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AUSTRALIAN CYCLING LEGEND
by Ron Shepherd (1999)
Australian bicycle racing in the 1930s Although Nicholson's story is unique, it is also a case study of the life which professional bicycle riders led in Australia in the 1930s. Bicycle racing was held both on roads and on tracks. Road racing occurred in winter and spring. The most famous road race was, and still is, the annual Warrnambool to Melbourne classic, first held in 1895. In the warmer months, from November to April, there was a track racing season.
Australian bicycle racing had a system of handicapping. In track races, the slower riders began at various distances ahead of the backmarkers. In road races there were time allowances so that riders on the limit might start up to an hour or more before the scratchmen. With this system, beginners or older riders had a chance to win major events. For example in 1935 Tom Reynolds, a farmer in his late forties, entered the Warrnambool to Melbourne race, and won. However there were also attempts to introduce "Continental-style" (massed-start) races.
Bicycle racing was strictly divided into amateur and professional events, which were administered by separate organisations. When amateur cyclists did well, they considered turning professional to earn some money from their cycling ability. A few riders remained amateur in order to compete in the Olympic Games. Competing in professional bike races was popular, although with more than 200 starters in some road races, the chance of the average rider winning any money at all was small. Listening to old cyclists, their common characteristic is a passionate recollection of races and incidents. I'm sure it was love of the sport that motivated them, and the money they won was just a way of surviving until the next race.
During the summer months many country towns held carnivals which included foot races and bicycle track races. Cyclists travelled from town to town to compete in carnivals. Promoters might offer a promising rider the cost of the train fare to the town where the next carnival was to be held. He would put his bike in the guardsvan, make the long train journey, and on arrival be billeted with local cyclists.
Sponsors provided prize money for road races. Riders who won several races could also obtain sponsorship from bicycle and tyre manufacturers. Tyres were of special significance because lightweight tubular tyres often punctured on the rough, unmade roads of the period.
Nicholson's early years According to acquaintances and newspaper reports, Oserick Bernard Nicholson was born in New Norfolk, Tasmania in 1906. He is said to have died in New Zealand around 1965. He lived most of his life in Victoria, which is the smallest of the mainland States. He burst into prominence in 1929 by winning three major bicycle races within a few weeks. He then lost one of the races on appeal, which aroused further interest. Everyone asked, "Who is this Ossie Nicholson?" Ossie lived in Richmond, an inner Melbourne suburb. He was 23 years old, with a boyish appearance, short in stature (165 cm) but powerfully built. He worked as a blacksmith and was known as the "pocket Hercules".
The Nicholson family had moved from Tasmania to Victoria when Ossie was a teenager. He went on touring rides with the Prahran Amateur cycling club. On the weekend the cyclists would ride out to the hills, while their wives and girlfriends travelled in a furniture van to meet them for a picnic lunch. Ossie showed such natural speed that he was encouraged to enter in club races. He won the club's 25-mile championship and in 1928 became a professional rider. As a professional he won several country track events but in his first big road race, the Tour of Gippsland, he punctured, a mishap that was often to be repeated during his cycling career.
Ossie's first road win was in a 75-mile race at Warrnambool in September 1929. The following week he competed in the Warrnambool to Melbourne classic. In the final sprint to the line Nicholson couldn't get past Australian champion Hubert Opperman, and protested that Opperman had not allowed space for overtaking. Opperman was disqualified, along with West Australian champion Horrie Marshall, and Nicholson sensationally declared the winner. This provided publicity for the "Pasco" bicycle he had been riding. However Opperman appealed, and Ossie was eventually relegated to third place.
The next big road race, from Wangaratta to Melbourne, was sponsored by Malvern Star, a leading bicycle manufacturing company. Opperman rode for Malvern Star and was expected to win. However he crashed and bent his forks. Nicholson also crashed when the field encountered a mob of sheep on a rough road. He landed on one of the sheep, which probably saved him from injury. When he resumed riding he discovered that his drinking tins had been damaged and all the water leaked out. Other riders gave him enough of their water supplies to keep him going. Nicholson punctured, but quickly replaced his tyre and caught the field again. He won the final sprint in convincing style. At the finish he was met by his trainer, his fiancée and his father, who declared, "Ossie, I am proud to be your father. You have made a name for yourself today."
