October 27, 2009 (Toronto, ON) – On the weekend of Oct. 16-17 the Toronto the Annual UCI Cyclo-cross races took place at Centennial Park. This year the races were part of the North American Cyclocross Trophy (NACT) series and as such promised deeper fields and tougher competition. Day One took place on the traditional ski hill course which has been a mainstay of the Ontario cyclocross series for the past decade. On Day Two the races took place on the course on the backside of the hill which is always a racer favourite.

In the men’s event on Day One Ontario’s Mike Garrigan (La Bicicletta / J. Lindeberg) took the holeshot leading through the first barriers and but then the visiting Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com team went to work. Tim Johnson (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com) attacked the lead group of five riders and rode away to repeating his win from last year and second place went to teammate Jaime Driscoll (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com). However the real action of the day was the fight for the final spot on the podium. Canadians Andrew Watson (Norco Factory Team) and Derrick St. John (Garneau-Club Chaussures-Ogilvy) spent the last two laps attacking each other repeatedly in a bid to stay away but it wasn’t until one of the final corners, as St.John slid out, that Watson was able to ride away for the bronze.

In the women’s race Natasha Elliott (ON) Garneau-Club Chaussures-Ogilvy pinned it from the gun with only Pepper Harlton (AB) Juventus able to match her acceleration. Elliott’s strength was eventually too much for Harlton as she fell off the pace and was passed by two members of the Planet Bike team, Linda Sone (Planet Bike) and Kristen Wentworth (Planet Bike)

Day Two was equally exciting as the Cannondale riders swept the podium with Powers taking the win, followed by Johnson and Driscoll. In the women’s race Elliott scored again followed 15 seconds later by Junior rider Kaitlin Antonneau (Planet Bike) with Harlton rounding out the podium in third.

Cyclocross Tech Report
The UCI races always prove a good weekend to check out the latest and the greatest in cyclocross technical innovations and this year was no different.

Cannondale showed up in force this year (perhaps due to their new Canadian ownership by Dorel and resurgence in Canada) and their setup was dialed. Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com team manager Stu Thorne mentioned that each rider received four of the Cannondale Caad 9 aluminum bikes for the season although they only brought two for the Toronto race. The bikes were decked out with SRAM Red componentry and the big change for this year was the switch from Mavic to Zipp wheels. The wheels are still shod in Dugust tubulars as cyclocrossworld.com is one of the largest distributors of the brand in the US. All the team bikes are identical save for the brakes on Jeremy Powers’ bike. Johnson and Driscoll like the lever feel of the carbon TRP brakes where as Powers prefers the mud clearance of the Empella style aluminum TRP brakes.

Third place on Saturday and ninth on Sunday was hometown favorite Andrew Watson. Watson rides this year for the Norco factory team and as such was afforded the chance to give up his 19-year-old Jake the Snake frame and pilot Norco’s CCX frames for the fall. Watson’s bike not only looks quite flashy but on closer inspection shows it’s a well thought out and reliable bike. His bike is equipped with a DuraAce/Ultegra build complete with Ultegra hubs hand built to Mavic CD tubular rims, a reliable, lightweight and user serviceable wheelset. Last year Watson rode a single 42t ring up front with an 11-25 cassette in the back but this year decided a 38/46 combo up front was better suited to the courses repeated climbs. Little touches like red ferrules, white housing and Norco branded spacers complete the package.

Edmonton star Aaron Schooler (Team H&R Block-Kona) has been climbing the cyclocross ranks for several years and this year could be a break out season for him. Schooler rides a custom-painted Kona Major Jake. The bike is built up with Shimano components, Mavic wheels (R-Sys in the back, Ksyrium up front) and Vittoria tubulars. TRP aluminum brakes are proving a favorite for crosser’s this year and they’ve been chosen for Schooler’s ride. A nice touch on this frame is full cable housing all the way to the rear brake.

Planet Energy’s Mark Batty had a great ride on Sunday and was one of the few riders who chose to muscle up and down Centennial ski hill on a single ring on Saturday. He ran a very slick looking double carbon chain guard which complemented the aesthetics of the new DuraAce 7900 perfectly. Batty was riding an Argon 18 carbon cross frame with full DuraAce componentry.

Hailing from Victoria and current Singlespeed Cyclocross World champion, Drew Mackenzie, was riding the Vanilla Speedvagon he earned for winning the title last year. Mixing art and technology Mackenzie’s Vanilla frame was chocked full of simple little touches like replaceable stainless dropout faces, an integrated seat post utilizing Thomson hard wear and nifty through-the-seatmast cable routing. Stopping comes courtesy of Paul’s Brakes and Shimano takes care of the shifting on this hand-built bike from Portland, Oregon.

Last but not least, we took the time to check out what the weekend warriors were racing. While team’s must concern themselves with budgets and sponsors, everyday riders are afforded plenty of choice when equipping themselves for the cross season. The Hub Cycling Team’s Jeff Moote chose to contest the Beginner Men’s race on his Custom TI True North Cross bike. True North is a framebuilder from Guelph, Ontario that has been a mainstay on the Ontario race scene for the last 15 years. Moote equipped his bike with SRAM componentry and Ritchey Carbon wheels shod with FMB tubulars. Unique touches like Gold Anodized Velo Orange brakes, a Gold Chris King headset and Eriksen TI sweetpost round out the package. The combination of the TI frame, hand-built tubulars tires and the inch of travel afforded by the TI post are sure to smooth out even the roughest of courses and help ensure the return to work on Monday is as easy as possible.