Podcast
Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast
Hosted by Matthew Pioro, Adam Killick, Terry McKall, Matt Hansen · EN
Cycling stories from across Canada and around the world. We talk to pros who ride on the road and the trails. We also talk about gear, riding and training. It's bikes, bikes and more bikes, eh.
31episodes
Episodes
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Enduro world champ Elly Hoskin is a meticulous rider with fresh ambitions for the season ahead
Mar 1901:04:18Tap to summarizeIn 2025, Squamish’s Elly Hoskin racked up a slew of successes: two Enduro World Cup wins, a victory at Crankworx Whistler, the world championship gold, as well as the national enduro title. Not bad for a rider in her first year as an elite rider who manages her own program, calling herself a pro privateer. In this episode of the Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast, Elly Hoskin looks back at her breakout 2025 season and ahead to new goals in 2026. She also discusses racing here at home compared with abroad, wrenching on her own bike, race prep and strategies, the ever-evolving health of enduro (of which she sees hope and optimism) and why she sometimes doesn’t know whether to say “beanie” or “tuque.” That feature interview starts at 20:00. Also in this episode, a preview of Milan-San Remo and San Remo Donne, the first Monuments of the road cycling season. MS Bike has lent its support to this episode. The organization is running 11 rides across the country this year. These are top-notch, fully supported events. The first ones are in June in Alberta. The last one is Waskesiu, Sask. There are also rides in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia. No matter which one you choose, there’s still plenty of time to prepare. If you need some training tips, there are two-month and three-month plans for you on the Canadian Cycling Magazine website. Remember, through an MS Bike event, you raise funds, which go to help MS research and services. Head to msbike.ca. Register, and then start training and fundraising.
Transcribe →Luke Valenti: Less Fortnite, more race wins
Mar 500:49:51Tap to summarizeIn February, Luke Valenti won two races in Spain. He took the general classification of the three-stage Memorial Manuel Sanroma Valencia. A week later, he won the one-day Circuito del Guadiana, putting him in the lead of the under-23 Spanish Cup. The season has gotten off to a strong start for the 21 year old chasing a pro contract. In this episode, Valenti, who’s from Orangeville, Ont., talks about how he came to ride for Club Ciclista Padronés-Cortizo, an outfit based in Spain’s Galicia region. He also discusses why he gets teased about his Fortnite playing, and how the video game relates to his riding and recovery. This episode of the Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast is supported by MS Bike. Every MS Bike ride is a professional event: fully supported with fuel, roadside assistance and first aid. The rides are welcoming, too. You only really need a bike, a helmet and the desire to keep pedalling. It’s all for an important cause, raising money to help those with MS. Register now and start your fundraising journey at msbike.ca. Then, head to Canadian Cycling Magazine’s training plans to prepare for your big ride.
Transcribe →Setting an ultra-cycling world record, from Alaska to Argentina, with Ashleigh Myles
Feb 1901:08:09Tap to summarizeWhy is it a good idea to sleep in a pit toilet in Alaska? In this episode of the Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast, world-record holder Ashleigh Myles explains the benefits of such grungy accommodation and other facets of pedalling from the top of the Western Hemisphere to the bottom. This past December, the Halifax rider and cycling-event organizer travelled from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina, in 118 days, two hours and 30 minutes. That time marks the fastest trip on the Pan-American Highway by an unsupported female cyclist. In this in-depth interview, Myles not only discusses northern outhouses, but the gear she took on her ride, dealing with illness and aggressive animals, and handling parts of the route that a cyclist simply can’t cover. Now that Myles’s has set such an impressive record, what could the next goal be?
Transcribe →You can’t get into pro road cycling anymore like James Piccoli did
Feb 500:54:29Tap to summarizeIn 2012, at the “old” age of 21, Montrealer Jamie Piccoli decided to pursue a career in pro road cycling. In his new book, Tell Me I Can’t, Piccoli chronicles that moment and his struggles to make it. The work is not only a story of a young athlete facing challenges, but a snapshot of time in North American cycling that has passed.
