The travelling Mr King

Throughout May Paul king has been a busy boy driving around the South sniffing out fast courses and fast times. Mostly he seems to have been battling windy days but the results have still been fantastic.

He started the month with a top 30 placing in the ECCA 10 on a blowy day in Essex, which he followed up with a strong ride in the Maldon & District CC 25. Problem with that was he had too many minutes late start to count in the decent placings.

Things got much better further into the month as he headed down towards Portsmouth for the very rapid P613 10. He's a man who loves the heat and so he wasn't affected by the near 28 degree temperatures on the day. His time of 23:26 bagged him 13th place in the field of 109 and the honour of the second fastest 10 of the year so far for the team.

A 20 mph wind and challenging course on Sunday 30th put paid to any ideas of a 50 mile PB in the Maldon & District event, but his stirling 2:17:01 got him 25th place and a decent points haul towards his target in the SPOCO SE series.

Top riding PK, nice one!

NORLOND 10 - Sunday 25th April

A near perfect morning with just a light breeze from the south, but cool at 10 degrees and wet, wet,wet plus even more wet!! But what a stonking morning for Chris and Dave.

Chris, currently in the form of his life, produced a 23:45 - his first time ever to average over 25mph. Well done Chris, I'm well chuffed for you mate. You really are in form of your life - plus a bit more.

Dave recorded a 22:38 - a current PB and now just a mere 13 seconds short of that life time best set way back in 1976.

Lea Valley 25 - Saturday 10 April

Dave Wentworth actually managed to get a ride in an Open event on the fabled E2/25 and made the most of it. Although a rising headwind made it a very tough return trip from the 12.5 mile turn Dave recorded a very respectable 58:28. Just 8 seconds short of his life time best - and it's still April. Well chuffed is an under statement!!

ECCA 10 - Saturday 27th March

Second event of the year, first trip the the E2 for Dave & Chris.

A particularly tough day greeted the riders with a strong/blustery head/side wind to the turn. The only advantage from the strong wind was the final 2.5 miles - which was an absolute flyer!

With the winner only recording a 21:22 and several sub-21 minute guys recording short 23's, Dave was well chuffed with his 24:08 - even if the timekeeper did record him as a 23:08, if only!! Chris did a stonker of a ride with a 25:11.

A5 Rangers 10 - First race of the year

Team Salesengine.co.uk were out in force on Sunday 21st, with 4 of the 5 members all competing at the A5 rangers 10 at Towcester.

Paul King and Dave Wentworth had the colder conditions and lighter traffic by being off early, while Chris Hartley and Steve Robinson got a rising wind but more traffic thanks to their later start.

Given the appauling conditions in the days before we truly got lucky with the weather.

Steve made his usual flying start to the year (he always seems to peak by April!) to lead the team home with 24:25, Paul King came next with a strong 25:10 and then there were only seconds between Dave and Chris, with Dave just edging it with his 25:48 to pip Chris who finished in 25:52.

A cracking start to the season all round, with everyone looking set to post PB's as the season progresses.

PK goes for team colours

Over the winter the sylphlike Mr King has decided a re-spray of his TT frame was in order, so he's gone for a colours that will match the team skinsuit perfectly as you can see. Looking forward to seeing it all built up and on the startline of the Nomads 2-up 25 on March 14th PK!

A new signing for 2010

We're delighted to be able to announce that we have a new rider joining us for the 2010 season - Chris Hartley.

Chris has been racing for a good few years and in 2009 was competing for North Bucks Road Club. A desire to race in ECCA events, and a link with Dave Wentworth led him to us.

Welcome to the team Chris, and here's to a cracking season of PB's (and maybe under the hour!) in 2010.

If you're interested in finding out more about the team, or would like to discuss racing with us next season please feel free to get in touch with Steve Robinson on srobinson@salesengine.co.uk

Team Salesengine at Blenheim

Sunday October 4th saw Paul and Steve competing for the last time this season at the Blenheim Palace 12 mile time trial.

The closed circuit event has a much more special feel than most events in the year, and almost 300 competitors took to the start line to battle it out on the fairly hilly, narrow and very technical cicrcuit around the grounds of the Palace.

Steve took top team honours with his time of 34:04 which proved good enough for 77th place, with Paul close behind with 35:00 to take 95th. As with so many events this year the winner was Michael Hutchinson.

PK at Blenheim!

Picture courtesy of Chris Ife.

ECCA 10 - E2/10

Saturday saw Dave Wentworth completing his final event of the 2009 season. A perfect day dawned for the event with a 3mph wind and, judging from the leg loosener ride on Friday, Dave should have been on a cracker. The first 5 miles - into what seemed like a 3mph gale - saw Dave average just 24mph, then at 6miles he suddenly got going and averaged just shy of 28mph for the last 4miles. All too late though and a 23:37 resulted at the end.