BikeTiresDirect has partnered with Alex Howes — a renowned world-tour-rider-gone-off-road-privateer — since 2022. Here's the unabridged transcript of a conversation between Howes & BTD that took place on April 2nd, 2024, where they went down the rabbit hole on all things bicycle.
Bertrand Mejia-Morin from BTD: Alex, thanks for taking the time to chat a little bit. This is our second year that we've been partnered up, and it's also the second year into your privateer career. So I thought that'd be a good lead-in for you to introduce yourself and talk a little bit about what that looks like — what driving forces were behind you leaving the WorldTour team that you were on (EF) and targeting a more freeform off-road-centric privateer life?
Alex Howes: The number one driver behind it all was just wanting to be home more with family. Covid was long, and the professional cycling world spent a lot of time just in the bubble. I don't know if people remember the bubble [laughs], but [it required] a lot of time away from home — literally months — so it just wasn't a lot of fun.
I think a lot of that has changed now, but that whole pandemic era sort of changed the way people race at the highest level. I mean everybody reads the articles about all the pros — if you're not running a 55 tooth chainring, you're out of the race — [the] level's gone up. The seriousness is pretty high and I can be a serious guy, but I'm just not that serious [laughs].
So yeah, [the driving force] was just to be home, have fun, and we travel around as a family to all these gravel races and it's been a lot of fun.
BTD: I'm glad you mentioned that. Just knowing that you are a family-centric person from your personality that you share with everybody, how do you tackle balancing being a professional racer with being a parent? Any [particular] challenges or any pointers for other parents out there?
Howes: It's funny because people use the word balance a lot...and the reality is it doesn't feel balanced on any level or in either direction. It's mostly just getting your ass kicked from multiple directions and finding a way to not drink three beers a night. Just wake up and do it—just keep going.
The highs are super high and the lows are low and you just kind of learn to accept the chaos and get things done when you can, and just forget about them when you can't. Accept the chaos.
BTD: Accept the chaos is a good mantra.
Howes: Some of the [crap] you go through, just [know it] doesn't last forever, and if you just keep tapping away at the pedals and having fun with it...the snow melts and the form shows up and there you go...I was just doing intervals 20 minutes ago [laughs].
BTD: Nice.
Howes: Look at me now. Just talking.
BTD: Going back to the WorldTour for a moment — because we're in the midst of the classic season it's hard not to think about — What is your favorite race you did? If you had to pick one.
Howes: I have a favorite one. I always loved Amstel Gold — I thought it was a super cool race. It's just really hard and the whole day It's like racing Mario Kart. There's just obstacles coming at you and positioning is the whole game. Super punchy and it's just like a real racer's race.
And so yeah, I always loved it. Amstel Gold. I think the coolest race is probably the Tour of Flanders, the Ronde Von Vlaanderen, and I never actually did that which I'm kind of bummed about, but cry me a river.
[both laugh]
BTD: How about the hardest race?
Howes: Hardest is tough because the Tour de France is the hardest race. Hey, 21 days long it's a hard race. [But] I think on the day, that there's been a couple World Championships that were just absurd. 470 TSS or something like that. The one in 2013 in Italy. I think that was Seven hours, just full gas. Everybody talks about Unbound, a 10 hour race, but this was a seven hour race. And we were on the gas. The entire time.
But then if you're talking a week long race, I think the sleeper there's the Volta a Catalunya...there's no time trial and you just race hard every day. And nobody's even heard of this race. You get done and you have 2500 TSS or something silly by the end of the week.
BTD: How would you compare some of those more structured [WorldTour] races to a race from your Privateer career like the Tour Divide — totally self-supported, daily finish lines that weren't official of any sort. Just you out there [on your own]. How was that different from some of the more organized tours and longer-form races? Was it the same in any way?
Howes: I mean it's kind of funny because at the end of it all there were a lot of metrics that kind of lined up. If you look at fatigue scores, and again TSS is a really good example — I don't know how many readers are aware of that metric, but it's [a power-based] training stress score — they were almost identical between the two of them — between Tour Divide and the Tour de France. Which is comical because they're not even in [the same] universe on so many other levels. [For] the Tour Divide I mean, I would be surprised if I averaged 105 watts, overall. Versus the Tour de France — I don't think there's a day where you average under — even easy days, for sure — 220 is probably the lowest average per day, which doesn't sound like a lot but for someone that's 63 kilos, [at] 220 [you're] pushing for a lot. So anyways, it was surprising how well they compared on some levels, [but then are] totally different.
