Editors Note: BikeTiresDirect has partnered with Alex Howes a renowned world-tour-rider-gone-off-road-privateer since 2022. Heres an excerpt from a conversation between BTD & Howes 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 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. [It required] a lot of time away from home literally months so it just wasnt a lot of fun.BTD: How do you tackle balancing being a professional racer with [having a family]?Howes: Its funny because people use the word balance a lot and the reality is it doesnt feel balanced on any level or in either direction the highs are super high and the lows are low get things done when you can, and just forget about them when you cant. Accept the chaos [know it] doesnt 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.(Photo/Gretchen Powers)How to Break Into Bike PrivateeringBTD: 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: dont think it wont be a job. If you want to do it, its 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.10-15 years ago, if you wanted to be a pro cyclist, you gotta go UCI, and thats that. [Now], theres no one right way to do anything in the privateer world.BTD: What is the most underrated or overlooked thing that you carry with you during races?Howes: I always bring super glue with me Ive 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. Ive super glued cuts. Ive glued tire plugs in. I mean, there are 58,000 uses for it and you can get the super tiny ones.Tour Divide vs Tour de FranceBTD: How would you compare some of the more structured [WorldTour] races to a race from your Privateer career like the Tour Divide just you out there on your own?Howes: I mean its 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 they were almost identical between the two of them between the Tour Divide and the Tour de France. Which is comical because theyre 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 dont think theres a day where you average under 220 which doesnt sound like a lot but for someone thats 63 kilos, [at] 220 [youre] 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: Theyre still going. Yeah, I rode them two days ago the exact same tires.(Photo/Wil Matthews)Alexs Favorite Road TireBTD: On that note, whats your favorite tire youve ridden?Howes: Yeah, the bummer with tires is you remember a whole bunch that you really didnt like.If you have a good tire you forget about it, and youre just enjoying your bike ride. If you dont have a good tire youre either fixing it or youre terrified because its coming apart on you or youre crashing.The ones that I probably spent the most time on that I really enjoyed were the Vittoria Corsa [N.EXTs] I rode those things in training a ton.If I was gonna go buy a pair of tires to ride and race, those are the tires between [the compound] and running them tubeless. I just think about how many tubes I used to use a year.(Photo/Gretchen Powers)Cycling Industry Thoughts and FeelingsBTD: Whats your least favorite thing about the bike industry?Howes: I feel like were always chasing theres a cycle to it every year. And I feel like everybody is a month behind at all times? Me included Im two months behind and Ive just accepted that. Like, Im putting my bikes together now, which is kind of ridiculous why dont we all just hit pause for a month and let it all catch up?BTD: How about your favorite thing?Howes: I think theres a lot of just genuinely happy people that do stuff with bikes. And thats why they get into the industry. For all its shortcomings everybody wants to be there. Theyre just trying to figure out how to stay there.Howes: Did we touch on how we linked up? I called you guys up out of the blue. I said hey, you wanna do something? You guys are like, we dont do that but I guess we could. What do you want?Tires, duh! And I [explained] 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 youre not gonna win anything if youre not getting to the finish line with air in your tires, so yeahI wanted the ability to mix and match, and you guys said Alright, yeah. We do shipping.So yeah, its been fun. Ive tested a lot of stuff and found some stuff I like, and some I dont. I found a pair of tires that will apparently last for 7,000 miles.BTD: And you were a real test subject for this year 2024 now includes five athlete partnerships for BikeTiresDirect. And its 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.Its been a great partnership so far and were 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.[both laugh]Thanks for reading. Youll find the unabridged transcript with more about Alexs WorldTour experiences, his strategy for tire choice, his confusion about pro cyclists apparently always pooping in hats, and a whole lot more at BikeTiresDirect.The post Alex Howes Talks Tour de France vs. Tour Divide, Finding Form, and Tires appeared first on Bikerumor.