A SPECIAL bike ride is to take place to recognise the work of one of Dursley’s most illustrious residents, 129 years after his invention put the town on the map.

Danish inventor Mikael Pedersen joined Dursley manufacturing firm R.A Lister to introduce his new method of separating cream from milk to make butter.

This, along with other inventions made him and the firm rich, leading him to renting out the largest house in the town at the time on Long Street.

The Danish inventor became prominent in Dursley, forming a choir and taking part in concerts, as well as setting up a number of social and sporting groups.

But it was his patent for the Pedersen bicycle that is arguably his longest-standing achievement for its unique design.

While production of the bicycle ceased at the beginning of World War One, it has now come into its own again with makers in England, Denmark and Germany producing frames using modern techniques and with modern accessories.

To honour the town where the bicycles were designed and made, on Saturday, April 9, upwards of 30 cyclists from around the country, riding Pedersen bicycles, will be visiting Dursley.

They expect to arrive in town at11.30am and will be visiting Dursley Heritage Centre, where there are two examples of the bicycle, as well as Raglan House in Long Street, where Mikael and his family lived and where there is a plaque on the wall.

They’ll also go to St. Mark’s Churchyard in Woodmancote, where Mikael’s young daughter is buried, as well as Dursley Cemetery, where Mikael himself is buried.

And then on Sunday, April 10, they plan to ride their bicycles to Berkeley.

After losing the majority of his fortune and dying as a relative unknown in Denmark in 1929, a collection was started by enthusiasts of the Pedersen bicycle to move the inventor's remains back to Dursley.

This happened in 1995, and the service was attended by over 300 people including the Bishop of Gloucester, representatives from the Danish Embassy and Pedersen's grandchildren.