Henri Desgrange was born into a comfortably prosperous middle-class family living in Paris. Desgrange worked as a clerk at the Depeux-Dumesnil law office near the Place de Clichy in Paris and may have qualified as a lawyer.The first edition of L'Auto described Henri Desgrange as "a former advocate at the Court of Appeal". Legend says he was fired from there either for cycling to work or for exposing the outline of his calves in tight socks as he did so.Nicholson, Geoffrey (1991) Le Tour, the rise and rise of the Tour de France, Hodder and Stoughton, UK Desgrange saw his first bicycle race in 1891 when he went to the finish of Bordeaux–Paris. He began racing on the track, but endurance riding suited him better, and he set the first recognised "hour record" when on 11 May 1893 he rode on the Buffalo velodrome in Paris.The previous hour record had been set in 1876 when F. L. Dodds rode 26.508 km on a penny-farthing. He also established records at 50 and 100 km and 100 miles and became a tricycle champion in 1893.Cited Truyers, Noël (1999); Henri Desgrange, De Eeclonaar, Belgium
