Liggett in Queen’s birthday honours list
The English voice of cycling commentary, Daily Telegraph’s cycling correspondant, magazine columnist and CTC president Phil Liggett gets an MBE in the latest round of Queen’s honours. As does David Brailsford, performance director of British Cycling.

Liggett and Brailsford become “Ordinary Members of the Civil Division” of the Member of the British Empire, a “Most Excellent Order.”

Brailsford gets his for services to sport; Liggett gets his for services to cycling. Congratulations to both for this recognition of the excellent work and enthusiasm they have both put into cycling.

UCI finally goes bonkers
Special thanks to Carlton Reid of BikeBiz.com for pointing this one out to us…
In a ludicrous bid to make space for BMX the UCI has proposed to ditch the men’s kilo and women’s 500m TTs from the Olympic programme. Obviously Victoria Pendleton and Chris Hoy will be gutted by this stupid descision, and they are not alone.

Such deletions could have a detrimental impact on the future funding of cycle sport from national governments.  And this would impinge on all cycle disciplines, not just track.

Go here and sign the petition aimed at reversing the UCI/IOC decision to drop the men’s kilometre and the women’s 500m sprint from the 2008 Olympics.

Track stars like Anna Meares of Australia and Chris Hoy of Scotland have signed. So has RCUK so let’s get the signature numbers up!

The UCI may be persuaded to reverse its decision if there’s enough of a groundswell of support for a reversal. OK, so the UCI is not famous for such flexiblity but if the petition gets big enough, perhaps the IOC will question the UCI’s decision making process?

Bike Wales with Nicole Cooke
A major new cycling participation event for all, which gives cycling enthusiasts the chance to test themselves on the roads and valleys of South Wales, will take place on Sunday 21st August 2005. BikeWales offers an exhilarating day out in the beautiful Usk Valley and beyond and is part of a whole weekend of cycling based at The Celtic Manor Resort, Newport on 20th & 21st August.

Also joining in on the ride will be local 22-year old Commonwealth Champion Nicole Cooke, who will be fresh from competing in a major international race based at the landmark 5-star resort the day before.

BikeWales offers riders a choice of three routes and distances, which all start and finish in the beautiful grounds of The Celtic Manor. The 19-mile Bronze route is the one set to be most popular with anyone prepared to ‘have a go’ at cycling a longer distance ride, with the Silver and Gold routes ideal for the more experienced cyclists.

On the previous day, Sat 20th August, Nicole Cooke is hoping to grab first place in front of her home crowd in the UCI Women’s Road World Cup race, where the cream of the world’s top women’s cyclists will compete for the first time on British soil at this level.

For entry details and the full story go here