Cycling UK seeing sense

The Audax UK women's group is FLINTA 🙄 in a woman only safe space 🙄
" Woman only safe space This group is for women to discuss audax rides, ask questions and cheer each other on. If you are a man and have joined this group you will look very silly and be asked to leave. The admin reserve the right to ask members to leave or remove members if they feel an individual is breaching the 'safe space" of this group. We refer to the FLINTA gender classification system for other genders to be included."

As I mentioned before, I think the awards have had their day regardless of this situation. I'm in two minds about whether I think Cycling UK should drop the 100 Women in Cycling. On the one hand, I really felt they were scraping the barrel when I ended up on the list. These things are always going to be finite. 100 is quite a lot to find year on year, it would be embarrassing to get less than 100 nominations. But on the other hand, it would be a shame to give up now! What do others here think?

Edited to add: omg, I didn't see that bit about "FLINTA" before. What is this rubbish? I hadn't heard of that before. Or was that introduced in the last TCR? I remember something making me cross but had pushed it out of my mind. Is there a risk that by keeping the awards we end up saddled with that tripe?

Did anyone else here get the 100 Women in Cycling email earlier? Looks like it might have just been sent to past recipients, asking for feedback.

Apparently it's from Germany

That seems like a rebranding of the Green’s “Non-men” label.

I learned a new acronym: FLINTA (female, lesbian, intersex, non-binary, trans, agender)

Clearly, a leopard doesn't change its spots, neither have Cycling Weekly. I wonder what the age demographic is of that publication. The CyclingNews forum is also very intolerant of gender critical posting, very pro trans.

Quite!
Also seems CW don’t know their audience too well judging by the mostly GC comments on FB and the article itself.

Yet Cycling Weekly never once promoted Jean Hatchet's Ride For Murdered Women, according their site's search function.

Are those Rules Three and Five that I recognise? Yes, yes, they are.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/this-is-an-issue-for-everyone-cyclists-urged-to-take-part-in-solidarity-rides-with-trans-community-after-exclusion-from-cycling-uk-list
Cycling weekly still pushing this story.

🥳
Fabulous. Glad it got released before this has gone live to rain on the parade of the fabulous women who made the 2025 list

Well, it is a tragedy if the Cool Kids shun you. That would be bad.

Appalling article. But I tend to discount as not worth reading any piece that uses the term 'cisgender'.

@oldtiredcyclist that article is a few years old and came out before the UCI ban (although not before the BC ban). I find it highly unlikely that the comic would run a similarly unquestioning article today.

That article is absolute madness and goes against everything which knowledgeable people, such as Emma Hilton and Ross Tucker have said. Unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me, given that article was penned by the Dutch born, North American editor of Cycling Weekly who is probably 100% TWAW. She is probably fully supportive of transwomen cyclists like Natalie Van Gogh (now 51), who was competing against top European female tour pros at the age of 47.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/author/anne-marije-rook

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_van_Gogh

@Brevet1000 and another of CW finest https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/trans-women-athletes-have-no-unfair-advantage-under-current-rules-study-finds
Also it seems that women are directly hurting themselves financially through this stance where they are rescinding Cycling UK membership and invalidating insurance cover they need for paid work

@YerWot Thank you ☺️

Section 4 of this YouGov survey: https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/45983-what-do-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-brito

I agree lesbians in sport are more likely to be TERFy though.

@Camelos aww! here, I made you a certificate.

edit: this is the first time I've tried to attach a picture, and it says it's under review. I hope it passes the test!

No, no, no. Please don't accuse lesbians of this.

Emily is an out lesbian. Survey after survey has shown that lesbians are the biggest trans allies (other than trans people themselves). My (incredibly cautious, for fear of getting my head bitten off) questioning of this among friends has led me to the conclusion that it is a combination of identifying a shared oppressor (straights), and a vehement loathing of anything (gender critical beliefs in this case) associated with political lesbianism.

@YerWot Yes but possibly on X also. This is Emily Cherry’s post. It definitely is the most balanced one I’ve seen compared with the rest. My only problem is last sentence of the first paragraph. I think I must be the biggest under achiever in the world of cycling having never been on the list 🤣

Last year, I was honoured to be named one of Cycling UK’s 100 Women in Cycling – a list that recognises women who encourage and empower others to experience the joy of cycling. With so many inspirational and hardworking champions of the cause to choose from, I was excited to see who would make this year’s list. But I was sad to see the 2025 list’s trans-exclusionary selection criteria, which are gatekeeping transgender and non-binary cycling champions from being recognised.

I am deeply passionate about enabling more people to cycle. Cycling gives children joy, delivering confidence and skills that will last a lifetime. Inclusion, impact and innovation have guided my leadership approach to take action to reduce barriers to cycling participation and ensuring that anyone who wishes to access cycle training is able to. I believe everyone should receive the same opportunities, from cycling to recognition.

I believe Cycling UK serves an important mission, to enable and inspire people from all backgrounds and abilities to enjoy the benefits of cycling: this vision can and must include trans and non-binary people. I hope to see next year’s list take a new approach, so that all women and non-binary people can be included.

I would love to see a future list of 100 Champions of Cycling!