Last year I noticed at auction a membership certificate for the Harvard Bicycle Club dated October 12th 1883. This was, I presume the predecessor of the current Harvard University Cycling Association, for which I raced when I was young and fit.

The Harvard Cycling Team was a big deal in the years between 1879 and about 1900, and their appearance at races in New York City were regularly covered by the New York Times.

The motto of the Harvard Bicycle Club appears on the red seal affixed to the certificate. It reads

“Mobilitate viget, viresque, acquirit eundo.”
Which is from the Aenid, and can be roughly translated as

“In freedom of movement lies her power, and she gathers strength with her going.”