Canadian Cycling Magazine April & May 2022/ Vol 13 Issue 2

As I was working on this issue during January and February, I had my regular winter routine going: getting up early to ride the trainer. In our condo, even the clatter of a quiet trainer and drivetrain can wake my family, so I haul my setup onto the balcony. I won’t do it on mornings that have a wind chill lower than -16 C—that’s my limit. But in anything warmer than that, the right layers are all I need. I don’t have to worry about a fan. In the dark on a small balcony, things may seem constrained. But I have a focus similar to being out on a regular ride. I’m in my cycling space, one that happens to have a panoramic view, albeit a static one, and podcasts. A…

Editor Matthew Pioro matthew@cyclingmagazine.ca Senior Editors Dan Dakin, Kevin Mackinnon, Dean Campbell Associate Editor Andre Cheuk Photo Editor Matt Stetson matt.stetson@gripped.com Copy Editors Amy Stupavsky, Rebecca Tucker Art Director Warren Wheeler layout@cyclingmagazine.ca [Roseander Main, roseandermain.com] Production Artist Warren Hardy MTB Web Editor Terry McKall terry@cyclingmagazine.ca Web Editor Matt Hansen matt.hansen@cyclingmagazine.ca Podcast Producer Adam Killick Web Developer Sean Rasmussen Digital Operations Dmitry Beniaminov Publisher Sam Cohen sam@gripped.com Editorial Director David Smart dave@gripped.com Advertising & Sales Andre Cheuk andre@gripped.com Account Managers Joel Vosburg joel@gripped.com, Lorena Jones lorena@gripped.com Circulation Manager Robyn Milburn robyn@gripped.com Social Media Nikita van Dijk nikita@gripped.com SUBSCRIBE Send $20.95 (1 year) or $38.95 (2 years) to Canadian Cycling Magazine PO Box 819 Station Main Markham, ON, Canada L3P 8L3 or call: 1.800.567.0444 SUBMIT Manuscripts, photographs and other correspondence are welcome. Please contact Canadian Cycling Magazine for contributors guidelines, or see them on the web at cyclingmagazine.ca. Unsolicited material should be accompanied by return mailing address and postage. Canadian Cycling Magazine Tel 416.927.0774 Fax 416.927.1491 cyclingmagazine.ca Gripped Publishing Inc. 75 Harbord St., Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 1G4 Copyright 2022 Gripped Publishing Inc. The contents…

Exceptional results and an exceptional sense of humour In mid-February, Ava Holmgren and some of her teammates on Stimulus Orbea spent a day at an indoor bike park. They were at Joyride 150, just north of Toronto, to practise their on-bike skills and to have some fun as well. Holmgren was just coming off a break following the cyclocross world championships in Fayetteville, Ark. She was seventh in the junior women’s race, just ahead of her twin sister Isabella. Ava’s result, along with Maghalie Rochette’s seventh in the elite race, was part of the top performances by Canadians at CX worlds. Other highlights from Holmgren’s ’cross season include her junior Pan Am cyclocross championship win and her win at Hexia Cyclocross Gullegem, as well as solid rides at Namur and Hulst. While…

Before the plastic bidon came to dominate bottle cages everywhere, there was the aluminum bottle. It was a common water carrier from the 1920s to the 1950s. It needs either a cork stopper or a screw cap to secure the liquid inside. Most often, a rider would carry the bottle in front of the handlebars. “Because aluminum doesn’t have any give to it, the bottle cages were either sprung or had clamps on them to hold the bottles,” says Michael Barry of Mariposa Bicycles. His father, Mike Barry Sr., had collected a few bidons. Some are plain aluminum, while others are anodized. One of them has a top with “Coloral” printed on it in a cursive typeface. It’s the name of a U.K. company that made a bottle popular among…

Mingus, Catharine Pendrel’s springer spaniel, is watching her suspiciously from the sofa. Maybe because it’s mid-January and, instead of cycling in California for her regular training camp, Pendrel’s doing a Zwift workout on her basement trainer in Kamloops, B.C. On the wall in front of her are jerseys and race numbers from her long, storied career. The two-time cross country mountain bike world champion rode her final World Cup this past September—her 101st World Cup start. Mingus might also be suspicious because, instead of focusing on training numbers, Pendrel’s listening intently to other athletes via Discord. This past December, Pendrel became a national team coach with Cycling Canada. Typically, during training camp rides, the riders might break off into pairs, chat for a while and then switch partners—like speed dating on a bike,…

This past November, following a question period that featured members of Parliament in the House of Commons and others joining remotely, Conservative MP Ed Fast raised a point of order. Fast said Minister Steven Guilbeault’s bicycle—which hung on a wall behind the minister as he spoke via a video feed—was a prop and unparliamentary. The bike in question was a purple Marinoni fixie. Fast said that Guilbeault had the bike hanging behind him to “make a statement about his environmental cred.” The minister of environment and climate change took to Twitter to address the “scandal,” (with a hint of sarcasm) that he should also remove his “plants and books, other dangerous props.” The Marinoni is anything but a prop. “I have been riding 12 months a year since basically 1989,” says the…