Unfortunately it is true. A directive has been issued by the Police, on the advice of government lawyers (but its interesting to note that it has not been disclosed who sought the advice!) that approval for basically all bike races is withdrawn, unless the races are held on roads totally closed to traffic (referred to as the "Sterile Roads Policy").

Most cycle clubs hold their local races on quiet suburban roads early on Sunday mornings. The cost to have the roads formally closed will be prohibitive.

But it gets worse. Another NSW government department, the Roads and Traffic Authority has also started imposing similar extremely onerous conditions on fun run organisers. So far this year, a number of very popular fun runs (including one marathon) have had to be cancelled because of the stance taken by the RTA.

Clearly, these decisions will also affect triathlons in NSW as most take place using public streets and roads.

I'll re-phrase my prior statement to keep my discussion focused on the core issue.

Hopefully the people affected by this misguided act of of public service will be able to get it overturned. I doubt the backers of this prohibition are really interested in safety. It's probably about their convenience and getting those nuts off the roads.

In the USA, we experience opposition to bicycling in some areas but nothing like this that I know of.

Larry