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women's races were to be organised, the participants would have to run to their limit, or else make a mockery of racing. And that limit is not pleasant to contemplate... the speed woman, dishevelled, grimy and graceless. I believe in a high standard of cycling ability as really worth while attaining by women, but not as racers... Imagine women dressed for speed, on bicycles built for speed, in attitudes necessary for speed, grabbing speed food, taking acid and finishing dead to the world.
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side. In its centre, a stone reads: "This garden is dedicated to
Frederick Thomas Bidlake, a great cyclist, a man of singular charm and character, an untiring worker for cyclists 1867–1933". A sundial in the centre of the garden is marked "He measured time". A facsimile milestone is engraved "F. T. B. Few have known this road as he. London 48 – York 148".
246:
whose job was to "bring on" their riders, in the phrase of the time. On 21 July 1894, Bidlake was one of 50 in a 50-mile (80 km) race on the main road north out of London. He and another rider, Arthur Ilsley, and their two pacers, were passing a woman with a horse when the horse reared and both riders crashed into a ditch.
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The early position of cyclists on the road wasn't certain and in July 1878 parliament came close to passing an amendment of the
Highways Act by which cyclists would have been banned from the road. The position of cycle racing was still less certain. The custom was for racers to shelter behind pacers,
280:
But he was among those who codified a sport which became the leading part of
British cycle-racing, even though its officials were so uncertain of their creation that they refused to tell the police, referred to courses and dates in code, held their races in the country at dawn, demanded riders dress
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motorcycle completed his run from Land's End to John o'Groats on
Saturday forenoon and established a new record. He started on his long and trying journey at eight on Thursday morning, and arrived at his destination at 11 am on Saturday, after being 50h 46m 30s on the road. Mr F.T. Bidlake was
323:
to ride a bicycle. He said: "A skirtless lady on tour is bound to suffer much. She is singularly conspicuous, a centre of observation and exposed to such contumelious ridicule as the ordinary sensitive feminine nature hesitates to provoke.". Women who wore other than skirts to ride a bicycle called
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in
Bedfordshire, was unveiled on 23 September 1934. More than 4,000 watched as W. P. Cook, president of the Anfield Bicycle Club and the Road Records Association, performed the unveiling ceremony. The rector of Sandy blessed the memorial. The garden is triangular with a wall of local stone on one
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Cycle racing for women is generally acknowledged to be undesirable. My ideal of a clever lady rider is one who can ride far, who can ride at a really useful speed, who mounts hills with comfort, and makes no fuss or show of effort. The stylish, clever lady stops short of being a scorcher, but if
275:
Neither the Road Time Trials
Council or the Road Racing Council before them can claim to have invented time-trialling. Without question, time-trials took place a century ago and the National Cyclists' Union national time-trial championship time-trials are recorded in 1878 when A. A. Weir was the
410:
Hill, north of London, on Sunday 27 August 1933, when he was hit by a car. His injuries looked superficial and he managed to get home. But he lapsed into semi-consciousness and died in London on 17 September. By this time, a testimonial fund had been established. It became a memorial fund.
260:
Not all riders lived near a track or wished to race there. They set up a rival body, the Road Racing
Council, and on 5 October 1895 Bidlake was one of the members of the North Road club who organised a race against the clock. Les Bowerman, who researched this and races that followed, said:
437:
The balance of the fund was used to create an annual award – the
Bidlake Memorial Prize – for the most outstanding performance or contribution to cycling. Several achievements during the 1950s were not marked by the committee, primarily because they involved riders from the breakaway
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What distinguished them from earlier unpaced races was that the riders started at intervals of two or three minutes in reverse handicap order, the fastest first. Company riding was not forbidden but was unlikely to occur. This would then be very similar to a time-trial as we know
270:
The fact, as
Bowerman says, there were unpaced races against the clock before the North Road event in October 1895 means Bidlake can not, as he often is, be described as the founder of time-trialling. Bernard Thompson, a historian of British time-trialling, wrote:
292:
Bidlake's time-trialling was a rebel's exercise against the dictates of the
National Cyclists' Union, but in time the two parts of the sport collaborated. Both agreed that massed racing on the road was undesirable and placed all cyclists at risk. The
309:– "a superfluous excrescence." He continued: "Unpaced solitary speedmen perform magnificently, unobtrusively, with no obstructive crowds and give no offence. I can't believe that our road men want to alter all this to make a Manxman's holiday."