The Capitol Theatre in Melbourne was hired for a presentation of prizes to the new champion. This was all rather embarrassing for the race promoter, Malvern Star, and Ossie was soon convinced to switch his allegiance to Malvern Star. It was the end of the road racing season, and the start of the track season. Ossie was persuaded to ride behind a motor pacer and try to break a world record. He put up an impressive performance for his first attempt at paced cycling, but the newspaper headline reported "Fails at Record". The following day, on Christmas Eve, he married Annie Hawley, the 18-year old sister of one of his clubmates. He went to live with Annie and her parents at a terrace house in Richmond, just a couple of streets away from his parents' house.
A full-time professional cyclist In 1930 Ossie continued to compete in track races, and set an Australian motor-paced record of nearly 90 kilometres in an hour. The record had formerly been held by Opperman, so this set up a promoter's dream: a motorpaced match race between Nicholson and Opperman. This event, which Opperman narrowly won, attracted a huge crowd.
Nicholson usually rode behind champion motorbike rider, Bob Finlay. However in an event in April Nicholson was allocated a new pacer with whom he felt uncomfortable. On that night Bob Finlay was the emergency pacer. Nicholson dropped off the roller of his appointed pacer in the hope that he could ride behind Finlay instead. He was disqualified for three months, the first of many brushes with officialdom.
By the time his suspension was over, it was the middle of the road season. Ossie immediately resumed racing and won his club championship. He also gained fastest time in a 180 kilometre race. Next he entered the annual Goulburn to Sydney road race and was allocated a start at the 10-minute mark. Ossie protested, saying he was a top-class rider and would not ride unless he was put back on scratch. He eventually did start from scratch, but punctured, leaving Opperman to gain fastest time.
The following week Ossie rode from Canberra to Melbourne in a record time of 26 hours. He then competed in the 180-kilometre Tour of Gippsland and gained fastest time.
A 5-day race was organised from Sydney to Melbourne, an attempt to create a Continental-style event, modelled on the Tour de France. French riders Josef Mauclair and Jean Bidot competed, along with top Australian riders. When Nicholson crashed Madame Bidot, who was watching the race, rushed to his assistance. He recovered and won one of the stages, but Mauclair won the overall race.
Ossie competed in the Warrnambool to Melbourne race, and then sailed to Tasmania for a three-day stage race, the Tour of Tasmania. He gained fourth place.
Returning to Victoria, Nicholson competed successfully in motorpaced contests at the Melbourne Velodrome. So throughout 1930, apart from the three months disqualification, Ossie was racing on road and track, and winning places in most of the events in which he participated.
We can only speculate on his private life, if any. By this time Ossie and Annie had a son, Oserick William. However Ossie senior must have spent most of his time either in country Victoria or interstate. This itinerant pattern continued in 1931. Nicholson was still sponsored by Malvern Star, and also by the Dunlop Rubber Company, for whom he was officially a tyre tester. Ossie recorded the distances he cycled, and then returning his tyres to the Dunlop factory in Port Melbourne.
The Tour de France While Nicholson continued to race at country track events, Malvern Star was planning to send a team to the Tour de France. Eventually four riders were chosen - Hubert Opperman, H. W. "Fatty" Lamb, Frankie Thomas and Ossie Nicholson.
Travelling from Australia to France involved a month-long sea voyage. Keeping fit during that time was difficult, although the riders tried to use rollers on deck. A lady passenger saw Opperman riding on the rollers asked a crew member: "What is that young fellow doing down there?" to which the crew member replied, "He's producing the electricity for the ship, madam."
