Frederick Thomas Bidlake

Frederick Thomas Bidlake (June 1867 – 17 September 1933) 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. He was a timekeeper in cycling, motorcycling and for seaplane races in the 1930s.

Bidlake favoured the tricycle, winning championships and setting national records, often beating bicycle riders. In 1893, he set a 24-hour tricycle record of 410 miles (660 km) at Herne Hill velodrome in south London. It still stood when he died. At one time, he held all national tricycle records from 50 miles (80 km) to 24-hour, plus place-to-place records, and records on the tandem tricycle. As a member of the North Road Cycling Club, he helped organise a rebel individual time trial, on 5 October 1895, at a time when the National Cyclists' Union had banned racing on roads.

Bidlake's Road Record Association records:

Bidlake helped found the Road Records Association and the Road Racing Council (forerunner of today's Cycling Time Trials, the organisation which regulates time trials in the UK), and was vice-president of the Cyclists' Touring Club alongside president George Herbert Stancer. He also timed many time-trials and record attempts over 40 years.

The early position of cyclists on the road wasn't certain and in July 1878 parliament came close to passing an amendment of the Highways Act by which cyclists would have been banned from the road. The position of cycle racing was still less certain. The custom was for racers to shelter behind pacers, whose job was to "bring on" their riders, in the phrase of the time. On 21 July 1894, Bidlake was one of 50 in a 50-mile (80 km) race on the main road north out of London. He and another rider, Arthur Ilsley, and their two pacers, were passing a woman with a horse when the horse reared and both riders crashed into a ditch.

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