Friday 13 September 2013

Hugo finishes 4th overall in the Victoria CC championship

A rainy but calm and warm day greeted 3 riders from team Salesengine.co.uk for the final round of the Victoria CC 10.2 mile series on the lumpy E1/10.

Maintaining his cracking form, Hugo Hocknell set a course PB of 23:30 on the day to take 11th place and also seal 4th place in the overall championship.

David ledgerton clocked 28:09 to finish 21st overall and Stuart Hocknell came in with 33:04.

Sunday 11 August 2013

Chris & Dave battle the elements at the ECCA 10

The E2/10 at Newmarket has a reputation for being one of the fastest courses in the country on its day, but it is also susceptible to highly changeable weather conditions as Chris Hartley and Dave Wentworth found out last week.

A rising wind made the outward leg really hard going and quick back, but it also brought with it a brief but heavy downpour that our duo had to endure.

We haven't seen the final result sheet yet, but Dave Wentworth proved more than up to battling the day with a time just over 23 minutes. Chris Hartley was off earlier in the field and got arguably stronger winds and finished in an excellent time somewhere just over 25 minutes.

Chris battles into the rising headwind

Dave tip toes round the soaking wet turn

Team Salesengine win the team prize at the N&DCA 25

Temperatures in the high 20's greeted the Team Salesengine latest round of the N&DCA series at Sawtry for the N1/25.

Confirming his ever strengthening form, Sam Hayes led the team home with a storming 58:21 to take 7th place on the day and a huge 95 points to boost his chances for the overall competition at the end of the year.

Next up was Hugo Hocknell with 59:10 to finish 11th and Stephen Mavin with 59:36 for 12th place. The combined time of the three of 2:57:07 gave the team a clear win for the fastest team of 3 riders.

A bit further down the field Paul King finished in a strong 27th place with 1:02:40, Roy Robinson clocked 1:17:54 and Stuart Hocknell came home in 1:23:35.

Sunday 14 July 2013

Hugo goes top 10 again!

On the hottest day of the year so far four members of the team were in action at the latest round of the N&DCA series. This time a 10 mile event round the hilly and quiet lanes of Northamptonshire just outside Naseby.

Hugo Hocknell led the team home with a storming 23:55 to take 9th place on the day and keep his hopes of a top 5 finish in the overall of the series well and truly alive.

Next up was Paul King who clocked 25:50 to take 27th place and move himself up to 16th in the overall.

Steve Robinson struggled in the 32 degree heat and finished disappointed with his 26:29 and 33rd place, and will be hoping the heat wave ends soon so he can get back to his best.

Stuart Hocknell was next up for the team, overcoming the horrendous conditions to finish
in 33:57.

Sam Hayes takes 5th place at the Corley Cycles 10

Sweltering conditions greeted four members of Team Salesengine at the Corley Cycles 10 held just outside Bedford last weekend.

Sam Hayes demonstrated again just what stunning form he is on by hammering round the course in 21:45 to take 5th spot on the day and leave him well clear of his team mates. Sam was only 40 seconds behind the winner on the day, and a podium place in an open looks a distinct possibility before the season finishes!

Dave Wentworth was still feeling last week's stunning 25 mile ride in his legs but rode strongly to record 23:37, closely followed by Ric Palmer's 24:04 and David Ledgerton's 26:22.

Monday 1 July 2013

Dave Wentworth smashes another lifetime best...

Insert fine wine analogy here....Saturday afternoon saw Dave Wentworth heading over to the E2 near Newmarket to have a crack at breaking his long standing 25 mile PB. Just a few weeks short of his 60th birthday you would think that this would be a big ask, but Dave is flying and focused.
On a good, but by no means perfect day, he stormed the dual carriageway course in 56:57 to slice 1:23 from his previous best. This storming time also puts him into second place in the league of fastest Team Salesengine.co.uk riders for the distance.

Dave has now substantially updated both his 10 and 25 PB's this year, and we're sure there is still more to come. Great work sir!

Thursday 27 June 2013

Hugo takes 5th place at the Victoria CC 10.2

Saturday morning saw the team return in numbers to round 2 of one of the friendliest and best organised series events of the season; the Victoria CC 10.2 mile time trial just outside Saffron Walden.

