2014 Road Season Re-Cap

The OCTTO Cycling Team recently finished up its third season in 2014 racing a full competitive calendar including appearances at sponsor events.

In 2014, the distinctive OCTTO-Cervélo Team uniform raced or appeared in Ontario from Windsor to Ottawa as well Quebec province and 
New York, Michigan, South Carolina states.

Road Race, Ontario Provincial Championships.©David Anthony

  Road Race, Ontario Provincial Championships.©David Anthony

Post-race pow-wow, Kitchener Twilight Criterium.©David Anthony.

Preston Street Criterium.©Brian Trafford family. 

Some race highlights from the collective Team results of 2014:

3rd, Criterium, Ontario Provincial Cycling Championships

4th, Time Trial, Ontario Provincial Cycling Championships

5th, Road Race, Ontario Provincial Cycling Championship

Lake of Bays O-Cup #8 - From the Perspective of the Team/Road Rookie

Lake of Bays is the final road race of the 2014 O-Cup season. Taking place in the Deerhurst area of Ontario, there were plenty of ups and downs with very little flat section on the 94km loop. Still being placed in the Elite 3 category I had to only do one lap of this course instead of the rest of the team which was given a 170+km endeavor to attend to.

Being the last O-Cup of the season I was still trying to bank a good result to help add to a resume for the following year and at the very least, show proof that I am still improving. Leading up to this point, it has been a very difficult and at times frustrating test of how I have made the switch from cross-country mountain biking. Through the improvements in tactics and strength I have seen myself build steadily and was hoping to take that into Lake of Bays.

Mississippi Mills Grand Prix (in 4 parts)

A 4 race stage race in 4 reports by 4 teammates:

STAGE 1 by Osmond "Os" Bakker

Stage 1 of the Mississippi Mills Stage race takes place in the quaint town of Pakenham, ON. Historically this stage is done at night under rainy conditions. Thankfully the rain held off this year.

130 riders started the stage and it was going to be aggressive with so many teams wanting to gain time ahead of the team trial. Our game plan was to follow the moves and get into the winning break. The first circuit of 5 was aggressive with attack after attack occurring. I was active in most moves, but was starting to feel the affects of so many efforts. Finally on the start of lap 3 a move went that I was able to get across to. We were 9 riders with most teams represented. I had faith in the knowledge my teammates would be patrolling the front to keep any possible moves from getting back to us.

Tour De Terra Cotta: From the Perspective of a First Year Roadie

The August 4th Ontario Provincial Civic holiday was a perfect time to bring together the avid cyclists who were lucky to get the day off of work. Us cyclists were treated to the b-e-a-u-tiful area of Terra Cotta, Ontario for the 2014 Tour de Terra Cotta. This is one of the few races, that I know of anyways, that boasts full road closures for the entirety of the course. Throw in well maintained roads, great organizers and ample prize money and there is a great race to be had for those participating.

My goals for the race were: A) to hopefully get a notable result and B) get to ride in the open-category race with my OCTTO-Cervélo team-mates Brian Trafford, Dave Byer, Peter Morse, Bayden Pritchard and Osmond Bakker going so the more the merrier.

The Tom Jehlicka Memorial Criterium Race and New Jeans Report

Two views of the Tom Jehlicka Memorial Crit, one from Brian "Tenders" Trafford and the other from Osmond "The Grizzle" Bakker, and their pursuit of men's denims.

Hardware: Brian on the left with the Bronze, Osmond on the Top with Gold.  Photo courtesy of Brian Trafford.

Brian: 

Leaving Ottawa with the van full of equipment I knew it was going to be a fun filled weekend as it always is when you travel with Osmond. Despite all the laughter we are serious when comes to our bike racing. We devised a cunning plan, one that would put all the other teams on the back foot. I was feeling good that day, so we decided to send me up the road in the hope that Osmond would bridge up to me. Our other team mate Dave was to wait for a sprint and cover moves.

