2012-11-17 Gulliver's Travels, part 2

The Rules
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The Rules.

Thanks for this; there is certainly some interesting material here. I particularly like rule 12 – the correct no. of bike to own is n+1 which can also be stated as s-1 being the number at which the acquisition of another would result in separation from your partner.

However there are certain things I strongly disagree with, for example: ‘Saddle, bars and tires shall be carefully matched’. (rule 8)

This panders towards the heretical view that cycling is connected with retail therapy. I would put this as: When assembling a bike use whatever you’ve got in the parts bin: if you can make it look good, so much the better, but don’t waste money on trivia (especially in view of rule 12). One caveat here- if you are at, or near, the top of your career don’t stint on silk tubulars. (Your partner probably won’t realise what they are or how much they cost).

However, my main objection is rule 24: ‘Speeds and distances shall be referred to in kilometres.’

This does appear to be an American site ( the spelling), so I suppose one should make allowances, but to say that all cycling achievements are measured in kilometres is ridiculous – at least it should be to anyone with any knowledge of English cycling.

We owe a great deal to the tradition of time trialling, which is stronger here than anywhere else in the world. It’s not appropriate to go into the arguments for time trialling here ( I can if requested) but the point to be made is that the English tradition depends on miles. Under the hour for 25 miles is something for every new racing man to aim at, and a sub four hour 100 is still special. How does a sub four hour 160 kilometres sound?

Horse racing still works in hands and furlongs: what’s good enough for the sport of kings is certainly good enough for the king of sports.