{"id":739256,"date":"2026-06-15T23:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/739256\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T23:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:26:10","slug":"one-of-the-deepest-ive-ever-gone-says-mike-woods-of-gravel-nationals-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/739256\/","title":{"rendered":"“One of the deepest I’ve ever gone” says Mike Woods of gravel nationals effort"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Woods rolled into Lake Cowichan as one of the pre-race favourites for gravel national championships, but not the only one. In a thrilling duel, the former WorldTour pro was pushed to his limits by reigning national champ Ben Perry and mountain biker-turned-gravel expert, Andrew L\u2019Esperance.<\/p>\n

That effort, as of Sunday night, may have been for nothing<\/a>. Cycling Canada is still reviewing whether or not it can award championship results in a race that was, for some riders, halted mid-race.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the deepest I\u2019ve ever gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Woods, post-finish.
\nHeat and hurt at gravel nationals<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m disappointed, for sure,\u201d Woods said after Cycling Canada\u2019s announcement was broadcast over the event speakers. \u201cI went so deep. One of the deepest I\u2019ve ever gone. To now find out that there might be a podium or results? It\u2019s a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

On paper, Sunday\u2019s racing didn\u2019t sound brutal, especially compared to the longer, harder races with major elevation changes that Woods thrived in while racing as a pro. How did just 128km with only roughly 2,000m of elevation gain hurt so much?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m not putting in the same level of preparation that I used to. That\u2019s part of why I\u2019m finding it so hard in the finals of these races,\u201d Woods admits, before adding, \u201cGravel\u2019s also just a general burn. It\u2019s not on and off like a road race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between that, less preparation than his pro days and, some intense heat on the day (Woods said, coming from cooler weather in Andorra, the \u201cheat really caught me by surprise\u201d) and stiff competition, it made for a fiercely contested championship race.<\/p>\n

That last factor, he was prepared for. The route stared with a traverse over to a big loop, featuring a main climb and bomber descent. Starting the second lap of that loop, Woods attacked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that I\u2019d almost have to bluff in order to win. I\u2019d have to go really hard on the second last climb, go into the red and hopefully be able to suffer more than others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woods did gain an advantage on the climb. Behind, though, Perry and L\u2019Esperance had joined forces and were working together to reign Woods in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no information, I mean, no one has information in a gravel race. But it was a headwind, the heat started to pick up and I started running out of water,\u201d Woods said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ben Perry and Michael Woods on the start line in Lake Cowichan. Photo: Jeff Bartlett
\n\u201cThere was a lot of self-doubt\u201d A blind TT to the finish<\/p>\n

Knowing only that the two behind were likely chasing, the final 27km back to the finish became a mental game as much as a physical effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of self doubt, a lot of wondering when they were going to come back. I threw up at one point. When the motorbike came up beside me at one point and said maybe it\u2019s cancelled I thought \u201coOk. Maybe I\u2019m ok with that.\u201d Then he said it was still on.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Woods pushed on. As did the duo behind him. Woods crossed the line first, but looking to be in a world of hurt. He was still sitting on the ground in the shade when the announcement that results might not count came across speakers in the finish area.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo suffer, to go through that and die a thousand deaths and then find out that there\u2019s no result\u2026\u201d Woods said, trailing off with a frustrated laugh. \u201cDamn.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a career on the road spent racing in the full heat of a European summer, Woods isn\u2019t so sure the elite race should have been cancelled. Temperatures were hovering around 30 degrees Celsius when Woods finished (though organisers are now saying they measured temperatures much higher elsewhere on course).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s not enough to stop a race. I\u2019ve done far hotter races that haven\u2019t been stopped. Unless it\u2019s obscenely hot, like 40 degrees. This is a national championship. You have to honour it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether or not Woods will be, officially, the national champion remains to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Woods rolled into Lake Cowichan as one of the pre-race favourites for gravel national championships, but not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[262713,49,48,264860,635,12463,82],"class_list":["post-739256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2026-canadian-gravel-championships","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-gravel-championships","tag-cycling","tag-michael-woods","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}