British Cycling being embarassing, obsequious idiots ...

Now the whole club system is on its knees and mostly populated by old people. Even if they can understand the modern requirements for event promotion, they haven't got much motivation.

I don’t think the people being old has much to do with their lack of motivation, I think that is more due to increase in paperwork and admin brought about by British (or Scottish) Cycling.

And their habit of turning up once everything is done to erect one flag and take a fair share of the glory.

And their habit of turning up once everything is done to erect one flag and take a fair share of the glory

I think you mean an unfair share of the glory.

But I'm afraid I didn't make the meaning of my post clear.

The lack of motivation I was referring to is caused by the fact that the traditional clubs that used to promote often don't have any youthful would be road men who need to get rides in other clubs' races. No, its not to do with the age of the workers - I remember Chas Messenger coming out to officiate at our road race when he couldn't have been a day under 90!

So for those wondering if BC is the only way to race? totally not.. my club ran a 26 week series of TLI races every tues eve at Colchester Northern Gateway, many of the competitors used to ride at North Weald but alas that is no longer running. We also Ran BMCR races. These can all be accessed through RiderHQ where you will find other clubs also promoting non BC racing across the country. A TLI license can also be used abroad to enter some races. Its far cheaper to run, cheaper for membership, insures you, allows a total mix of categories/sexes, allows you to change the track direction or race format without a load of extra work, spares you hat wearing speeches pre race from comissaires etc literally the only downside is the points system but on the plus side riders are a little bit less heroic and more respectful on the final lap.

Definitely unfair.

In the case of Scottish Cycling there’s also been a lack of investment in physical equipment for running races which is making life harder for organisers. Speaking to someone that organised a race recently, the boards for the top of the cars were unusable due to the magnets having either lost their covering (so would scratch the fuck out your car) or having become unattached from the rest of the board and the radios didn’t work either.

I understand there’s now a requirement for marshals for some races (or some marshals for all races?) to have attended training and gained ‘accreditation’.

I’m sure some of the extra admin and paperwork etc is an unavoidable symptom of compensation culture or whatever but I’m sure part of it is also about keeping people busy. Scottish Cycling used to be about 4 or 5 people working out of a portacabin at Meadowbank, they’ve now got in excess of 50 paid members of staff and they all need to be justify their salaries.

Nice to see Ethan take the world omnium champs in an unbranded skinsuit. Probably because they dont have enough of the Shell ones yet but still....

Nope, they do have, but he is not the only one to refuse to have it on.

Is that an actual protest, refusing to wear the shell brand? Maybe only by the ones that are paid their salary by a fracking company?

I'm not a fan, but Ineos aren't just a fracking company.

They've got fingers in just about every pie going, from nasty ones (oil refining, 4x4 manufacturing, dumping caustic soda in the Manchester Ship Canal) to nicer ones (they're big in products and services for the wind energy industry, generating sustainable energy from waste materials and hand sanitiser during/post-pandemic).

If you look at their product list on Wikipedia they make pretty much all of the chemicals essential to modern life:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ineos#Products

Comparing them with Shell is simplistic and sponsoring a trade team is also very different to sponsoring the official UK governing body.

Thanks for enlightening me. My genuine question though was if the lack of a shell logo was an actual protest or a sponsorship thing?

Oh right, sorry. I believe BC kit is treated separately to team kit, I've never heard of sponsor 'clashes' between trade and national teams being an issue.

So I'd presume the former not the latter but I don't think anyone knows for sure.

Well maybe I'm a bit thick, but if it was out of protest, it would be slightly hypocrit right? Even though you rightfully pointed out the nuance, he still works for a (be it partly) owl company. cough oil company.

Better to be a hypocrite and make a stand about one thing than do nothing.

Okay. Do you know if he did make a stand and it was out protest?

I don't know, I'll ask him in a couple of weeks but I may be asked not to publicise it

I don't think so personally because the two things are very different to me.

Trade teams have always existed to promote the sponsor. That's their sole purpose really, the cycling is a pleasant by product.

BC is the national body for cycling in this country. It's in a unique position to help combat the climate crisis by encouraging uptake and modal shift away from unsustainable transport modes to the bike. But accepting sponsorship from an oil company with a history of delay and misinformation on the issue is a pretty irreconcilable conflict of interest.

Also, find me an ethical trade team. Ok, you might find one or two, but as a pro cyclist limiting yourself to just those ones would be very limiting - they may not be suitable for you, they may not be interested in signing you as a rider...

E.g. I could argue that EF is an ethical sponsor, but they're not that interested in winning races. Or at least they're not so interested in riders who are more focused on performance than anything else, they want some sort of backstory or alternative race calendar and Hayter is too baby faced to grow a moustache.

Flooring is better than petrochemicals, sure, but then you'd have to ride for Patrick Lefevere, who's a twat. Etc etc.

He was wearing a Shell skinsuit in the team pursuit, but not the points race (actually can't remember which one). My guess is because he raced so many days he ran out of clean ones.

In a way it's nice when athletes take a stand but (personally) I'm not sure it's fair to expect them to make a massive fuss at a big event like world champs.

Comparing them with Shell is simplistic and sponsoring a trade team is also very different to sponsoring the official UK governing body.

Sorry but their heavy and aggressive lobbying for something as horrible and damaging as fracking puts them in the same category of bad as Shell (not to mention the damage that type of lobbying does to public life, democracy etc)

Though i do agree with the latter part of your sentence :)

Some media coverage https://cyclingtips.com/2022/10/british-cyclings-athletes-are-free-to-criticise-shell-deal-if-they-wish/

And on a not entirely on topic, but related note, this is the Australian sports headlines section atm

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Ineos are an utter garbage company. Fracking, oil refinery, extraction petrochemicals with the addition of a total cunt (even by industry standards) in charge. OK they aren’t Shell, they don’t assassinate protestors, but it’s an environmental crime syndicate just the same.

It's like rain.

HSBC climate change adverts banned by UK watchdog

The UK's advertising regulator has banned two HSBC advertisements for being "misleading" about the company's work to tackle climate change.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the banking giant can no longer run the ads which promoted its plans to reduce harmful emissions.

Or a free ride?
GCN even covered it yesterday. [Shell//BC]

what alternatives are there for racing outside of BC? I know time trials and hill climbs but I'd love to still race MTB or CX

Western Cross League is going to be exploring alternatives to British Cycling for next year. Hopefully other leagues will do the same. Looks like Beastway is also very keen to move to something else (obviously a little less contentious for a Summer League where points don't count towards anything).

I’m definitely planning on raising this at the LCCA AGM.

I can't see that happening sadly, people are strangely wedded to points and rankings. Bring back the BCCA!