Back in Australia there was great interest in the team's exploits in France. It captured the entire front page of the Sporting Globe newspaper. There were also cartoons depicting what might have been happening with the team in France. Nicholson broke a crank during the third stage of the Tour. He had to walk 18 kilometres to get a new crank, finished the stage outside the time control, and was eliminated. Thomas became ill and withdrew. Opperman and Lamb battled on to complete the tour.
Ossie sailed back to Australia and continued racing. He gained third fastest time in the Goulburn to Sydney road race, won the scratch sprint in the Tour of Gippsland, and was favoured to win the Warrnambool to Melbourne classic. However he was unplaced in this event.
During 1932 Ossie once again rode on the track and road. He then went north to compete in a six-day track race in Brisbane. With Opperman and other riders he went around Queensland, competing in track races. The Victorian riders saw this trip as an escape from the southern winter. They were treated as celebrities in Queensland country towns, and their trip did much to promote bicycle racing. They then competed in the annual Goulburn to Sydney road race, with Ossie gaining second fastest time.
In the 1932 Warrnambool to Melbourne race the two Tour de France riders, Lamb and Nicholson, were favourites. They started from scratch and fought out the finish for fastest time, with Lamb a narrow winner. Nicholson protested, but after a long deliberation his appeal was dismissed. Both riders had beaten the previous fastest time for the race, and Malvern Star didn't hesitate to call it a world record. For the remainder of the year, Ossie competed in motor-pace and other track events.
The 1933 distance ride During 1932 an English rider, A. A. Humbles, had cycled a distance of nearly 58,000 kilometres. Bruce Small, the manager of Malvern Star, thought that getting an Australian rider to break this record would be a great publicity stunt. He approached several riders, including Opperman, who wisely refused. But the happy-go-lucky Nicholson agreed. His tyres were supplied by Dunlop, and he used a Cyclo 3-speed. The Cyclo was the first brand of derailleur in Australia, and had been introduced into the country only a couple of months beforehand.
Ossie had left his wife and son, and moved into a nearby cottage in Rowena Parade. He was coached by a policeman, Constable Guy, who had trained several other sportsmen. Each evening Ossie was massaged and encouraged by his coach. His favourite route was from Richmond around the bay to Portsea and return, a distance of about 180 kilometres each day. Initially Ossie found the task exhausting, almost impossible in the summer heat. Here is what he said in an interview:
"I am now accustomed to being chronically and permanently tired. It has occurred to me many times to abandon it all, but so far I have resisted the temptation and I have overcome all the weaknesses, which worsen my complete loneliness. Each day, day after day, I travel interminable roads, in empty regions, without meeting a living soul. What a change from the pelotons of the races in which I have taken part! I have, without doubt, the right to have a companion, but it is difficult to find one, and, surprisingly, when I meet another cyclist on the road, it's rare that he's going in my direction!
I have come to understand that a single night's rest is insufficient to wipe out every trace of fatigue; so I attach enormous importance to the help I get from my trainer and to questions of nourishment. Some mornings everything seems perfect when I leave, then, after 40 kilometres, there is a terrible weakness. It usually starts in the legs, which become incapable of pedalling. I must then, without any false shame, resort to walking, or even sitting down by the side of the road. The car drivers I meet, most numerous on public holidays, must know the reason for my constant presence on the road; in every case, and it's something I appreciate, they take me into consideration and care for me.
When it rains, I slip on my waterproof. This doesn't prevent my legs being soaked, but there's nothing dangerous in this, as long as I continue to pedal. I even prefer rain to heat waves or to struggling against a headwind, which is very demoralising. On a summer's day I always find myself dusty or I fight against the wind.
I have undertaken my current task, which is so long-term, without any special training. Right up to the end of 1932, to the day before I attacked the 365 day record, I was racing on the track. Also, at the start, covering 160 kilometres each day was to me an agony, and I stopped at every stream to plunge into the fresh water.
