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Time trial (John Clifton/SWpix.com)All cyclists must adhere to 20mph speed limits during time trials in Britain – as governing body cites safety concerns and risk of causing “public outrage”
All cyclists taking part in time trials in Britain will be forced to slow down and adhere to the speed limit while racing through 20mph zones, the national governing body for time trialling in England, Scotland, and Wales has announced.
In new guidance published on Tuesday evening, which described 20mph speed limits and time trials as generally “incompatible”, Cycling Time Trials (CTT) also stipulated that any course with a lengthy 20mph section should not be used if a viable alternative is available, due to concerns over safety for participants and other road users, along with the risk of causing “public outrage” which, CTT says, could put the future of time trialling in Britain in jeopardy.
However, CTT’s latest guidance – which seeks to clarify the body’s stance on the widespread implementation of 20mph speed limits throughout the UK – also suggests that time trial courses which feature 20mph zones can still go ahead if a variety of conditions are met.
These exceptions will apply to courses with very short 20mph sections where riders are unlikely to exceed the speed limit in any case (such as during hill climbs or approaching a roundabout), during road closures, and if the demise of a course due to a prolonged 20mph section would lead to “a serious loss to time trialling in that area”.
In that final case, time triallists will be under strict instructions to ride at no more than 20mph during those sections, a rule CTT describes as an “overriding principle” which aims to prevent riders from gaining an “unfair advantage” by ‘breaking’ the speed limit, thereby nullifying time trialling’s long-standing reputation as the ‘race of truth’.
“20 mph limits and time trials are incompatible”
This latest announcement from CTT comes three months after the governing body first mooted the potential loss, or at least necessary modification, of some time trial courses following the introduction of a default 20mph speed limit across Wales, which raised concerns from members in both Wales and England that the road safety measures could usher in the demise of Britain’s historic time trialling scene.
> Do cyclists have to stick to the speed limit?
In the UK, cyclists do not share the same legal obligation as motorists to stick to speed limits, and cannot be charged with an offence of excess speed. However, in a letter sent to its districts in November, CTT urged its members to “ignore any such suggestion” from “some websites [that] state speed limits do not apply to cyclists”.
In this week’s guidance, clarifying the body’s rules on the approval of courses and the “restrictions upon riders who take part in them”, CTT doubled down on its commitment to ensuring riders participating in its events adhere to speed limits and other rules of the road.
“All courses which will be used in 2024 must always have an up-to-date risk assessment,” the guidance for districts, organisers, and riders says. “If there is a 20mph limit now on any part of an approved course or the proposal for a course is a new one, the District must treat safety as it first priority and make an decision after weighing all the relevant issues.
“Generally, 20 mph limits and time trials are incompatible. Most riders travel between 20 and 30mph. 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.”
CTT also noted that its rules “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” – an offence, it says, which will now encompass riders racing at over 20mph in the new reduced zones.
“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 says.
“In any event, 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’ because a rider who exceeds the limit will gain an unfair advantage over one who does not.”
While clamping down on the individual speeds of its time trialists – a measure that has raised concerns over how it will be implemented – the governing body also asserted that “any course which incorporates a section with a 20mph limit should not be used if a suitable alternative is available”.
It continued: “This will require the District and organiser to consider whether changes can be made to a course to avoid the 20mph section. If not, the District should consider whether any other suitable course is available, taking into account the nature of the event and the area from which riders are expected to come.
“The history of the event and any scenic qualities will not play a role in this decision unless they are relevant to the safety of riders and other road users. A particular aspect of 20mph zones is that they will usually (and more often will in future) be accompanied by traffic calming measures. These can present serious hazards for cyclist and other road users and in themselves may mean that a course is not safe.”
However, CTT noted that if a district is satisfied that no suitable alternative is available, it may allow an event to go ahead on a course with a 20mph section if the following exceptions apply:
It is a Hill Climb, so long as both the organiser and the District are satisfied there is no reasonable expectation riders will exceed 20mph, whether up or down the hill.
The 20mph limit is on a section of road for which a Traffic Management Order (restricting access by motor vehicles) will be in force at the time of the event.
There are very short (up to 100 metre) sections of 20 mph limits where the geography makes it unlikely riders will exceed that speed in any event. Such sections will usually be at the start of an event or include a feature such as a corner or roundabout where riders will naturally slow anyway. At such a feature, two sections of up to 100 metres (one before and one after) may be permitted.
Meanwhile, longer 20mph stretches (in this case, over 100m) could possibly still be used as long as “active measures” are in place to ensure riders don’t stray above the speed limit.
These active measures include warnings on risk assessments, start sheets, and on “prominently displayed” notices at the start for club events, along with the use of additional marshals at speed restrictions signs and traffic calming measures “with, if possible, signs displaying the number 20”.
Longer 20mph sections will also be permitted if the district committee is convinced that “no reasonable alternative exists and the cancellation of the event would lead to a serious loss to time trialling in that area”, and that its distance will not lead to potential non-compliance by those taking part.
