Mike Woods is many things: a world-class cyclist, a Tour de France stage winner, a valuable teammate, a phenomenal rider, but most importantly a husband, a father, and a friend. And also an excellent writer, as he demonstrated during the Tour de France with his precise and timely blog.

Three weeks after the conclusion of the Grande Boucle, Woods announces the most important and perhaps most difficult decision, that of his retirement.

"Every time I race and we're going 70 miles an hour in the group, I think: "A million years ago, we were monkeys". But even if we took a man from 100 years ago and parachuted him into the modern group, he would be incredibly confused about what's happening: this sport is crazy, and it has transformed at an incredible speed. Every time I race, I feel an immense sense of luck, as it is truly a pure luxury built by our creativity. Going around France, while literally billions of people watch, is my job and it's crazy. As fortunate as I've been to do this job, it also has its negative sides. I highlighted during the Tour, in this blog, that cycling is a ridiculously dangerous sport.

Becoming a father showed me how this is in contrast with being one of the best riders in the world. Unlike most sports, professional cycling, thanks to its vast calendar, is a job that requires endless commitment. In the last five years, I've avoided kissing my children when picking them up from school to try not to get sick before a race. It's a strange thing. Most of the time, I sleep in a separate room from my family, with the objective of optimizing my sleep. Every aspect of my life has been examined and studied to maximize my ability to go fast on a bike. I've done and loved this sport, but it's not possible to sustain these choices for long. These efforts have led me to win a bronze medal at the World Championships, second place in a monument, and a stage win in the world's greatest cycling race.

Considering that I started this sport at 25, on a $1,000 bike given to me by my parents, it's truly crazy. I thought: "I was one of the best middle-distance runners in the world - why can't I be one of the best cyclists in the world?" Through incredible support from many people - including my wife, my parents, my 12-year coach and mentor Paulo Saldanha, my team, my boss and biggest supporter Sylvan Adams, my main reference Jon Adams, my many great teammates - particularly the guy who suffered the most with me in the last five years, Guillaume Boivin - and the incredible staff, the Ottawa cycling community, sponsors and teams like B2Ten, Vince Caceres and The Cyclery, Louis Garneau, Bruno Langlois, Jonas Carney and Jonathan Vaughters, who thought outside the box - I was able to achieve that goal. I managed to become one of the best cyclists in the world, and it's a journey I'm damn proud of.

As they say, however, all good things must come to an end. I still have great ambitions and plans for the next few years that will involve exploring new sectors in endurance sports (I have some epic projects, so stay tuned for these). But, for the reasons mentioned above, I have decided to retire from road cycling at the end of this season.

So, to all the people who helped me along the way, whether it was a simple encouraging message, a cheer on the roadside, or people like Nick Vipond and Kevin Field, who didn't burst out laughing when I told them I wanted to do the Olympics in 2016, or Paulo and Sylvan, the two people who changed the trajectory of my entire life - I want to say thank you. Thank you for all of this.