Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast

When Devon Clarke lined up for the national gravel championship race this past April, most riders and fans didn’t really know how fast she was. Sure, she’d won the provincial road race the previous summer, but still, she wasn’t as well known as her competitors Maghalie Rochette and Ruby West. At the end of the 108-km event in Ancaster, Ont., Clarke became the country’s first national gravel champion, a year after she started racing bikes seriously. Since then, she’s won the Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo—which qualifies her for the gravel world championships in Italy this October—and the Reggie Ramble. She now has her sights set on bigger gravel events. Find out more about this rider from Collingwood, Ont.

Enduro rider Kasper Woolley has had a terrible run of luck in the past year. In August 2022, a rider going the wrong way on a pump track smashed into Woolley. This past February, he crashed on a trail and damaged his spleen. The injury was so severe that he faced a five-month recovery. Woolley, who’s been on YT Mob since the start of the year, is now planning his return to competition at the end of July at the Cranworx’s Canadian Open Enduro. Later in September, it’s off to France for the final events of the UCI Enduro World Cup. It’s a late start to the season, but one Woolley is looking forward to. As he’s done in the past, he’s sure to be on podiums  once again.

Motorola, U.S. Postal and Garmin-Sharp are some of the teams that Geoff Brown has worked on, preparing and fixing bikes for the biggest road races, including the biggest of them all, the Tour de France. His first Tour was in 1994. Since then, he’s amassed many stories, some hilarious and others tragic. Find out why he doesn’t like time trials, but does like tubeless tires. Also learn how a mechanic is often more than just a person who tunes a bike. While Brown hasn’t been back to the Tour since 2018, he is making a return this year. In just a few weeks, he’ll be wrenching at the Tour de France Femmes with his current team, Human Powered Health.

Since 2018, Matt Kadey has been designing bikepacking routes. Some of his most popular tracks include the BT 700, the Grand Nith Ramble and No Winter Maintenance, all in Ontario. This past March, he launched the Great Northern Bikepacking Route, an adventurous way to get from Victoria to St. John’s, N.L. Kadey discusses why riders needed a new way to go west to east, why the route is not all in Canada and why—even though there are 16 Ride With GPS files that will help you to get from one coast to the other—there’s still work to be done on the route.

Recently, Kadey hosted the fifth grand depart for the first route he designed, the BT 700. He talks about the importance of such send-offs. Kadey not only builds routes, but community, too.

Also in this episode, the regular Matts (Pioro and Hansen) look back at recent races abroad and in Canada. One Matt competed against the other in a hill climb, using an ebike. It didn’t go exactly as planned.

How did Derek Gee do it? How did he get into breakaway after breakaway at the recent Giro d’Italia? And what’s next for the Ottawa rider who impressed and entertained throughout his first Grand Tour? In this in-depth interview, Gee analyzes his four second-place stage finishes. He also talks about the feisty young Israel-Premier Tech squad that made it to Rome, the state of his apartment following his arrival from the Giro, getting slapped in the face, telling Thibaut Pinot to cool it, his relationship with mountains and what type of rider he might be able to become.

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 rider herself has the confidence in her abilities for such a feat. She'll have a chance this summer as the team recently informed her that she'd be heading to the Tour de France Femmes as UAE Team ADQ's general classification rider. In this episode, Baril talks about the dynamics within the women’s pro peloton, living and racing in Spain and her goals for the rest of the season.

This episode of the Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast is supported by MS Bike. Register and start fundraising at msbike.ca. Also, check out MS Bike specific training advice and tips from Canadian Cycling Magazine experts.

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 inspiring conversation with Beaumont will help you to start training your mind. The rider also talks about bike design as he’s consulted on the new Argon 18 Krypton, the Montreal company’s all-road bike.  

The two Matts chat about La Vuelta Femenina, prairie dogs and something you shouldn’t do with a cargo bike.

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 team pursuit race. Sometimes you can use an opponent’s strengths against them, which is what the Canadian women’s squad did in the bronze-medal race.

Also, the two Matts talk Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Pan Am championships. Terry reports on the cool stuff he saw a Sea Otter, including carbon-fibre bottom bracket threads, new hubs and, yes, jean shorts.

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 champion from Courtenay, B.C., is balance, which seems to be a key to Kabush’s longevity. That, and fun.

Editors Matt and Matt discuss Paris-Roubaix and Alison Jackson’s historic win at the Hell of the North.

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 mistakes before you head into your outdoor riding season.

Also, lots of talk about recent pro races abroad and a look ahead to the Tour of Flanders. Another lesson: always guess “Steve Bauer” for Canadian cycling trivia.