Rain and a hard headwind on the climbs back from the turn greeted our six riders, but none of this put off Hugo Hocknell who stormed to 5th place with a course PB 23:51.

Mmmm..aero....
Also clocking a course PB, and taking honours of second fastest for the team, was Steve Robinson who finished in 25:28 to take 17th place. After 2 rounds Hugo is holding 2nd place overall in the series and Steve is in 5th place.
Steve Robinson Team Salesengine
Steve Robinson trying to look as aero as Hugo....
Third counter for the team was Rik Plamer who improved substantially on his May ride to record 26:19 for 23rd on the day.  Rik now stands in 9th place in the series. As in the May event, the team came within a handful of seconds of taking the team prize, this time being edged out by Chelmer CC by just 23 seconds.

Rik grimaces and wishes his TT bike was back from being repaired!
David Ledgerton was next up for the team with 28:38, closely followed by Roy Robinson who debuted on the course with 30:51 and Stuart Hocknell who came home in 33:22.
David Ledgerton breathing deeply on the climb to the turn
 
Roy Robinson making the most of the tailwind before the turn

Monday 17 June 2013

Sam storms to 5th place in the N&DCA

Saturday afternoon saw Sam Hayes put in his ride of the season to take 5th place overall at round 5 of the Northampton and District Association 15.

A strong headwind to the turn and intermittent rain made for hard conditions for all of the team, but Sam blasted though in just 34:42 to bag 98 points in the series competition and take his highest placing of the year.
Sam Hayes on his way to 5th
The friendly battles between the other team mates also continued, with Stephen Mavin pipping Hugo Hocknell for the first time this year, and taking 10th place overall. Mav clocked 35:31 to Hugo's 35:39 which was still good enough for 11th and will keep him in the hunt for a top 5 finish in the series.
Hugo accelerates out of the roundabout
Steve Robinson took the third placed spot for the team, and despite the poor conditions also shaved 10 seconds from his previous course personal best with 37:20 which was good enough for 21st place.
Steve Robinson
Paul King was the final member of the team in action, and finished hard on Steve's heels with his 37:25 which saw him finish in 24th place from the 70 man field.
Paul King
Round 6 of the competition is just 2 weeks away, and with performances on this level we should be able to get 5 riders in the top 20 of the overall by the end of the season.




Chris overcomes the conditions for great time on the E2

Almost biblical conditions greeted Chris Hartley and Dave Wentworth when they arrived for the Shaftesbury CC 25 on the E2/25 on Saturday with high winds and rain lashing down.

Unperturbed by the conditions Chris Hartley put in his strongest performance of the year to come home in 1:01:44 to take 28th place from the 60 people who were hardy enough to both start and finish. A cracking ride and a sure sign that after a quiet start to the year Chris is really finding his racing legs.

Dave Wentworth also rode well but couldn't quite match Chris, coming home 54 seconds adrift with 1:02:38 to finish 31st.

Hopefully the pair will have finished drying out now ready for their next event!

Monday 3 June 2013

Team show strength in depth at round 4 of the N&DCA series

6 members of the team were in action on Saturday at the fourth round of the ultra competitive Northampton & District series. This time they were battling 2 laps of a lumpy circuit for a total of 20.8 miles.

First home for the team and into the top ten again in a superb 9th place was Hugo Hocknell with 49:03, a ride good enough to put him in 4th place in the overall competition. Closely behind (as ever!) was Stephen Mavin who finished 12th in 49:38 and has leapt up to 7th in the overall.

Paul King put in another really strong ride for a course PB 51:56 to take 24th spot on the day and climb to 15th in the series.

There was another inter-team battle between David Ledgerton and Lyndon lewis with David taking 49th spot in 59:36 from Lyndon in 50th in 1:01:02with the pair followed by Stuart Hocknell in 1:07:46.

The next round is the 15 mile in mid June when another strong turnout should see the team pushing to get more riders into the top 20.

Roy goes quicker again at the Hitchin Nomads 25

Roy Robinson was in action again this weekend at the Hitchin Nomads 25 on the testing Guilden Morden country lane circuit. As a regular visitor to the course over the last few years Roy has been getting steadily quicker each year and improved again this year by over a minute to record a strong 1:13:01.

