New cycling race format sees cyclists aiming to ride at exactly 20mph to work around new speed limits

Regularities are actually really good fun... I did one with a friend last year as 'co driver'.  In all seriousness I can imagine the format converting well to cycling as the competition becomes one of skill and judgement rather than speed.

Terry Hutt wrote:

You can solve the whole 20mph TT problem by tweaking the rules slightly. Everyone rides a single speed beach cruiser, wearing bermuda shorts and bare feet. Unless they can spin at 150 rpm, 20 mph would be out of the question. It solves so many problems.

Carpet pedals allowed?

Wow, what a take. Sorry you had a humour bypass at Easter

And for your info

Following the Note to Districts sent by the National Legal Adviser dated 17 October 2023, an informal discussion after the National Council Meeting on 3 December 2023, and further consideration by the Board at its meeting on 4 February, the Board has prepared a new Guidance Note concerning courses which have 20mph limits.
 
The main point to note is that generally 20 mph limits and time trials are incompatible. Most riders travel between 20 and 30 mph.  Riding at that speed is capable of causing public outrage and danger to riders and other road users who will not be expecting vehicles to be approaching so fast. Such conduct could cause the Government to review the existing permission for time trials to take place on public roads, expose riders and organisers and CTT officials to the possibility of civil and criminal proceedings, and invalidate the insurance CTT holds for participants in time trials. 
 
The Board considers that the Rules of CTT have always required riders to ride safely and obey all traffic signs together with the Highway Code and that failure to do so is a disciplinary offence.
There will therefore be an overriding principle that all riders in time trials must adhere to posted speed limits as well as all other rules of the road.
It follows that in order to achieve fair competition, where a course with a section which is subject to a 20mph limit is used, riders must not exceed that speed. Otherwise, the event will no longer be a “race of truth” as a rider who exceeds the limit will gain an unfair advantage over one who does not.
 

Is this another April Fool? It's a day late.

This really shouldn't have to be explained, especially as it is mentioned right there in the article, but just in case: back in February Cycling Time Trials announced that on any section of a TT where the speed limit was 20 mph it was compulsory for riders not to exceed that speed (even though it would not be illegal to do so). This April fool is having a joke about that and the idea of a future where the prize would go to whoever could adhere most closely to the 20 mph limit. It in no way says that 20 mph limits are wrong (road.cc have been consistently in support of such limits) nor is it in any way pandering "to the level of the right-wing populist voter". Your peculiar and poorly conceived outrage is entirely misplaced.

Anyhow I love GBnews. How else would I be outraged by the National Trust going woke by making scones without butter ? Or by the CofE going woke with allowing the Lord's Prayer to be said in Urdu when we all know Jesus spoke English and the bible was written in English before we even spoke English in Englaland.

You are right. Road.cc is a disgusting right-wing rag. Nothing to do with GBNews though. Road.cc is sponsored directly by Moscow, and a lot of the content is penned by Vladimir Putin and Dmiti Peskov personally. It is fake news of the worst kind. As you are probably aware, it has been banned in the EU since 2014.

Correct comrade Smith!  In fact, in a former incarnation it was known as road.cccp (itself a rebrand from an earlier German version with a two-letter suffix) and received instructions from Stalin ("why are you writing about bicycles rather than The People's tractors or tanks?  This is your last warning!")

Indeed. And the original road.ss was initially used solely for publishing updates on Hitler's autobahn construction projects. It had nothing to do with cycling. 

Wait, I'm confused....   I thought the casuals/ hard working Putinbots had determined that we are tree hugging, Grauniad reading, tofu munching, libtard, wokerati lefties?

Can I maintain my (easy) average speed of 25mph whilst ignoring red lights (unless they are established) now or not?

My head hurts, I'm off to the local Spoons....errr I mean... local trans vegan collective cafe.

In other news, Lancashire Constabulary and Police Scotland issue a joint statement saying they are going to 'try harder' in all cases involving incidents between motorists and vulnerable road users

And I have a lifetime membership of  Friends of Lancashire Constabulary

chrisonabike wrote:

It's all fun until the first "rotor doping" scandal - with cyclists having perfect pitch tuning their brakes so they can unfairly gauge speed from the rotor rubbing. And how long till someone realises you can also sabotage an opponent's machine so the noise sets off the dogs?

I reckon you need to warp the rotor slightly so that it makes contact once per revolution. Also, smearing a bit of bacon grease onto opponents drive chains would attract the dogs.

They could now they won't fall foul of the Bacon Tax.

In fact you wouldn't even need perfect pitch. You could hook up a microphone to an oscilloscope and get a fairly good idea of the frequency from that.

Scrutineer would spot it. I would expect it on sale though as an example of "rider gamesmanship" (totally excess for normal rider use) trickling down into the general market, because "it's what the best racers do".

Someone has developed a ConnectIQ oscilloscope app for the Edge 1040.  You could use that so you wouldn't have to carry any bulky equipment with you.

Incoming news - bat protection lobby "making a lot of noise" about possible disturbance to roosts.