Win, PB, PB, PB - business as usual for The Engine - Race Round up 31 July 2016

The weekend has proved to be a bit of a stellar one (not that kind Ric) for the team with Personal Bests and event victories abounding for "The Engine's" riders.

Victory in the Victoria
Kicking things off were Sam Hayes, Steve Robinson and Simon Doyle. The triumvirate were competing in Round 3 of the excellent Victoria CC 10.2mile team time trial series. The lads needed to fend off a keen TMG Horizon team, and our local friends in Hitchin Nomads, for the win on the day. A time of 22.49 was enough to secure the win by 4 seconds. By claiming the maximum points for the event, they also claim victory in the series. A just reward for some consistent performances and well drilled team time trialling (30 Jul 2016).

(L-R) Simon Doyle, Steve Robinson and Sam Hayes - Rd 3 Victoria CC 10.2 (pic Davey Jones)

Riding in the solo events were Hugo Hocknell and David Ledgerton. Hockers put in a shift to go sub-24 minutes with a time of 23.57. David, riding his first TT of the day (some of us can do two in a day - ahem), posted 26.50. Stuart Hocknell rode to a time of 38.16.

Time waits for no man in the Chronos
Joining David Ledgerton in the afternoon, on the Chronos RT F2A/10 (near Cambourne) were James Gomm and Dave Wentworth. Ledge made good going and clocked a time of 24.41. Two really robust rides in a day is a real achievement. Hot on his heels was Dave Wentworth, making a welcome visit to this version of the course our resident "flat cap Northerner type" tapped out a +25mph average with a time of 23.24. Last and by no means least in the pecking order was "young James Gomm". The not quite baby of the team capitalised on a host of training and effort to crack the magic 23 minute barrier for the first time, recording a lifetime PB of 22.47. Well done James, everyone in the team is really made up for you and glad to see how much your racing has come on since joining the fold.

Olden and Golden (VTTA E2/25)
(very) Early on Sunday morning (31 Jul 2016), Simon Doyle and Nigel Hale took themselves up to Newmarket to have a tilt at the famously quick E2/25 course. The 25 mile course is one of the quickest in the UK, on its day. The early coolness in the air and relative lack of traffic made the outbound leg of the brilliantly organised VTTA event heavy going for the first 50-60 riders. Simon was off #17 and had to use his experience to keep things ticking along and adjust his  ride to make the most of the road in the last 5 miles. Simon PB'd with a time of 56.20. An improvement on his previous best by 1m 04s .

It was Nigel Hale though who, despite his usual self-deprecating analysis, pulled off one of the rides of the year. Nigel beat his previous 25 mile best by 40s, recording a time of 53.52. That time secured 12th spot. A few seconds separated about half a dozen riders in the bottom half of the top 10. Awesome work Nigel. The day's conditions were anything but perfect. Both performances bode well for warmer and more conducive conditions. A celebratory Burger King breakfast was just the ticket. Although that did take longer to arrive than either of the time trials...

In the Valleys - breaking news!
Capping off the weekend was Steve Franklin. A more sociable start time and good conditions gave Steve the chance to pull a 55.25 on the Bynea CC R25/3h course in South Wales. A very good time indeed for the rookie. A warm up that involved pigeons, bowel movements (should that be posted here? - Ed) and race that included the circumnavigation of 7 roundabouts led to a power output that gave Steve a very tidy PB to take in to 2017.

Race round up - 24 July 2016

N&DCA Round 7
Given it's summer it is probably a bit churlish to complain about the heat but it's one thing having a cold beer by the bbq when the sun has got his hat on, it's something quite different if you are trying to make a bike go as quickly as you can for 10 or 25 miles against the clock. The Round 7 N&DCA 25 mile time trial (23 June 2016) served to prove that point.

The lastest event, which incidentally has been organised by TSE Supremo Steve Robinson, saw riders compete around 2 laps of the tough F14/25 course near Guilden Morden, Herts. Sam Hayes was in incredible form, recording 58.01 and claiming 7th place overall. Simon Doyle narrowly missed out on a sub-hour ride with a time of 1.00.11, helping him to sneak in to the top 20.

Hugo Hocknell (1.01.45) and Andy Roffe (1.01.56) were 24th and 25th respectively. In their ongoing duel in the series James Gomm (1.04.56) shaded out Steve Franklin (1.06.26). Roy Robinson and David Ledgerton took the decision to leave the midday sun for the mad dogs.

Sam and Simon are now within sight of a top 10 place in the series and the team are peppering the top 20 now too.

Results: https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/race-results/12255 

Many thanks to all those from TSE and other clubs, association and non-association who helped make the event possible. No volunteers = no sport. Simples.

