Michael Barry was born in Toronto in 1975. He followed his father’s passion for the bicycle and began dreaming of pedaling professionally at a very young age. In 1980, he was enrolled at the Toronto French School where he was immersed in French language and culture and became bilingual. In 1987, he left Toronto French School to attend Upper Canada College for Junior High School.

While at Upper Canada College, Michael participated in many sports, most notably cross-country running and skiing, and was also awarded for his high achievement in community service. Michael also continued to pursue his interest in languages continuing his studies in French and enrolling in German. In his last years of high school, he began pursuing the sport of cycling at a higher level competing on both the Provincial and National Teams at national and international events. In 1994, Michael’s dream of representing the country at international games became reality as he rode several track events at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria.

After a successful season in 1995, and several top finishes, the National Team coach suggested he extend his abilities by racing for a French team the following season. In the fall of 1995, Michael enjoyed his first semester at the University of Toronto, Trinity College where he studied French and English.
Michael was hired by the Velo Club Annemasse in 1996 and lived in the French Alps where he matured as an athlete and flourished in the culture.

In 1996 he represented Canada at the Atlanta Olympics and placed eighth in the Under Twenty Three Road Race at the World Championships in Lugano, Switzerland. The results put him in contact with many professional teams and, after much contemplation, it was then he decided to put his studies on hold and pursue his career in cycling.

In 1997 Michael returned to Annemasse and after achieving several notable results and National Team selection for the World Championships, he crashed sustaining injuries that put an abrupt end to his season. It was not until March of 1998 that he began racing again in France where he had several top finishes. After returning to Canada for the National Championships he accepted an offer to ride for the Saturn Cycling Team, the top North American based elite team. He had three successful seasons with the Saturn Team.

In 2002, the United States Postal Service Cycling Team hired him. As a member of USPS, he rode in support of its leaders, Lance Armstrong, Roberto Heras, George Hincapie and Max Van Heeswijk. He was instrumental in helping Heras win the 2003 Vuelta a España and the 2002 Vuelta Catalunya. In 2003, he finished seventh in the World Championships and competed in the Olympic games in Athens, Greece where he led the Canadian Team. Since its conception in 2005, Michael has raced with the Discovery Channel Cycling Team. He was victorious in the Tour of Austria and helped his teammate Paolo Savodelli win his second Giro d’Italia.

Michael was married to Dede Demet, a United States Olympic Cycling team member, in November of 1998 and they now make their home in Boulder, Colorado and Girona, Spain. Dede won a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and then retired, ending her career after having achieved a lifelong goal.

During his time off the bike Michael writes columns for AMD, Pedal Magazine and Velonews, as he feels this is a way of communicating to the younger generations about the sport he loves. He has also written articles for the Toronto Star daily newspaper.

During the 2004 season Michael chronicled life on the road with the US Postal team in a book published by Velopress titled, "Inside the Postal Bus".

With several strong performances in 2006, Michael decided to change teams for 2007 after racing with US Postal/Discovery for five years, and joined the T-Mobile team. Unfortunately, 2007 turned out to be a challenging year for Michael, as he contracted pneumonia which sent him to the hospital for a week and kept him out of competition for many weeks.  At the end of the year, T-Mobile pulled their sponsorship of the team, but under the name team High Road, the team will continue and Michael is very much looking forward to the 2008 season.

Michael is lives in Girona, Spain with his wife, Dede, and two sons, Liam and Ashlin.