Osmond:

As the race started Brian asked if he may go up the road and I obliged and said yes. He immediately gained 20 seconds. Moves tried to bridge to him but to no avail as I surfed their wheels. After 15 minutes I saw an opportunity to bridge to Brian and successfully connected with him. Once across the gap Brian looked back and immediately made a massive effort to reestablish the gap. We had one other rider, Ben Andrew from Stevens.

2014 Ontario Provincial Road Championships Elite Race

A Report and Photos by Dr. Octto.

The OCTTO-Cervélo Team was at the Ontario Cycling Association Provincial Road Race Championships hosted this year by the St. Catharines Cycling Club in Beamsville, Ontario, Canada.

Pete Morse at the start corral. ©David Anthony

The course was a flat but severely broken 13km asphalt circuit. As usual in Ontario, the wind was your frenemy and the weather was going to prove moody.

In tight formation in the pack, left-to-right: Brian, Bayden and Tommy.  ©David Anthony

After a couple of early suicide breaks, the first defining moment was a split caused by a feed zone crash about 65km in. The Team's Bayden Pritchard and Tommy Waldeck were caught in the tangle and were forced to chased back. Bayden eventually bridged back but later paid for his efforts and had to retire from the race. Tommy, a local, racing in his figurative backyard put on a determined chase and time-trialled for 60km keeping pace with the main pack but eventually his efforts also put him out of the race.

Tour de Waterloo - On Board with Bayden

Super-cool on-board inside the peloton video by Bayden:

- - -

Hey Everyone,

I'm trying something a little different now that I have a little sports cam. I took it out at the TdW and shot some stuff and threw it together in a video:



The battery or memory card konks out with ~20km to go, but it gets enough footage in there to get the idea.

Disclaimer - this is the first video I've ever tried to edit so nothing fancy or Oscar nominations here.

Enjoy,
Bayden

Kitchener Twilight Grand Prix - Open Men's Race

A brief Report and a lot of Photos by Dr. Octto.

The OCTTO-Cervélo Team was at Kitchener Twilight Grand Prix in downtown Kitchener, Ontario Canada. With a healthy cash purse and huge cash primes, the race attracted an extremely strong stacked field. The tight and technical 1.0km course kept the racing very interesting. With half the Team already heading to Vermont, USA, they were outnumbered, but Pete Morse made the winning 12-man break that lapped the field and eventually he finished 11th. Daniel DeFranceschi hung on to the remnants of the main field and finished 20th. Jeff Schiller took the top of the podium just ahead of Ed The Real Deal Veal.

A couple of photos from the race start. A powerhouse field. ©

Bayden and the rest of the pack roll out at the start. ©David Anthony

Daniele DeFranceschi on CTV News Windsor

OCTTO-Cervélo Team's Daniele DeFranceschi profiled by CTV WindsorNews along with his cross-border pupil: Detroit star Martin Vecchio. Despite being "retired", Daniel, the 6-time Canadian National Champion is still able to school the field in the sprint the Tuesday night race!

Click here to watch the clip on CTV Windsor.  Screen caps of Daniele and Martin:

Preston Street Part II - The Veteran's View

Preston Street Part II - by Team veteran Osmond "The Steak" Bakker:
- - -
This years Preston St Crit was held in perfect conditions. Sunny and dry. Usually it rains at Preston St. Team rode really well. Pete managed a prime and I came home in 3rd.

Osmond lurks at the front of the pack.  Courtesy of Brian Trafford family.

I started the day off working the kids' events. This year we had over 60 kids in the 7-and-under category, our best turn out ever. After taking care of the 7-and-under races, I then had to be Dad to my daughter Lauryn as she was racing in the Pee Wee category (10~12 years) and was really nervous. After explaining to her, nerves are a good thing if you know how to manage it, she apprehensively took to the line and had her best race ever on Preston St.

Osmond lurks near the front of the pack.  Courtesy of Brian Trafford family.

Then it was my turn to take to the race. No nerves. I just went cool and calm as usual. Looking around, it was obvious that the NCCH team was the one to watch. As expected, they took turns attacking until a good one went early into the race and I was a part of. We grew to 7 riders after a couple of laps and started working well together. After 30 mins, we ended up lapping the field.