Transcribe →Derek Gee-West and Michael Woods double bill: Former teammates look toward new beginnings in 2026
Jan 2201:05:59Tap to summarizeThe Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast is back with two feature interviews. At the start of 2025, both Derek Gee-West and Michael Woods were teammates on Israel-Premier Tech. But by the end of August, Gee-West wasn’t riding because of a contract dispute with the team. Woods, who was suffering from illness and a serious hernia, announced his retirement.Now, at the start of the 2026, both riders have big ambitions for the season ahead. Gee-West spoke from the recent Lidl-Trek team camp. He chatted about coming on the new team and the plans for the first part of the season, which will culminate in his return to the Giro d’Italia, where he finished in fourth-place overall this past year.Woods is back on the bike, and skis, and is in the pool, all in pursuit of a year filled with a variety of endurance challenges. It’s part research project, part midlife crisis. Find out more about Woods’s plans that could even include the Winter Olympics (in 2030).
Transcribe →World champion Magdeleine Vallières Mill goes in-depth on her life-changing win
Oct 3000:47:02Tap to summarizeIn this in-depth interview, world champion Magdeleine Vallières Mill not only looks back at the 2025 season and the lead-up to her historic win in Kigali, Rwanda, but also ahead to next year, and the events she’s targeting and how she plans to race them. The rider from Sherbrooke, Que., has seen a lot of change since September, and there’s more to come. Vallières Mill talks about the mad dash to get her rainbow bike, kit and helmet soon after Kigali. She also touches on a strange nickname created by one of her EF Education-Oatly teammates. Although Vallières Mill still seems to have trouble believing she’s won the world championships, she’s moving forward with the opportunities that such a success can offer.
Transcribe →Maghalie Rochette blasts into the cyclocross season with new book and tour
Sep 1101:08:18Tap to summarizehttps://www.maghalierochette.com/Maghalie Rochette is coming into the cyclocross season hot. She’s released a new book. Currently, her CX Fever Tour—with book signings, clinics and rides—is moving across North America. She’s about to start racing once again, too.All this activity sits in sharp contrast to Rochette’s state in December 2024. Her European racing campaign came to an abrupt end as burnout and illness took hold. She stopped riding. She even thought she was done with racing. Instead, Rochette began to reset.In this episode, Maghalie Rochette looks back at that period. After time to rest, really rest, the rider began some light training. With big gaps between her workouts, Rochette started a project she had had in the back of her mind for some time. “I had this idea of creating a book about cyclocross,” she says, “not necessarily about my full story, but about cyclocross and stories I’ve lived through it.” The writing began around the end of February and the whole work came together rather quickly as the regular newsletter writer had a bank of ideas.Rochette, with her characteristic pep and enthusiasm, also discusses the state of her beloved cycling discipline. Despite declarations of its demise, cyclocross—Rochette argues—isn’t dead. While it may be tough to source a proper cyclocross bike these days, that’s no impediment to getting out and getting into the muddy art. Other topics that the rider/writer covers include the differences between North American and European cyclocross scenes, her misadventures within the latter and the rock ‘n’ roll nature of CX. Visit maghalierochette.com for more information about the tour and to order the book.Editor Matthew Pioro and feature writer Jake Williams talk about the slew of Canadian successes at the mountain bike world championships. They also chat about the big road cycling events in this country, the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec et de Montréal, which are about to get underway. Make sure to tune in to the Canadian Cycling Magazine website and social media channels throughout the events to stay up to date on all the action.
Transcribe →A deep dive into Trek’s new, versatile Fuel platform
Aug 7, 202500:35:08Tap to summarizeTrek has just launched a versatile trail platform in its new Fuel. Riders here at CCM have been fans of the previous Fuel EX and the Slash enduro bikes. The new Fuel, which actually comes in three configurations, has elements of both of the preceding models as well as the 27.5” Remedy. In this episode of the Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast, MTB editor Terry McKall speaks with three folks from Trek about the new Fuels. Ross Rushin, Trek mountain bike marketing manager, Dylan Howes, Trek mountain bike senior engineer and Trek marketing manager for Canada Taylor Cook get into the details about the expansive system for talking on all kinds of trails.The discussion turns to the project both McKall, and CCM photo editor and MTB tester Matt Stetson have been working on: a comparison between the Fuel LX model and EX one. McKall took the longer travel bike out on the trails of Vancouver Island, while Stetson played on routes in Ontario. You can check the video with McKall and Stetson’s insights, after you listen to the pod.Trek offers three versions of the Fuel: EX, MX and LX. The Fuel EX and LX models both run 29” wheels. The former has a 150-mm fork and 145 mm of travel. On the LX, there’s 160 mm of travel working with a 170-mm fork. Finally, the MX is a mullet bike (29” front, 27.5” rear wheel) sporting a 160-mm fork and 150 mm of rear wheel travel. To add to the lineup, there’s also the new Fuel+ eMTB, which replaces the EXe. It is similarly available in EX, MX and LX versions with a new motor and battery. Find out more details about all those bikes.McKall and his guests discuss how Trek came to develop the new Fuel system and what changes designers had to make to the frame so that it could work with such a wide range of forks and travel options. They give you more information about what’s required to convert from one platform to the other. Also, Howes and Rushin talk about how riding has evolved and how those changes have affected the design of the new Fuel system.
