Cycling organisation responsible for running time trials in England and Wales. Formed in the 1930s at a time when cycle racing on the open road was illegal in the UK (after late 19th-century racers - "scorchers" - had picked up a reputation for being dangerous tearaways likely to scare the horses), meaning that a degree of secrecy was necessary - courses were referred to by arcane codes, dates by arbitrary weekend numbers, and all correspondence regarding events was required to be marked "Private and confidential" until well into the 1970s. Run in parallel with the "official" (UCI-recognised) cycling federations (formerly the National Cyclists' Union and latterly the British Cycling Federation, responsible for organising massed-start road racing and track racing) its organization still retains some quaint touches of its underground past, combined with the usual clubbishness and tendency to attract oddballs that generally characterises amateur sports organisations. It operates on the basis of 17 District Councils, to which clubs can affiliate; there is no membership for individuals except de facto by virtue of being a member of an affiliated club, and no racing licence is required for members of affiliated clubs to take part in RTTC events.

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