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Ottawa's Mike Woods makes waves on elite cycling circuit

Ottawa's Mike Woods started cycling after a foot injury put an end to his running career — and now he's become a competitive force on the elite cycling circuit.

Woods has 'Olympics aspirations' as runner before career-ending foot injury

Cycling success story

9 years ago
Duration 11:50
Ottawa's Mike Woods started cycling after injuries put an end to his track and field career — and now he's making waves on the elite cycling circuit.

Ottawa's Mike Woods started cycling three years ago after a foot injury put an end to his running career — and now he's become a competitive force on the elite cycling circuit.

The 28-year-old will join the Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling team in 2016, after finishing second overall at the gruelling Tour of Utah earlier this month.

"It was surreal," he told host Adrian Harewood on Our Ottawa. "They call it the toughest race in America because there's so much climbing."

Woods said he had "Olympic aspirations" as a runner but it wasn't until recently that he turned to cycling.

"I wanted to be a professional athlete, for sure, but it was in running not in cycling. Cycling wasn't even on my radar," he said.

Watch the whole interview for more details about his transition from running to cycling in the video above.