Transcribe →Rob Britton’s Unbound Gravel XL win and the types of rides he wants to do next
Jun 19, 202501:03:42Tap to summarizeA run-in with a badger, a gentlemanly pee break, a spectacular sunset and some amazing competition—those were just a few of the features of Rob Britton’s record-breaking Unbound Gravel XL win. It set his rough gravel season right, even if after more than two weeks following the race, the Victoria rider was still not fully recovered.Before the big event in Kansas, Britton’s season wasn’t going well. Bad luck, mostly, led to a series of results that left the Victoria rider frustrated. To change things up, he registered for the 350-mile version of Unbound. At 3 p.m. on May 30, he set off with a group of riders that included Ted King, Laurens ten Dam, Robin Gemperle and the rider Britton jokingly refers to as Gravel Jesus, Lachlan Morton. The next day, 17:49:51 after the race began, Britton crossed the finish line, winning Unbound XL with a record-setting time.In this episode, recorded just before gravel nationals in Water Valley, Alta., (but with a short clip following that event), Britton gets into the details of the race, including gear, fuelling and some of the tactical decisions he made. He discusses his long-time relationship with Lachlan Morton, which goes back to some of the Australian’s earliest road races in North America. Today, there’s a “Morton effect” on gravel racing that even had an influence on Britton’s race beyond the one-on-one duelling on the rough roads of Kansas.Back in 2017, when Britton was a pro roadie, he won the Tour of Utah stage race. How does the biggest win of his road career compare with his victory at gravel’s main event? How long does he think his Unbound XL record will last? And does his win in Emporia, Kansas, change anything or open any new doors for Britton? Find out.
Transcribe →Digging into the debates that shaped Shimano’s wireless XTR groupset
Jun 4, 202501:02:51Tap to summarizeShimano has released the latest version of its long-running, iconic XTR group, the brand’s flagship mountain bike set. XTR Di2 M9200 finally brings Shimano into the age of wireless shifting for mountain bikes.Anytime Shimano releases a new top-end group, it’s big news. But the Japanese brand’s mountain bike groups have, historically, foreshadowed what eventually shows up on dropbar and other bikes. Disc brakes? Clutch? 12-speed? 1-by? All started on trails before hitting tarmac.So with XTR being the brand’s first fully wireless groupset (Dura-Ace is semi-wireless, with wires running from the main battery to the front and rear derailleurs), everyone at the CCM office is paying close attention.In this episode of the podcast, you’ll hear how the group was developed and about some surprising, innovative and maybe mildly controversial (for Shimano, at least) design decisions. All these details come from Nick Murdick, Shimano’s North American product manager and a member of Shimano’s global product development team. Murdick has been driving the development of XTR Di2 M9200, all the way back to its origins in 2015 with XTR Di2 9050. Murdick gives candid insights into some of the internal debates at Shimano, some changes to the team’s culture there and how they’re reflected in XTR M9200. He even addresses the elephant, or Eagle, in the room of why it took so long for Shimano to respond to its biggest competitor with a wireless mountain bike group.It’s an interesting conversation, especially considering the details covered about gears, brakes and levers. Dive in, then check out mountain bike editor Terry McKall's full review of XTR Di2 M9200, as well as his thoughts on what this means for the future of Di2 across Shimano’s range and electronic shifting more broadly.And, for even more good stuff, check out this interview from our archive with long-time Shimano rider Geoff Kabush.
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