BTD: And if I recall correctly, You were on the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel Ms for the Tour Divide?
Howes: They're still going. Yeah, I rode them two days ago — the exact same tires.
BTD: And you still have those tires?
Howes: Yeah...they don't die.
Photo credit, this image and top banner: Gretchen Powers
BTD: That's a great segue into chatting about tires specifically. Since that is part of our name and part of our partnership with you.
To you, what are the most important factors that come into play when choosing a tire for a race or an event? And you can get as [detailed] as you want. I know there are some of the broader [factors], but if you've got anything really granular feel free to deep dive.
Howes: The top three things are size, tread pattern and then casing — and when I say casing I mean strength versus rolling resistance. Usually I Look at size first...[but] the fourth pillar there is probably the durability of the tread compound, which is surprisingly important.
Anyways...I look at size first. How rough is [the race]? What speeds are we gonna be racing at? That's definitely a big factor. If it's pretty fast, I usually want to go a little narrower...but I don't know, [with] what racing on gravel now is like—It's becoming more pack dynamics and in that sense, you can't see stuff coming. And so you kind of have to trend towards bigger [tires].
BTD: Air on the side of caution to prevent a potential mechanical or puncture?
Howes: Yeah. It's kind of like if you're recommending tires for somebody who's just getting started [riding gravel], thinking they're just gonna hit everything out there — except you're going twice as fast as somebody that's just getting started.
[Next is] the durability of the tire — flats are definitely no-go in gravel racing. I mean, you don't get to put your hand up. There's no support car. Every second [spent] standing on the side of the road trying to fix something totally screws you over.
And [then] looking at [the] tread pattern like what's gonna roll quick? How much traction do you really need? What is the terrain like? If there's a lot of ruts I've been airing more towards having [extra] tread.
Mid-South is a good example. Fast course — run a slick. And it's fast but there's a bunch of old crusty ruts all over the place, and guys went down. I had big fat knobby tires and I was having a great time [laughs]. And then yeah, that tread compound is pretty important — something that's not going to [get] cut.
I think a lot of people don't realize there's a huge difference between a gravel tire and a cyclocross [tire]. Gravel tires last, they don't flat, they roll quick, [but] they do not grab as well as cross tires designed to be run super low pressure, last five races, and really stick to the ground.
Gravel tires are kind of opposite in that regard. You need something that's tough, that can go the distance, and rolls fairly quickly. So there's a lot to it. I probably get my own head about a lot of it, but I don't know. It's fun to think about.
BTD: Have you always tinkered with different types of tires or is that something that's been [new] since leaving the WorldTour team and running without [a single-brand tire] sponsor?
Howes: I've always played around with it a little bit. I mean you're pretty limited on a WorldTour team. And I remember the first time it really clicked for me. A couple of first times.
It was the Tour of California and it rained. This is before I was WorldTour, [I was] on the development team. It rained and for whatever reason I was like, "it'd be a good idea to drop some pressure," and I dropped some pressure and we went down this final downhill into the Sprint and I passed like 40 people, and people were crashing all over the place and I was just stuck to the ground. I was like, this is great! And I dropped my chain and screwed up the sprint and got tenth instead of first, and I shoulda won that stage and I'm still pissed about it [laughs].
Fast forward a few years from there. We're doing Paris-Nice and Andrew Talansky had the yellow Jersey. As a team we're trying to defend.
[But] basically our whole team after the first climb was the last group. And Talansky was in the front group. And we had good riders that year...and for whatever reason we just could not get out of our own way and we were just riding like [crap].
We were on these Mavic tires and they were kind of prototype tires and somebody did a rolling resistance test on them...they're 25 watts slower than what Talansky had — Either Vittoria or a Veloflex or something like that? But he was adamant on not riding these [prototype] tires and he had this huge fit [and] made the mechanics put them on, and blah blah. And we were all like "you're being ridiculous." But then yeah, we were all in the last group and he was in the front group [laughs], [and then I thought] hmm? Guess maybe tires make a difference.
