CTT to vote on body fairing ban

Time trialling's governing body to debate DIY aero hacks following widespread adoption at elite level

- James Shrubsall

Cycling Time Trials will be tackling the thorny issue of body fairings at its upcoming AGM, after they were seen in significant numbers at this year's 10-mile National Championship.

The fairings ranged from bidons and drinking bladders down the front of jerseys to calf and tricep extensions. The resulting barrel-chested, bionic-rider look has raised plenty of eyebrows on the time trial scene.

Now the South District Council has put forward a proposal to outlaw the use of body fairings, which will be discussed and voted on at the CTT's AGM in early December.

The proposal is the brainchild of Dr Bryce Dyer, a committee member on South DC and deputy head of department of design and engineering at Bournemouth University, and who also sits on one of CTT's working groups.

It proposes that riders should not be able to wear drinking bladders or storage items on the front of the body for events of 30 miles or less.

Rough and ready fix

It's a simple rule, he says, which may not stop those who are determined to circumvent it, but should deter most.

"You sometimes have to design a rule based on the resources that a sport has, in terms of the CTT essentially run by volunteers," said Dyer. "So you've got to keep it reasonably simple. There will be loopholes with what I'm suggesting, but I think it will do enough to scare people away from it for the time being."