If riding that wasn't enough, James Gomm took the evening to get himself back up to speed for the following day's F1b/25 Verulam CC 25. James posted a 1.01.32. Kind of shows how hard the N&DCA event was the previous day as Jame is a 58 rider.

VTTA F11/10
Simon Doyle and Dave Wentworth were the team's representatives in the VTTA event on the Tring Bypass on 20th July 2016. Simon was 5s off a pb with a time of 21.05 (+5.13 on standard time). Dave came back with another rock solid performance, 23.25 (+4.24). The rather extreme heat and strident headwind made it hard to capitalise on the downhill advantage to be gained after turn 1 but the guys acquitted themselves well.

Team Cambridge TT - 16 July 2016

Blustery conditions greeted the team as they took part in the Team Cambridge 10 on the F2D/10 course near Cambourne. First off was Simon Doyle. Simon hit the turn in under 10 minutes but payback time came quickly as the tailwind transformed itself in to a nasty headwind.  Andy Roffe made another step towards his best with a time that shaded Simon out by 1 second. Andy's warm up and preparation were nullified thanks to traffic problems on the way to the event. Hockers (Hugo) rode a very consistent time trial to better Andy and Simon. A mere 7s split these three. 

Hugo Hocknell - pic Davey Jones.

Riding to a new PB was James Gomm. This time he wasn't held up by traffic and it is now a only a matter of time before he posts a sub-23min 10. James had obviously passed his traffic hex on to Sam Hayes. Sam's short 21 would have been even quicker if he'd have not been held up on the final junction. Roy Robinson rounded things of with what he claims is/was one of his most focused performances for some time. Well done guys, another set of strong rides on a tough old day.

Roy Robinson in so-called warm weather attire - pic Davey Jones.

James Gomm on the way to a new PB - pic Davey Jones.

Simon Doyle - pic Davey Jones.

Results 
S Hayes 21:17
H Hocknell 22:13
A Roffe 22:19
S Doyle 22:20
J Gomm 23:03 (PB) 
R Robinson 27:25

TSE host successful open time trial - July 2016

As a team we pride ourselves in contributing to the sport. On 9th July 2016 Steve Robinson took on the responsibility for leading the organisation of our annual 10 mile TT.

So after the aborted first effort back in April, it was great to finally get our event run, and to see such a high quality field despite clashes with other events locally. No roadworks to contend with on this time of asking.

Congratulations go to Francesca Rust and Simon Norman for their wins, in blowy (but thankfully dry) conditons, and huge thanks to everyone else who took part.

Finally, a big shout out to all of the Team Salesengine crew who pulled together to help make the event a success. To name check all involved – John Pick and Mary Hartley for ?mekeeping, Sue, Holly, Ben and Daisy for their efforts at the HQ, Simon Doyle (after also riding to a 21.53) and Roy Robinson on results, Andy Blower and Sam Hayes at the start and all of the marshals – Chris Hartley, Hugo Hocknell, Gavin Ashfield, Ric Palmer, James Gomm, Andy Roffe, Chris Rimes and David Ledgerton. All legends and all vital to making it all run so smoothly.

We loook forward to seeing you all again in 2017!

Report (via CTT)
Simon Norman (Bedfordshire Road RT) clinched victory by four seconds in the Team Salesengine 10, on a day when the top four riders were separated by 21 seconds. Norman who has already tasted victory this season in the Northampton & District CA 15 and Cambridgeshire CC 10 set a time of 19 minutes and 50 seconds on this occasion to seal the victory. Despite him clocking an average speed of 30.25 miles per hour his time was slower than his personal best of 19.08 which he set in the Hemel Hempstead CC 10 last month. Hot on his heals was Matt Sinclair (Lutterworth Cycle Centre RT) whose time of 19.54 was enough for second on the day with Justin Layne (CC Ashwell) finishing third a further six seconds back.

First woman home on the day in a respectable time of 23.59 was Francesca Rust (Ely & District CC). Beds Road RT took the team award (Norman, Green, Cook).

Results: https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/race-results/11425#anchor

More success for the team

In a week that saw our own team 10 mile record go, James Gomm, Steve and Ben Robinson continue the performace improvements.

First in action today (02 July 2016) were Steve and son Ben in the Norwich ABC 10. Based on the B10/43 course the lads posted a time of 25.34 on their racing tandem. A course best by 10s and a win by 5mins in their seniors/juniors category.

Ben (Stoker) and Steve (Pilot).

Later in the day James notched a 23.11 on the Ware based, F20/10 course. This was a personal best for James and shows that he's got a "monkey off his back" in terms of chasing an improvement on his best 10 time.  It's only a matter of time before he cracks 23 mins.

Next up is the TSE promoted 10 mile TT - 9 July 2016. Read about it here first folks.