And then you look at now with EF, some of the stuff they've been doing, They've changed the game in the last three years with Vittoria — a tubeless tire cutting the rolling resistance. It's not as apparent [anymore cause everyone's doing it] — time trials are just an arms race, right? But last year and the year before they were ahead of the curve with a lot of that stuff, and the tires were a big part of that time trial package.
It was fun to be a part of that and watch them push the envelope there. So, tires matter even on road where it's not supposed to matter.
BTD: On that note, what's your favorite tire you've ridden — of all time — any discipline, any event?
Howes: All time? [pauses]
BTD: It's a big question. I know.
Howes: Yeah, the bummer with tires is you remember a whole bunch that you really didn't like.
[both laugh]
[It's the] thing that you kind of want to forget about...if you have a good tire you forget about it, and you're just enjoying your bike ride. If you don't have a good tire you're either fixing it or you're terrified because it's coming apart on you or you're crashing.
The ones that I probably spent the most time on that I really enjoyed were the Vittoria Corsas, set up tubeless, especially the N.EXT tread formula that they had. I rode those things in training a ton.
BTD: You're talking about the Corsa N.EXTs, not the Corsa Pros?
Howes: Yeah...if I was gonna go buy a pair of tires to ride and race, those are the tires. For road racing for sure. Those things are great, and it was pretty impressive the reduction in flats — between [the compound] and running them tubeless. I just think about how many tubes I used to use a year...
BTD: Can you put a number on that?
Howes: Yeah, training full-time around the world [I'd probably have] 30-45 flats a year, which doesn't sound crazy, but when you think about how many times you're changing a tire in the rain, or the sun's going down or whatever, you're cold? Like It's a lot of flats like that that sucks. And then you go tubeless and then Vittoria comes out with the N.EXT tread compound and you're just like "wait, I flat once a year now?" It's crazy, you're riding around in the gutter all the time.
So I really enjoyed those, but then yeah, the Corsa Pros for racing are sweet.
BTD: How about your favorite tire you haven't ridden yet? Anything that you are itching to get your hands on or that you're excited about?
Howes: The [Schwalbe] G-One RS in a 45. I have not tried yet, and I really want to ride them. And then the [Vittoria Terreno Zero] in a 50. I'm pretty pumped on that.
I rode the [Terreno] Drys and the [Terreno] Zeros all of 2021, and all 2022. And then I didn't ride them at all in 2023. The whole reason behind that was they didn't come in anything bigger than a 38. I was like "what the heck?" And then now they get a 50. Let's put that thing on!
BTD: what did you run at Mid-South a couple weeks back?
Howes: I ran the [Schwalbe] G-One Bite.
BTD: How do you think those did for that course? [Especially] because you were saying earlier that you [were leaning towards] more knobby as a result of the way the peloton has evolved during those races, because you can't as well control what you're gonna hit and what you're not going to hit.
Howes: I think I could have gone with something a little smoother down the middle. cut a little weight, but they were good. [I ran] a 50 up front and a 45 in the back, which, for a race that on paper is just a casual gravel — like "caj grav": none of the big chunky stuff — it seemed like a big tire. [It seemed] like they [worked] pretty well, so I was happy with it.
BTD: Any other notes from the race, looking back at Mid-South? Highlights? Low moments? Anything in general?
Howes: It was so dusty this year and that just totally took me out of it, which was a bit of a bummer. I basically had an asthma attack in the final there...and I was like that's never really happened before. "Okay, I don't know if I need to think about this or there's a bit of an anomaly?"
But yeah, it was super dusty and I was coughing up dust and stuff for a couple days, and I was like "ew, that's not good." So fingers crossed for mud next year.
BTD: Fingers crossed for mud! With that in the rear view any general goals or thoughts about the rest of the 2024 season that you want to share?
Howes: Pretty pumped for Unbound. I mean, I think everybody is. But [I've had] weird ups and downs the last couple years, with illness and flatting out, and doing stupid stuff with my bike.
