This piece first appeared in the January edition of BikeBiz magazine – not subscribed? Get a free subscription.

2026 sees BikeBiz launching a monthly podcast series, and with the BikeBiz Podcast comes a dedicated host: Pedro Couto Lopes.

Many of you will know Pedro from his own podcast series, Ride to Success. Here we get to know a little more about the man behind the microphone (and camera).

Pedro, let’s start with life on a bike: How did your adventures on two wheels begin?

I got my first bike when I was 10 or 11, and, like many kids, I used to ride with my brothers. My grandfather was really into cycling into road cycling, and he would go every Sunday on his own club rides, but my brothers and I saw ourselves on mountain bikes.

As a kid, that’s your one-way ticket to go and explore without having to be tied to your block, your neighbourhood. I did use my bike to ride from A to B, in a more transport mode kind of way. I was very much into fitness and sports at that time, including swimming and water polo. I would go to training by bike. At night, I’ll be riding to training, coming back from training, to the point my parents were like ‘whoa, that’s a bit scary’, but they didn’t dissuade me from doing it, rather just asking that I be careful.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but that image, of my grandfather riding bikes every weekend with his mates, kind of stuck in my head. I’d forgotten about it when I moved to London, but then those memories started coming back. Seeing people riding definitely reconnected me. 

Pedro Couto Lopes

How does your London cycling journey start out?

I’m a commuter. I quickly realise I’d rather ride than be on a bus or the underground. You’re seeing all these people riding and think, ‘that looks more like my kind of way to travel’. My first London bike – brought from a Camden bike shop – is a flat bar hybrid. At the time, it was low-cost and did all I needed. For a few months. 

My competitive streak took over, and I started looking around and trying to learn what other people were doing. I quickly realised, okay, this is a slow bike, you know, those drop bar road bikes are what I needed next. I bought one from Halfords, the cheapest road bike I could find. And had all the typical learning stumbles. You’re first learning how to ride with drop bars, watching others and teaching myself. Second was the toe straps, which the bike came with. I was like ‘oh this is mental’. Who rides with these? Not me. I swapped them for flat pedals. It wasn’t for long anyway. Clipless pedals came around quickly. You see people at the traffic lights and want what they have. As with anyone riding clipless pedals for the first time, I had my first stumbles and crashes. All part of the learning process.

Before you know it, actually, you’ve joined the London cycling scene, you’re now part of the sort of enthusiast area of the market, having started quickly in cycling-as-transport.

How does your working life look if what we’ve just talked about is your journey in cycling?

So the work journey: At the start, when I started commuting, I was working in schools as an art teacher or teaching assistant.

London living was hard. I made the decision to move to a little town called Woldingham, near the Surrey Hills. That’s where I found a cycling club that was really welcoming. At this time, I was also working as an art technician, but I really wanted to be more involved in cycling. 

I created this cycling tour company where I took people to Portugal. That happened for a while, and alongside this, I continued to develop an interest in marketing and branding through my experience of creating a cycling tour company. That allowed me to pivot in my career into marketing and pivot further into cycling. Bringing my cycling life and my world of work together, I started working in the cycle industry at bike.rent Manager. This opportunity saw me getting to know a lot of people in the industry, making a lot of connections. Alongside my work, I wanted to keep the conversations I was already having going and give them a life beyond day-to-day work. A podcast felt like a natural choice. It brought together my creative and marketing experience, and my love of cycling as a way of life. That idea became The Ride to Success podcast. Now I’ve had a few people say that starting the pod was brave. To me, it offered an opportunity to continue making industry connections and having cycling conversations. 

Pedro hosting a live panel at the summit series in Paris

With over 85 Ride to Success Podcast episodes under your belt, you’re also becoming the host of the BikeBiz Podcast.

Yes. Something that’s hard to imagine happening yet also feels like a natural next step. It’s going to be a great opportunity to open new conversations, explore the B2B aspects of the business, and share that enthusiasm for life on a bike with a wider audience. Working in the industry, for the industry, is something that feels like a great next step, and being asked to become the host of a brand new podcast for a 20+ year old title is something that doesn’t happen every day. 

We’ve got some great guests lined up for the year ahead. I can share here that 2026 starts with Madison CEO Dominic Langan reviewing the past 18 months and looking to the year ahead – what better way to open a BikeBiz podcast?Â