As well as riding huge distances each day, Ossie was engaged through Malvern Star to appear at public functions. He gave talks and roller-riding demonstrations at concert halls, and at the social evenings of bicycle clubs. He instructed the young ladies in the chorus line at a theatre company in the art of roller riding as a way of maintaining their fitness. Nicholson rode to country towns to appear at carnivals. At each town he was met by dignitaries. He often spoke on the radio. In June he was diverted to ride to Sydney to lead a huge procession.
Through all the publicity, Ossie became a national figure. He was well-known by the people he saw every day - motorists, tram and bus drivers, school children, milkbar proprietors who supplied him with food and drink, postmasters and police officers who signed his route card. Everyone waved to him, and he always gave a cheery wave in return.
He suffered from colds and from falls, but kept going. On one occasion an old lady gave him some medicine to drink for his influenza. The medicine made him drowsy and he fell asleep while riding, narrowly avoiding a collision with a car. By the end of October he had beaten Humbles' record, and as a publicity stunt Malvern Star arranged for Ossie to ride through a paper screen across the road outside their headquarters. Cyclo gears also got good mileage from Ossie's efforts. His chain and sprockets survived six months riding, with 35,000 kilometres covered, before they were replaced.
Ossie was determined to set an unbeatable record for the number of centuries (100-mile rides) done in a year. On December 12th, with only three weeks to go, he had a collision with a car and was taken to hospital. But somehow he got back on his bike and continued. When it was suggested that his record could be beaten by someone riding 366 centuries in a leap year, Ossie rode two successive centuries on December 31st. He also attended a number of celebrations on that final day. When he stopped at midnight in Mordialloc, there were 20,000 people to cheer him.
Ossie was medically examined at the end of the ride and stated to be in excellent condition, "a perfect physical specimen of young manhood, vibrant with energy and good health". He had lost only 3 kilograms in weight during the ride. Many commentators thought Ossie's 70,000-kilometre ride was near the limit of human achievement, and that his record would stand for a very long time. Yet only a few years later English cyclist Tommy Godwin would better Ossie's 1933 mark by some 70 per cent.
Ossie's rewards for his year of effort were meager. Cyclo gave him a cheque for £25, and Dunlop presented him with a gold watch. So during 1934 he continued to earn his living as a professional cyclist. He was also in heavy demand as a public speaker.
Nicholson as a racing cyclist in 1934-36 The year 1934 was the centenary of the State of Victoria, and elaborate celebrations were planned. One of these was a six-day road race, the Centenary Thousand, which was to be 1000 miles long and have a prize of £1000. Top French and Italian cyclists were invited to compete. The race was planned to go over the Australian Alps, on appallingly rough roads, with variable gears being banned. Doubts were expressed as to whether the route chosen was rideable at all. In April Ossie Nicholson was employed to trial the route. He was accompanied by two official cars. The party struck a severe snow storm. On the steep grades Ossie's machine skidded and he appeared to be pedalling in the same spot. His spokes were covered in ice, his bike sank axle-deep in snow, and his toes were frozen. He said it was the toughest ride of his life.
The following week Ted Waterford set a cycling record from Melbourne to Adelaide and return. Nicholson accompanied him for part of the journey, but Waterford complained that Ossie's presence had "worried" him. The League of Victorian Wheelmen disqualified Ossie for three months, and when he appealed, increased the period to 12 months. Ossie took out a legal writ against the League. Then with the Centenary Thousand race looming, the League suddenly reneged and said that Ossie could participate. Unfortunately during the second stage of the race Ossie and other riders crashed at a railway crossing. Ossie was patched up, remounted and continued but at the end of the stage he collapsed and was taken to hospital for several days. The following month there was a Centenary Derby on the track, and Nicholson competed in this event too.
In 1935 he continued to attend country carnivals throughout the track season, and won events at Sale, Warragul, Hamilton and Bacchus Marsh. In the winter, he had a disastrous road season. During the first major event, from Melbourne to Ballarat, he broke his handlebars and fell. Ossie's name wasn't mentioned in reports of other road races, but then at the end of the season he gained fastest time in the Tour of Gippsland. Ossie had in fact competed in 13 races during the season, but had withdrawn with punctures in 10 of those events. At last his hoodoo was broken.
