Victoria CC 10.2 - Rik and Paul come out on top

Saturday morning saw the resumption of the friendly rivallry between Rik Palmer and Sam Hayes and Paul King and Steve Robinson.

This time it was Rik Palmer who gained the upper hand with a superb 24:57 in the windy conditions to just pip Sam who clocked 25:03.

Paul King pulled out one of his best riders ever (his words!) to record 25:31 and put 15 seconds into Steve who stopped the clock at 25:46. They're now 2-all in their battle for the season, but Paul appears to have the momentum for now. Steve has sloped off to up his training in preparation for the next round of the Northampton and District association event on the 4th June.

Thanks to Dave Jones for the pictures!

Weekend round-up - Top rides from Chris, Dave and Rik

It was a rediculously windy weekend, but it didn't stop a load of the team from travelling round the country clocking up some reallu useful performances.

Chris Hartley travelled all the way to Hull to have a go on the infamously fast V718. The strong wind meant a PB was unlikely, but Chris showed that he is getting his form back with a strong 24:09 which is his fastest of the year and less than a minute away from his best ever. More to come this year you feel...

Dave Wentworth should have been tackling his first fifty in decades, but roadworks on the course meant it was shortened to a 25. Despite the wind Dave still blasted round inside the hour, clocking a fantastic 59:45.

Rik Palmer was the third team member in action, tackling a lumpy 25 on the country lanes of Cambridgeshire around Gamlingay and Wrestlingworth. Rik rodfe well and lopped a full 556 seconds off his course PB to finish with 1:02:10 and take 24th place in a highly competitive field.

Sam leads the team home at the N&DCA

Another weekend, another windy day, and another cracking ride from Sam Hayes!

Saturday afternoon saw four members of the team competing on a flat, rural course at Lamport in Northamptonshire.

Quickest home was Sam Hayes with 24:49 to narrowly edge out Rik Palmer with 25:09. This was good enough for 19th and 21st place. Paul King abnd Steve Robinson continued their close battle with Paul this time taking the honours with 26:18 and 29th place closely followed by Steve in 26:34 for 33rd.

Paul King takes first PB of the season

On a windy day in Oxfordshire Paul King managed a superb ride in the North Hampshire RC 50 to record a new lifetime PB of 2:10:00.

This was a 25 second updating of Paul's previous best, which was set on a much better day, surely proof that he has the form of of his life and will be further updating PB's as the season goes on.

Photos from Cambridge CC 10 - Thanks to Dave Jones

What a weekend! The team couldn't be any closer!

An extremely windy Cambridge CC event at Cambourne was the location for the first major coming together of almost all of the team this year.

Sam Hayes took top honours with a superb 22:36 for 21st place. The battle for second fastest from the team was unbeleivably close with Dave Wentworth just edging it with 23:59 from Steve Robinson's 24:00 and Paul King on 24:03.

Chris Hartley also continued his resurgence with a fine 25:22, showing that he has put his troubled winter behind him and the form is coming.

The next big clash will be at the Northampton & District CC event in Mid May when Sam, Rik, Paul and Steve will all be in action.

Sam takes 14th in opening round of N&DCA and goes under the next day..

Saturday the 16th April was the opening round of the Northampton & District series, and although not feeling like he was on best form Sam Hayes still managed to take 14th place and gain a very handy 89 points for the season long competition. Sam clocked 48:22 on the 20 mile hilly country lane course.

Steve Robinson suffered his first bad ride of the season in the same event to finish in 53:55 for a very disappointing 47th place, his lowest placing in an N&DCA event.

Despite his hard ride on Saturday Sam then went on to race again on the F1 25 mile course on Sunday. His finishing time of 59:05 may not have been as good as he hoped, but shows that even on his bad days he can still post decent times!

Rik starts season on form

In his opening race of the season Rik Palmer stormed round the E91/10 in 24:34 to take 13th place in a competitive field. It's a cracking start to the year and signs that a good winters training will pay dividends.

57minute 25 for Sam, 13th place for Steve

This weekend saw 2 members of the team out battling in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. On Saturday afternoon Sam Hayes opened his 25 mile account for the season with a rapid 57:14 on the E2. Although not as quick as he had hoped thanks to a rising tailwind it still ranks as the fastest ever 25 by a Team Salesengine rider, and its only a matter of time before both Sam and Rik Palmer slice more time off it. On Sunday morning Steve Robinson competed in an Interclub 10 representing his second claim club Hitchin Nomads. On a calm morning Steve clocked 24:36 on the lightly trafficked single carriageway course to take 24 seconds off his PB and take 13th place overall.

3rd place team at the Icknield hilly

The early season form of continues to look promising with Team Salesengine taking 3rd placed team in the Icknield hilly 30k.

Sam Hayes led the team home with a storming 46:32 to take 13th place in the high quality field. Steve Robinson finished in a course PB of 50:24 to take 24th place and Paul King was hard on his heels with 52:03 for 33rd.

The same three are in action again in 2 weeks time at the first round of the Northants & District series, with Sam on the E2 before that looking to further hone his speed.