Avenue de la Grande Armée

Avenue running west from the Arc de Triomphe, Paris. See Paris (Literary).

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
It’s All About the Bike	Robert Penn	journey waypoint	Start of the 1869 Paris–Rouen race, the first organised road race.

Source: It’s All About the Bike · Readwise highlight

All kinds of machines set off down Avénue de la Grande Armée on 7 November 1869: monocycles, tricycles and quadricycles were among them.

Role: journey waypoint
In the book: In the history running through the early chapters, Penn describes the first organised bicycle road race, Paris to Rouen, starting beneath the Arc de Triomphe; James Moore wins on a velocipede with ball bearings in the pedal axle.
Why it matters: It ties the story of a component (the bearing) to the birth of road racing.