CXO outside of Ontario - Mathieu Toulouse

After a full season of mountain biking, Mat ended '06 off by racing a season of 'cross on the American circuit and a successful one, with several top 10 finishes, and landing 8th in the USGP series.

CXO caught up with Mat at his hotel in Rhode Island during the finale of the Verge New England Cross Series last December and discussed his racing in the US, as well as touching on his previous cross experience in Ottawa.

CXO: So you're a mountain biker???
MT: I get paid to race Mountain Bikes by Maxxis and that's my main discipline.

I've raced road for the last few years and I've enjoyed it quite a bit and I just got into cross this year. I had done a couple of cross races in Quebec, but I don't even know if you could call them cross races, they're usually courses that are more like mountain bike courses than a true cross course.

This fall, Maxxis put together a cross program, with proper support, where most of the races were attended by a team mechanic with a truck and a couple of bikes. We had people in the pits and everything.

CXO: Besides you and Kabush, who else is on the team?

MT: Adam McGrath who you just met, with the broken collarbone. He wrenches for us during the Mountain Bike season. He's been racing cross the last couple of years and he's pretty good... As a junior he went to Worlds once or twice and placed well in world cups as a junior.

His plan was to come out here and race US Nationals next weekend and then to head over to Europe for Christmas Cross in Belgium and then staying through cross worlds. So his injury is a pretty big disappointment

Then we have Melissa Thomas in the women's field.

CXO: How was the transition between mountain biking and cross?

I need practice on dismounts, shouldering the bike and all of the subtleties that are different from mountain bike to cross

MT: I came back from Mountain Bike Worlds and started training for cross. I did a bit of running and a bit of technical work. I've been riding for a long time, so people think that I should be good at cross, but I'm not really, I need practice on dismounts, shouldering the bike and all of the subtleties that are different from mountain bike to cross. There is still some stuff I need to figure out, but it's interesting - it's a new sport for me, so its pretty exciting to learn new skills.

CXO: Is it something you'd like to continue?
MT: I think so - I had a lot of fun this fall - the only problem is that to be competitive at a higher level, you need the logistic support, so I will only do it again next year if I have a proper team again next year and, if I do, I'd be really excited to do it again

CXO: Your cross experience is mostly from racing in the US?
MT: A couple of years back I did go to Ottawa at some point - there has always been a cross culture in Ottawa, before it got very popular elsewhere in Canada.

In the US it was popular, back in the Saturn days, when McCormack and Johnson were racing for Saturn. They had the Supercup series and after that there was a lull where it lost popularity for whatever reason. In the last couple of years it has been picking up again.
In Ottawa there has always been this core hardcore cyclocross racers - Bill Hurley and Kris Westwood and guys that have always been into it.. So they've had more 'proper' cross races. So I went to one of their races a few years ago, but I was racing on a mountain bike, so I wasn't really giving it everything.

CXO: At nationals, you finished 3rd this year, behind Greg and Kabush, and that qualified you for worlds, but you decided not to go?

MT: I was toying with the idea for awhile since I've been having so much fun with cross. I was thinking of going to Europe for Christmas Cross and doing the world championships, but I also have some goals on the mountain bike side of things and next year is going to be fairly important. The Olympic selection criteria hasn't been published yet, but chances are I'm going to have to try and perform fairly well on the world cup mountain bike circuit and try get my olympic standards to be eligible to go to the games.

I sat down with my coach and we figured out what I needed to do for training and when I needed to peak, so it wasn't the smartest thing for me to go to worlds.

I've basically been racing for 10 months now, starting in March - now it's December and I'm still racing, so the first thing I need is to take a break and some time off. I'm starting to take it pretty easy and my fitness is starting to drop off now.

I'll try and pick it up again in January, with some base miles and get ready for the mountain bike season.

CXO: Today's your last race?

MT: I'll come down next weekend, since there is the whole crew coming down for US nationals. and on Sunday there is an open race, which I will do, but I'm not taking it seriously anymore. I stayed serious until Portland and am slowly letting my fitness go.

CXO: Is cross what you thought it would be?
MT: It was more fun than I thought it would be. I always thought it could be fun, but I was afraid I'd be sick of racing, because a season is long and at some point you start looking forward to having some time off and not have to go to a race every weekend, but I stayed pretty motivated and it remained fun. Right now I'm starting to feel like I need a break, but It was more fun than I thought it would be.

CXO: So you have mountain bike worlds and Olympics, do you think once these are done, do you think there is a place there for cross world's?
MT: Sure - if it worked out I'd like to go. The other thing this year is Geoff decided he wasn't going either, so it meant I would either go alone, or tag along with Greg and Neil Ross, who are going together for Canada with some other athletes.

If Geoff had decided to go and Maxxis was sending someone with us for support I might have looked at it a different way.

I'd like to go at some point - one of the things I like about cross is how popular it seems to be. There has been alot of good crowds at the races and I heard Belgium is just insane. With crowds of 10-20,000 people for worlds.

I've seen that for mountain bike races, but I have to admit that it isn't the same nowadays. Back in the very good days of mountain biking. ..

CXO: Even in North America?
MT: Not really, there have been some good races at Mount St Anne and Mount Snow, but I remember one of the races I did was in Madrid in 2000 and there was a huge amount of spectators, 2-3 people deep, with people shouting... it was crazy.

Switzerland is still good. The last time I raced in Fort William, there were lots of spectators and they were pretty keen, but still not as big as it has been in the past.

CXO: You have been racing road, is this for fitness, speed, skills?
MT: Road helps for mountain bikers as far as training goes, because it helps to develop some abilities you don't get from mountain bike racing - mainly the snap and the jump you need to have for road racing. And of course the longer races increase your stamina.

I also do it because I really enjoy it.

As soon as I really dial it in and not let those seconds go I'll be able to ride at the front

Road races are fun - it's completely different from what you'd get in a one day mountain bike race. I've had fun doing road stage races in the past and I'll be racing for a road team out of Quebec next year. We'll be doing some of the NRC races. I guess the calendar is yet to be confirmed, but we'll do at least the Philly week, and maybe Virginia, and some of the smaller races, so it should be pretty fun.

CXO: Maybe road nationals?
MT: Yes, if it's moving to a different weekend it should work. With mountain bike racing I have a lot of commitments, but that weekend that nationals should be moving too I'll be able to race.

CXO: Can you tell us about your Cross bike - the Van Dessel?
MT: We race on Van Dessel cross bikes - it's a small company out of New Jersey.
As the name may lead you to think, it's a Belgian guy that owns the company. He's pretty young - and I guess he moved to Belgium in his early 20's and he's passionate about cycling so he started his own company.
He's really excited about cross, since he grew up in Belgium going to cross races. The bike we race is called the Gin & Trombones, the story behind the name is that when he thinks of cross he thinks of people drinking gin on the side of the course to keep warm and trombones because they usually have marching bands at the cross races in Belgium.

It's an aluminum bike, carbon rear end, full Dura Ace, Maxxis tires - obviously, Crank Brother pedals, We're running the q-rings, that get a lot of attention.

CXO: Do you see yourself maybe getting up where Tim and Trebon are?
MT: For sure - I think I can get there - at some of the races such as Gloucester, I was doing really well and I was really close to the front and I think I have the fitness to be up there, but right now I think it's just that my fitness has dropped.
The cross races are often won by such small margins that you kind of have to lose any time anywhere. Right now I'm still losing time on transitions - a bike length here and there. As soon as I really dial it in and not let those seconds go I'll be able to ride at the front more and be competitive and not that far off.

CXO: Thanks - and good luck in your racing!