Steve and Sam top the Victoria 2up Championship - Martin Jones smashes the N&DCA 25 - 25 July 2015

The Engine has seen riders posting quick times all over the region in the last few weeks, In truth it's hard to keep track with the mid-week 10s and club events. Martin Jones and Steve Franklin have been bothering the scorers in the midlands (on the K courses) and Roy Robinson has been making incursions on the Kent courses.

Four of the team were recently (18 July) at the Team Cambridge 10 on the F2D/10, version that turns at Madingley roundabout. Dave Wentworth led the team home in 23:46, David Ledgerton followed with 24:09, Roy Robinson with 26:31 and Stuart Hocknell with 30:04.

And that's just a snippet. So on to a quick round-up of this weekend's open events, And yes, the lads smashed it, proving that the team is evolving further.

Happy and Glorious, Victorious in the Victoria
Like London buses, you wait a few days for races to come along and then you get two on the same day. As defending champions the dynamic duo braved the rather chilly and windy morning conditions to go and smash out a short-23 on the rolling 10.2 miler.

Sam Hayes (rear) and Steve Robinson (front) in action in the third round of the Victoria CC 10.2 mile 2up

Dave 'The Legend' Ledgerton, deciding that one race in a day isn't enough used the Victoria event as a precursor for the afternoon's 25. Dave pushed out a 26-minute time for the 10.2 (26.22), demonstrating to all, that he is well and truly getting back to form.

David Ledgerton

It didn't rain over us (N&DCA Rd 7)
As if that wasn't enough, Steve decamped to Guilden Morden to set up the N&DCA Round 7 event. 'The Engine' were promoting this round of the event, with the support of our chums in the Bonito Squadra Corse. The event was based on the rather tough F14/25 Guilden Morden circuit.


The weather was dry but the wind conditions were challenging in places. However, this did not stop man-of-the-moment Martin Jones from stamping his mark on the top end of the results board. Martin clocked 55.51 to take 6th place (and 3rd place in the counting scores for the Association competition).

Martin Jones powering through the southern section to the turn

Following in Martin's footsteps (or tyre tracks?) were Simon Doyle, Steve Franklin and David Ledgerton. Doyle posted a 59.58 to just nip under the hour mark for the second time on this course in a week. 
The strength and quality of the field was so high that 18 riders posted 25mph+ times. 
Steve Franklin, in his inaugural F14/25 course ride, turned in a very creditable 1.04.15 to claim more points in his pursuit of glory in the over-arching competition. 

David posted a new LTS PB of 1.07.20.

Steve 'Whiskers' Franklin

Speedy Doyle

The N&DCA event was made possible through the support and commitment of many, including Mary and Chris Hartley, Rik Palmer and John Pick and, importantly, though he won't say so himself, Steve Robinson, 

Results are posted on the TimeTrialling Forum - N&DCA Rd 7 2015

All snaps courtesy of Davey Jones.

Andy Roffe hits his stride with a sub 21 minute 10

There was a time when a 21 minute ten was pretty much the benchmark for the quickest members of the team, but these days you need to be able to go sub 21 to really be able to claim to be one of the team's true fast men.

Over the last few weeks Andy Roffe has proved that he is right up there with Martin Jones and Sam Hayes by clocking a cracking 20:58 at the VTTA 10 the E2 at Newmarket to take a superb 11th place. Andy also followed this up with a 21:04 a couple of days later on the F20. Strong rides indeed!

Andy Roffe smashing it!

Andy was supported at the VTTA E2/10 by Dave Wentworth who, despite being full of antibiotics, rode superbly to clock 23:58. Dave has been knocked back this year by a few illnesses, but shows that even when on prescription drugs he can still clock some cracking times!

The following week saw a number of the team return to the E2 in search of PB's. Andy Roffe showed that he is the very epitome of consistency by clocking 21:10, his 3rd circa 29mph ride in 7 days!

Dave Wentworth was next up for the team, substantially improving on his previous ride to clock 23:35, and edge out the team's 3rd counter Chris Hartley who clocked a very creditable 24:13.

Roy Robinson is another of the more senior members of the team still putting in strong times. Having never ridden the E2 before he took to the course like a duck to water and recorded 26:20, his 2nd fastest 10 in the last ten years, and a sure sign that retirement seems to suit him.

Martin Jones becomes team's fastest ever...

After a number of super quick rides it was almost a matter of time before Martin Jones took the record of fastest ever 10 by a Team Salesengine rider.

