Cycling Weekly is a British cycling magazine. It is published by IPC Media

IPC Media

IPC Media , a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.- Origins :...

 and is devoted to the sport and past-time of cycling. It is affectionately referred to by British club cyclists as "The Comic".

History

Cycling Weekly was first published as Cycling on 24 January 1891. It briefly became Cycling and Moting in the 19th century when car-driving – "moting" – looked like replacing cycling. Falling sales during the editorship of H.H. (Harry) England, who took what was considered to be a traditional view of cycling and opposed the reintroduction of massed racing on the roads as proposed by the British League of Racing Cyclists

British League of Racing Cyclists

The British League of Racing Cyclists was an association formed in 1942 to promote road bicycle racing in Great Britain. It operated in competition with the National Cyclists' Union, a rivalry which lasted until the two merged in 1959 to form the British Cycling Federation.-Background:The National...

, led to the appearance in the 1950s of a rival weekly called The Bicycle and of a monthly entitled first Coureur and then Sporting Cyclist

Sporting Cyclist

Sporting Cyclist was a British cycling A4-sized magazine originally called Coureur. It began in 1957 and closed after 131 issues in October 1968.-Coureur:...

. Both eventually merged with Cycling.

The title has changed hands on several occasions. It was first published by the Dangerfield Printing Company (1891–1894), then Temple Press (1895–1964), Go Magazine (1964–1967) and Longacre Press (1967–1970) before being published by its current owners, IPC Magazines (now IPC Media) from 1970.

The magazine's longest-lasting contribution to the sport was the creation on 4 April 1930 of the British Best All-Rounder

British Best All-Rounder

The British Best All-Rounder competition, organised by Cycling Time Trials, is an annual British cycle-racing competition. It ranks riders by their average speeds in individual time trials, over 50 and and 12 hours for men, and over 25, 50 and for women. There are similar competitions for...

 (BBAR) competition for individual time trial

Individual time trial

An individual time trial is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock . There are also track-based time trials where riders compete in velodromes, and team time trials...

lists, establishing the rider the magazine considered the best against the clock by averaging competitors' speeds over 50 and 100 miles and 12 hours. It offered a trophy to the winner each year and a shield for the winning team.

In 1932 Cycling also introduced the Golden Book of Cycling

Golden Book of Cycling

The Golden Book of Cycling was created in 1932 by Cycling, a British cycling magazine,to celebrate "the Sport and Pastime of Cycling by recording the outstanding rides, deeds and accomplishments of cyclists, officials and administrators." There exists only a single copy of this compendium of...

. Each page honoured a cycling hero. The first was Frank Southall

Frank Southall

William Frank Southall was an English racing cyclist who won silver medals for Great Britain in the individual road race at the 1928 Summer Olympics and a track cycling medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles...

, who had won that year's BBAR competition and signed his page before 7,000 cyclists attending the BBAR prize-giving at the Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

, London. The book has fallen out of fashion in recent years.

Early campaigns

The magazine was aware from the start of the danger it perceived cyclists to be in from the growing number of cars. In 1912 it wrote:

The daily newspapers have awakened to the peril of the streets. During the past week the columns of London's most influential journals have proclaimed the motor peril. We have seen in leaded headlines the figures showing the sacrifice of life and limb upon the altar of the speed fetish – a grim toll, leaping upward year by year. Where will it end? And how does the cyclist read the portents of the modern traffic problem? The motor peril is no imagining of a prejudiced mind. I am ready to read the outpourings of wrath which will be brought down upon me by these remarks of reasonable protest. I know the writers who periodically rise superior to facts and figures and rage furiously when someone greatly daring protests that the roads are not for railway speeds nor for the exclusive use of a class, but for the convenience and pleasure of all-road users.

Cyclists are put to grave peril by the 40-miles-per-hour car that flashes past side turnings with a discordant hoot. Their lives and limbs are menaced by the motorcyclist who loves to pass at express speed so closely that a swerve of a few inches would mean serious accident.

Cycling was also concerned about trams:

The evidence against the tramway lines is steadily increasing, and now scarcely a day passes without a report coming in of a cyclist being fatally or badly injured through an accident in which tramlines play an important part. In a great many cases it has been found that the danger originated by the tramlines has been accentuated by the heavy motor and steam vehicles, which have a roaming commission, so far as our streets are concerned.

The magazine did not care for insistence that cyclists display a back light, which it felt moved responsibility for avoiding an accident from the overtaking driver to the cyclist being overtaken. But it had other puzzles to consider, following the prosecution of a cyclist who had hung a Chinese lantern from his machine. The magazine's columnist, Frederick Thomas Bidlake

Frederick Thomas Bidlake

Frederick Thomas Bidlake was an English racing cyclist of the late 19th century who became one of the most notable administrators of British road bicycle racing during the early 20th century. The annual Bidlake Memorial Prize, was instituted in his memory...

 wrote:

There is not quite the same degree of certainty in interpretation of the validity of a Chinese lantern as an emergency cycle lamp. It has passed muster, as was indicated last week, on thousands of occasions. It is true that the cycle-lamp law does not stipulate that the light should be white, as is the case with motorcycle and motorcar lamp law, so the colouring of a Chinese lantern is not illegal... What is required is that 'the lamp shall be so constructed and placed as to exhibit a light in the direction in which a rider is proceeding.' Now, a Chinese lantern gives an all-round light. It gives a light in the direction in which the machine is proceeding but it gives exactly the same light in all other directions.

Bidlake concluded that Chinese lanterns were probably not legal and that anyone determined to hang a coloured lantern on his bike "would be utterly foolish to do so, except for decorative purposes at a cycle parade."