So, it'd be nice to get back there and have as clean a run as you can with some decent legs. So I'm pretty pumped on that, and try[ing] to keep it fun this year [by] throwing in a couple of fun events. I'll be up there, Oregon Trail doing a little gravel stage race [and] camping session. Pretty excited about that.
BTD: Nice! I'm gonna try to get down there to shoot some photos.
Howes: Yeah, dude come out. It'll be good. [You] can't bring the trailer to that which will be nice because we've been driving a travel trailer to everything. Which is fun, but It's its own kettle of fish.
BTD: That's a good turn of phrase.
Howes: Yeah, it's like four kettles of fish.
[both laugh]
And then yeah, I'm gonna make it up to Vermont Overland this year, which is gonna be kind of a new one for me. I've never done any of that New England gravel — and it's not really New England. What is Vermont? You don't know what Vermont is!
BTD: I do actually. [laughs] I'm from Massachusetts, I grew up out there.
Howes: Yeah, but see you don't even know! What is Vermont? That's not New England is it?
BTD: It is...but you got me questioning myself. I will say it's more of a state of mind than it is a place...
Howes: There you go. Yeah, and I don't want to offend anybody, if they want to be New England, they can be New England, but from what I understand as a Westerner, that's not the correct phrase. Don't cancel me.
[both laugh]
BTD: Any advice for people who are trying to similarly privateer their way through the US off-road racing scene?
Howes: It is surprisingly competitive these days. People do their research, both in racing and in putting together sponsorship proposals and decks and everything else.
First bit of advice is don't think it won't be a job. If you want to do it, it's a lot of work. If you want to make it happen you gotta pick up the phone. You gotta get the keyboard out. You gotta hustle hard.
But, I don't know, there's a lot of opportunity out there [too]. It's interesting. 10-15 years ago, if you wanted to be a pro cyclist, you gotta go UCI, and that's that.
Now you can buy a drone and maybe that's your avenue. It's like the gig economy in general. There's no one right way to do anything in the privateer world, for better or for worse. If you have more of an engineer mentality, it's probably gonna drive you insane. So.
[laughs]
BTD: Thanks for sharing that perspective — appreciate it very much.
Photo credit, both images: Wil Matthews
BTD: Wrapping up, we put together some rapid-fire questions. If you are game for some quick answers, just say the first thing that comes to your mind. This is not a test. There's no wrong answers. If you're ready, I'll throw some at you.
Howes: Okay, we'll see if I can not ramble.
[Both Laugh]
BTD: Okay, here we go. What is the most underrated or overlooked thing that you carry with you during races?
Howes: I always bring super glue with me — and I think most wily people do but your average Joe doesn't. I've used it more often than I feel like I should have. I glued bar tape back together mid-race one time when I cut it and it was flapping. It was just driving me crazy. I've super glued cuts. I've glued tire plugs in. I mean, there's 58,000 uses for it and you can get the super tiny ones. Usually you don't have to use them. So you just have them for half the year.
BTD: Do you reuse sealant when changing your tires? If so, how do you save it?
Howes: I do and I shouldn't. Because usually it's in a little cup and I just end up kicking it over on the floor 40% of the time. That's really just...throw it away.
And I only do it because it's a blessing and curse with BikeTiresDirect, because [I can] have a tire on for two weeks and [then be like] "no, I don't like that" [so I] swap it out [but the] sealant's still good. You shouldn't keep your sealant if it's been in there for six months [though]. Come on. How cheap are you?[both laugh]
BTD: For you, what's the most effective mid-race food?
Howes: I mean for racing these days it's just gels anymore. Just gels. Yeah.
BTD: What's the silliest thing that's happened to you or that you witnessed in the pro peloton back in the WorldTour days?
Howes: Man, a couple come to mind. I mean when it snowed in San Remo that year, that was pretty silly because we stopped and had to get in the buses and drive over the top. But it was legitimately pretty cold.
We stopped and all the bikes were just totally trashed. No one could shift and everything was frozen solid, and there's ice on top of everything and the poor mechanics are out there pouring hot water all over all the bikes trying to thaw [them] out enough so they could put them on the roof racks. [All] so we could drive over the top of the mountain to start the race again, and then it finished in the dark. [I] was like "this is stupid."
