One point...
Butterfly, Slowcoach and myself rode out to the Minster for the 'Procession'. Off we went, no police escort, breaking into small groups at each set of traffic lights. We soon found ourselves directed off the main roads and onto a network of suburban streets and cycle farcilities, until spat out just by the racecourse entrance. No grand procession, no progress through the city centre, just pushed quietly into a corner so we could avoid upsetting the Real People and Road Tax Payers.
Not impressed.
It's been getting like that for the last three years. The first time, the police apparently withdrew their support at a couple of hour's notice, and the CTC marshalls are of course not empowered to wave the procession through lights, so there was confusion and mayhem, with people expecting the normal routine. Last year was worse, with strict orders to wait at lights. This year, having been up late, and been annoyed in the last two years, I simply didn't bother. I've heard that the committee can't afford the fees for police support. I don't know that the route is intended not to inconvenience other road users, but to provide the easiest way to get a mass of cyclists from A to B when they have to obey road rules. (Was it the same as last year? over Lendal Bridge, North St, Skeldergate, Terry Avenue riverside path, Bish Road, etc? That does have the smallest possible number of traffic lights to split the ride.)
Of course, broken into groups at lights, the mass is slower, and holds up other users for longer. In the days when we were waved through, we cleared each junction in a couple of minutes, and traffic flowed again.
