Matthew Pioro

The Polar V650 bike computer uses a barometer to get altitude data, which is more accurate than GPS. You can match this head unit with Kéo Power pedals to keep track of the watts you are pushing on the right and left cranks.

If you are planning to do some shredding in the Bow Valley in Alberta or Pemberton Valley in B.C., you should check these two volumes by Peter Oprsal of bikepirate.com. The trails in Bow Valley Mountain Bike Trail Guide (Second Edition) and Pemberton Valley Mountain Bike Trail Guide are rated with skulls and cross bones.

A classy Belgian leather tool roll from Yellow Line Rule lets you carry your repair kit in style. The roll, made in Barrie, Ont., by the Peterborough, Ont.-based company, attaches to the rails of your saddle with a toe strap. You can get one with a line from Eddy Merckx embossed in the leather, or a line from Greg LeMond or a graphic inspired by a 1960s Polish stamp commemorating the Peace Race.

I spoke with Nicole LaViolette and Craig Forcese is past fall at the Toronto International Book Fair about their new book, Every Cyclist’s Guide to Canadian Law. The work not only has information on traffic laws and safety, but facts about warranties on new bikes and even rules surrounding doping. The authors both teach law at the University of Ottawa. LaViolette focuses mostly on international law and refugee issue. Forcese says he teaches subjects that are even more obscure than cycling and the law. Both, however, are avid cyclists who saw a need for a book on cycling and Canadian law.

Keep road gunk from making a stripe up your back with the Topeak DeFender R1/R2 fenders. They are easy to fasten to a road bike running 20c to 25c tires. The Endura Luminite 2 jacket is made with a waterproof, breathable fabric, featuring strategically placed reflective strips.

Shinola makes bikes in Detroit. The company also makes watches and leather items, such as this bi-fold wallet, which will hold bills and a few cards. The Bradley Twill City trouser is from Fred Perry’s Bradley Wiggins Collection. Like any good cycling-related garment, there’s a bit of Spandex.

The Diadora X Trivex Plus Women’s shoes, with their fibreglass-reinforced nylon soles, provide excellent power transfer as you rip down the trail. On each shoe, one adjustable buckle and two hookand- loop straps lock the foot into place. Well-positioned lugs offer good off-bike traction. If enduro rides are your thing, Shimano’s new M200 shoes are the best way to connect your feet to your pedals.

The Runners Junior push bike is for some of the smallest riders. The bike without any pedals is meant for one- to three-year-olds. The little ones work on propelling themselves by their feet and work on their balance. They’ll likely need a upgrade to something with pedals in no time. Make sure the little bike rider’s melon is protected. The MEC Ace bike helmet has a expanded polystyrene (EPS) inner shell and 11 vents for airflow.

You shouldn’t be riding under 10 m of water. But if you find yourself in so deep, you can record it with the Contour Roam 3 as the point-of-view camera is waterproof to that depth. It’s well designed with few buttons to clutter it up. For further customization, you can download the Contour Storyteller software. The Roam 3 can shoot in a resolution as high as high as 1080p or as low as 480p. There’s nothing weird about giving Rubbers as a gift.

The Liv Signature SS jersey is made from an open-knit fabric that wicks away moisture. Its three deep rear pockets will keep your things secure. The Liv Signature shorts have a comfortable chamois designed by the Basque company Etxeondo. Shimano’s 105 line got a reboot this year. While it sits third after Dura-Ace and Ultegra, 105 parts are still top performers for races and gran fondos.

Now that’s cold. If you are out on your bike in -5 to -10 C, you are officially hard-core. Of […]

Cold. Not bragging-rights cold, but the range from 0 to -5 C is low enough that you have to take […]

Clear, dry roads? Well, you can still ride with the right cold-weather cycling clothing. To give you some guidance when you […]

As the temperature drops, choosing the right cold-weather cycling clothing for your ride can be tricky. Should you go with arm […]

My test bike, the Trek Émonda SLR 8, shares the same frame and fork (690 g and 280 g in Size 56, respectively) as the SLR 10, but has a less-rarified spec. The parts are still high-end: 11-speed Dura-Ace mechanical gruppo, Bontrager saddle, handlebar and stem. It rolls on Bontrager Race X Lite tubeless-ready alloy wheels. My SLR 8 frame had Trek’s racier H1 fit, but is available in the more upright H2 fit.