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the timekeeper. Mr J. Silver previously held the record, having done the distance in 64h 29m, and Mr E.H. Arnott in 65h 45m. He has not only beaten the motor cycle record, but is also nearly two hours ahead of best motor car time."
570:
The meaning isn't clear. It may be a reference to early drugs such as strychnine, which references to the first world championship in Britain (a time-trial won by Dave Marsh of Britain) suggest was known in time-trialling at the
257:, fearing action in Huntingdonshire could spread across the country and lead to another attempt to amend the Highways Act, banned its clubs from racing on the road and ordered them to compete on the track instead.
328:
defended a woman member turned away from a hotel because she was wearing it, Bidlake insisted that the CTC was defending not the outfit but the CTC's contract with the hotel to serve any member of the club.
159:
in south London. It still stood when he died. At one time, he held all national tricycle records from 50 miles (80 km) to 24-hour, plus place-to-place records, and records on the
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during the early 20th century. The annual Bidlake Memorial Prize, was instituted in his memory. He was a timekeeper in cycling, motorcycling and for seaplane races in the 1930s.
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completely in black, and banned even the sport's own press from saying when races would be held. Lists of competitors were headed "private and confidential" until the 1960s.
297:, which being outside the United Kingdom was not subject to the NCU's ban nor in fear of British police, was proposed in 1914 as the site of a world championship road race.
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victor with a time of 1hr 27m 47s on a high ordinary. What the RRC did contribute was "As great a measure as possible of uniformity in the conduct of road competitions."
152:, winning championships and setting national records, often beating bicycle riders. In 1893, he set a 24-hour tricycle record of 410 miles (660 km) at
284:
Bidlake's organisation started as a rebellion from the ruling of the National Cyclists Union but it soon became an established part of cycling authority.
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The Hautboy Hotel, Ockham, Surrey, England; the woman was Florence Warburton, a leader of the Rational Dress Society. The CTC pursued the case but lost.
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in London watched Bidlake sign the first page during a concert to honour time-trialling champions. It was the last time most saw him alive.
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Bidlake took an interest in motor sports and timed a motorcycling attempt on the Land's End to John o'Groats record by
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in 1933 to record those whose contributions to the sport it considered outstanding. That year, 7,000 cyclists at the
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Pedal Club, The Golden Book citation for Frederick Thomas Bidlake. Archive maintained by 'The Pedal Club'.
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Bidlake's correspondence and other papers are at the National Cycle Archive at the University of Warwick.
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what they wore Rational Dress. Bidlake ridiculed it in Cycling as Laughable Dress. When the
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229:, the organisation which regulates time trials in the UK), and was vice-president of the
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of the late 19th century, who became one of the most notable administrators of British
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1893 24-hour tandem tricycle with Monty Holbein 333 miles (536 km)
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1894 12-hour tandem tricycle with Holbein 181.5 miles (292.1 km)
89:
792:
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The greatest damage was to the bicycles but the woman complained to
237:. He also timed many time-trials and record attempts over 40 years.
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quoted Bidlake as calling massed racing – the sort now seen in the
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Cited, Woodland, Les (2005), This Island Race, Mousehold Press, UK
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764:"In Praise of a Great Cyclist: Mr. Bidlake – died last Sunday"
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Bidlake also objected to the way women had begun to wear
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225:and the Road Racing Council (forerunner of today's
120:(13 March 1867 – 17 September 1933) was an English
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253:police that such races should not take place. The
402:Death, Bidlake Testimonial fund and Bidlake Award
209:1894 24-hour tricycle 356.5 miles (573.7 km)
203:1894 12-hour tricycle 194.5 miles (313.0 km)
212:1895 100 miles (160 km) tricycle 5h 15m 57s
429:A garden and monument, at Girtford Bridge near
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273:
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182:1889 100 miles (160 km) tricycle 6h 55m 58
200:1894 50 miles (80 km) tricycle 2h 22m 55s
917:Cyclists from the London Borough of Islington
656:Journal, Fellowship of Cycling Old-Timers, UK
188:1890 24-hour tricycle 289 miles (465 km)
8:
601:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
450:in 1958 and Ian Steel's victory in the 1952
178:Bidlake's Road Record Association records:
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28:
442:. Significant events overlooked included
171:, on 5 October 1895, at a time when the
598:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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781:– via British Newspaper Archive.
