Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast

At stage races this season, Olivia Baril has been in the mix. Recently, the rider from Rouyn-Noranda, Que., sprinted against Demi Vollering, Annemiek van Vleuten and Katarzyna Niewiadoma for a podium place on the final stage of Itzulia Women. Baril was third on the day and finished fourth overall. Her result at that race and at La Vuelta Femenina show that a Grand Tour win is a possibility. The ri...

Mark Beaumont has the world record for circumnavigating the world by bike. He also documents his big rides—down a massive volcano or from Cairo to Cape Town—on GCN. His latest book, The Complete Guide to Cycling Psychology (written with Dr. Jim Taylor), draws on his adventures and his co-author’s expertise to provide you with ways to boost your mental game on the bike. This wide-ranging and inspir...

From within the infield at the recent Track Nations Cup in Milton, Ont., athletes snagged medals, joked, made vows out of frustration and looked ahead to the world championships and Paris 2024. Find out about the off-track competition team-sprint members Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest had the day they rode to silver along with Sarah Orban. Learn about the psychology and tactics that go into a...

On the eve of Geoff Kabush’s birthday, the mountain biker, gravel racer and underbiker covers a range of topics: the evolution of bike tech, the right amount of flare for handlebars, sarcasm, his relationship with cheaters from back in the day and even a plan for editor Matthew Pioro involving pushups. A word that pops up frequently during the wide-ranging discussion with the 15-time national cham...

As the snow starts to melt at various rates across the country, and with the recent release of the ride guide in the April/May issue of Canadian Cycling Magazine, editors Matthew Pioro, Matt Hansen (a.k.a. ’90s Matt) and Terry McKall discuss some of the hard-won lessons they’ve learned from doing various cycling events: gravel races, gran fondos and mountain bike challenges. Learn from their mista...

A rainbow jersey on the track, multiple downhill World Cup wins, a Tour de France stage win—there were a lot of big performances by Canadian riders this past year. Canadian Cycling Magazine 's editors—Matthew Pioro, Terry McKall and Matt Hansen (a.k.a. '90s Matt)—break down the top stories of 2022.  You can also listen back to interviews with the year’s biggest newsmakers: The inside story of Hugo...

As Hugo Houle crossed the line in Foix on July 19, he pointed to the sky. He had accomplished a goal he had had for close to 10 years: win a Tour de France stage for his brother, Pierrik, who died after being struck by a vehicle while he was out for a jog. In this episode, find out what went into that victory, the decisions made out on the road and how a rider can be transformed. Featuring Houle h...

In late September, it became official: 18-year-old Michael Leonard signed with Ineos Grenadiers for three years. About a month later, he returned home to Oakville, Ont., from his base in Italy. He was staring at his new team bike, but couldn’t ride it. In this episode, find out why Leonard wasn’t taking that sweet new Pinarello out, as well as how he landed on the pro cycling’s richest team. Also,...

On Oct. 10, 2012, almost 10 years ago, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) released its reasoned decision, a comprehensive investigation into doping by Lance Armstrong and other members of the U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel cycling teams. The document brought charges against Armstrong and supported USADA’s call to strip Armstrong of his results, including his seven Tour de France wins....

This past August, Leah Kirchmann revealed that she’ll retire from professional road racing following the world championships in Wollongong, Australia. Kirchmann turned pro 12 years ago. In that time she’s ridden with Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies (now Human Powered Health) and Team DSM, the latter since 2016. In this episode, Kirchmann looks back at career highs, such as the team tim...

JaBig, a.k.a. Jean-Aimé Bigirimana, is known for his huge rides , including a 15-month, 17,000 km trek on a fixie across Canada that took him to the Arctic Ocean. His most recent adventure was around the U.S., from the northwest, down the Pacific coast, east across southern states, north on the Atlantic side and then back west. In this episode, JaBig looks back on his big ride. He’s a great storyt...

Tour de France Femmes, the Giro d’Italia Donne, Paris-Roubaix—those are just a few of the races Magdeleine Vallières Mill did during her first season on a WorldTeam. The 21-year-old rider from Sherbrooke, Que., had 40 days of racing, supporting her EF Education-TIBCO-SVB teammates. This year, Vallières Mill also opened a bike shop, called Qui Roule, in her hometown with her father and two business...

It’s Laurie Arseneault’s second season with Canyon MTB Racing. The squad was a total powerhouse at the national mountain bike championships in July, where she took the short track event and her teammate Emily Batty won the XCO title. In August, the day after the World Cup at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Arseneault returned to her place in Bromont, Que. She had had a tough XCO competition as she faced a few m...