On the 16th June Martin visited the K11/10T in the Midlands with his sights firmly set on putting the advice of Matt Bottrill, and all the weeks and months of hard work, to best use.

The previous best of 20:26, set by Phil Silver in 2014 was eclipsed by 5 seconds to take the new club record to 20:21, a simply stunning time for a course that doesn't usually get mentioned in the top 3 fastest courses in the country. This suggest there is still mote to come, but for now the team are simply celebrating such a stunning ride. Well done Martin!

The team battle at the Tour of Cambridgeshire

After many years of racing up and down the open roads of Britain, the opportunity to compete in a fully closed road time trial complete with start ramp proved a huge draw for a number of the team.

At the inaugural Tour of Cambridgeshire Team Salesengine had representatives in a number of the age categories.

The best result for the team went to Martin Jones, who seemed almost immune to the 25 mph wind to blast round the hilly course in 38:18 which was quick enough for 47th out of the 533 finishers and saw him qualify for the amateur world championships later in the year.

Martin Jones catching Steve Robinson from 3 minutes right on the line!

Next up for the team was Hugo Hocknell, who showed that after months of illness he is getting back to his rapid best with 41:14. Frustratingly Hugo missed the Worlds qualification by just one place.

An agonising 4 seconds back from Hugo was Steve Robinson, who enjoyed one of his strongest races of the year to finish with 41:18 and a clear aim of worlds qualification in 2016.

Steve Robinson leaving the Start ramp at the Tour of Cambridgeshire

Unlike Steve, Simon Doyle was having a slightly worse day than he was hoping for, which saw him slip behind Hugo and Steve for a change with his time of 42:21. After so many strong rides this year, it is just a blip, and will no doubt add fuel to the fire for faster rides later in the year.

Simon Doyle battling up the main climb of the Tour of Cambridgeshire

Next up was David Ledgerton who clocked a strong 47:35. As we often see with David, he races himself into form, and as the season is progressing his tomes are getting ever more competitive, so we know there is still more to come.

The final member of the team was Roy Robinson who was doing battle in the 65-70 age group and again showed promising progress with an excellent time of 51:19, a good 2 plus minutes quicker than expected, and a time inside not just many in his age group, but a lot of much younger riders as well. Good showing Roy.

Roy negotiates the very slippery first bend out of the arena

Martin Jones bags a magnificent second place

At round 4 of the season long Northampton & District series Martin Jones proved what a massive boost he is to the squad by taking 2nd place on the day, and bagging a maximum points score towards the individual and team prizes.

Due to roadworks the lumpy course had been shortened to 15.6 miles, which martin blitzed in 36:25, just missing out on the win thanks to a strong ride by Jon Simpkins of sponsored team Drag2zero.

In the team competition Martin was supported by Hugo Hocknell, who continue his battle back to fitness with a strong 18th place with 39:57, closely followed by another of our 2015 recruits, Stephen Franklin who came 24th with 41:43.

David Ledgerton scored some useful points in the overall competition by finishing 40th in 46:57 and Stuart Hocknell took a few scalps on his way to 50th place with 56:44.

These results leave Martin in a strong 4th place in the overall competition, and now looking to be a serious contender for the win, and the team head the team points series by a strong margin with 6 rounds to go.

Simon Doyle quickest of a strong team showing at the Lampard 10

There was potential for a Janet Jackson style, nip slip, wardrobe malfunction for Simon Doyle at the Lampard 10 on the F15 when his skinsuit zip failed. To protect the eyes of all observers Simon was forced to race in a heavy and un-aero winter top, but it didn't seem to slow him down too much.

Taking advantage of reasonable, but not super fast, conditions he blasted the course in 23:15 making him quickest of the team by 43 seconds from Andy Blower who showed improving form with his 23:58.

Next up for the team, and only just behind Andy was Dave Wentworth with a really strong 24:08 which just pipped Chris Hartley who rode to a fantastic course PB of 24:32.

Sam and Steve open the defence of their Victoria CC title with a win

As the defending series champions the pressure was on Sam Hayes and Steve Robinson to open their defence of the Victoria CC 10.2 mile 2-up title with a strong ride. With a 04:30 start, and the beginnings of a throat infection, it was looking tough for Sam in particular.

But as always he managed to pull a stunning ride out of the bag, working well with Steve to drive the pair round the lumpy course in a new PB time of 22:59 to give them the win by 7 seconds.