687:"Should Lady-Cyclists Ride in Races",
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588:
446:'s first British stage victory in the
136:Frederick Thomas Bidlake was born in
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194:1892 London to York tricycle 13h 19m
191:1892 London to York tricycle 15h 28m
185:1889 London to York tricycle 18h 28m
701:"G. P. Mills Amongst Records Again"
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440:British League of Racing Cyclists
793:"The F T Bidlake Memorial Trust"
882:Bidlake Memorial Trust website
739:. 20 September 1933. p. 9
457:Winners of the award include:
1:
595:"Bidlake, Frederick Thomas".
167:, he helped organise a rebel
111:Cyclist, racing administrator
615:UK public library membership
358:He was a timekeeper for the
175:had banned racing on roads.
747:– via Newspapers.com.
933:
811:www.bidlakememorial.org.uk
332:Of women racing, he said:
691:(UK), 25 July 1912, p. 75
416:Golders Green Crematorium
288:Attitude to other cycling
221:Bidlake helped found the
102:Golders Green Crematorium
38:
861:"National Cycle Archive"
840:Road Records Association
414:Bidlake was cremated at
406:Bidlake was riding down
223:Road Records Association
173:National Cyclists' Union
118:Frederick Thomas Bidlake
33:Frederick Thomas Bidlake
669:, Geerings, Ashford, UK
630:Messenger, Chas (1998)
607:10.1093/ref:odnb/103434
425:Bidlake Memorial Garden
348:George Pilkington Mills
255:National Cyclists Union
241:Founding of time-trials
165:North Road Cycling Club
731:"Noted Cyclist Passes"
643:Woodland, Les (2005),
634:, Pedal Publishing, UK
426:
391:Golden Book of Cycling
379:Golden Book of Cycling
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326:Cyclists' Touring Club
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235:George Herbert Stancer
231:Cyclists' Touring Club
897:English male cyclists
761:(23 September 1933).
647:, Mousehold Press, UK
536:(2021, special award)
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217:Cycling administrator
169:individual time trial
163:. As a member of the
148:Bidlake favoured the
832:"Current News items"
773:. London. p. 17
717:28 July 2011 at the
369:races of the 1930s.
233:alongside president
912:Cycling journalists
867:on 18 January 2002.
667:Alpaca to Skin Suit
665:Thompson, Bernard,
227:Cycling Time Trials
126:road bicycle racing
632:Ride and Be Damned
494:(1959, 1960, 1967)
427:
373:Death and memorial
140:on 13 March 1867.
613:(Subscription or
474:Marguerite Wilson
396:Royal Albert Hall
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82:17 September 1933
16:(Redirected from
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863:. Archived from
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364:Schneider Trophy
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462:Hubert Opperman
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314:First World War
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161:tandem tricycle
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108:Occupation(s)
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98:Resting place
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67:13 March 1867
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18:Bidlake Award
865:the original
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843:. Retrieved
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770:Daily Herald
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741:. Retrieved
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528:Nicole Cooke
522:Graeme Obree
492:Beryl Burton
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388:created its
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342:Other sports
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84:(1933-09-17)
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26:
907:1933 deaths
902:1867 births
504:Hugh Porter
498:Tom Simpson
418:in London.
362:and in the
295:Isle of Man
891:Categories
617:required.)
579:References
510:Tony Doyle
480:Reg Harris
452:Peace Race
154:Herne Hill
132:Early life
63:1867-03-13
48:The Sketch
777:23 August
743:23 August
157:velodrome
138:Islington
92:, England
73:, England
71:Islington
715:Archived
367:seaplane
150:tricycle
845:30 June
816:30 June
689:Cycling
541:Archive
386:Cycling
352:Raleigh
302:Cycling
807:"News"
759:Kuklos
611:
530:(2001)
524:(1993)
518:(1992)
512:(1980)
506:(1968)
500:(1965)
488:(1950)
476:(1939)
470:(1935)
464:(1934)
408:Barnet
90:London
571:time.
549:Notes
431:Sandy
847:2023
818:2023
779:2023
745:2023
312:The
79:Died
57:Born
603:doi
266:it.
45:In
893::
838:.
834:.
809:.
767:.
733:.
623:^
587:^
454:.
849:.
820:.
795:.
609:.
605::
65:)
61:(
20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
