Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast

The 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).

In 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.

https://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.

Trek 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.

A 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.