11
Thursday, June 21, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS
COURTESY OF COURTESY OF BETTINI PHOTO / CYCLING NEWS
Former Michigan runner Michael Woods ended his running career at Michigan and discovered a career in professional cycling
Closing
out
the
final
kilometers
of
the
race,
professional
cyclist
Michael
Woods was in a solid position.
Positioned
among
the
front
group, he knew he’d finish well.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Woods finished in second place
at the 2018 Liège-Bastogne-
Liège in Belgium, a feat he could
only dream of a few years prior.
****
Growing
up
in
Ottawa,
Canada,
Woods
frequently
rode his bike—but only for
fun. He’d head to the park to
attempt jumps and other tricks,
but beyond that, his focus was
running. And he was quite
good at it. Among his many
achievements as a runner, he
won gold in the 1500-meter
race at the 2005 Pan American
Junior Championships and even
ran
a
sub-four-minute
mile
(3:57.48) that same year.
With his success, colleges
started opening their doors to
him. Michigan stood out the
most because it was a good
school for distance running,
but also because of another
Canadian runner who had raced
for the Wolverines — Kevin
Sullivan,
the
current
head
coach of the Michigan men’s
cross country team as well as
an assistant coach for track and
field.
“My hero as a kid was Kevin
Sullivan who’s now the coach.
He was my hero when I was
starting in running and he
went to Michigan,” Woods said.
“Basically, in Canada, every
high school distance runner
would talk about how amazing
the University of Michigan was.
So, it was definitely my first
choice. And then also, you know,
I wasn’t a terrible student as
well so Michigan really stood
out in that sense as well.”
So,
Woods
followed
in
Sullivan’s footsteps and headed
to Michigan on a full scholarship
to run both cross country and
track.
But his career as a runner
took a turn for the worst around
2006 when he started getting
stress fractures in his left foot.
Woods underwent two surgeries
and had pins placed in his
foot but still failed to recover
completely, effectively ending
his career as a Wolverine.
“I just tried coming back too
fast. Constantly trying to get
back into running but never
really was able to just because of
this injury,” Woods said. “It was
not gradual at all. I continuously
tried to come back.”
In 2008, Woods graduated
with a degree in English. He
kept at his running career but
eventually, the clock ran out.
Fall of 2011, while racing in a
10k road race, he sustained yet
another injury and knew it was
time to say goodbye to the sport.
Though his career as a runner
was over, his life as an athlete
was far from it.
Just as he always ridden a
bike in his childhood, Woods
did so in college too. He lived
near Yost Ice Arena and would
hop on his bike to get to class.
After
graduating
and
while
pursuing professional running
but battling injuries, he rode his
father’s bike to stay fit.
Woods notes 2012 as a major
turning point in his athletic
career. He’d been away from
running for some time and was
working. His then-girlfriend —
and current wife — suggested
that he put all his energy into
cycling.
“She
saw
my
potential,”
Woods said. “She saw me when
I was running at my best and
knew what I was capable of as
an athlete. She really believed
in me and she told me ‘I think
you should make a real focus at
cycling and see where you can
take it.’ So I quit my job, and
she was amazing and helped
support me when I first started
out. I started racing that year
and started getting results.”
When he took up cycling,
his main goal was to make
the Olympics — a goal he then
achieved in 2016.
“I just feel so lucky to have
been able to go and represent
Canada,” Woods said, “and just
be at the Olympics.”
Woods proudly races for the
professional team EF Education
ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer
Spikes to Spokes:
Woods’ new career
First–Drapac p/b Cannondale,
an American team based out of
Boulder, Co. that also has a hub
in Girona, Spain.
“The team I’m on right now
really stood out because it’s
taken such a huge anti-doping
stance,” Woods said. “We’re
not a win-at-all-costs team.
Obviously, we want to try and
win — we want to do well — but
riders on this team are unique
characters. A lot of the guys
on our team are interesting
people and we’re well known for
being that team that’s focused
on doing things the right way,
making sure we’re not trying to
stretch the rules or cheat.”
With his current team, he
races on professional cycling’s
biggest
stage.
He’s
already
competed in two out of the three
Grand Tour events — twice at
the Giro d’Italia and once at
the Vuelta a España where he
finished in seventh out of 158
riders in 2017 — a tremendous
accomplishment considering he
hasn’t been cycling for that long.
“Because I ruined one athletic
career already I really feel lucky
to be doing this professionally
and getting paid to do this,”
Woods said. “And the fact that
I didn’t start that long ago, I
really appreciate how big these
races are because I was just a fan
of the sport before. I have quite
a few pinch-myself moments
when I’m in these big races and
there are people running beside
me up a climb and yelling and
screaming my name.”
Woods has yet to race the
Tour de France, but plans to do
so in the future. So far, he’s been
focused on the other two Grand
Tour events, including the Giro
d’Italia where he was the team
leader this year.
“Unfortunately,
I
haven’t
done the Tour yet,” Woods said.
“The Vuelta and the Giro are
huge races, but the one problem
with those races is they’re not
as well-known as the Tour.
I really wanna do the Tour
because I’m tired of explaining
to somebody who doesn’t really
know cycling that when they ask
me, ‘Have you done the Tour?’
I have to respond, ‘Oh no, I
haven’t done the Tour. But I’ve
done the Italian and the Spanish
version.’”
Woods
ranks
his
second-
place finish at this year’s Liège-
Bastogne-Liège
as
his
best
athletic achievement. The event
is the world’s oldest one-day
Classic race and is regarded as
one of the five monuments of
professional cycling.
“I love that race. I’m now
accruing
enough
experience
that I understand how that
course works, and I just had a
good day,” Woods said. “It was
a real out-of-body experience.
I started this only a few years
back, and when I first started I
was riding the trainer and just
watching races like this on the
TV and dreaming of being in
these positions.”
Since
taking
up
cycling,
Woods’ life has changed. For
starters, he’s competing in a
sport that — although it may
seem to share many similarities
with running — he believes is
very different.
Woods admits he was unaware
of the differences between the
two sports when first making
the transition.
“I thought, you know, because
I was really good at running I’d
also be good at cycling,” Woods
said, “Just because I had this
engine.”
Now, he believes that although
aerobic capacity is vital in both
sports, cycling is much more
technical and tactical.
Woods often trains more than
30 hours a week — a schedule
he says is much more time-
consuming than running. Most
of that training happens in
Girona, Spain — the location of
his team’s training facilities.
He also spends time each year
in Andorra and back home in
Ottawa.
His
career
involves
a
significant amount of travel, a
part of his life he missed while
facing injuries. Woods travelled
all over the United States when
running as a Wolverine, but
stayed put when he took up a job
between sports. Now, he’s glad
to be back on the road — and on
the plane.
“I certainly don’t take it for
granted now. I really enjoy the
adventure that I get to go on,”
Woods said. “We get to go to
really cool places, and even
when I train, I get to see these
amazing vistas and go down
these really cool roads. I just
feel really fortunate.”