In the current issue of Sportsnet, writer Arden Zwelling comes out swinging for the dopers. All manner of athletic doping, […]

Cycling and the law seem to be a hot topic this week. On Thursday, Mark Treyger, a New York City councillor, […]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was killed the day the 12th edition of the Tour de France began in Paris

When Norco opened in Burnaby, B.C., in 1964, founder Bert Lewis called the company Northern Cycle Industries. There was a problem […]

Author and cyclocross racer Molly Hurford considers herself a bit of an accidental expert. About four years ago, Hurford started racing and writing about bikes. Women then started asking her questions, before and after races, and even during.

After seven years, Mike Garrigan was back on the top step of the of the podium when he won the 2014 Shimano Canadian cyclocross championships in Winnipeg on Oct. 25.

For another interviewee who had committed an anti-doping rule violation, his professional team in Europe was the supply source [of […]

Canadian Cycling Magazine‘s Bob Bergman scoped out the course of the 2014 Shimano Canadian cyclocross championships the day before the title […]

When Giant announced that it would be debuting its relaunched Defy line in Scotland at the beginning of July, it seemed a curious location. What connection did the Scottish Highlands have to the Defy, especially the top-of-the-line Giant Defy Advanced SL 0 that I’d be riding? Not much. Maybe the organizers knew, like the border guard, that the roads of Perthshire would put the vibration damping abilities of the new frame to the test. Also, it rains a lot in Scotland. I suspect those same organizers wanted to find an authentic riding situation in which the hydraulic disc brakes could really shine. But if rain was supposed to feature in the riding, the weather didn’t co-operate. The other testers and I had two days of sun.

Almost a week before the 2014 Shimano Canadian cyclocross championships, Ruby West, a 15-year-old racer from Dundas, Ont., competed in Firemen’s Park Cross in Niagara Falls, Ont. It was the first race for the recently upgraded West in the junior category.

Willem Boersma can’t remember exactly when he got into cyclocross—at age 12 or 13—but he does remember being the youngest […]

“I’ve never been disqualified before,” said Aaron Schooler. The cyclocross racer recently returned to Canada from Germany to get acclimatized […]

“About 15 years ago, a couple of other people and I thought it would be fun to put on a […]

When Pinarello’s last road frame debuted in 2012, the Italian company highlighted Toray’s 65HM1K carbon fibre for the stiffness it lent to the Dogma 65.1 Think 2. For Pinarello’s latest frame, the Dogma F8, the fibre is again part of the story. Toray, which makes composites for the airline industry as well as bikes, has given Pinarello exclusive use of the T11001K carbon fibre for this frame. The latest composite, Pinarello says, could save 80 g on the old frame.

Edmonton, 11-km circuit In 2013, the Tour of Alberta opened with a time trial prologue in Edmonton. It was a […]

If you’ve participated in any of this country’s early Spring Classics, such as Barry’s Roubaix in B.C. or Paris to Ancaster in Ontario, you’ll be familiar with one of this stage’s features. On the route from Edmonton northeast to Fort Saskatchewan, then south past Ardrossan to a long eastern loop before coming back to Strathcona County, the peloton will encounter gravel sectors, North America’s answer to pavé.

A big factor in Stage 3 will probably be crosswinds, a feature of Prairie riding. “This is one of those stages where it doesn’t look like much on paper: a pretty straight shot north,” race technical director Jeff Corbett says. “Whatever the conditions are, you’re going to have to deal with them all day. It’s not that big of a deal if it’s a tailwind all day. But if it’s a headwind or a nasty crosswind, there’s not going to be any getting out of it. Every single team is going to be studying the weather report furiously that morning.”

Red Deer was the site of a two-man sprint for the line last year. Silvan Dillier, a stagiaire with BMC, beat Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly presented by Kenda) after they completed the three-lap circuit in town. This year’s Stage 2 looks like it could provide the same opportunity to the peloton’s opportunists. That final circuit is back in Red Deer.

