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The National Cyclists' Union (NCU) 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.〔http://www.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/ead/328bucol.htm〕 The National Cyclists' Union selected teams for world championships and regulated circuit and track racing in England and Wales. It was a founder member of the International Cycling Association, forerunner of the Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body. During and after the Second World War, the NCU became involved in a civil war with a rival body, the British League of Racing Cyclists, which defied the NCU's rules that massed-start races should be held on public roads only when they were closed to other traffic. The struggle between the two lasted for a decade, after which they merged to become the British Cycling Federation. ==Activities and amateurism== 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 amendment 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 venomous amendment was secured."〔''The Bicycle'', UK, 17 February 1943, p3〕 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.〔http://www.cyclingnorthwales.co.uk/pages/ctc_wing_whls.htm〕 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.〔http://www.cyclingnorthwales.co.uk/pages/ctc_wing_whls.htm〕 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.〔''Scottish Cyclist'', 30 November 1892, p856〕 The NCU, which had a strict definition of an amateur,〔McGurn, James (1987), ''On Your Bicycle'', John Murray, London, UK〕 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〔http://www.sportgeschiedenis.nl/2008/11/21/verdwenen-koersen-bordeaux---parijs-deel-1.aspx〕〔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〕 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.〔McGurn, James (1987) On Your Bicycle, John Murray (UK) p108〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「National Cyclists' Union」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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