Constantly Furious: Road bicycle racing

Last year, Katie Hart, 19, was making the 15-minute drive to her boyfriend's house. She'd only driven around 2,000ft on the Southbound A1 before crashing into the rear of Gareth Rhys-Evans, who was on a bicycle.

Major Rhys-Evans was catapulted across the road, and died almost instantly. CF wrote about this last year, but the case has only just come to trial.

Earlier this week,a jury took five and a half hours to return a unanimous verdict, finding Katie Hart guilty of causing death by dangerous driving. She faces between 2 and 5 years in prison.

Judge Nicholas Coleman was very clear on this, and told Hart:

"You face a prison sentence. The only question is how long."

A moment of carelessness, and two families' lives are ruined.

But hang on a minute. When Ms Hart struck the unfortunate Major, he was - wait for it - in the middle of a 'time trial'. Yup. A race. A game, played on bicycles. On the dual-carriageway, 70 miles per hour, A1. On a Bank Holiday.

Yes, Katie was careless, and foolish, but isn't it pretty fucking careless and absolutely the height of foolishness to hold a cycle race on the A1, for Christ's sake?

And take a look at the picture. That's the late Major, on his carbon fibre toy. Notice that he's wearing black, on a bicycle that's also largely black.

Of course Ms. Nash should have been more attentive, and should have seen him, but how easy is it to spot a bloke, dressed all in black, on a black bike, in a place where you wouldn't fucking expect them to be? 8:30 on a Bank Holiday morning on a major road, for fucks sake.

In an age where elf 'n' safety rules, and conkers are banned, how the fuck do grown men get to hold a bike race on a road that's only a couple of roundabouts away from being a fully fledged motorway?

That's something for Katie to think about for the next five years.

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