (on which the pace is set by road captains; those brevets are still organized today by the UAF). In response, the ACP creates the Brevets de Randonneur Français à allure libre (free-paced brevets). Riders are free to go as fast or as slow as they want, so long as they stay within the time limit of the brevet (14 km/h). Since that time, the Audax Club Parisien homologated and recorded every free-paced brevet ridden around the world according to their regulation. The 1,000,000th brevet was homologated in 2017.

 

1923 – Birth of the Fédération Française des Sociétés de Cyclotourisme (FFSC)

8 December 1923 marks the birth of the Fédération Française des Sociétés de Cyclotourisme (French Federation of Cycling touring Societies, FFSC), that would become the Fédération Française de Cyclotourisme (FFCT) in 1942. The Audax Club Parisien is one of the founding members of the Federation, with les Francs Routiers, le Cycle Excursionniste Parisien, le Touriste Club Parisien, and les Tandémistes Parisiens. Gaston Clément, then member of the ACP, is the first President of this new federation.

1963 – The Merger

At the beginning of the 1960s, French bicycle touring is in decline and two long-distance organizing clubs are at the lowest ebb : the Audax Club Parisien and the Vélo-Club Courbevoie-Asnières (VCCA). Jean Dejeans, president of the ACP, meets Gilbert Bulté, president of the VCCA, and proposes a merger of the two clubs. A few members present since the beginning and others, who returned on this occasion, will then join forces to bring the ACP back to the status of a leading club in bicycle tourism. Robert and Suzanne Lepertel are part of the VCCA members who came to strengthen the ACP. Gilbert Bulté is appointed President of the Audax Club Parisien.

 

Today

The recovery of the ACP is the work of a great leader, Robert "Bob" Lepertel supported by his wife Suzanne. The Paris-Brest-Paris of 1971, headed by Bob, is the first milestone of renewal. The club membership and their organizations keep growing. The Brevets de Randonneurs become Européens, then Mondiaux, allowing foreign randonneurs to organize qualifying brevets in their countries. When Bob passes the baton, the foundations are solid, and the ACP known throughout the world. Marie-Thérèse Martin succeeded him, followed by Jean-Claude Massé. The latter creates the PBP Commission and organizes the PBP Centenary (1991). After him, the presidency was taken over by Claude Aubague, then, for thirteen years, by Pierre "Pierrot" Théobald. Despite the magnitude of the task, they maintain a dynamic association. Many activities are offered to the club members: Flèches de France in groups, Easter meetings in Provence, excursions across France, gatherings at Epiphany, gentleman's rides, pancake parties, etc. At the same time, the club becomes an even bigger organizer. The international participation in the brevets and in PBP keeps growing. The ACP members reach the limits of what a group of volunteers can do on their own. After the brief presidency of Thierry Miton, the new President Thierry Rivet works to delegate some tasks, and allows the ACP to take up the challenge of welcoming every four years more than 6,000 participants from the whole world in the Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur. Today young cyclists joined the ACP and the new president, Luc Coppin, intends to negotiate the transition to the digital age while maintaining longtime values: sport, friendship, tourism, and long-distance riding.

 

Main Organizations

Brevet Randonneurs Mondiaux (BRM)

BRMs are non-competitive, unsupported long-distance cycling events organized worldwide according to the ACP regulations. Only the ACP has sanctioning authority for BRMs. There are five distances: 200 km, 300 km, 400 km, 600 km and 1000 km. The time limits are respectively: 13 hours 30 minutes, 20 hours, 27 hours, 40 hours and 75 hours. The brevets are self-paced: participants are free to ride as fast or as slow as they want, so long as they stay within the time limit of the brevet. All brevets have checkpoints with opening and closing time, where the rider's personal brevet card must be signed and stamped. No follow car is permitted on the brevets, except at the checkpoints. Night riding is usual. The brevets can be used as qualifiers for Paris-Brest-Paris or for 1200 km + events homologated by Les Randonneurs Mondiaux.

 

On 11 September 1921, the ACP organized the first Brevet de Randonneur à Allure Libre, allure libre meaning self-paced. The minimum average was 14 km/h. In 1931, having ridden a 300 km brevet was mandatory to enter the first Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur. Later, the 400, then the 600 also became mandatory, and in 1979, all the entrants were required to have completed a Super Randonneur series (200, 300, 400 and 600 km) in the year of PBP. The organization was extended to Europe in 1976 and to the whole world in 1983, at the instigation of Robert Lepertel. It was then named Brevets Randonneurs Mondiaux (BRM). This allowed foreign randonneurs to organize qualifying brevets in their countries. Today, the multiple brevets run around the world are not only qualifiers for longer events, but also the usual way to enjoy long-distance riding.