Preston Street Part I - the Kid's View

Preston Street Part II - by Team understudy Brian "The Sizzle" Trafford:
- - -
Act 1
As I slowly awoke from my slumber this morning I peered outside my window. A surge of disappointment crushed my delicate young soul as soon I realized the sun was shining. There was not a single chance of rain. How will we cope? My mind began to wonder. How could we possibly race that day’s Preston Street GP if its not going to rain? For the past 6 years it has rained at some point during Ottawa’s cornerstone bicycle race. No matter I figured, as my mental faculties came back from the initial shock of seeing the unusual sun and clear sky, we still have work to do today.

Brian dives in.  Courtesy of the Brian Trafford family.

Act 2
Froth pure froth was oozing from Team elder Osmond “Rabid Man” Bakker’s mouth, akin to that of a wild animal. A stylish wild animal who definitely belongs in a modeling catalogue thanks to his new POC DO Blade eyewear. Needless to say I was careful not to mention the word breakaway or attack, else it tip him over the edge before the race start. Soon after, the even older elder Peter “Ace of Spades” Morse arrived from Toronto; he had a cool and calm look about him that belied the killer instinct lurking in the depth of his soul. If you stare into his eyes for long enough you may see it, but you will soon be vulnerable to it when racing against him. It’s awesome to be able to call such exquisite, experienced riders my teammates and friends.

Wilmington Race Weekend

Osmond reports on his 2nd place finish in Lake Placid, New York:
- - -
The Wilmington Race weekend occurs early in June each year near Lake Placid, NY. This was the 7th running of the Wilmington road race. In addition to the road race, they included a circuit race on the Saturday to appease the riders whom do not like to climb...

This was the second time I made it to Wilmington to race. The circuit race was dominated by 2 teams (CCB Racing and Dealer.com). The break took off with 6 riders in the first 5km and I was helpless to watch it go up the road as I had just made a big effort to get in the previous break. I settled into a mode of following some strong attacks go and bridge up to them in the hopes we could form a chase group. I accomplished this and rode with 4 others to finish 8th overall in the end. The top 7 finishers were all from the 2 teams I mentioned above.

The road race is much more challenging with tons of climbing on it followed by a 3km climb up to the finish. My goal was to make it to the break and hopefully finish on the podium. I made the break 2km in the race with 6 others. I know I am good at the long distance break, but no Dealer.com riders made the break so I was wary that we would be brought back. This did not happen and in fact another CCB rider bridged to us making 3 of them out of 7. One of their riders dropped of and we were down to 6 again.

Rohan Dennis Visit

The OCTTO-Cervélo Team not only races, but also lends ride support for Cervélo HQ. This past week, Team Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda's Rohan Dennis visited the Toronto area for a POC Sports event. In the news recently for his podium spot at the 2014 Tour of California, Rohan needed to get in a short ride after flying in to flush out his legs. OCTTO-Cervélo's David Byer led Rohan on a ride around local roads accompanied by Cervélo staff Kevin Lehman and Graham Shrive. Fortunately, despite threats of rain, the weather held up!

Dave Byer (front-right) leads Rohan Dennis around local roads. ©David Anthony

Dave Byer (front-right) leads Rohan Dennis around local roads. ©David Anthony

Dave Byer (front-right) leads Rohan Dennis around local roads. ©David Anthony

Springbank Road Race - by Jeremy Allen

A collection of stunning photos by Jeremy Allen / Wet Pixel from the Springbank Road Race.

OCTTO-Cervélo Team's Bayden Pritchard got pipped in the sprint for 3rd place by some old geezer named Steve Bauer.

Bayden ended up 4th in the Elite Men's race at the Springbank Road Race in London, Ontario. Jeffery Schiller took the win. Full report at Canadian Cyclist here: http://www.canadiancyclist.com/dailynews.php?id=27643

Bayden at the start. ©Jeremy Allen

Kevin and Bayden. ©Jeremy Allen

Kevin Black.. ©Jeremy Allen

Bayden out of the saddle. ©Jeremy Allen