Editing Hubert Opperman (section)

==Records==
[[File:Peters ice cream Unthank & Opperman.tif|thumb|Opperman having ice cream with [[Valda Unthank]]. Advertisement for Peters Ice Cream.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article180256179 |title=Advertising |newspaper=[[Sporting Globe]] |date=13 December 1939 |page=13 (Edition1) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>]]
Opperman rode for the [[Malvern Star]] bicycle company. Malvern Star were agents in Australia for the British [[Birmingham Small Arms Company|BSA]] factory and BSA sponsored Opperman in the years before the [[Second World War]] to break place-to-place and other distance records in Great Britain. He broke [[Land's End]]-[[John o' Groats]] in 1934 in 2d 9h 1m and then the 1,000-mile record in 3d 1h 52m. He also took London-[[York]] in 9h 23m 0s and the 12-hour record after 243 miles.

In 1935 he set the 24-hour record with 461.75 miles and broke London-[[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]-London with 10h 14m 42s, [[Land's End]]-London with 14h 9m 0s, and shared the tandem record for London-Bath-London with [[Ern Milliken]], in 8h 55m 34s. He broke London-[[Portsmouth]]-London in 1937 with 6h 33m 30s.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> In each case he had to wear not the cycling clothes he wore elsewhere but a black jacket and black tights that reached to his shoes. They were required by the Road Records Association to make riders "inconspicuous."<ref>Wadley, Jock, Tight Records, The Bicycle, UK, 28 January 1958, p. 6</ref> During the 1935 trip to Europe Opperman, Milliken and [[Hefty Stuart]] went to Belgium for the [[1935 UCI Road World Championships]], where Opperman finished 8th.<ref name="MirAug35">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75715792 |title=World's Road Championship. |newspaper=[[The Mirror (Western Australia)]] |location=Perth, WA |date=24 August 1935 |access-date=21 June 2015 |page=11 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

In 1940 Opperman set 100 distance records in a 24-hour race at Sydney. Many were not broken until decades later.

In 1937 Opperman set a record fastest time of 13 days, 10 hours and 11 minutes for the 2,875 miles transcontinental crossing from [[Fremantle]] to Sydney, over long stretches of rutted tracks and through soft sand where he had to carry his bicycle in searing heat. Sometimes he fell asleep while riding, and crashed. His time of just over 13 days cut five days off the record, and other records fell by the score.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Opperman recalled: "At one point, by the light of the car behind me, I could see a large snake in the wheel ruts, and I couldn't stop. All I could do was land the bike on top of it, hard. I suppose I must have killed it. Then, at Nanwarra Sands, I had to pick up the bike and carry it for 10 miles in the soft sand. We learned that I could gain time by sleeping for only 10 minutes at a time, something I have never forgotten."<ref>Cycling, UK, 4 May 1996, p30</ref>