I don't know. I saw some guys poop in hats and stuff. That's always kind of ridiculous. Yeah, I don't know...
BTD: In a hat
Howes: Why is it always a hat? Everyone's like "I'll just poop in this hat and then throw the hat." Like it's a good idea? Why don't you just [poop] on the road?
Howes: [Also], I remember in the Tour de France, I was in the breakaway — I think Steve Cummings won? I don't remember. I was on a good day, [but] I didn't play it right and It didn't work out for me. The breakaway ended up going to the line. I was pretty bummed because I was like the last guy to get caught [by the peloton], and if I wasn't caught I would have been sixth or something, and maybe I'd have been fighting for the podium for the day. Blah blah, but I was bummed about it. That was the day Yates smashed into the inflatable bridge [which then] collapsed on top of him.
It was funny because I was super pissed off and [my team director was] like, "you could have been Yates." [laughs] I was like "yeah man, okay, cycling's ridiculous."
BTD: What's your least favorite thing about the bike industry?
Howes: I feel like we're always chasing...there's a cycle to it every year. And I feel like everybody is a month behind at all times? Me included — I'm two months behind and I've just accepted that. Like, I'm putting my bikes together now, which is kind of ridiculous, but everybody's a month behind...why don't we all just hit pause for a month and let it all catch up? We tried that. It was the pandemic...we paused for a year.
BTD: How about your favorite thing?
Howes: My favorite thing; I think there's a lot of just genuinely happy people that do stuff with bikes. And that's why they get into the industry.
For all it's shortcomings, it's way better than selling health insurance or being in finance, in terms of the general mood of those around you. Not to bag on finance or health insurance, but there's a lot of people in the back room that just totally don't want to be there versus in the bike industry [where] everybody wants to be there. They're just trying to figure out how to stay there.
BTD: Thanks for that perspective. Any final words for folks who will be reading along with this interview at home that you'd like to share?
Howes: Did we touch on how we linked up? Alex Howes dot com — which is not a domain name, don't click on that! — and Bike Tires Direct dot com?
BTD: No, we haven't talked about the backstory in the interview...I'm happy to dish about that though.
Howes: I called you guys up out of the blue. I said "hey, you wanna do something." You guys are like, "we don't do that but I guess we could. What do you want?"
"Tires, duh!" And I had to explain myself and the whole rationale [behind] the [Lifetime] Grand Prix, with gravel racing, and with what I do; no single tire brand makes the perfect tire for every race. And tires are 50% of the game in off-road endurance racing. Maybe 50% is generous, but you're not gonna win anything if you're not getting the finish line with air in your tires, so yeah...
I wanted the ability to mix and match, and you guys said all "Alright, yeah. We do shipping."
[both laugh]
So yeah, it's been fun. I've tested a lot of stuff and found some stuff I like, some I don't. I found a pair of tires that will apparently last for 7,000 miles.
BTD: Yeah, that's very true. And you were a real test subject for this year — 2024 now includes five athletes. And it's been great to be able to share our base of knowledge and resources with other folks...be a part of their seasons and a part of their careers, even in a small way. So in that respect, thank you. You reaching out to us back in, I think it was November of 2022, maybe October of 2022...
Howes: Probably later than that knowing my timeline.
[both laugh]
BTD: ...I mean that really spurred the whole conversation about us becoming more involved in racing — largely privateer and gravel [folks] that we've been partnering with.
So, thank you for the out of the blue cold call to BikeTiresDirect — the shot in the dark. It's been a great partnership so far and we're really looking forward to what the next year and beyond has to hold working with you.
Howes: And I appreciate it. Yeah, and the reason I called you guys is because I just kept buying stuff from you guys. So...
[both laugh]
BTD: Customer first, partner second: natural evolution...
Howes: yeah, there you go.
[both laugh]
BTD: Well, we're happy to have had you as a previous customer, and now as a partner. We'll see you in a couple weeks at Sea Otter.
Howes: Sounds good.
Thanks for reading! We're thrilled to be partnered with Alex, and hope you enjoyed this conversation. You can keep up with Alex on Instagram @alex_howes, and browse his hand-picked selection of racing gear at the link below. We'll see you out there!
#ridewithbtd