Even though Wednesday’s Stage 1 is a circuit around Lethbridge, a city new to the Tour of Alberta, Jeff Corbett, […]

The 2014 edition of the Tour of Alberta starts where the 2013 event finished: Calgary. This stage is a short, but wicked, 4-km time trial. Each rider will start near Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, and then ride along Canada Olympic Drive SW. The first 2.5 km have a relatively flat grade by the Olympic Park.

The meeting that Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson has called on Sept. 19 at Vancouver’s Wedgewood Hotel and Spa is supposed to change […]

The 2014 Great Divide I tested was an elegant matte grey with polished logos. For more bling, but tasteful bling, you can opt for the high-polish blue anodized finish. The spec on my bike is as North American as No. 22 could make it: Thompson stem, handlebars, seatpost and seat collar; Chris King headset and PressFit 30 bottom bracket; and Enve Road 2.0 1.25″ tapered fork.

At a recent Giant event, I got to test some of the company’s performance apparel, which included the 2015 Rev Pro […]

“Anything we do, has to be authentic to the end user. No gimmicks. No fluff. No BS. No little things stuck in it,” said Jon Swanson. The global category manager for road at Giant Bicycles was speaking about the Taiwan-based company’s 2015 Giant Defy line. Giant’s set of endurance road machines was relaunched this past week at an event in the Scottish Highlands.

Canada’s newly minted time trial and road race champion, Svein Tuft, his heading to the Tour de France. On Tuesday, the Australia-based WorldTour team Orica-GreenEdge named its squad for the 101st Tour de France, which starts Saturday. The list also includes Jens Keukeleire, Luke Durbridge, Mathew Hayman, Michael Albasini, Michael Matthews, Simon Clarke, Simon Gerrans and Simon Yates.

Kinley Gibson is making her debut in the elite field at the Canadian national championships this year. In 2013, she […]

After missing the Canadian national championships in 2013, Svein Tuft is returning to compete for the maple-leaf jersey in both the individual time trial and the road race. The Langley, B.C. native is no stranger to the national championships. He’s won the time trial title 8 times, in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

In 2013, Ryan Anderson picked a tough race to kick off his season. The Canadian road championship race, which comes […]

“I think Will is in a really good place right now. He’s riding better than I’ve ever seen him. That’s pretty exciting,” said Ryan Anderson, Will Routley’s fellow Canadian teammate on Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies. Anderson spoke shortly after the Tour of California, in which Routley won a stage and the race’s king of the mountains jersey.

Bruno Langlois’s goal for Canadian national championship road race is pretty clear. “Well, I’d really like to win,” he said with […]

“After 400 or 500 km, you start to better understand it,” Tony Giannascoli, the founder of Guru Cycles said. He was describing the ride quality of his carbon-fibre road machine, the Photon SL, and how its characteristics reveal themselves.

On Monday, hours before two team SmartStop riders took first and second in the U.S. national road championships, the Team […]

One never tires of Danny MacAskill’s skills. We’ve seen the trials specialist flip, bounce and drop in all sorts of […]

Shells from my partner’s handgun bounced off my left shoulder. We were crouched behind two police cars parked in a […]

Had Giuseppe Marinoni lied to me? That question ran through my head as I watched the documentary on the Italian-born, Montreal-based frame builder. Marinoni: The Fire in the Frame concluded its debut run at Toronto’s Hot Docs Film Festival Saturday night with both the subject and the filmmaker present.

Train Station Bike & Bean owner Dana Gallant shares his post-ride soup recipe.

When the custom frame maker Saratoga Frameworks closed down last week, the founders of Toronto’s No. 22 Bicycle Company were caught […]

While it’s almost spring, technically, things are looking pretty winter out there. You’re probably going a little stir crazy, or trainer crazy. To combat that seasonal loopyness just get out there. The Shimano MW81 will protect your feet from the cold and wet.

At the recent 5-hour Energy presented by Kenda training camp in Georgia, while most riders were inside on their computers, […]

I first caught a glimpse of the Pioneer SGY-PM900H90 power meter at 2013’s ExpoCycle in Montreal. Like many, my reaction was, “Pioneer? The stereo guys?” But as Frank D’Angelo, marketing manager of Pioneer Electronics of Canada, argues, it makes perfect sense that the brand released a crank-based power meter and head unit. “A lot of it has to do with understanding data and transmitting data,” he said. The power meter is simply a collection of technologies that the company has been involved with for a long time.