> Why the 20mph zone time trial ban could be the “tip of the iceberg” for British racing
Cycling Time Trials’ latest guidance will arguably do little to quell the concerns of members and club riders, who believe the restrictions surrounding 20mph speed limits could lead to the loss of a substantial portion of Britain’s TT courses and, with the domestic scene struggling in general in recent years, facilitate the demise of one of the country’s most venerable cycling pastimes.
“The majority of courses cannot be used,” Jonty Gordon, the chairman of Clwb Beicio Egni Eryri and a director at 1816 Cycles told us in November.
“I know of some clubs whose regular 10-mile courses will all be unusable. Given the difficulty in finding routes that don’t feature 20mph areas, there is a real risk that TTs will simply disappear in Wales.
“I do really think it is going to affect TTs as there are now so many 20mph routes, finding a safe and approachable one, not a 50mph road or dual carriageway, is going to be nigh-on impossible.”
Speaking to the road.cc Podcast, Jonty also explained that the new rules could have serious legal implications, potentially turn away young people and women from the sport over safety concerns, and that they may prove just the “tip of the iceberg” – especially when it comes to political and societal attitudes – when it comes to the future of bike racing, and the political and societal attitudes towards it, on open British roads.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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91 comments
It's almost like there's a reason that speed limits don't legally apply to cycles. The impact energy of an average UK car with 1 occupant travelling at 20mph is 67.3kj, where an average UK adult plus a 9kg bike impacting at the same speed is 3.7kj. A car colliding with a pedestrian does not deform as much as the cyclist would in a collision with the same ped, so the force transferred is exponentially greater.
A timing window over the 20mph sections, allowing for space to slow down and return to speed, to subtract from the total would be a sufficient work around. It might allow for riders to really ease off over the 'untimed' section and try and recover, but BS like this is going to cause some exploitability no matter how you try and accommodate it.
If the CTT were truly focused on rider safety, they'd only run events on closed race circuits, but that's not going to happen
Unfortunately there is no realistic outcome where anyone is happy.
I for one don't see how staring at my bike computer trying to keep to the speed limit, struggling to avoid collisions with road furniture and being overtaken by vehicles ignoring it, is safer.
Anyone who has previously set a competitive time will never again be able to try for a PB.
Blanket 20mph speed limits (and in particular the general attitude toward them from motorists) are incompatible with TTing, hill climbs notwithstanding.
I understand that they are trying to let racing continue but these exceptions are not a reasonable solution. But the CTT need to be seen as doing something. It's a no-win situation.
On balance I think the cause of cyclists in general is improved by having 20mph speed limits (assuming they are respected). Given a choice of scrapping 20mph limits for the benefit of TTs, or extending them for the greater good of cyclists in general, I'd choose tbe latter. Their benefit to cyclists exceeds their costs [edit: ... to TTs]. I think the edict is reasonable.
There is no cost to cyclists except those we put on ourselves to placate daily mail readers
THIS
I meant (in the context) that the benefit to cyclists outweighed the cost to TTs. Sorry if that wasn't clear from the context.
For general traffic, yes. But it's side-effect specifically is detrimental to the CTT and the UK Time Trialling scene which is the point I am trying to make.
That is exactly what I was weighing - the benefit to cyclists (in general) against the cost to TTs.
Do they *actually* need to be seen to be doing something or are they *frightened* of the PR effects of *not* being seen to do anything?
There is a real risk of them overthinking this....
Do nothing: Have huge uproar from a minority as riders will be going faster than cars despite there being no legal basis for the upset; competitors in this instance will be percieved as dangerous regardless of the reality of the situation. On the flip side, this situation poses an actual hazard to competitors as slow moving traffic becomes an obstacle for faster riders. All it would take is one incident for there to be serious calls from Government to ban the sport on UK roads outright.
Blanket ban on 20mph zones in courses means that as more zones appear, the already shrinking portfolio of courses means that soon there will be very few left. The scene will die.
They have tried to reach a compromise but unfortunately and solution waters down and takes away from the essence and spirit of the discipline. There is no overthinking, purely because both extremes put the future of UK Time Trialling in severe doubt; a huge oversight that was missed by those who drew up, consulted on and implemented the schemes, as CTT were not involved, nor were any concerns noted by the CTT at the time. Hence there is much scrambling to react to the problems that the CTT are now presented with.
20mph zones when applied properly are valuable assets for active travel - in heavy built-up areas, inner cities etc - I am all for them. Typically, these are places where there aren't any TT courses anyway. It's rural villages where the zones have been implemented under a one-size-fits-all approach; where Club TTs have been run for decades without incident, but road safety is still an issue - because there isn't another cheap and easy solution.
From what I can gather, this is the essence of it.
CTT is stuck between a rock and a hard place. They absolutely must be seen to be doing the right thing, which is to follow the rules as it applies to vehicles despite the fact that speed limits may not apply to cyclists in the strictest sense.
