JetFuel Cycling Team

2 for 2 in Ontario’s first road races of 2010.

Peter — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 03:57:11 +0000

Following up our win from the Good Friday Road Race last week, the team rode strongly for another victory on Sunday at Tour of Bronte.

For pics and results click on the races above.

Trinidad Easter Grand Prix

Steve — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:53:46 +0000

I just spent the weekend racing the Easter Grand Prix in Arima, Trinidad. The track is just under 500m long. The air was thick with smoke from the forest fires all over the surrounding mountains. It was about 35 degrees during the day, but a moderate 28 in the evenings. I was happy to see Erin Hartwell there with two American endurance riders (Kit Karson and Austin Carroll) and two sprinters (Chris Pritchard of Scotland and T.J. Mathieson of the U.S.A.). I owe him a huge shout-out for helping me out while I was down there. Ten countries were represented, including Spain, France, and Columbia.

After a poor showing in the early races on the first day, my legs finally came around for the final, and feature event of the night, a 15 km scratch race. Four racers were launched an attack right away and after 1500m (three laps) I bridged up. Right away three of the riders got dropped leaving me with just one other rider. After about 5 more laps, he got dropped too, leaving me out in the wind on my own. I stayed away solo, and took my first win of the weekend!

The second day saw a few pretty gruesome crashes, and I took 3rd place winning the field sprint in an unknown distance race. In the feature event of the night, a 15 km points race, I took third behind Carlos Alzate (Columbia) and Austin Carroll.

On the final night, my legs were feeling pretty wrecked, and I was hoping that everyone else was feeling the same way. The first endurance event of the night was a 5 km scratch race. With 2 km to go, Alzate attacked, and I quickly bridged up to him. Neither of us wanted to pull for the final lap, so some cat-and-mouse action started. With the pack gaining on us, I attacked him in corner three, and took my second win on the weekend!

Overall it was a great experience. I made it to Maracas Bay, had a Bake n’ Shark, and met some really cool people (locals and the international racers). I will definitely be back, and wish luck to the Canadians going down for the Beacon Races!

JetFuel to Tour of the Battenkill

Peter — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:25:56 +0000

The team will again compete at one of the hardest races in North America.

On April 18 in upstate NY, the Tour of the Battenkill will see a hard fought race over very tough terrain. Hills and gravel cover much of the 100 km circuit. The first 100km gives riders a test, and the 2nd 100km weeds out the weak. After 200km only the best are left. JetFuel will be there to compete!

JetFuel in the Newspaper

Kevin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:01:05 +0000

Here’s a picture from the 2nd page of todays Hamilton Spectator.

Link: http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/686549

Ryan Aitcheson wins Can-AM-Que

David — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:45:56 +0000

Ryan Aitcheson took the win in one of the final races of the 2009 year for Jet Fuel Coffee out sprinting Canadian National Road Race champion Guillaume Boivin in a punishing 138 lap feature final. It was an exciting result in front of a buzzing crowd and shows some real promise for the 2010 season.

Ryan and I lined up at 7pm on Saturday for a qualifier in the Can-AM-Que challenge which had many racers from the US, Quebec and Ontario on hand to test their late season speed. Ryan had just flown in from LA where he was training with fellow Jet Fuel riders at the Canadian National Team camp. With some real depth in the field to go with Ryan’s jet lag, we definitely had our work cut out for us.

The first attack flew about 3 laps into the first qualifier. Soon after, Ryan launched and I worked my way up to his wheel. From there on out, we were pretty much flying for the rest of the night. We eventually reeled in the original attacker from Quebec (nice move Remi) and proceeded to lap the pack. I took the pack sprint with Ryan on my wheel to go 1 – 2 and qualify on to the next round.

The Semi was a little faster with the talent being refined to the faster riders. Attacks flew from the gun and the laps flew by. This time Ryan took a final hard turn at the front and we finished elbow to elbow with Remi and Guillaume to secure a spot in the feature final of the night.

After watching some impressive sprinting and repechage races (last attempts to qualify for the final) the fatigue was starting to set in. As we rode to the rail to start the 138 lap final, a $100 prime was announced for the first rider to lap the field along with some more dollars up for grabs in a sprint prime. This ensured that it would be a tough battle.

The first few laps flew by with no one creating an insurmountable gap. Finally, Canadian National Road Race champ, Guillaume Boivin of Team Planet Energy put in a valiant effort to take the $100. Right before he latched on the back of the group I put in a hard dig to keep the Planet Energy rider out on his own. This opened the door for Ryan and he launched like a missile out of a cannon and quickly got on terms with the leader. Ryan and Guillaume managed to lap the field two more times while marking each other for the remainder of the race.

Hoping for a Jet Fuel 1 – 2 again, I attacked hard toward the end. I managed to pull back two of the 3 lap advantage taking one Quebec rider with me for one. With less than 20 laps left, I was back in the field and had 3rd place wrapped up being 2 laps ahead of the field with Ryan and Guillaume 3 laps up. Ryan let a gap open and told me to “go for it.” I went as hard as I could and managed to catch the field for a third time. However, Ryan and Guillaume had escaped once again and were gone for the win.

Ryan showed no signs of the jet lag or fatigue from a week of hard training with the National Team in the end. He turned on the burners and left the National champ behind with nothing but the smell of Jet Fuel fumes. It was an impressive show for the young rider and another great event at the Forest City Velodrome. A big Congrats goes out to all the racers and, especially, Guillaume for a gutsy ride and performing like a real champion.

JetFuel victory at CanAmQue Challenge, Forest City Velodrome.

Peter — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:28:07 +0000

Ryan Aitcheson wins Omnium over National Road Champion, David Byer 3rd.

Click here for news, report to follow.

Subway update

Peter — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:45:20 +0000

The Subway ‘cross was the last race in the Southern Ontario CX Series. It was drier than expected, the drying mud was more like clay. The course was fast and tricky, and the race was very hard.

Eric Box, LG-Club Chaussures, took his first win over the promising U23 Jarrod Stafford. I managed 3rd place.

Recent cross results are in the Schedule/Results section.

Old Mill Subway ‘cross this Sunday

Peter — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:37:24 +0000

After Riverdale, where I finished 2nd, we have another TO cross. This time it’s at Old Mill Subway Stn. I’ll go for a step higher on the podium, and Everett will come back for his 2nd cross race in the youth category. Should be fun, the mud in that river valley never dries up.

Click here for photos and results from Riverdale.

Riverdale ‘cross this Sunday.

Peter — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:03:22 +0000

Come out to Riverdale Park, just off Broadview Ave, for some good race action.

Jet Fuel riders Everett Summers and myself will be going full tilt at 10am and 1pm respectively.

Cyclocross season underway, Jet Fuel wins in Toronto.

Peter — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:58:59 +0000

With 2 races under my belt this year, I managed to win on my 3rd start last weekend at the ZM Oktoberfest ’cross in Toronto. Article and results here.

This Sunday racing returns to Toronto at Cedarvale Park near Eglinton and Bathurst, this will be the site of the Canadian Championships in 2010. Following that are the Toronto International UCI races at Etobicoke’s Centennial Park. With all this cyclocross racing Toronto is turning into a mini-Belgium! (For 3 weeks at least).

Results from all races can be found here. Pictures shown below are from Jon Safka at, more can be seen at cyclingphotos.ca.

We were running shortly after the start.

Rain came down and made things tricky.

ZM Oktoberfest Cyclocross podium.

Here are a couple pics from Guelph CX where I placed 6th.

Off the pace and suffering…