Winter brings - new team mates, curry, lager and turbo training....

Now winter is well and truly here the various members of Team Salesengine are hibernating away on their turbo trainers and putting in the graft miles on the road ready for 2012.

Since the racing stopped we've added three new riders to our roster in the form of Hugo and Stuart Hocknell and Roy Robinson.

Hugo comes into the team as the man with the fastest PB in his palmares, so it would seem that Rik and Sam won't be having things all their own way next season.

Roy and Stuart may not be quite as fast as Hugo, but the team is about people enjoying their racing regardless of the level they do it at, and it'll be great to see how the new boys do in the New Year. As long as the season can bring PB's then all will be happy.

Meanwhile, December the 9th was the latest team curry in Potton. Whilst we didn't quite manage a full-house due to work commitments for some and Christmas parties for others we did get a good turn-out and had a good laugh.

With the inaugural Team Salesengine 10 now only four months away (April 7th at 14:00!) on the rapid new Brogborough F1510 course ideas were flowing as fast as the lager as to how to make the event a bit different from the norm and enjoyable for all who enter. Pleased to say the idea of starting at the bottom of the hill and making the riders finish at the top was rejected....

Some of the braver ( or more foolish?) riders in the team are now only 2 months from being on the startline of their first event of 2012...so happy training to all.

Lifetime PB for Dave Wentworth in the Leo 30

Nobody who entered the Leo 30 on the 1st October would have predicted the 29 degree temperatures for the event we suspect! The great weather also brought with it very light winds, and Dave Wentworth took full advantage of this to record a fantastic lifetime PB of 1:11:47, and improvement of 1:15 on his previous best.

After suffering somewhat in the early season Dave has really found his form at the end of the year, and looks to be going into winter training in great shape!

Sam takes 9th place in final round of the N&DCA

A dry but blustery day greeted Sam Hayes, Paul King and Steve Robinson for the final round of this years Northampton & District series, a 15 mile course from Bedford to Shefford and back.

Sam stormed the course in 36:42 to take is highest placing of the series with 9th. Paul King was victorious in his battle with Steve Robinson, finishing in a superb 38:49 to beat Steve by 41 seconds.

In the overall standings for the season Sam finished in 11th with Steve in 20th place. Steve also took 13th place in the short distance championship.

Team are flying on the new F15/10

As the season is almost done a few members of Team Salesengine went across to Bedford to try the new ski-slope F15 course on Saturday. As has been the case pretty much all year it was of course windy which meant the times weren't quite as quick as people hoped, but the strong results show the potential for the course on a calm day.

First home from the Team was Rik Palmer who finished 18th with 23:13. Ride of the day arguably goes to Dave Wentworth who was only just behind with 23:45 and 25th place. David Ledgerton recorded 26:47 and Chris Parkes unfortunately punctured.

Sam Hayes and Steve Robinson tackled the course on the tandem and set a new PB of 21:31 to take 2nd place in the tandem event. As this was only their 2nd race it suggests the target of the 30mph 10 next year is achievable. Just needs a good winter!

David Ledergton competes in the British Time Trial Championship

A testing course in Northamptonshire was the venue for this years British Time Trial Championships. Whilst Alex Dowesett of Team Sky was busy winning the mens event from his team mate Steve Cummings, Team Salesengine's own David Ledgerton was doing battle with the course and the riders in his age group.

Although he didn't find the course totally to his liking David rode well to record 1:00:32 for the hilly 20 mile course to take 19th place in his age group.

Rik 7th and Dave 19th in Norlond 10

The first weekend of September saw Rik Palmer and Dave Wentworth in action at the Norlond 10.

Rik was in fine form to storm round in 23:20 to take 7th place and score the highest solo placing for the team in an open this year. Dave Wentworth wasn't far behind with 24:33 to take 19th spot.

Four on tour in Hull

This season it would seem that if if an event has a Team Sales Engine rider in it then there is a high chance it will be glowing a gale!

Four of the team made the ludicrous 6 hour round trip this weekend to ride the Tem Swift 10 on the hallowed V718 just outside Hull. The course has always been talked of as one of the quickest in the country, and from the results of the day there is no doubt it is rapid.

Sam Hayes was the first rider from the team to race in the morning, overcoming the 20 mph winds to come back with a storming 22:22. Rik Palmer was up next and returned with a fantastic 23:02, followed by Steve Robinson who clocked his 2nd fastest 10 in the last 10 years with 23:35 and finally Paul King with 24:31.

Given the strength of the wind on the day it suggests that all four riders can re-set their PB's on the right day, so no doubt there will be more trips to Hull in 2012.

Rik, David and Chris racing at Cambourne

Rik Palmer, Chris Hartley and David Ledgerton were in action at the Chronos RT 10 on the F2 on Saturday. Conditions were good but not outstanding and Rik managed to clock his second fastest time of the year with 23:13. David and Chris both clocked a 25 something, but that is all the info we have at the moment.

PB for Steve at Blenheim Palace

Sunday morning saw Steve Robinson competing in his favourite event of the season around the grounds of Blenheim Palace.

The lumpy and completely traffic free course presents a pretty unique challenge as there are fast descents on narrow roads with a high number of riders on the circuit placing an emphasis on bike handling as well as pure speed.

On the day Steve took advantage of the good conditions to take 21 seconds off his previous best time to record 33:43 for the 12.3 miles to finish 62nd out of the 165 competitors.

Victoria CC series - Salesengine have 3 in the top 10!

After three of the four rounds of the Victoria CC10.2 series on the E1 Team Salesengine have more riders in the top ten than any other team.

With one round to go Rik Palmer is in 5th place, Paul King is 7th and Steve Robinson is 9th.

All three will miss the final round at the end of August due to being in action at the Team Swift Charity event in Hull, but should all still be able to finish in the top fifteen overall. After the team win in the second round of the series it has been one of the best events for the team this year.