Ninety today, for a life that began in a distant yesterday. Ninety years for a man who knows no fear, walking proudly with his head held high and chest out. Ninety years for Dino Signori, Mr. SIDI for a lifetime, one of those gentlemen who contributed to creating a style in the Italian bicycle industry.

Big shoes and a sharp mind, but don't tell him about big shoes, because he made them, designed and built them well, for years. A sharp mind, iron will, custom-made shoes, woe to making them poorly. Strong hands, incredibly strong, like pliers, that for a lifetime have touched, bent, and carefully caressed leather and skins.

A life working with hands and heart, thinking about feet: other people's feet. How many soles worn out, but especially how many to sew. One after another, during wartime, with bombs stealing appetite, and hunger gnawing at the stomach. Years of harsh life, first with the recklessness of a child who immediately starts working with adults, and then with hope and awareness that tomorrow would reserve a better world for him.

"I've always loved additions, but especially multiplications. I was crazy about calculations, but beware of going backward, subtracting or dividing something: that I didn't like and still don't like at all"'. Dino Signori begins to tell his story in "Dino Signori, from head to toe", Prima Pagina Editions, 2014. Son of mother Rosetta and father Martino, born in Maser on October 7, 1935. "Dad was from a good family: they owned land and traded horses in Caerano San Marco, close to home. Then everything changed and dad would always repeat the same thing: I went to military service rich and when I returned home, we had nothing left".

Tough, stubborn, and determined like few others, Dino Signori. Few words and many actions: just like that iron generation that suddenly found itself with "proud eyes and swift steps". Few frills or whining, lots of desire to do. There was a need to help at home, and especially to learn a trade that would guarantee a future for everyone.

Little bread and many dreams: in this climate, Dino Signori grew up, formed himself, and measured himself. Never fearful of anything, with the awareness that everything was possible with willpower. He didn't waste time feeling sorry for himself, but rolled up his sleeves from childhood. A Chinese proverb says: "Before judging a man, walk three moons in his shoes". Well, Dino Signori never spent much time judging others' actions, but dedicated his life to making everyone walk well. In a sense, he always put himself in others' shoes. His dream, like many in this land where plains meet mountains, was to make shoes. And make them well. And, above all, that they could be comfortable and last as long as possible.

He works like a mule, also races bicycles, with that fighting spirit that distinguishes him. He had the potential to become someone in the saddle of his "Golden Arrow". He practically raced until '55, in the amateur category. He won 22 races. In his last season, he raced 17 and won 11: the boy had talent. A powerful physique of a great road rider, with the sprint of a "finisseur", capable of stunning everyone with his burning progressions. "I was good at relaunching the action, not giving up, and maintaining a high speed for a long time, until the finish line", he still proudly recounts today.

Today, another finish line he doesn't cut but reaches, adds, catalogs to put behind him, even though he's used to looking only in front of his nose, preferably even further. We wish him all the best, renewing the most precious wish: to be well for a while longer, to add finish lines to finish lines, one after another, like a true road rider, with less ferocity than a finisseur.

There's no rush, even though he's always restless, always in motion, always ready to be somewhere else the next moment. A step back and especially away from indiscreet gazes, due to his innate discretion or aversion to being in an agora, preferring a shadow that illuminates and does not overshadow his heart. Today, his loved ones - Rosella and Daniele, Giulia and Alessia, Raffaele, Anna, and Nicoletta - will likely stage a celebration that he'll accept grumbling as usual, inducing unimaginable excuses to grant himself homeopathic doses. A frugal lunch, a barely mentioned toast, a handshake that makes itself felt, as always and more than ever. A heartfelt squeeze, for ninety years full of much and enriched by everything. Happy birthday Dino, happy birthday to the Signori of cycling.