Nicolas Roche gravel interview: His new team, his bike, his gear choices, and hockey in Arizona...
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Nicolas Roche enjoyed a long and successful professional road career - racing more than 24 Grand Tours and the Olympics, among scores of other events - and has recently started a three-person gravel team, NR GRVL, in addition to his career as a commentator for networks around the world.
I caught up with Nicolas at Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona to talk about his bike and gear choices, Dancing with the Stars, hockey in Arizona, and more.
NR GRVL: www.instagram....
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What a great guy. So happy to just talk and share his every experience
Nicco’s a legend. Best of luck with the Gravel career.
Great interview, really enjoyed this one. It was cool to hear a different perspective on the 'racing' scene 🍻
what a sound, genuine guy. Watched him do well on the road and now the gravel, good luck for the season Nicco
A genuine down to earth guy. Great interview, hopefully we can still hear your informative commentary this year.
Great interview with a great guy🏆
#LetsHaveMore
What a great interview. Can’t wait to see Nico mixing it up.
When I was coaching my junior team several years ago, we attended the Junior Tour of Ireland held near Galway. I couldn't resist taking the kids out to an authentic pub to hear the traditional Irish folk music. The next morning at breakfast (all the teams stay and dine at the same hotel), word got around we did this and you would have thought we committed some sort of mortal bike racing sin. The other coaches and managers literally sneered at me from the other tables. Would do it again in a heartbeat. Was great to see Nico at Mid South and hoping he can maybe do Vermont Overland in late August.
What a great interview! It’s great to hear the realistic thoughts and aspirations of WT retired pros. Great channel 🤙
Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you.
Coming from Ireland myself and living in the States for 16 years and taking part in Unbound and SBT GRVL over the years it’s great to see Nico taking on the gravel scene here in the US. Great interview Ben!
Nico is a great rider and has that Irish gift of storytelling
did you see the Roadrunner walk behind Nico at about 15 mins? Great interview!
Great interview!
Really enjoyed hearing such joy for the bike from such a seasoned ex pro. He is just like a kid getting a new bike. Thanks for interviewing Nico.
Nice interview!
Great upload again, enjoy your conversational interview style which allows the guest’s personality and insights to be expressed.
One point of note: this is yet another bike set up I have seen of late, with an iteration of the Vittoria Terreno family (not hookless compatible) set up on hookless rims - seems quite a few riders are choosing to avoid the advisory lettering embossed on the tyre sidewall. Low tyre pressure may allow riders to throw more caution to the wind?
Thanks for mentioning that. I will ask Vittoria about it next weekend.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney - thank you Ben, be interested to hear what they say. Competitive Cycle’s upload of the Enve MOG release had Terreno Dry’s on the hookless SES 3.4’s.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney I have the feeling that tire companies are being overly cautious before declaring any of their tires hookless compatible. My bike shop here in Toronto has told me they have been mounting Terrenos on hookless rims for over a year with no issues. I've seen one hookless rim manufacturer (don't recall which one) say you're safe mounting wider tires (38C+) which are not hookless compatible, provide you don't exceed tire pressures of around 45-50 psi. The only Vittoria tire which is officially hookless compatible according to the company is the Corsa N.EXT TLR in 28/30/32/34C.
Another example of non hookless tires on hookless rims is from Giant who put the Receptor (not hookless) as the stock tire on their CXR hookless rims on the Revolt Advanced Pro.
@@thomaskuhn6541 - thanks Thomas. I have a set of the 700x47c Terreno Dry, which don’t have the warning embossed in the tyre (a newer release and wider). I want to go a bit narrower and have been hesitant myself, but from what you say re psi, I’m never up those higher pressures in any case.
@@SJ-tk4ri So I remembered that the rim manufacturer I referenced is Zipp. This is their comment regarding tire compatibility for their hookless rims: "IMPORTANT NOTE FOR GRAVEL TIRES: Provided they are equipped with tubeless beads, wider gravel tires run at lower pressures are usually fine to use on hookless rims. In case of a doubt, please consult the tire manufacturer."
Roadrunner in the background at 15:33
An interviewer's dream, doesn't stop talking :)
Kissed the Blarney Stone!!!
Damn, he might be retired, but he still looks like he could do a GT double.
40 or 44t in the back with his 2x setup?? is he mistaken or in on some upcoming options?
Not sure if he meant trying a 1x with a 40 or 44. Current SRAM-recommended 2x tops out at 36, right?
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney it sure does! on second (okay, third) listen, it sounds more like a wish-list than something he’s tried. AXS is also not friendly to drivetrain “hacking” as mechanical, so no one to my knowledge has squeezed the available 44t onto a 2x setup.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney I've seen a guy here in the PNW with 2x up front and XPLR 10-44 in the back. The mechanic who set it up mentioned something about setting it up with sequential shifting. I was unclear if that was a hack to make it work, I'm unfamiliar with AXS shift modes..
Frame size? Rider height?
