Alf Engers
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Alfred Robert Engers |
| Nickname | The King |
| Date of birth | |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Time Triallist |
| Major wins | |
| 6 times National 25m TT | |
| Infobox last updated on: | |
| March 29, 2007 | |
Alfred 'Alf' Robert Engers was an English racing cyclist who set national records and won national championships in the individual time trial discipline from 1959 to the late 1970s. He established a new British 25 mile record of 49 minutes and 24 seconds in 1978, averaging 30.364 mph (or 49.190 km/h). He was the first rider to beat the 50 minute barrier and thus the first rider to average a speed of over 30mph.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Engers is from Southgate in North London. He worked night shifts as a pastry cook in Whitechapel while pursuing his cycling career.
He seems to have been a rebel from early on: he was expelled from school for 'misbehaving on every level' and received his first Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) official written warning at the age of 16[1].
He started club cycling, joining the Barnet CC, in 1952. In 1960 he was offered, and took up, an independent contract - independent status was a half-way house between amateur and professional. Work and family commitments meant that he only rode two races that season. He applied to be reinstated as an amateur in 1961 but his application was refused. He applied and was rejected for the next seven years, severely hampering his cycling career[2].
Engers' career included track racing - he raced against Tom Simpson and Barry Hoban at Herne Hill Velodrome in the 1960s and he won medals in the National Pursuit Championship. His 1959 25 mile time trial competition record of 55:11 was ridden on a fixed wheel.
[edit] 25 mile specialist
From 1969 he specialised in riding 25 mile time trials, dominating the scene for ten years. He frequently clashed with the sport's governing body, the Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) over interpretations of the rules and the laws of the road. His technique of riding near to the centre of the road, causing tailbacks, was particularly controversial.
Engers' reputation in the British time trial community rose through the 1970s. He gained the nickname of The King because of his dominance of this most prestigious of time trial events. He won the National Championship in 1969 and then every year from 1972 to 1976. Between 1959 and 1978 he broke the 25 mile competition record four times and captured the 30 mile record in 1975.
His August 1978 25 mile record of 49:24 was ridden on a course based on the A12 road near Chelmsford (the course is no longer used because increasing traffic levels have made it dangerous). Engers later said that he had been in a state of grace that day, and that he had an out-of-body experience during the last part of the ride[3]. The record stood until 1990 when a new era of cyclists (and cycling technology) came along.
[edit] Equipment
The bikes Engers rode pioneered lightweight techniques, frequently featuring drilled out brakes, chainwheels and other components. The bikes were often designed and built by his friend and mentor Alan Shorter. Engers also used large gears to great effect, creating a fashion that led to increasingly higher gears being used by many competitors, often inappropriately.
For all this technical innovation, Engers' records were set in the days before low profile bikes, tri-bars, disc wheels and skin suits.
[edit] Later career
In later years Engers spent more time on his favourite hobby of fishing. He also competed in triathlons.
[edit] UK time trial competition records
- 1959 - 25 miles - riding for Barnet CC - 55m 11s
- 1969 - 25 miles - Polytechnic CC - 51:59
- 1969 - 25 miles - Polytechnic CC - 51:00
- 1975 - 30 miles - Woolwich CC - 1:02:27
- 1978 - 25 miles - Unity CC - 49:24
[edit] UK 25 mile time trial national championships
- 1969 - riding for Polytechnic CC - 54:42
- 1972 - Luton Wheelers - 53:40
- 1973 - Luton Wheelers - 54:58
- 1974 - Archer Road Club - 54:50
- 1975 - Woolwich CC - 54:01
- 1976 - Woolwich CC - 54:37