Cycling campaigned against women's racing and refused to publish results and then, in the 1940s, stood out against the British League of Racing Cyclists

British League of Racing Cyclists

The British League of Racing Cyclists was an association formed in 1942 to promote road bicycle racing in Great Britain. It operated in competition with the National Cyclists' Union, a rivalry which lasted until the two merged in 1959 to form the British Cycling Federation.-Background:The National...

 in its campaign to reintroduce massed racing to open roads. It called the organisation's first race "A hopeless revolt." The wholesaler and patron of the sport, Ron Kitching, said:

Things changed when H. H. England came along and Cycling seemed to get more involved with politics. They belied their editorial in the very first edition in 1891 which had specifically stated that 'this magazine will criticise fairly but without acrimony – in a word, its motto is news without abuse.' England's vendetta

Feud

A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one party perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another...

 against road-racing and, in my mind, against the north of England in general, was a terrible thing. It did the sport an enormous amount of damage. During his period, 1929 to 1959, Cycling added the title Bicycle, having got rid of the opposition.

Then there was George Pearson, editor from 1959 to 1963, who was really England's creature. He carried on the vendetta against the British League of Racing Cyclists and wouldn't even print the race results. Pearson was very bitter and wasn't popular for that reason. I think he even admitted it to himself. He just helped to perpetuate the problems as the press seems to enjoy doing one way or another.

The modern magazine

Looking for more sales and advertisers in June 1957, Cycling introduced pages dedicated to moped

Moped

Mopeds are a type of low-powered motorcycle designed to provide economical and relatively safe transport with minimal licensing requirements.Mopeds were once all equipped with bicycle-like pedals , but moped has been increasingly applied by governments to vehicles without pedals, based on their...

s and the magazine changed its name to Cycling & Mopeds. The editor, H. H. England, wrote:

The moped – fitted with pedals and an engine not exceeding 50cc – is here to stay. It is produced by cycle manufacturers and is being ridden by cyclists. It has claimed its place in the cycling world of today and therefore in the pages of Cycling... Indeed, the powered cyclist, finding interest as he will from every one of Cyclings pages, will be reintroduced to the great sport of cyce racing and follow it, if only as an enthusiastic spectator.

The move accelerated the decline in sales until, under the insistence of a new editor, Alan Gayfer, mopeds were abandoned and the magazine widened its outlook to all forms of racing on the road, on the track

Track cycling

Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using track bicycles....

, to cyclo-cross

Cyclo-cross

Cyclo-cross is a form of bicycle racing. Races typically take place in the autumn and winter , and consists of many laps of a short course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and...

 and to cycle-touring. Among those taken on by Gayfer and who have remained in cycling journalism are the television commentator Phil Liggett

Phil Liggett

Phil Liggett, MBE is a British commentator and journalist who covers professional cycling. He currently commentates on the Tour de France and bike races for Versus, ITV and SBS...

 and the author Les Woodland.
Alan Gayfer left Cycling in 1969 to work for the United Press news agency on the other side of Fleet Street

Fleet Street

Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...

, London, where Cycling then had its offices. There he could also report his other love: boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

. He died of a heart attack while cycling in Canada after retirement. Gayfer was succeeded by Ken Evans, whose interest in short-distance time-trialling led to a parallel competition to the British Best All-Rounder: the Campagnolo

Campagnolo

Campagnolo is an Italian manufacturer of high-end bicycle components with headquarters in Vicenza, Italy. The components are organised as groupsets and are a near-complete collection of a bicycle's mechanical parts. Campagnolo's flagship components are the Super Record, Record, and Chorus...

 Trophy for races over 25 miles (40 km). It lasted only two seasons before it was considered not worth the effort and expense. Evans resigned to work with the components wholesaler, Ron Kitching.

Kitching said of him:

Ken Evans was Alan [Gayfer]'s successor and he was quite a different character, more moody. He had served his time in Paris and he spoke a number of languages. Everybody thought he was the best editor the magazine had ever had. He certainly did well with it, but having said all that, his personality wasn't what you might expect from an editor.

Evans was replaced by Martin Ayres. He in turn was followed by Andrew Sutcliffe, who had been editor of Cycle Trader.

Under Sutcliffe the magazine took on a stronger pictorial content and reporting of domestic cycling, especially where it didn't concern racing, was lessened in favour of coverage of continental racing. Sutcliffe left to help form a company called Cabal Communications, run by other former IPC staff. Cabal introduced a monthly magazine called Procycling

Procycling

Procycling, or ProCycling, is a bicycling sport magazine owned by Future Publishing. First published in April 1999, there are 13 issues a year distributed in all countries where there are English speaking readers....

 as a rival to IPC's own monthly publication, Cycle Sport. Its first editor was William Fotheringham, who had also been on IPC's staff.

Sutcliffe's replacement was Robert Garbutt, who is the current editor. Significant members of staff have included Sid Saltmarsh – deputy editor under Alan Gayfer – who worked formerly for the News Chronicle and the BBC and who was reporting the Tour de France

Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

 when the English rider Tom Simpson

Tom Simpson

Tom Simpson was the most successful English road racing cyclist of the post-war years. He infamously died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in 1967...

 died during the race in 1967. Recent contributors have included Tony Bell

Tony Bell

Tony Bell is a freelance writer and journalist, known for his whats he on column in Cycling Weekly, where he was a columnist between 1994 and 2006...

, Michael Hutchinson and Dave Lloyd

Dave Lloyd (cyclist)

Dave Lloyd , is an English former professional cyclist.Lloyd began racing in 1969 and came seventh in the Milk Race and rode in the 1972 Munich Olympics. In 1973 he turned professional with Raleigh, and over the next three years he won the national 5000m pursuit championship twice and set a...

.

The longest-serving contributor was the cartoonist Johnny Helms. His cartoons where a regular fixture of the magazine since 6 February 1946 until his death in November 2009.