Why the Peloton smells so nice, or how to make peace with pain. Michael Woods on POV podcast

Summary: There are contradictions in most athlete's careers, but Canadian professional bike racer Michael Woods embodies a doozy. In the last year, he has posted career highlight results in the world's biggest races, even as he was battling injury and personal tragedy at home. Grand Tour racing is famously a sport whose athletes embrace suffering, but even so, Woods has found a way to harness setbacks and managed to train and race even harder through them. He gained the respect of thousands of racing fans, along with a lot of sympathetic winces with his performance at this year's Tour de France. He tells host, Anastasia Bucsis, that he picked up some of his mental techniques from Wayne Gretzky. He describes literal out of body experiences that he has had while winning some of the most gruelling mountain races in the world. Certainly a lot of years of punishing practice in the saddle and on the running track went into the mix as well. Those early years as a super elite track runner set Woods apart in other ways. For most of the peloton- winning a Tour de France is the dream …but as an early career runner- it's Olympic glory that fuels the fire for Michael Woods. Barring disaster- he has already marked a big X on his calendar for Tokyo in 2020. Oh- and about that nice smelling Peloton? Cologne. Plenty of it splashed around, especially on the Giro D'Italia. Who knew?