UCI new policy

[DistantVworp]

Changing categories to Men/Open and women. About time!

www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2023/07/14/transgender-cycling-news-uci-bans-athletes-female-races/

VI races in track masters. Weight really doesn’t matter on the track, it’s all about raw power. They would be straight out the back on the first hill in a women’s road race.

I think puberty blockers can cause tallness because they prevent bone plate fusion.

yeah, i think VI's 'world record' was in a 200 metre sprint, as you can imagine that doesn't take long on a bike. VI is overweight of course but has thighs that wouldn't disgrace a [male] bodybuilder, not remotely attainable for a middle aged woman.

11.64s apparently, and won as a 35 year old in masters so probably against much older women (masters starts at 35). The current senior (under 35) world record is 10.1s. It’s almost as if they waited until they could compete against much older athletes before transitioining…

I'm a bit older, and finally retiring from my sport as the impact of perimenopause becomes more noticeable. It's no co-incidence that so many of these transwomen have a twilight blossoming at exactly the time biological woman are struggling with declining physical abilities.

For those who may want a laugh, Sandy is still melting down on Twitter. Yesterday she accused Helen Joyce of being a kept woman who had never had a job. How embarrassing.

What’s Sandy’s Twitter handle?

Looks like Sandy is in denial of how things have shifted over the last year or two. And as the general public become more aware of what has being going on under the radar, public opinion is hardening against permitting males in the female category.

World Rugby, World Swimming, World Athletics and now the UCI all coming out in favour of protecting female sports.

The IOC must be coming under pressure to follow the science backed stance taken by governing bodies of its most high profile sports to set their rules.

photos of the podium finishes from Emily Bridges' new trans friendly cycling tournament popped up on my social media feed. out of 18 podium finishers (notionally split halfway between traditional M/F and three classes making 9 podium places per gender) at most 3 looked to be what you or I might call female. I'm not sure what this says about how willing and able women are to compete under such rules.

does this apply to the cycling world cup that starts this week?

Yes it absolutely applies to the World Championships starting in Glasgow this week so Emily will not be permitted to 'compete'. And also to the Masters World Champs in Manchester in September, so sadly VI is out of the running. Such a shame.

Is that Thundercrit? It's not really new (I think in 7th year now). The race cats are hilarious: https://thundercrit.com/race-categories/

Luckily, it's a meaningless race for fixed gear hipster Londoners/wankers.

Indeed. What Emily fails to grasp is that biological male/ female differences are not the result of a few centuries of capitalism and patriarchy but the result of millennia of evolution which started when multi celled creatures cottoned on to the realisation that what worked for single sex amoeba lurking in the swamp didn’t cut it in a more complex environment.

The irony is that if Emily had been born a man I doubt if the social inequalities experienced by women in all walks of life who have been affected and belittled by centuries of patriarchy and capitalism would have troubled Emily one jot or kept them awake at night for a single second.

Sorry, meant to include an irony smiley attached to that last paragraph!!! Just in case any one is puzzled…….

I knew that KA had spoken about this but I was pleasantly surprised to read, on social media, Emz's mum saying that Katie Archibald had "held BC to ransome [sic]" by refusing to ride until this had been sorted out, and that KA hadn't been alone in doing this.

Which puts the lie to “women support TW being able to take part in women’s sport” doesn’t it?

And the regular YouGov polls that show public opinion hardening against the #BeKind mindset.

The public are strongly opposed to trans women athletes participating in women’s sporting events, by 61% versus just 16% who are supportive.

This was up from 55% opposing in 2020 and 48% opposing in 2018, and all these figures prior to Thomas and Bridges (and all the others) bringing so much sunlight.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/articles-reports/2022/07/20/where-does-british-public-stand-transgender-rights

Next poll in the series due in 2024 I would think.

This is good to hear. I had hoped that there was some activism going on behind the scenes.

Great to hear that KA has been quietly applying pressure to BC and the UCI behind the scenes. Can’t wait to watch her back on her home track next week.

And a good reminder that we shouldn’t infer ‘sides’ in the debate by the colour of women’s hair!

Watched the amazing Womens pursuit team win gold last night, and it struck me that for a team to work in unison like that they need to have complete trust in each other, and in each others motivation. Somehow I don’t think EB understands that element of the sport.

I'm quite interested in this- do women refuse to ride against transwomen, if given the choice.

Do you have any links please (without outing yourself!) As I can't find anything from the 2023 race online? Thank you 😊

The 2023 Thundercrit results are here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1oiN53jCOtB4v4dK2boD8MV7QMqZxRXnFsGGVSmi7lRI/htmlview?pli=1#

Predictably, Bridges, Chant, Gysin and Dixon inserting themselves into the Lightning (women’s) category.

If you’re on Twitter / X , then here is a useful pinned thread on male cyclists.

https://twitter.com/i_heart__bikes/status/1645203016977375233?s=46&t=fMjCB4vFfh_N6mYE72mhHw

Spotted on Mastodon [no context]:

Absolutely brilliant aren’t they? The B para cycling (sighted pilot and blind stoker on a tandem) is also amazing. Can you imagine doing 60kph on 40 degree banking on a tandem?! Also love the women’s downhill - so much camaraderie the way they congratulate each finisher even if they are being ejected from the hot seat. Oh and the women’s team sprint was epic - Chris said that there time would have placed them 8th in the men’s event when he first rode it.

I’ve started a thread on the worlds in the Cycling topic if you feel like contributing. 😁

Did they say in the post event interview that one of the team had had a baby 18 months ago?

KatIe Nichols and Elinor Barker have both recently had babies. Ellen van Dijk is 6 months pregnant and although not racing this year is still riding 90km a day and recce’ ing stages for Trek-Segafredo. Rachel Atherton has two young children and came eighth in the DH. Lizzie Deignan was a real groundbreaker here, before her having a baby was pretty much the end of your career (with exception such as the great Beryl Burton). Rouleur have an article about motherhood and pro cycling here: https://www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-rouleur-journal/mother-courage-lizzie-deignan-and-elinor-baker-blazing-a-trail-for-female-cyclists