This past June, Maggie Coles-Lyster won the national championship road race and the national championship criterium. Of the two results, the crit win was possibly less of a surprise. Coles-Lyster has been on the podium at American Criterium Cup races regularly throughout the past two years. Still, she’s no stranger to longer road events, including the Joe Martin Stage Race where she took the young...

In 1997, Linda Jackson was third at the Tour Cycliste Féminin. The 12-day stage race, with two split stages, was the closest thing to a Tour de France for women at the time. In 2004, Jackson started a women’s team that has now become EF Education-TIBCO-SVB. That team will be at the new Tour de France Femmes, starting on July 24. In this episode, Jackson discusses her career as a cyclist, the growt...

Oh, things move fast these days. Matthew Pioro and Matt Hansen are joined by former pro Michael Barry to preview the Tour de France. How many Canadians will be there exactly? Well, check out the discussion around Guillaume Boivin that was nicely prescient. And don’t forget Steve Bauer. The trio discusses a bridge that could have a significant effect on the race , cobbles and the main contenders. C...

Since 2020, Dave Shellnutt, the Biking Lawyer, has been a legal force behind cyclists in southern Ontario. With his partner Joel Zanatta based in Vancouver, the pair cover a lot of ground advocating for riders. At Canadian Cycling Magazine , editors often call on Shellnutt when they need an expert quote or insight about road safety and cyclists' rights. Shellnutt is quite active in the community....

Ahead of gravel racing’s biggest event, Unbound Gravel, two racers discuss the discipline of riding the bumpy stuff. Former pro-roadie and coach Andrew Randell will be racing Unbound for the first time. He talks about his preparation for the 200-mile event. Canadian cyclocross star Michael van den Ham, who started racing gravel in 2018, looks at how much the sport has changed in four years. He was...

In this episode, former pro Ryan Roth recounts his big win in northern France. In 2012, the rider from Kitchener, Ont., won Tro Bro Léon, a race that features gravel sectors called ribinoù . Its famous prize is a pig, however, Roth didn’t leave the podium with livestock. No, the pig goes to the best-placed rider from Brittany, the region within which Tro Bro is held. Tro Bro can be a chaotic race....

You’re no doubt familiar with Kelsey Mitchell’s story. It’s not only been documented in the pages—both print and web —of Canadian Cycling Magazine , but it’s also retold at the start of a recent docu-series called Back on Track , which focuses on the athletes at the Champions League that ran in the fall of 2021. Mitchell got into track cycling a bit later than most elites. In 2017, at the age of 2...

In March, Pier-André Côté won the one-day race Grand Prix Criquielion . He rides for Human Powered Health and is now in his fourth year with the U.S.-based ProTeam. The team’s race schedule has been bringing Côté to Europe pretty consistently since 2019. The sprinter is from Gaspé and he grew up in Levis, near Quebec City. His current home is Girona, which makes for a solid European base. In this...

Michael Yakubowicz and Frank Gairdner are behind Bridge Bike Works , a new company that’s aiming to roll out a made-in-Toronto carbon-fibre bike this summer. Join the duo for a tour of their factory to learn more about how a modern bike is made. Also, find out why these two Canadian guys think it’s a good idea to work with composites right in their city. This episode is brought to you by GCN+. Can...

You’re probably familiar with Svein Tuft’s legendary tales, such as the time he used a broken hockey stick to chase away a wolf that was menacing him and his dog, or how he had a hairy mountaineering descent in the rain. But what used to freak him out? Well, it’s not wolves or slippery heights. Tuft retired from professional road cycling at the end of 2019. In November 2020, the Langley B.C., nati...

When the Premier Tech u23 Cycling Project debuted this past November, the team said it wanted to get some of its riders in the WorldTour by 2024. By 2026, the outfit—which includes Dylan Bibic, Carson Miles, Charles-Étienne Chrétien, as well as seven others—is hoping to have placed five or six riders into the top ranks of road cycling. It’s an ambitious plan. One of the people behind it is Kevin F...

As 2021 comes to a close, the editors of Canadian Cycling Magazine get together to discuss the biggest stories in Canadian cycling. Olympics, Paris-Roubaix, the downhill world championships and even the current cyclocross season—the team gets into the details of the top performances of this country's athletes, as well as some of the biggest developments in the sport. Also, is now the time Canadian...