UCI protected the cycling industry
Many recumbent enthusiasts bemoan the fiat that disqualified recumbent bicycles from competition in the 1930s, but considering the context of the times may bring a new appreciation of what that decision was about.
At that time, automobiles were rapidly altering community structure and bicycles as a means of transport were already on the way to becoming marginalised. The only realm where bicycles were surviving were as a sport. The essence of a team sport like cycling is that the impacts on your body are a consequence of the team's efforts and strategies, not just your own as is the case in an individual sport. Cycling then and now is much more a team sport, dependent on the phenomena of drafting to create the physiological interdependence among the riders of team. Now enter Manuel Morand on his new fangled recumbent, that you could not draft behind, and the premise of cycling as a team sport was removed. What would have happened if the UCI had not made its ban of recumbents? The standard pious position from the bent community is that many more people today would be using recumbent bicycles as transport. I doubt that.
In my view, without the UCI ban, cycling would have been in danger of collapsing as a team sport. Without sport sustaining the community's interest in the technology of cycling, and with all transport investment going into automobiles, the future of the industry would have looked rather bleak. Without community interest, we may well have been years behind in the development of cycling technology that we all take for granted today when we build our recumbents.
At that time, automobiles were rapidly altering community structure and bicycles as a means of transport were already on the way to becoming marginalised. The only realm where bicycles were surviving were as a sport. The essence of a team sport like cycling is that the impacts on your body are a consequence of the team's efforts and strategies, not just your own as is the case in an individual sport. Cycling then and now is much more a team sport, dependent on the phenomena of drafting to create the physiological interdependence among the riders of team. Now enter Manuel Morand on his new fangled recumbent, that you could not draft behind, and the premise of cycling as a team sport was removed. What would have happened if the UCI had not made its ban of recumbents? The standard pious position from the bent community is that many more people today would be using recumbent bicycles as transport. I doubt that.
In my view, without the UCI ban, cycling would have been in danger of collapsing as a team sport. Without sport sustaining the community's interest in the technology of cycling, and with all transport investment going into automobiles, the future of the industry would have looked rather bleak. Without community interest, we may well have been years behind in the development of cycling technology that we all take for granted today when we build our recumbents.
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