BWR Results?: “We apologize for the inconvenience, but please be patient while we work on getting the results online again.”
Keegan nipped Blevins. Sofia won solo.
Delaney won the wafer? 🙂
@@Hintonbro. Third.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney Podium - Congratulations! 👍👍
Do you sleep?
A little bit. Good to meet you out there. Let’s ride in Colorado.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney Rrmarkably fast turnaround , Ben! This was a great discussion. Nicholas certainly passionate about gravel and sharing his journey.
Great interview!
Thanks. He makes it easy.
What a great interview. Always liked Nico , top pro.
Love the road runner cameo at the end.
The road runner darting in at the end was awesome!
Sweetness, 50 or 52. Some riders just have a need for speed, road or gravel, and flat is flat and the big ring calls and I always hear the call, too, even at age 63.😀
Well, that and the fact that he isn't human. LOL!
@@DaveCM I understand your comment and I agree, current and retired pros ride at another level, but it does happen when you ride and ride and ride all the time. And I got the surprise of my riding life, really, in '86 when I worked as a bicycle messenger in downtown DC to supplement my income--my 'real job' in radio was only weekends until something full-time opened up. I turned 27 during that three-month messenger gig and it turned out to be an incredible experience to ride nearly 12 hours a day, an easy hour to work, ten hours of hardcore riding, then back to my apartment via a stop at a discount grocery store if I needed to get cans of Hormel chili and a bag of rice, my dinner staple during those months. And no fib, I thought the job was going to be almost slacker-like, just ride a bike from here to there and pick up stuff and drop it off. And first day, I didn't even prep my road bike and got two flats en route to work and had to call and apologize for being late. But I quickly realized that to survive, I had to be a tough guy like the cadre of seasoned riders, it was either ride fast and focused all day or nothing for me as I needed the job and it paid by the piece and riders were 'independent contractors' who were on their own aside from getting commands all day from a dispatcher on a two-way radio. And to this day I still hear him ask, "Where you at, Two-Five?" And my fitness, certainly good at the start, truly skyrocketed during those three months and in October, when a full-time job at the radio station opened for me, I was a bit disappointed to leave my bike messenger gig. I had experienced summertime heat and humidity at its highest and I was looking forward to riding into winter as a ten-hour-a-day messenger in what were the glory days of it all before cell phones and the internet and mobile banking and the like.
@Robb Chastain That was a tough way to make a living, but it does sound like a great way to get into shape. Sounds like you at least some fun doing it. I am 8 years younger than you. I like to go fast myself. I always have. I am a disabled veteran, but I can still hang in the A-group while taking my fair share of the pulls. I still participate in gravel races. Although, I do prefer 1x on my gravel bike.
@@DaveCM Thank you for your service, David, and I am thankful to hear that your disability does not prevent you from rolling with the big dogs. And I'm more goofing than anything on 1x, and 1x is okay if it is a big 1x, at least, tho' it does make me laugh, the promotional jive that with 1x, whew, you don't have to deal with that complicated front derailleur, like how could any rider be expected to pedal and shift from one ring to another, that's mean and way too complex. Besides, I just like lots of options and 2x does that and even, rut roh, 3x on my commuter. And yes, in retrospect, that bike messenger job was a life-enriching experience, so glad I got to ride like a pro for a few months and after two months at Central Delivery I was accepted by the Black journeymen riders who were all-season lean and mean all-stars. And I was honored to be their teammate, if not disappointed that I soon would have to bail on that squad of professionals. And that experience came after a year of finishing my degree at American University and before that I served two enlistments in the Army and that's what brought me to DC. And I was always a strong rider from a lifetime of it, the thumbnail of me on my Sting-Ray was early '75 at age 15 in a military housing area in Frankfurt, West Germany, and two of my favorite wins were thanks to the Army. In August '75, the USO and 7-Up sponsored a road race in downtown Frankfurt and I won the teen race and a Peugeot road bike, then in '82 as a soldier at Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas, I won the bike race on a big summer day of sporting events which culminated with a cookout for everyone, big fun. And I was shown in the September '83 issue of Soldiers magazine, demonstrating one of the first bike-on-stand indoor trainers, one I had purchased in Kansas in late '82 before my transfer to DC. And that was a thrill for me to promote cycling to fellow soldiers and I was actually exemplary in my fitness and we know how important that was to the military. Thanks for writing and keep riding and perhaps we'll be dueling one another for a trophy at a gravel event somewhere. 😀
Why are his ears tucked into his hat? Is that a pro move? Should I give it a try?
Would be great to see you ride leadville 2023 ?
#celesteisbest Nico
Enjoyed your interview Nicholas and look forward to watching your other gravel videos. Thanks.
Thank you.
Great vid as always, very interesting
Super interview and a look into the character of Nicolas. Nice guy! Thank you Ben. 👍
My pleasure!
1X is useless for non-MTBs. I've used 2X on gravel roads and never dropped a chain.
Pros pros pros. Blah blah blah. 👎
Thank you for the erudite and constructive criticism. 😆