He loved to ride a bicycle. In his time, the late nineteenth century, it was not a bicycle but a velocipede: the front wheel was much larger than the rear wheel, a device that allowed for higher speeds on flat terrain, but made climbing hills almost impossible. Iron frame, solid rubber wheels, pedals connected directly to the front wheel, handlebar steering. And the saddle so high that reaching it and sitting down was already almost a victory.

Ernest Chausson was born in Paris in 1855, into a wealthy family. His father, a building contractor, was a practical man and directed his son toward law. Ernest graduated and became a lawyer, but at that point, between legal notes and musical ones, he chose classical music and opera, Wagner and Berlioz, piano and orchestra. Making a living as an artist has always been difficult, but thanks to an inheritance, the musician Chausson could afford it. And he gained credit and credibility. He was among the founders of the Société nationale de musique, composing sacred, theatrical, symphonic, instrumental and vocal chamber music. He spent about a decade working on a lyric drama, "Le Roi Arthus," and was still trying, in vain, to get it staged.

On June 10, 1899, Chausson was at the family's summer residence in Limay, about fifty kilometers west of Paris. He wanted to take advantage of the holiday – a Saturday – to go for a bicycle ride. The details are not certain. Some say he fell while mounting or dismounting the saddle, others write that he hit the fence wall, some claim it was a simple fall, others specify that he lost control of the velocipede going downhill and then crashed into a brick wall, some add that death was instantaneous… He was 44 years old. "The most distinctive voice of French music – the judgment of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society – in the generation immediately preceding that of Debussy".

Due to the strange combinations of names and the unpredictable coincidences of stories, almost a century later, nemesis or revenge, Chausson would rise to the heights of cycling. This time with Anne-Caroline Chausson, French from Dijon, eclectic in her acrobatics between mountain bike, downhill and BMX, even 16 world titles and one Olympic gold at Beijing 2008. No family relation between Ernest and Anne-Caroline, but the same music. The music of the pedals.