Shimano added the matte white frame to its EQX2 line of sunglasses for 2014. The specs ship with three types of lenses. For conditions with glare bouncing off of water or the windshields of cars, the polarized pair of lens manages the harsh light, so you can keep your eyes on the road.

Mavic is old. The French wheel, shoe, helmet and apparel company got its start 1889 as Manufacture d’Articles Vélocipédiques Idoux […]

Almost six years ago, roughly 60 cyclists rode around the oval track of a public school in downtown Toronto. Along […]

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), which on Monday announced a two-year sanction against cyclist Sebastian Salas, released […]

I was keen to try Cannondale’s CAAD10; it’s aluminum done right. The Bethel, Conn.-based company has been working with the material since 1983 with the launch of its ST-500 Sport Touring bike. The company’s goal was to make a bike lighter and stiffer (sound familiar?) than the steel tourers of the day.

During the closing months of 2013, members of Cycling Canada Cyclisme met to plan not only for the year ahead, […]

You know you have the wrong footwear when you have two pairs of thick stocks over your feet and you’ve […]

The worst happens and you go sailing over your handlebars. Down you come. Your helmet hits the ground taking the […]

On Saturday, Peter Disera, mountain biker (and cyclocrosser and time triallist and more) won the XC male athlete of the […]

I find Bianchi’s celeste colour evokes long rides in the summer sun. I was lucky to be able to test […]

Less than a week after Ryder Hesjedal’s doping confession, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport received $810,000 in funding […]

An old fixture of Southern Ontario cycling might be facing its final days. At a recent discussion of Norfolk County’s […]

Following  Adrienne Arsenault’s report last week on CBC’s The National, in which the journalist said the names of other Canadian riders […]

On Wednesday, something rotten in the state of Denmark spread to include Canada. Details from disgraced Danish rider Michael Rasmussen’s […]

Cycling mechanic and longtime racer Brad Hunter gives Canadian Cycling Magazine editor Matthew Pioro some helpful maintenance advice to get […]

What’s the connection between Victoria-native Ryder Hesjedal and rabbit stew? Find out as Canadian Cycling Magazine‘s editor, Matthew Pioro, chats […]

Canadian Cycling Magazine caught up with Geoff Kabush ahead of the 2013 edition of Cross Vegas in Nevada. The 2012 […]

You know the final stage of the Tour de France in which the yellow jersey wearer essentially gets a procession […]

“There is so much voodoo talk about carbon fibre,” said Pierre Perron, the global marketing director at Louis Garneau. We […]

The riders should check the weather before heading out on this stage. Once again, the wind could play a factor […]

Stage 2 marks Day 2 out on the prairie, but the parcours is a little more varied than the previous […]

The second stage takes the riders to the prairie. But the flat parcours doesn’t mean the stage will be an easy pedal.

The time trial run through Edmonton will test the legs of the riders and may have a significant effect on the strategies the teams will use in the following stages.

It’s a fast, versatile bike for all kinds of riding.

Taiwan-based bike maker makes fleet-wide expansion to 27.5″

Tackling the 27.5″ wheel-size question mountain bikers are faced with

20-year-old Calgary rider to appear in September’s six-day race

The Canadian classic tribute to Paris-Roubaix is aging well

In the spring of 2012, Giuseppe Marinoni found himself a bit incredulous when his son told him the one-hour record for the 75-79 age group at the time. It was 33 km. “I said ‘33?'” recalls the elder Marinoni. “I could do more than that easily—33.”

Serge Arsenault on cycling’s problems and solutions

An elegant, top-of-the-line machine

How it’s possible to keep up with expert riders by training 12 hours a week.

Road to Valour (Doubleday Canada) offers bigger rewards to those not very familiar with Gino Bartali, the Italian cyclist whose career spanned the Second World War. Those who know of the racer’s victories and records will still get a lot from this book—from a look at cycling’s early history in the first half of the 20th century to European politics of the era—but they may miss out on the suspense. Some of Bartali’s races were infused with the same drama that comes with any good race. Others had much more than a coloured jersey riding on them.