I defy anyone to come up with an alternative position that doesn't have the potential to cause massive or maybe even catastrophic problems for time trialling. The one thing I can see saving some TT courses is if individual requests are made for each course (or section of a course) that is restricted to 20mph and an exemption given. In these straightened times - for police resources as well as CTT volunteers - I can't see that happening, even if it was possible.
One North Wales club uses an out-and-back 10 mile course that starts and finishes in Caernarfon. A short section at the beginning and end is within a 20 mph restriction and the faster riders may be finishing their TT at 300w on a slight (1-2%) descent - possibly doing 30 mph. There are other courses that go through villages with 20 mph limits. Some of them may be on the A5, a particularly wide road that is much quieter now that the A55 Expressway takes most of the through traffic but it's not hard to anticipate problems, particularly as the local media has made hay by seemingly magnifying the scale of the outcry.
I think the answer is going to involve the abandonment of the standard 10/25/50/100 mile distances for most events and the acceptance of non standard distances such as the 7 mile Georgetown course on the West side of Glasgow (although even this is compromised by a lights controlled pedestrian crossing). We have been losing courses to traffic lights and dead turns and traffic calming etc. since before I started riding TTs in the mid 70s but there is a small group of cyclist keen to keep it going.
Very much agree with this point. The Police have to agree to allow courses to be run. Many 20 and 30 mph areas exist on courses that have been run for years and they could have objected or simply refused the use of a courses many times, but haven't. Also I'm sure plenty of Triathlons will be in areas with 20mph limits. Don't think I've seen any suggestion of banning certain bike legs or insisting riders stay under a certain speed.
Have Triathlon Cymru or event organisers like Always Aim High provided any information about this? I've not seen anything.
The TT scene in Wales is far smaller, I can think of a handful of clubs across Mid- and North Wales that run TTs, all of them EOL club events and mostly short distances.
I think people are jumping to conclusions and at the same time unfairly bashing CTT because it's easy to make accusations or jibes when you don't have 'skin in the game'. Perhaps some of the more vociferous commenters could offer their expertise to their local DC and tell them where they've been going wrong all these years. That way it should be a piece of cake* to sort it all out.
* carrot is my favourite, though I'll happily accept whatever is on offer.
its not for April 1st yet, or are they geting the jokes in early!
For consistency, no more sprint finishes at the end of the London Marathon then.
If you can run at over 20mph after running for over tweny-six miles, you're either on drugs or got an 'S' on your jersey and wearing your pants on the outside!
Good thing 5km parkruns are held in parks
(but good luck with 3min/mi pace)
Any chance of a race only on 20 mph roads? I might dig the old clip-on aero bars out of the loft and have a chance of winning something at last, albeit in a tied first with all the other riders…
There would be very interesting new tactics in such a race. Probably martial arts athletes would excel and not cyclists.
How quickly can you accelerate to 20mph - because that would become the effective tie-breaker.
From DoT Vehicle speed compliance statistics for Great Britain: 2022 (Published 24 August 2023)
'On 20mph roads, 84% of cars exceeded the speed limit during weekdays, and 86% during the weekend (Table SPE0115).'
So, CTT is arguably doing the right thing, whereas ~85% of car drivers are not
From experience I can confirm that a guaranteed way to piss off most (84% by the looks) drivers is to drive below the posted speed limit, or cycle above it.
So, in order to adhere to a 20mph limit, the rider will need an accurate speedo. SO is the CTT mandating speedos / GPS devices for races, and will these be checked at start? Going to cost the aero boys 1/100th Watt, they won;t be happy
Err . . . motorists have speedos & still speed.
Will STRAVA ban segments through 20mph zones?
Marshall at start of section, one at end, both note time rider passes through - if average speed is over 20mph, DQ.
Some clubs struggle for marshals and timekeepers as is - adding more like this is potentially impossible for a number of clubs.
I'm guessing in this day and age virtually every rider has a phone in their pocket in case of emergencies or mechanicals, in which case just create a Strava segment for the 20 mph zones and make it compulsory to have Strava on while racing, easily checked.
So, in order to adhere to a 20mph limit, the rider will need an accurate speedo
The police have agreed with themselves that there is no such thing as an accurate speedo on a bike and that GPS is just a fad and a child's toy (rather like any bike) which is why it's always legal as far as the police are concerned to cross single or double unbroken white lines while overtaking a cyclist whatever the road conditions.
https://upride.cc/incident/ku15ekc_royalmailbigvan_dwlcrossclosepass/
https://upride.cc/incident/m121bul_jaguarmmt_uwlcrossclosepass/
https://upride.cc/incident/a19lcw_mercedesmmt_closepassuwl/
https://upride.cc/incident/b5hol_tanker_closepassdwlcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/b6hol_harrisonoils_uwlcross/
not only that, but the cyclist will also have to deliberately watch the 'speedo' - which is almost never positioned in peripheral FOV.
will the police be patrolling in order to detain and prosecute motor vehicle drivers overtaking time-triallists in these 20mph zones? as far as i'm aware they aren't enforceable in scotland - so good luck with that.
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