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news
Cyclist and Palace of Westminster (copyright Simon MacMichael)“We’re sorry – we got this one wrong”: British Cycling apologises for advising cyclists not to ride their bikes during state funeral
British Cycling has released a statement this morning apologising for issuing controversial guidance which recommended that cyclists in the UK should avoid riding their bikes during Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral and procession on Monday.
The original advice, issued earlier this week by the national governing body and published on its website, stated: “As a mark of respect to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, British Cycling’s guidance is that no formal domestic activities should take place on the day of the State Funeral, Monday 19 September. This includes cycle sport events, club rides, coaching sessions and community programmes (such as Breeze rides).
“British Cycling strongly recommends that anybody out riding their bike on the day of the State Funeral does so outside of the timings of the funeral service and associated processions, which will be confirmed later this week.”
> British Cycling removes advice telling members not to ride during funeral for Queen Elizabeth II
Following an online backlash against the guidance – which one Twitter user described as “worthy of the Stasi” – British Cycling swiftly removed the section relating to individual riders, though the advice concerning club rides and other domestic events was retained.
This morning, the governing body relented further, publishing newly updated guidance which advises clubs to “consider adjusting their route or ride timings so they do not clash with those of the funeral service and associated processions”, though British Cycling – critically – are now stressing that “they are under no obligation to do so”.
British Cycling has also apologised for the guidance published earlier this week, admitting that “we got it wrong”.
We're sorry - we got this one wrong.
Full guidance: https://t.co/Q5vG08EEnL pic.twitter.com/ahk17taH93
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) September 15, 2022
In a statement released this morning, British Cycling said that it “sincerely apologises for the guidance issued on Tuesday afternoon relating to cycling during the State Funeral.
“We understand that the decision on whether to cycle during that time is one for individuals and clubs to take for themselves, and we’re sorry that we got it wrong this occasion.
“At British Cycling we fought incredibly hard during the pandemic to protect the right to cycle, and we recognise the frustration and disappointment that Tuesday’s statement caused.
“We greatly value the support of our members and the wider cycling community and would like to thank and apologise to all who reached out to share their concerns with us on this occasion.”
The updated guidance, which is available on British Cycling’s website, now reads: “As a mark of respect to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, British Cycling’s guidance is that no domestic events should take place on the day of the State Funeral, Monday 19 September.
“In line with guidance from the Royal Household, any Clubs planning rides on the day of the State Funeral may want to consider adjusting their route or ride timings so they do not clash with those of the funeral service and associated processions. However, they are under no obligation to do so.
“As the day of the State Funeral has been designated as a national bank holiday, in line with many other employers British Cycling will close for the day.”
Ryan joined road.cc as a news writer in December 2021. He has written about cycling and some ball-centric sports for various websites, newspapers, magazines and radio. Before returning to writing about cycling full-time, he completed a PhD in History and published a book and numerous academic articles on religion and politics in Victorian Britain and Ireland (though he remained committed to boring his university colleagues and students with endless cycling trivia). He can be found riding his bike very slowly through the Dromara Hills of Co. Down.
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39 comments
I did manage to ride for a couple of hours, on the road bike too, as traffic was super light BUT no cafe stop as nothing open!
The next time this happens please can we craft a Cafe Open During Funeral Map to avoid dissapointment?
Jsst when you thought it couldn't get any worse, they are going for our snacks too! Clearly eating chocolate with the wrong wrapping will lead to lynchings.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/foodanddrink/other/cadbury-forced-to-make-majo...
Talk about a non-story! Cadbury are not being forced to do anything "now", they have two years to get it done. And by "it" we're talking about taking a logo off their packaging, hardly a "major" undertaking. They would look pretty daft if they continued to claim a dead person enjoys their product, so talk of being "forced" to make the change is also a little overdone.
It is a fine example of how reliable a headline is these days - yet how many people don't bother to read content?
I had a grizzle at the BBC for their misleading headlines - their answer was "Well, the correct information is in the article, so what's your problem?" If the BBC can't be bothered, what hope is there?
I'm still bracing for the twitstorm we'll see on Monday triggered by all the cyclists not dressed in black.
It's ok, no-one will notice.
Ummm, no; it's the cyclists in black with no lights that all the drivers do notice.
They, like many other organisations, could have just said nothing. Just let people decide for themselves.
That hits the nail on the head I think, it was totally outside their remit to start issuing guidance either way. If there was some official guidance and they were making people aware of it, great, but to decide for themselves what constitutes "appropriate cycling" on the day of the funeral and broadcast it was wrong. CyclingUK for us I think when our BC membership expires, we only really have it for the insurance and legal advice and they seem about the same for either.
equally people could have reacted by just grumbling to themselves and simply ignored it, rather than make it out to be some epic catastrophe...
I suspect BC had a number of members, clubs, race organisers simply asking them for their guidance about what to do, and they didnt see a reason not to publish some guidance in good faith about it, they got it wrong, theyve retracted it and apologised for it so I really do fail to see the issue here.
The issue is that their stupid mistake has whipped up a storm in the likes of the Mail (see below) and other cesspits and that it will be used by morons to attack "berserk bikers" who choose to cycle on Monday, and as issues go that's quite an important one.
Apologies - I've not been keeping up. What's their policy on wheelies during the event?
