In 1891, when bicycling was all the rage across Europe (the US, as well, for the record), the owner of a French newspaper had a crazy idea. He would organize a bike race, from Paris to the city of Brest, and back again. It was a brutally difficult, wildly successful, 1200 kilometer sales stunt. 1200 kilometers, for those of us who are metrically challenged, translates to roughly 750 miles. That’s a long way, folks.

The ride became known as Paris-Brest-Paris, or PBP. Twelve years later, in 1903, a different, and ultimately more famous ride began: Le Tour. But PBP continued, in different formats and at varying intervals, throughout the twentieth century, gaining interest and riders all the while. Today the ride is considered a randonnee, a very long, timed ride that follows a set of clear rules and guidelines established and enforced by the Audax Club Parisien.

It is still, however, 1200 kilometers. Which is still a very long way.

This type of riding is called randonneuring, and the people (lunatics?!) who engage in it are randonneurs. The governing body of the sport in the US is RUSA (Randonneurs USA), and their website, www.rusa.org, has a wonderful article that details the history of PBP, as well as loads of information about other insanely long bike rides, both in the US and abroad. Check it out.