No doubt the competition will be back for round 2 in June, but hopefully with better health and more sleep the TSE pair will go quicker still.

In the solo event David Ledgerton was flying the flag for the team, and recorded a creditable 28:00.

"Jones the Speed" raises the game for the Engine

Martin Jones turned on the class on the K11/10T course on Sunday (17 May 2015) to record a striking 20.56 and a top 10 placing in the Royal Sutton CC 10 mile time trial. Jones' time was the fastest of the year for the team and is an enviable benchmark for the rest of the squad going forward (thanks Martin!).

Martin Jones speeds his way to glory

 Steve "Whiskers" Franklin and Dave Wentworth also contributed to the team effort, with Whiskers recording a PB of 23.35. Davecontinued his vein of good form to nip ahead of Steve with a 23.33.

Steve Franklin en route to a new PB

Dave Wentworth continues to build on his 2015 form

If that wasn't enough, Andy Roffe, Chris Rimes and Hugo Hocknell flew the flag on the previous Saturday (16 May 2015) with another triumvirate of great times. This time the Engine were racing on the demanding N1/10 course near Peterborough. Andy recorded 22.03, Chris 23.03 and Hugo, in a welcome return from a lingering illness, 24.03.

Elsewhere in the region on the Saturday, Simon Doyle and Dave Ledgerton took the opportunity to race the North Road CC F14/25, 25 miler around the rolling hills of Guilden Morden. Doyle posted 1.01.25 and Ledgerton came home with 1.13.05.

Not many teams can field three teams in three different districts (F, N and K) and still have half of their riders working out how to take down a tent or work out where the tonic water is ;-)

May Bank Holiday Racing Results - 02 May 2015

The Team took to the roads of London North and Midland Districts on Saturday 2nd May, 2015. Martin Jones and Steve Franklin rode the K41/10 course near Rugby. Windy conditions and rough road surface didn't deter the dynamic duo with Martin recording 22.10 and Steve 25.24 for the 10 miles.

Further south, the team fielded 9 riders in the Cambridge CC promoted 10 mile time trial on the Cambourne based F2D/10 course. A strong head wind to the turn took its toll but Andy Roffe and Chris Rimes both managed sub-22 minute performances.Sam Hayes rounded off the counting scores in the team (best 3) competition, giving The Engine an aggregate time of 1h 05m 39s. At the pointy end of the results board Andy was 11th, missing out on the top ten by 3 seconds. Chris came in 16th, with Sam 22nd.

Pictures from Davey Jones.

Andy Roffe on the F2D/10

Chris Rimes

Sam Hayes

Simon Doyle

Dave Wentworth

Chris Hartley

Results
Andy Roffe 21.29
Chris Rimes 21.54
Sam Hayes 22.16
Simon Doyle 23.44
Andy Blower 24.11
Dave Wentworth 24.16
Chris Hartley 25.25
David Ledgerton 26.13
Stuart Hocknell 30.42

Results for the TT are on the TimeTrialling Forum.

N&DCA 2015 Round 2 wrap - 25 April 2015

The team was out in strength again in defence of their 2014 team title in the Northampton & District Cycling Association (N&DCA) 10 mile time trial.

11 of the team's scheduled starters participated in the competition but Hugo Hocknell was ruled out due to illness. This event was based on the N1/10 course near Sawtry. A rolling "B Road" with numerous round-abouts made for good competition.

Leading the team in what looks like to be a strong competition was Andy Roffe. 35 seconds separated him from Martin Jones, Sam Hayes and Chris Rimes. Peppering the top 20 with four riders was no mean feat given the gusty conditions.

Andy Blower made his debut with the team, recording a rock solid time of 24m 58s.

Snaps courtesy of Davey Jones (as ever).

Andy Roffe on the way to a brilliant 8th place.

Martin Jones hot on the heels of Andy for 2nd spot in the team

Chris Hartley sporting a new Cervelo P3

Roy "Ox" Robinson

Results
8th Andy Roffe 22.10
11th Martin Jones 22.14
13th Sam Hayes 22.27
18th Chris Rimes 22.45
34th Simon Doyle 23.49
36th Steve Robinson 23.57
48th Andy Blower 24.58
68th Chris Hartley 26.07
77th David Ledgerton 27.25
97th Stuart Hocknell 31.39
99th Roy Robinson 31.47

Full results: TT Forum

The event was won by friend of the team, Simon Norman of Arbis-Colbert, with a time of 21.09.