It operated in competition with the National Cyclists' Union, a rivalry which lasted until the two merged in 1959 to form the British Cycling Federation.
[1] A call for a ban "evoked hardly any opposition because road conditions were such that the possibility of massed racing on the highway was never even envisaged.
Some clubs did but most were too far from any track and so a rebel movement began to organise not massed, paced races but individual competitions against the clock, over standard distances and held out in the countryside, in the early hours and in secret to avoid antagonising the police.
The NCU and what became the Road Time Trials Council eventually became colleagues, each administering its own section of the sport, neither allowing massed racing.
The National Cyclists Union was the international body for cycling in England and Wales and sent teams to the Olympic Games and to world championships.
But teams had to be selected not in races akin to which they were being entered but in competitions held on private roads such as airfields and car-racing courses.
The experience of massed racing stimulated him and he believed that the NCU's objection to it on grounds that it would disrupt traffic and give cycling a bad name was pointless in wartime when petrol rationing had largely cleared the roads of vehicles.
There would be no better time than now to introduce this form of racing to the roads, what with the decreased amount of motor traffic and the important part that the cycle is playing in wartime transport.
Even before the war massed-start racing could not be counted as a national branch of the sport as it was only possible for riders living within easy reach of Donington and Brooklands [the two most circuits most used] to try their hand at the game, excepting on special occasions.
In the first week of April Stallard sent letters on the notepaper of the bicycle shop that he ran to announce his plan for a 59-mile race from Llangollen to Wolverhampton on 7 June.
He also asked the NCU and the Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) not to suspend those who took part "as this was liable to raise controversy detrimental to the sport.
"[1]Stallard's plan brought strong opposition not just from the NCU and RTTC but from the cycling establishment, particularly from the veteran administrator and writer George Herbert Stancer.
Cycling reported: More than a thousand people watched the finish of the massed-start race organised by Percy Stallard, from Llangollen to Wolverhampton, on Sunday afternoon.
Price, of Wolverhampton, won the sprint from his clubmate, C. J. Anslow.The report – in which the frequent mention of the police reflected the magazine's concerns as expressed by Stancer – went on to explain that the race had been banned by the NCU and the RTTC but that there had been no incidents other than a lorry backing on to the course.
The founding members - they were listed by their initials rather than their names - were M. J. Gibson, S. A. Padwick, P. T. Stallard, E. F. Angrave, J. E. Finn, R.Jones, E. R. Hickman, G. Anstee, L. Plume, G. Truelove, C. J.
According to John Dennis, at the time racing editor of the rival paper, The Bicycle: What has been lost beneath the clouds of myths surrounding this situation is the reason why many clubs were cautious about wholeheartedly supporting the road-racing movement.
The older members left at home did not wish to risk damaging a sport which all had enjoyed, so they decided to maintain the status quo until the war ended.
The rank and file of the NCU/RTTC membership was not anti-BLRC - all it wanted to do was preserve the sport until the service men returned to civvy street.
"[8] Critics said Stallard had lost sight of the intention of the BLRC, which had been to bring racing to the open road and that, once achieved, that there was no further point in rival cycling administrations.
Not only has contact been established between many of them but meetings have been held and decisions taken for the setting up of the Divisions which will form the organisational basis of the new Federation.It also said that "those who are predisposed to live in the past, and even the progressive League is old enough now to number several such in its ranks", would greet the news with surprise.
Stallard saw the merger as treason by "just three people [who] were allowed the freedom to destroy the BLRC"[9] and until his death saw the new British Cycling Federation (BCF) as a reincarnation of the NCU.
On the two occasions I have tried to do this [he tried to introduce age-related racing for riders older than 40], I have failed, not because I lack followers, or because of the opposition of opposing bodies, but because of the activities of anarchists and those who are envious of your success and popularity.
[9]To the question of whether Britain would have moved to massed racing anyway, without the BLRC, Peter Bryan says not, saying that the established cycling authorities had become entrenched in their positions, their own rivalry overshadowed by their joint fears and interests.