octtodrome navigation:

The morning of Sunday, November 23rd, 203 racers descended into the bowl of  to take on the Ontario Provincial Championships of Cyclocross.

The racers and several thousand interested onlookers were treated to some epic racing, seasoned by a spectator-friendly course, live-polka-band, beer-tent, kielbasa-BBQ and industry expo area.

The morning started off frosty, and well below freezing, but by mid-day the sunshine came out the temperature hovered just over the 0 degree Celsius mark, so the day's main event at 1 o'clock turned into a muddy and slushy affair.

Pre-race favourite Mike Garrigan opened up an early lead and steadily opened up a commanding gap to take the Championship Crown. 

OCTTO-sponsored Jet-Fuel Cycling rider Peter Morse took the bronze-dais of the podium. 

Pete used OCTTO bars, stems, seatpost, bar-tape and some prototype parts on his 'cross bikes.

Full results and more photos at the OCA's pages.

After the race, a muddied and bloodied Morse said that this was the best race of the Ontario calender, citing the epic challenge of the course and the great atmosphere surrounding the event.


OCTTO exhibited at the race, showing off our parts and some prototypes.  Thanks to all the people who stopped by to check us out.  Also, thanks to RAAM contender Peter Oyler, Rob 'The Count' West and Gianni Fornasier for manning the booth and helping to prep, set-up and tear-down.

Reminder, it's almost here, November 23rd is the date for the Ontario Provincial Cyclocross Championships.

The race is being held by Véloo Media in downtown Toronto at Riverdale Park.  Visual prize-list here.

OCTTO will have a booth there, so drop by.

OCTTO Product pages have been added and updated:

Series REFERENCE
Road Racing frame

- new photos of complete bike with SRAM and Campagnolo gruppos

- info on complete bikes

PROFESSIONAL-Grade
Road Clincher Wheels

- new product

- preliminary specifications

ATTEMPT-Grade stems,
PROFESSIONAL-Grade stems

- new photos

- product specifications

What started as a simple email conversation to arrange the hand-off of some bike parts turned into a deep philosophical discussion.

The Dynamic Duo turned that into the focus of a blog-post about OCTTO.

"... if we want to get Canadians on top of podiums in international competition, we need to stop thinking like we don't deserve to be there. There has to be a belief-system in place.

And hand-delivering the wheels [to a sponsored rider] is just part of that system.

A hundred things have to fall into place for a championship to happen, equipment is just one small part of that equation.

The more parts of that equation that can be fulfilled, then the balance of the equation shifts towards a favorable result.

Sometimes the fittest rider is undermined by equipment-failure and sometimes the best equipped-rider is simply outperformed by a competitor.

But the key is to keep as many of those hundred plates spinning as possible. And belief is one of those plates.So, at OCTTO, if we sponsor a rider, then we believe they are a champion. It's that simple. "  

- Dr.Octto 2008

Dr. Octto will be in Tincap, Ontario for the Grand Opening of GSM Training Centre, on November 21st, 2008. 

OCTTO will be displaying the full-range of OCTTO products.

Tincap is near Brockville in Eastern, Ontario on the border of New York State, between Ottawa and Kingston.

Some cool photography from the local Cyclocross season by Flickr user Shapelike Mike Clark.

Natasha Elliot
- here, here.

Peter Morse in axtion
- here.

The OCTTO-sponsored self-proclaimed Dynamic Duo of Ms. Natasha Elliott and Mr. Derrick St. John have been ripping up courses and legs over the past few weeks of the Cyclocross calendar.

You might think that with all the double-consonants in their names, they are a Finnish snow-tire, but that guess would be a little too far North in Europe from their cyclocross final aspirations in Belgium.

In their European preparations, you can read their reports from all over the East Coast of N.A. :

New Jersey (USGP #3,4) - photo

Toronto (International Cyclocross #1,2) - photo, photo

New Jersey (Cycle Smart #1,2) - photo, photo

Kentucky (USGP #1,2) - photo, photo

Current UCI Cyclocross world-rankings include two OCTTO-sponsored riders, the "Dynamic Duo" of Derrick St.John and Natasha Elliot.

Ms. Elliot is the 2nd-ranked individual Canadian among the Elite Women at 16th spot, behind Wendy Simms who is also ranked 1st worldwide.  Canada is ranked 3rd in the Elite Women's Nation standings, thanks to these ladies.

DSJ is the 3rd ranked Canadian man and 33rd overall among Elite Men.  In the men's Nation's rankings, Canada is ranked a remarkable 5th, ahead of traditional 'cross powerhouses of Switzerland, France and Italy.

DSJ mentioned tto OCTTO-News:
"Tasha says she loves the OCTTO bar tape...it is good luck.  I love it cause it washes easy and she gets it dirty all the time."