This is yet more proof that his consistent training and more regular racing is paying dividends as he now regularly smashes the 20 mph barrier.

Sunday 2 June 2013

Sam and Steve get their 19 at the ECCA championships!

After a few attempts and a lot of hard training Sam Hayes and Steve Robinson finally cracked the magic 30 mph mark for 10 miles with a storming ride of 19:53 at the ECCA tandem championships on Saturday.

Although it wasn't a perfect day the pair rode out of their skins to dip under, despite losing almost 10 seconds at the one turn when they were stopped by traffic. Their time was good enough for third place overall, just 26 seconds behind the winning team of John Iszatt and Dean Lubin.

More photos from the Victoria CC courtesy of Davey Jones

Hugo in full flight on his way to 7th place.
Mav rocking his new look P5 also on his way to 7th place!
Lyndon Lewis flying through Great Chesterford.

Monday 27 May 2013

Team Salesengine just miss the team prize at the Victoria CC 10.2

Saturday morning saw 6 members of the team in action at the Victoria CC 10.2 mile TT near Saffron Walden. The course drops steadily to the turn and there was a niggling headwind on the way out which took the edge off the times.

In the last 2 events there has been only 4 seconds and then 5 seconds between Hugo Hocknell and Stephen Mavin, so we were expecting a close battle again, but this time there was nothing to split the pair with them both coming home in 23:54 which got them joint 6th place.

Steve Robinson was the third counter of the team for the team prize, but after struggling with a cold all week he was below par and his 25:44 means that the combined time was just behind that of East London Velo who took the team honours. His time was still good enough for 17th place overall.

After almost 2 years away from racing Rik Palmer was back in action, and was forced to resort to a road bike with no tri-bars after mechanical problems on his low profile. This didn't slow Rik down much though and he still recorded an excellent 27:05 and had a massive smile on his face afterwards which was great to see.
Next up for the team was David Ledgerton with a great ride of 28:05 followed closely behind by Lyndon Lewis who showed sterling commitment to his job by taking a work phone call just before leaving for the start and incurred a 30 second late start penalty, and came home in an excellent 30:30. It was a top ride by Lyndon and we just hope his boss appreciates his commitment!

Sunday 26 May 2013

Another top ten for Hugo

Hugo Hocknell added another top ten to his seasons palmares with a great ride in the Peterborough CC 10 on the N1/10 on the 18th May.

Up against a class field that included Michael Hutchinson, the current National 10 champion, Hugo came home in 23:16 to take 9th place overall. The N1 is not the quickest of courses due to the sheer volume of roundabouts to be negotiated, so this was another excellent result for Hugo.

David and Dave put in strong rides at the Lampard 10

Saturday the 18th saw Dave Wentworth and David Legderton in action at the Lampard RC 10 on the F12 near Leighton Buzzard. The F12 is a notoriously difficult course to get a good time on, despite being pretty flat the road surface always seems to take the edge off the times.

On the day Dave Wentworth rode superbly to finish in a fine 11th place with 23:42. David Ledgerton continued to show the signs of his ever improving form to come home in 27th place with 26:42.

Monday 13 May 2013

Round 3 of the N&DCA - all getting tight within the team..

Saturday afternoon saw Team Salesengine in action at the third round of the N&DCA with eight members of the team competing for bragging rights.

Sam Hayes rode superbly to claim the honour of fastest team member with a strong 24:22 to take 13th place on the day. Hugo Hocknell was next up with 24:40 to again narrowly edge out Stephen Mavin who was an agonizing 4 seconds further back. This is the second ride in a row that Hugo has edged this battle by just a few seconds.

In a change of recent form Steve Robinson (25:30) managed to edge out Paul King (25:50) and take 49 seconds off his course PB despite the hard conditions dragging back from the 5 miles turn.

David Ledgerton was next up with a battling 30:00 to squeeze ahead of Lyndon Lewis on 30:27 and Stuart Hocknell recorded 35:08.

In the series results it looks like Hugo will have cemented his 5th place overall while Mav has climbed into the top ten as well. There is still a long way to go, but on the form the team are showing it is possible we could occupy 5 of the top 20 places by the end of the season!

Battling the elements at the Bossard 10

After the warm weather and light winds of the Bank Holiday the team faced very different conditions at the Bossard Wheelers 10 with almost 20 mph winds and torrential rain at times.