There was little mention of Ossie in 1936. From lists of starters, he clearly did not take part in the road racing season, although he did compete in country track races in December.
The 1937 distance record By the end of 1936 it was apparent that Englishman Walter Greaves would break Ossie's distance record. Immediately Ossie announced that he would set out to regain it. The 1937 ride was a much more desperate attempt than in 1933. Several English riders were also tackling the record. Two of them - Rene Menzies and Bernard Bennett - rode for the entire year and an exciting contest ensued between the three contenders. Ossie began more than 10 kilograms overweight, but reeled off 300 kilometres every day. In the heat of summer he was soon back to his racing weight. His route this time was slightly different, and he travelled it twice every day. Again there was huge public interest. Pupils at a primary school presented him with a tortoise named "Oswald". One day in January he was accompanied by an enthusiastic crowd of supporters, so many that he crashed heavily. He had other setbacks too. Ossie had to take several days off because of sunstroke, a poisoned toe, and tonsillitis. But he pressed on strongly. By the end of May he had completed 40,000 kilometres. Then, amazingly, Rene Menzies began to close the gap. It was now wintertime in Australia. With the long days in the northern hemisphere, Menzies was increasing his daily distances. Nicholson responded by riding on in the dark. Nevertheless, by the start of October both riders were neck and neck, and passed Greaves' record on the same day. Then as the English winter set in and the days became longer and warmer in Australia, Nicholson moved ahead to beat Menzies by 2000 kilometres.
More racing Malvern Star continued to exploit Ossie. In 1938 he rode 67 times around a 36-kilometre course marked out around Adelaide in one week. Malvern Star offered souvenir cards for all their cycling stars, and issued one showing Ossie just after his week's record.
Ossie again competed on the track, but lacked the speed and finesse he had shown in previous years. In December there was a six-day race in Sydney, with teams from various countries. Ossie was teamed with Hubert Turtill from New Zealand. The racing each evening was fast and furious. But in the mornings there was a neutralised period when exhausted riders would put pillows on their saddles, eat, drink, and even read newspapers as they slowly circled the track. An Italian rider, Gino Bambagiotti, would call out, "You, Nicholson, sing!" and Ossie would sing popular songs to keep everyone going.
In 1939 Ossie continued to race on both track and road without any notable success. He gave motorpacing demonstrations at country carnivals.
For ten years Ossie had ridden regularly in competitive and long-distance events - over distances from 1 kilometre to 100,000 kilometres!
Later years The end of this decade marked the start of the World War. Perhaps half of all Australian racing cyclists enlisted in the armed forces. Track and road racing continued, but on a reduced scale. Indeed, many carnivals, with Army and Air Force teams, were thinly-disguised recruiting campaigns.
Ossie didn't race, but went on touring rides with his son, now about 12 years old. From 1942 to 1947 Ossie was employed in an essential war service industry, supervising the manufacture by Malvern Star of radio location devices for the RAAF.
From 1946-1948 Ernie Old, aged 75, went on well-publicised cycling trips around Australia. Ossie accompanied Ernie on several occasions on the final stages into public receptions at the Melbourne Showgrounds. In 1947 he competed in the Warrnambool to Melbourne race, being held for the first time since before the war. Hubert Opperman and Ossie also set a tandem record from Launceston to Hobart.
From all accounts Ossie Nicholson was energetic, hard working, cheerful, helpful, a great personality. One of his workmates described him thus:
"He was a great and loyal friend, a wonderful bloke, one of the finest men I ever met. You could always tell when Ossie was coming because he was whistling or singing some song. He was the happiest man I ever saw."
There was another side to Ossie, too. Eventually everyone who knew him well told me of his romantic exploits. He established relationships with women wherever he went, and served a short prison term for bigamy. However the electoral rolls show that by 1949 he was again living at the same address as Annie, his wife, in Coppin Street, Richmond. His occupation at that time was given as cycle builder.
