National Cyclists' Union

The National Cyclists' Union was an association established in the Guildhall Tavern, London, on 16 February 1878 as the Bicycle Union. Its purpose was to defend cyclists and to organise and regulate bicycle racing in Great Britain. It merged with the Tricycle Association in 1882 and was renamed the National Cyclists' Union in 1883^[1].

The British weekly, The Bicycle, said: "Even during the insecurity of its early years, the union found that it had substantial problems to fight. Foremost among them was a proposed amendement to the Highways Act, then before Parliament, which threatened to check very seriously the use of bicycles on the road. The cyclist of those days was considered a nuisance whether he rode a bicycle, a tricycle, or a velocipede, and was banned by municipal bodies and corporations all over the country. Here was a matter affecting the very existence of cyclists. The Bicycle Union, then barely five months old, was called upon to act promptly. By instant and energetic action a rejection of the venemous amendment was secured.^[2]

Activities and amateurism

The NCU erected road signs warning cyclists of steep descents and other hazards. It was prompted by a member, J George Jnr, who suggested them in 1878. The idea was taken up by the Earl of Albemarle, who became president of the NCU^[3]. The NCU shared signposting with the Cyclists Touring Club but after 10 years could no longer afford it and the CTC took on the whole job^[4]. The NCU also produced publications to help cyclists tour Britain. It ran racing championships, at first open to anyone in the world. Its championships were the world's most prestigious and considered unofficial championships of the world.^[5] The NCU, which had a strict definition of an amateur^[6], proposed to create an International Cycling Association, open to national organisations whose views of amateurism were similar to its own, and to organise world championships. The International Cycling Union was the forerunner of the Union Cycliste Internationale.

The NCU defined amateurism in English races and banned the American sprinter, Arthur Augustus Zimmerman when he appeared to be sponsored by the Raleigh Bicycle Company. It insisted the organisers of the first Bordeaux-Paris met its own ideals^[7][8] before allowing British riders to take part. When George Pilkington Mills won, the NCU would not recognise the victory, or consider Mills still an amateur, until he proved he had no help from the cycle factory for which he worked.^[9]

Road racing

The NCU banned all cycle racing on public roads in 1890^[10], fearing it would again jeopardise the position of other cyclists. It compelled members to hold their races on velodromes, although the word was not known then, or on closed roads such as in parks and airfields. The only races allowed on public roads were time-trials, in which riders competed against the clock at intervals^[11], and distance and place-to-place record attempts.

Such a ban did not operate in other countries and massed road racing continued as before. That made little difference to the British because the few international events to which they sent riders, notably the Olympic and world championship road races, had been run as individual time trials. It was as a 100-mile [162 km] time-trial, in Shropshire, that Britain organised the world championship road race in 1922. Then in 1933 the UCI decided that championships would be massed-start events. The NCU organised its 1933 world championship trial as a circuit race at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey. This and Donington Park in the north Midlands remained the sole venues for massed start racing, on mainland Britain until 1942, along with the Snaefell Mountain Course on the neighbouring Isle of Man.

The trial led to a series of races at Brooklands, organised by the Charlotteville cycling club under Bill Mills, a professional rider who founded the weekly magazine, The Bicycle. At the time, said the writer and team manager Chas Messenger, "there were thousands riding in time trials and, apart from a once-in-a-while article in the cycling press, they knew little or nothing about road racing."^[12] The Brooklands races inspired some riders and one, Percy Stallard, took advantage of low wartime traffic in 1942 to organise a race on the open road from Llangollen to Wolverhampton. The NCU banned him for life and he and others formed the British League of Racing Cyclists as a rival.

Rivalry with the BLRC

The NCU and the BLRC (British League of Racing Cyclists) remained rivals for 17 years, a position which split British cycling. The BLRC's position was that racing on the road was not illegal, that it did not obstruct other travellers, and that it gave England and Wales^[13] the experience to compete internationally. The NCU had entrusted its wartime administration to an emergency committee which did not have power to change major rules. The journalist John Dennis said the NCU still believed that racing on the road threatened all cycling and did not want to make any change while so many members were out of the country, fighting in the war.^[14] The two sides maintained their positions when peace came in 1945 and for many years each banned the members of the other.

The rivalry ended in 1959 when the two merged to form the British Cycling Federation.

Herne Hill

The National Cyclists Union leased the velodrome at Herne Hill for 21 years from 25 March 1942.^[15]

Records

The papers of the Bicycle Union and the NCU, mainly committee minutes, are held by the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick Library, England.^[16]

References

1. ^ http://www.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/ead/328bucol.htm
2. ^ The Bicycle, UK, 17 February 1943, p3
3. ^ http://www.cyclingnorthwales.co.uk/pages/ctc_wing_whls.htm
4. ^ http://www.cyclingnorthwales.co.uk/pages/ctc_wing_whls.htm
5. ^ Scottish Cyclist, 30 November 1892, p856
6. ^ McGurn, James (1987), On Your Bicycle, John Murray, London, UK
7. ^ http://www.sportgeschiedenis.nl/2008/11/21/verdwenen-koersen-bordeaux---parijs-deel-1.aspx
8. ^ The NCU insisted that amateurs won no prizes in money; the Union Vélocipèdique de France was happy for amateurs to win up to 200 francs, or what a manual worker earned in 16 months
9. ^ McGurn, James (1987) On Your Bicycle, John Murray (UK) p108
10. ^ http://www.talkcycling.co.uk/guides/cycling_rules.html
11. ^ Run under the rules of the Road Time Trials Council, formed in 1922 as the Road Racing Council, originally a rebel movement to circumvent the NCU's ban
12. ^ Messenger, Chas (1998), Ride and Be Damned, Pedal Publishing, UK, ISBN 9780953 409600, p6
13. ^ Scotland was administered by the Scottish Cyclists Union, which had fewer objections
14. ^ Journal, Fellowship of Cycling Old-Timers, UK, 2002
15. ^ The Bicycle, UK, 5 April 1944, p3
16. ^ http://www.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/ead/328bucol.htm