With a lot of the gang across at round 3 of the Northampton & District it was down to Chris Hartley, Dave Wentworth and Roy Robinson to do the business.

Chris and Dave were on the tandem for the first time this year and came home in a strong 23:53, which bodes well for their main tandem targets still to come.

In the Longmarkers event Roy rode strongly to clock 28:14 for 5th place overall. This was a good minute plus faster than he acheived on this course last year in better conditions, so acts as yet more proof of his improving form.

No doubt the three are still drying out....

Thursday 9 May 2013

PB update part 3 - Steve and Roy smash their previous bests

To conclude what has been a simply stunning week for the team Steve and Roy Robinson became the 4th and 5th members of the team to update one of their personal bests in the VTTA 10 on the F11 on Wednesday.

Taking to the startline it didn't look too promising with the threat of rain and a blustery wind of between 15 and 20mph, but crucially it was from the south west which seems to keep this course running quickly.

Roy was the first back with a cracking time of 25:44 to take 1:01 off his fastest time for the last ten years. A few months of consistent training is clearly beginning to pay off for Roy, and he is getting quicker year on year which is great to see.

Dave Wentworth was next in, but was clearly feeling some lag from his Monday ride as he slipped back to a still quick 22:25.

Steve Robinson was third member of the squad home, coming over the line in 22:12 to improve on his Last three seasons PB by 45 seconds. This in fact is Steve's fastest 10 since 1997, so it shows that being a vet isn't slowing him down too much yet!

More PB's - this time Sam Hayes and Dave Wentworth!

Bank Holiday Monday for once came with warm and dry conditions and almost no wind, the perfect day to be time trialing on one of the quickest (and bumpiest!) courses in the country - The F11 near Tring.

Sam Hayes and Dave Wentworth both took to the start line aware that they had a great opportunity for a quick time, and both took full advantage with superb rides.

First home was Sam in a brilliant 21:07 to match his lifetime PB to the second, and give him his fastest time in years. It also puts him within 7 seconds of the fastest solo time recorded by a member of Team SalesEngine. Not bad for a first ride on this tricky course.

Not far behind him was Dave Wentworth, who is 23 years Sam's senior but barely any slower! Dave recorded his first ever sub 22 minute ride with a stunning 21:59 to lop a further 13 seconds from his PB set on the same course last year.

Cracking rides from the pair, and well deserved after a lot of hard training over the last few months chaps.

New 25 mile PB for Hugo Hocknell

Hugo Hocknell continued to show his ever improving form on Sunday by taking 20 seconds off his previous best 25 mile time with 55:27 in the Welsh Natiional championships.

The superb ride was good enough for 59th place in a really high quality field, and keeps Hugo at the top ff the leaderboard for fastest member of the squad over 25 miles. Top ride sir!

Steve & Sam win the Cambridge CC 10

The Saturday bank holiday saw Steve Robinson and Sam hayes in action on the tandem again, this time at the Cambridge CC 10 on the A428 near Cambourne.

A rising wind and rain ruined their chances of a fast time, but the pair still managed to win the event with a strong ride of 21:27.

In the solo event Chris Hartley led the team home with a strong 25:03, with Stuart Hocknell edging closer to the magic 30 minute barrier with 32:10. On a calmer day there is no doubt he will get back under evens.

Lyndon Lewis was also in action, but a late start led to an official time of 48 minutes, but it is all good training which will no doubt help him challenge the other members of the team in the next few events.

Thursday 2 May 2013

Mav pushes Hugo close at the N&DCA

The second round of the Northampton & District series saw Team Salesengine newbie Stephen Mavin get within a whisker of beating Hugo Hocknell for the honour of fastest team member on the day.

Hugo rode strongly to finish in a fantastic 15th place with 23:43, with Stephen just 3 seconds back and in 17th place. In just his second open time trial this is a great result for Stephen. These strong results place Hugo in 6th place in the overall with Mav just outside the top ten for now with 11th place.

A bit further back in the field there was another close battle between the old rivals of the team, Paul King and Steve Robinson. Paul King continued his strong form with an excellent 24:45, with Steve closing in on him compared to round one with 25:02. Paul is now in 19th place overall and Steve in 26th.

