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Alf Engers
Alfred Robert Engers (born 1 June 1940) is an English racing cyclist who set national records and won national individual time trial championships from 1959 to the late 1970s. He established a British 25-mile (40 km) record of 49 minutes and 24 seconds in 1978, averaging 30.364 mph (49.190 km/h). He was the first rider to beat 50 minutes and thus the first to average more than 30 mph (48 km/h).
He was expelled from school for "misbehaving on every level" and received his first Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) official written warning at 16.
He started club cycling, joining the Barnet CC, in 1952. In 1961, he was offered and took up an independent contract with Ted Gerrard Cycles for the 1962 season—independent status was a halfway stage between amateur and professional. Work and family commitments meant he rode only two races that season. He applied to be reinstated as an amateur in 1963 but was refused. He applied and was rejected every year, hampering his cycling career, until being reinstated as an amateur for 1968.
Engers' career included track racing - he raced against Tom Simpson and Barry Hoban at Herne Hill velodrome in 1963 and he won medals in the national pursuit championship. In July 1969, he won the national kilometre time trial on the track. His 1959 25-mile (40 km) time-trial record of 55m 11s, set when he was 19, was ridden on an 84-inch (2,100 mm) fixed wheel gear.
Engers rode his first 25-mile (40 km) time-trial on a course starting at Bignall's Corner, at the junction of the A1 and A6 between London and Hatfield. He finished in 1h 12m, riding on a bicycle with derailleur gears, which he was told by older riders added two minutes to his time. Thinking at the time was that it was faster to ride a lighter bike with a single gear and no freewheel.
He also trained by the dictum of the day, which was that every extra mile counted.
At first Engers had no preference for either time-trialling or road racing. Then he saw two leading brothers, the Higginson twins, riding a national championship.
In 1953, he rode his first 25-mile (40 km) race in less than an hour, riding a 78-inch (2,000 mm) gear fixed wheel, the highest gear he had ridden. In 1959 he beat the record for the distance with 55m 11s.
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Alf Engers
Alfred Robert Engers (born 1 June 1940) is an English racing cyclist who set national records and won national individual time trial championships from 1959 to the late 1970s. He established a British 25-mile (40 km) record of 49 minutes and 24 seconds in 1978, averaging 30.364 mph (49.190 km/h). He was the first rider to beat 50 minutes and thus the first to average more than 30 mph (48 km/h).
He was expelled from school for "misbehaving on every level" and received his first Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) official written warning at 16.
He started club cycling, joining the Barnet CC, in 1952. In 1961, he was offered and took up an independent contract with Ted Gerrard Cycles for the 1962 season—independent status was a halfway stage between amateur and professional. Work and family commitments meant he rode only two races that season. He applied to be reinstated as an amateur in 1963 but was refused. He applied and was rejected every year, hampering his cycling career, until being reinstated as an amateur for 1968.
Engers' career included track racing - he raced against Tom Simpson and Barry Hoban at Herne Hill velodrome in 1963 and he won medals in the national pursuit championship. In July 1969, he won the national kilometre time trial on the track. His 1959 25-mile (40 km) time-trial record of 55m 11s, set when he was 19, was ridden on an 84-inch (2,100 mm) fixed wheel gear.
Engers rode his first 25-mile (40 km) time-trial on a course starting at Bignall's Corner, at the junction of the A1 and A6 between London and Hatfield. He finished in 1h 12m, riding on a bicycle with derailleur gears, which he was told by older riders added two minutes to his time. Thinking at the time was that it was faster to ride a lighter bike with a single gear and no freewheel.
He also trained by the dictum of the day, which was that every extra mile counted.
At first Engers had no preference for either time-trialling or road racing. Then he saw two leading brothers, the Higginson twins, riding a national championship.
In 1953, he rode his first 25-mile (40 km) race in less than an hour, riding a 78-inch (2,000 mm) gear fixed wheel, the highest gear he had ridden. In 1959 he beat the record for the distance with 55m 11s.