Ossie sang on radio shows and in his publicity appearances for Malvern Star. On Friday evenings he would appear at a large department store in central Melbourne. A set of cycling rollers would be mounted on a platform over which was draped an Australian flag. Spotlights would shine on a gleaming Malvern Star, and an announcement would be made over a microphone that Ossie Nicholson, the world record-breaking cyclist, was about to appear. A crowd would quickly gather, then out walked Ossie; resplendent in a bright purple dressing gown, with a white towel around his neck. He would climb onto the bicycle and start riding, while a commentator recounted the story of his record rides. For example, when the commentator talked about the headwinds he encountered, Ossie would "plug" a little on the bike as if struggling into a headwind. After the cycling demonstration, Ossie would entertain the crowd by singing songs.
He also appeared in stage productions. In one he played the part of Henry VIIIth. An Italian choir was on tour in Melbourne when one of its members was taken ill. Ossie joined the choir, which toured Australia and New Zealand. The choir disbanded in New Zealand, and Ossie stayed there, conducting a children's show on radio. He was known as "Uncle Ossie". Several people have told me that Ossie died in New Zealand, of a heart attack, at the age of 59. However there is no record of his death in New Zealand and his final years remain a mystery.
What can we make of Ossie's life? What compelled someone to ride a bicycle so much? The 1930s were a period of desperate unemployment when men would do anything to earn money. And bike riding seemed preferable to other repetitive tasks. Deane Toseland, a contemporary of Nicholson, said of being a professional cyclist: "It was wonderful. You didn't have to get a job. You got paid just for riding your bike!" Ossie's long rides may have been obsessive, perhaps driven by personal disappointment, but they were still remarkable. Although Ossie was famous in his lifetime, he is almost entirely forgotten today. I hope this paper will assist to make his achievements more widely known.
Acknowledgements Thanks to former racing cyclists Clive Cawthorn, Syd Harper, Ian Hay, Jack Hepher, Stephen Lane, Bill Long O.A.M., Norman Murray, the late Sir Hubert Opperman, Ron Stevens and Deane Toseland for their recollections of Ossie Nicholson.
Thanks to the editors of Bicycling Australia, Leader Newspapers, the North Central News, the Warrnambool Standard and the New Zealand Herald for publicising my search for information.
Thanks to Bicycling Australia, Jack Hepher and Theo van Kalleveen for lending me photographs, and to ScreenSound Australia and the State Library of Victoria for their assistance. Thanks to Film World in Sydney for permission to screen the video Hubert Opperman at the conference.
First published in the proceedings of the 10th International Cycle History Conference, Nijmegen, September 1999.
The program for the Jubilee Six Day Race in Sydney on 31 January 1938 provided this pen portrait of Ossie Nicholson:
"Ossie Nicholson likes 'em long and tough. Although versatile to the extent of winning "5 - miles" against the best, his penchant for long distance work was demonstrated when in 1933 he covered 43,996 miles in a years mileage record. Taken from him in 1935 by Englishman Walter Graves, with 45,385.38 Ossie came back with a grand ride of 62,657.16 which stands today as a world mark. He won the Wangaratta - Melbourne (182 miles), Australian record for one week (1507.5) and blue riband fastest time in the Melbourne - Sale and Tour of Gippsland (140 miles). He has followed motors successfully and won against international and Australian competition. He is 29 years of age."
Ó Rolf Lunsmann, 2000 How you can help Feedback
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Throughout
this century Australia has produced a succession of talented racing cyclists,
including several world and Olympic champions. Three Australian racing cyclists
- Russell Mockridge, Hubert Opperman, and Philip Anderson, have had books
written about them. However the stories of many others remain to be told. This
paper describes the cycling career of Ossie Nicholson, who set world distance
records in 1933 and again in 1937. He was one of a small number of record
breakers who rode astonishing distances in the 1930s.