Also in action was Stuart Hocknell who didn't enjoy the long drag into the headwind to the turn but flew back to the finish and recorded 32:42.

Monday 22 April 2013

Steve & Sam take their 4th win in a row

Saturday afternoon saw Steve Robinson and Sam Hayes back on the tandem and competing in the St Ives CC 10 mile time trial at Sawtry in Cambridgeshire.

Although not a particularly windy day the course includes 6 roundabouts which always take the edge off the times, and proved tricky to get the tandem through at high speed. All that said, Steve and Sam powerered round the course in 21:44 to average just under 28 mph and leave them almost 2 minutes clear of their nearest challengers. It also sees them extend their unbeaten run to 4 races which is a great result.

In the solo event Dave Wentworth was also competing for the team, and put in a brilliant performance to clock 24:31 which will see him place well in the overall.

Next week is the second round of the season long Northampton & District series with five members of the team in action.

Sunday 14 April 2013

Team Salesengine out in force at round one of the N&DCA series

Saturday the 13th April saw the first round of the season long Northampton & District Association series, and 8 members of Team Salesengine took to the start line.

Quickest of the team was Hugo Hocknell who stormed round the two laps of the hilly 18.4 mile circuit in just 44:34 to take 13th place and score 93 points for the overall competition. Sam Hayes was next up, but having suffered with a broken tri-bar for the second lap lost some time to Hugo and finished in 25th place with 45:53.

Stephen Mavin marked his debut for the team with a superb 46:01 for 26th place, closely followed by Paul King who demonstrated that he has again stepped up a level from last season with a strong 47:21 for 34th.

Steve Robinson clocked 48:57, David Ledgerton 56:15, Roy Robinson 1:00:09 and Stuart Hocknell 1:02:08.

It's early days for the overall team prize, but based on the top 4 rides it looks like Team Salesengine will be in a competitive 3rd place behind Welland Valley and Fenland Clarion, but with the top 21 rides to count by the end of the year across the ten events there is a lot still to play for!

Wednesday 13 March 2013

Sam heads the field at the Hitchin Nomads spring hilly

Sam Hayes managed to bag his first win of the year when he romped home in the Hitchin Nomads spring hilly in 48:21 to put him 2 minutes clear of his nearest challenger, Simon Doyle of the hosting club.

It was a cracking ride from Sam that underlined just how good his early season form is, managing to average over 23 mph on the hilly 18.5 mile course despite freezing conditions and wet roads.

Also in action were Steve Robinson & Paul King who rode the event as a 2-up. The pair worked well together and were heading for a time only a minute shy of Sam until Paul punctured with just over a mile to go losing the team just over a minute to cross the line with 50:37.

Monday 4 March 2013

Hugo storms to a top ten

It may be extremely early in the season, and with little sign of the biting grip of winter abaiting, but it hasn't stopped Hugo and Stuart Hocknell from kicking off their race seasons at the Kings Cliffe Flyers 12 mile time trial.

Showing that his winter of focused training has paid off, Hugo clocked 31:07 to take a brilliant 8th place, and was just an agonizing few seconds from the next three riders and a potential top 5! Excellent work from Hockers.

Meanwhile, slightly further back was Stuart who claimed a few scalps as well on his way to 42:29 and 31st place.

Monday 25 February 2013

Team test their mettle at the hardriders

It takes a certain type of nutter to take to a start line of a time trial in late February, and this year there were three such hardy souls from Team Salesengine.co.uk prepared to do battle with the elements at the North Road Hardriders.

Over running roadworks on the course meant that our intrepid trio only had 22 miles of biting cold and ice to deal with rather than the normal 24.5. 

First home for the team, and in a superb 36th place in a field containing some full time pros was Sam Hayes in a time of 59:02. After a consistent winter and some good training numbers it is great to see Sam getting off to such a cracking start.

 
Next up for the team, and making a welcome return to time trialling after a good few years away was Graeme Freestone-King, who quickly found his climbing legs, but cursed his decision not to ride tri-bars, to clock 1:07:55.
 
 
The third member of the team in was Lyndon Lewis, marking his debut in the teams colours with 1:17:39.  It's great to see Lyndon in action so early in the year, and after a less than ideal build up to the event he proved that he is as tough as the rest in completing the arduous circuit.