By Martin Cleary
Michael Woods is a man in constant motion.
Don’t try to catch him. He’s super fit, can go all day and is driven to try new athletic avenues and find his pathway to success.
So, now that the former Ottawa multi-sport athlete has officially retired as a professional cyclist after 14 years on the world’s roads, he must have eased into a relaxing office job by now or maybe started his own at-home business.
Not on your life.
Woods, who lives in the small European country of Andorra with his wife and two young children, has jumped right into exploring the bucket list of athletic endeavours that he has built, while being one of Canada’s top middle-long distance runners and more recently a world-class road cyclist.
On the weekend, Woods checked off his first item, when he experienced his first gravel road cycling race and the first big race of the European season, the two-day Santa Valla near Girona, Spain.
It was a learning experience for the five-time Tour de France rider and the winner of 16 career international events as he placed 55th and 41st in his two races.
The Hillcrest High School grad titled his blog post about the competition: “You signed up for this.”
This weekend, Woods will enter the Dynafit Andorra Skimo, which will be his first ski mountaineering (a.k.a. skimo) competition. And he’ll take a much bigger step in the European-based sport, when he joins former Norwegian cyclist and friend Amund Jansen to work their way through the 40th Pierra Menta in Areches-Beaufort, France, March 11-14.
The French Pierra Menta is considered one of the three major competitions in ski mountaineering along with the Italian Mezzalama Trophy and the Swiss Patrouille des Glaciers. It’s ski mountaineering’s version of cycling’s Grand Tour – Italy’s Giro d’Italia, France’s Tour de France and Spain’s La Vuelta Ciclista.
Woods will focus his Olympic TV watching on Thursday on the debut of ski mountaineering at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games. The men’s and women’s sprints will be held throughout the day with the mixed relay scheduled for Saturday.
Ski mountaineering sprints last about three minutes and 30 seconds and have three stages. Athletes remove their skis, place them in their backpacks and run some steps. With skins on their skis, the athletes will then run up the slopes. When they get to a certain point, they will remove the skins from their skis and descend to the finish line.
The 2030 Winter Olympic Games are planned for the French Alps region and Woods is hoping to see ski mountaineering expand its schedule to include longer events such as the vertical run, which involves a pure uphill race with skins on the skis and no descent.
As Woods works his way through his bucket list, which includes an Ironman Triathlon, mountain bike racing and more gravel races, the possibility of becoming a Winter Olympian intrigues him.
“I’d hope for a long course and I’ll be 43,” an uncertain Woods said in a phone interview this week with High Achievers. “I’m not sure (about the 2030 Winter Olympics). There’s a slim chance. But I’m not saying no.”
Woods discovered ski mountaineering during the winter of 2021-22, but waited four years to try it to prevent any injuries that would affect his road cycling career. It’s a high-exposure sport in Andorra and Woods lives in the heart of a high-altitude ski region.
“I fell in love with ski mountaineering once we moved here,” added Woods, a three-time Summer Olympian, who was fifth in the men’s road race in the 2021 Tokyo Games.
“Andorra’s winters are not as harsh as Ottawa’s, but they do have some snow. Being here, I can ride on the trainer or not ride at all, if there’s snow on the ground. I found ski mountaineering a great (training) alternative.”
Woods is familiar with full winter weather, having played minor hockey and spending time as a recreational downhill and cross-country skier.
While his World Tour cycling career has ended, Woods still trains almost every day. His family lives beside a ski gondola with training options all around.
“This year is the first opportunity to do it,” Woods said about seriously entering a ski mountaineering event. “I like it because it’s an endurance sport.
“This year’s Olympics has the sprints distances. I hope in 2030 they will have long form races (one hour to four days). It would be sweet to see in 2030 a race to go up one mountain path and down another.”
It’s a winter sport that’s perfectly suited to Woods, an endurance athlete who loves to ski and thrived on climbing Europe’s most challenging and stunning mountains on his high-tech bike.
“Skiing is a passion. I love skiing. I couldn’t do it before because of running and cycling. Ski mountaineering combines endurance and skiing down a mountain.
“I have a big aerobic engine. An easy way to test myself is on the mountains. When there are formative obstacles, they become my playground. It’s about conquering the mountains.”
When Woods was a professional cyclist with the former Israel-Premier Tech team, he was noted for his climbing excellence and conquering mountains on his bike. In his final cycling assignment, he placed 10th in the mountains classification in the 2025 Tour de France.
Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.
When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.