Current advice attached.
Well I'm hoping they're banned, because I can't do anywhere near decent ones, so when groups of teenagers at the side of the road shout "Wheelie!" as they tend to do I'll be able to shake my head regretfully and say sorry lads, I'd love to but…
I get that and often have to disappoint. (Crap picture but all I could find quickly. I'm sure there's someone who does on this kind of platform - seeing Danny MacAskill's vid with the cargo bike wheelie - but I'm rubbish at them even on a more traditional setup).
no the storm was whipped up by the likes of people on social media who all piled on as only social media twit storms do, going from the sublime to the ridiculous, demanding the people at BC who wrote it should be instantly sacked (seriously Carlton Reid ?) likening them to the Stasi, you know the organisation globally acknowledged to have murdered,executed and tortured their own citizens psychologically and physically.
Even in the comments here people have cast aspersions that this makes BC to be equal to Russia or North Korea, countries ruled by dictators who do appalling things to the people in their countries and abroad and are destabilising the safety & security of billions of people around the world.
all that over one paragaph of badly thought out advice about riding a bicycle, that shouldnt have been published, and yet the same narrative would claim it was the people mourning the passing of the Queen who are the hysterical ones.
it was a mistake, they recognised it was a mistake, they changed it, theyve apologised for it, that should be the end of it.
Personally my issue with their initial statement was that implied that they thought of cycling as some trivial hobby, rather than a legitimate form of transport. Clearly they have people writing these statements that think that otherwise they would never have greenlit the guidance.
Revising the statement and the following apology does not do much to alleviate these fears, which is why I'll be switching to CyclingUK the next time my membership ends.
I love cycling the sport, but cycling the means of transport is much more important so far as I'm concerned, for multiple reasons - road safety, climate change, and public health.
For British Cycling to suggest to people that choose cycling over driving for the aformentioned reasons for their regular journeys should just "not ride a bike" during the funeral suggests that they do not understand this. It seems to me that CyclingUK do.
Is that a genuine screenshot? Oh. My. F-ing. God.
Yep, yesterday's online edition.
"Berserk bikers savaged the advice"? Good grief...
Who's going argue?
We need more of this! That'll sort the "culture war" - berserk biker bites back! Get some bearskin-clad types dipping their noses in Lance Armstrong's "dietary supplements" bag and mounting a suitable steed - less bike storm more bike blitzkrieg:
Helmets of course - with horns.
Not British Cycling's finest moment. Was wondering about my membership and this prompted me to cancel it. We need a much stronger advocate that can counter all the anticycling rubbish and promote safety. We are still being killed and injured in large numbers and stances like this really don't help.
‘Out of respect’: the worst examples of public mourning for the Queen
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/15/out-of-respect-the-worst...
Personally, I think hawkinspeter was right when he (?) (presumably) reckoned soon they'll cancel the funeral out of respect for the Queen...
It's advice like this that reinforces the notion that cycling is just a fun, recreational activity, such as might be enjoyed by small children, rather than something that people do to get to work, because it's a normal way of getting about, or to improve their mental and phyical health.
The problem now, is that many of the anti-cycling brigade will have read headlines such as "cyclists told to stay home during royal funeral," and will think that it's some kind of rule. British Cylcling need to think before publishing things like this, which could lead to making life worse for cyclists, their members included.
we've been in a sort of "who can be the most solemn?" contest. Audi and BMW drivers will not be taking part, of course. Pubs around me are making a day of it, our local gym says it's open, but otherwise it looks like being a kind of autumnal Boxing Day scenario, without the Next and Curry's sale.
On BC it's what is said and who says it. Who says (said) it comes from the perspective of large scale/ professional level events, the equivalent of which are in many instances being re-scheduled: not that what was an ordinary Monday in September is a big day for many outdoor sports - horse racing is the main one I can think of, or longer things like the Tour of Britain.
What was said wasn't super unreasonable on the face of it, but I agree it can become distorted into a jumping-off point for the haters (even though they'd have to be driving at the time to act out their hate.)
If anything, it was a bit confused - don't have an event, then it was don't have the Tour de Londres streaking past the funeral route, which seems like common sense to me, however unlikely a situation that is.
Although still a bit vague, the new wording of "any Clubs planning rides on the day of the State Funeral may want to consider adjusting their route or ride timings so they do not clash with those of the funeral service and associated processions" does seem to suggest that they were only referring to riders in London.
If they'd have made that clear in the origial guidance, I doubt that anyone would have found it that contraversial. It was the insinuation that (for example) I shouldn't bumble around the country lanes of Camarthenshire because of a funeral happening 230 miles away that had everyone a bit miffed.
Of course, there will be other events (screenings) around the country and it would be disrespectful to spin through some park where they've put up a big screen.
I'm really struggling with the whole respect thing. Even as a republican I have always tried to be respectful of the Queen (I am against the institution not the individiuals) and I am happy to observe the historic nature of her passing. I did have a moment when the BBC announced her passing, but I have absolutely no interest in watching subsequent pomp and ceremony unfold on TV. The fawning is all getting a bit much for me. I can barely switch on the BBC as I feel that the public are being gaslighted into being told how we should feel, as if we are some kind of hive mind and can't have independent thought.
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