The House of Cycling Pro's with Tim Harris

Foreign.

Athlon podcast finding out how ordinary people do extraordinary things.

Quite a few riders, Chris Froome stayed there for a season.

Mark Cavendish in the beginning when he was first under 23.

That was Tim Harris.

And this episode is House of the Cycling Pros. Tim Harris was a pro cyclist for 13 years and he's now on the staff of the Bahrain McLaren team. But what's really cool about Tim is this house that he has in Belgium where many of the top cyclists that we all know the names of have gone to visit this house to help and he's helped them turn pro.

So whether it's Mark Cavendish, whether it's.

Chris Froome, they all stayed at Tim's House of the Pros in Belgium.

And so this was just a great.

Opportunity to have a conversation with Tim to find out what it takes to get to the absolute top of the cycling game and why this random house in Belgium attracts so many cyclists and how he helps them turn pro. So I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. This podcast is brought to you by Pip and Nut Amazing Nut Butters created by Pip herself when she started mixing up nut butters in her kitchen in 2013. I think these nut butters are amazing. My particular favorites are the coconut almond butter, the maple peanut butter, and also the gingerbread one which is delicious. But all of these nut butters are amazing and what's brilliant about them is that they don't have any palm oil in as well. So, so delicious nut butter that you can get. And check out@pipandnut.com and if you hang on to the end of this podcast, I'll have a discount code for you too. So that's pipandnut.com for amazing nut butters. This podcast is also brought to you.

By the Tribeathlon app.

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Okay. So, Tim, welcome to the Tribeathlon podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. You've just had such an incredible career so far in the world of cycling and some of the. I mean, as far as I can see, you must be about the best connected man in the world of cycling. You've just, you know, brushed shoulders and worked with some of the very best cyclists in recent years and over the years. But do you want to, for those people that don't know that much about you, do you want to tell us a little bit about where you've come from, tell us your story and kind of what you've been up to over right from the start?

Okay. Well, I grew up in Norfolk in a small village near Swaffham, if anybody knows it.

And I was into football. And I watched.

But one Sunday afternoon, I watched a.

Documentary on the Tour of Italy when.

I was 14, and I just decided it looked like a nice sport to do. So I didn't.

My parents, none of my family were involved in cycling. And so I just bought a bike and started riding around the lanes in Norfolk. And after about a year, then I ended up joining a cycling club in Norwich called Renrad Club Norwich, which was really good for young riders in today and went on from there.

Sort of was not a very great schoolboy or junior.

But then I won a race in Italy.

My doctor was in the Rotary Club.

And he had a pen pal in or a friend in Como. And I went to Como and did a race and actually spent the summer there. And I won a race at the end. And from that moment, I sort of thought maybe I could be okay. Then ended up after that in Holland for five years, sort of, because in the day, really, you had to go abroad to race. And in Holland and Belgium, there was a lot of races. So I went to live with a family in the very south of Holland, just near the Belgian border, and I did okay and ended up turning pro for a Dutch team. So, yeah, I was a Pro then for 13 years. Professional cyclist. I was national professional champion in 1989 and raced up until 1996. And then I, when I retired, I did a furniture business and I ended up having a house in Belgium where young riders over the years have come to stay or been to stay. And. And I always kept my hand in cycling.

I worked on the Tour de France.

For the last 13 years in quite a lot of different events.

And Then since this year, I've been.

Director Sportive for Bahrain McLaren team. So it's a bit of a long.

Story, but I don't want to bore everybody, so I don't think anybody's going.

To get bored by that story. And there's so much, so much worth digging into there, and I think. So let's start with what was it like being a professional cyclist in the. In the 80s and the 90s, you know, what was that like compared to today? Because obviously, you know what it's like today as well?

Well, it was.

From my point of view, it's great.

Because if you can make from your.

Hobby, your career, then I suppose really that's everybody's dreams. So, although I wasn't like the greatest.

Rider, I managed to make a living.

From being a professional cyclist. And, yeah, it was a good time.

And okay, it was different in those days, but whichever way you look at.

It, whether you raced in 1950, 1970, this year, or in the 80s, end of the day, you start to pedal.

So there's a lot of things changed.

Around the sport, but the essence of it is still you have to be fit and you have to pedal your bike as hard as you can go. So in that respect, it hasn't changed. It's changed, obviously, in a load of ways, but the actual sportive part of it is you have to be fit, you have to look after yourself and.

You have to like doing that.

Otherwise you wouldn't be able to do it for very long because it's pretty hard.

I mean, the professionalism side of it must have changed quite a bit, doesn't it? I mean, you know, I don't know. I'm not quite sure when it stopped, but I certainly remember seeing footage of people, you know, towards the end of a stage having glasses of wine and while cycling. I don't know whether I don't know when that was paced out.

I didn't know anything about that. But no, no, I mean, it's a lot more professional.

All the teams we've got, you know, the structure of a big professional team now is immense. We've got about 90 people employed at Bahrain McLaren. We've got coaches, physios, doctors involved, there's a real nutritionists, we've got chefs. So when we go to a race now, really, it doesn't bear much resemblance with going to a race when I was racing. We've got the big, big bus, big lorries, and the whole infrastructure is enormous. Really brilliant.

And so this, then this house, which you kind of Almost brushed over in Belgium, this. I was reading that you just happened to buy it because you got puncture outside of it and you kind of. Your book, your furniture business was doing pretty well, so you were looking to invest some money somewhere. And then suddenly, as a result of. Was it the SARS outbreak in Asia.

That.

I bought this house just to.

Live in it, really.

And then the SARS outbreak happened, a bit like now, but a lot less worse, and all the races in Asia were canceled. So I knew a load of Australian riders. So I get a phone call from one of them and they said, have you got anywhere to stay? And it was just a bit of a ruin at the time. And I said, well, not really, no.

He says, ah, you must have sleep anywhere.

So anyway, they arrived, these lads, and really after that, Rod Ellingworth bought the Academy from the BC Academy, boys like Mark Cavendish. And it sort of all went from there, really.

Because the big thing is that if.

You'Re not really into cycling or you don't know much about cycling in Belgium, you can race more or less every day. It's a little bit like horse racing is in Great Britain, that there's a.

Scene that if you just arrive with.

Your bike and a license from the federation, then you can race. And literally, if you're good enough. It's a bit like I always say, a bit like prize fighting. I would have imagined in that if you're good enough, you come here and you can make it as a professional cyclist. Because there's so many races and so much going on in Belgium that it's sort of like the center of the cycling world for a lot of things.

And so this house now has. And would you describe it as somewhere that people come to if they want to turn pro? Would that be fair? Is that what you're saying?

Everybody, you'd come here if you would, dreaming of turning pro. You want to turn pro or you just want to give it a try?

Because, you know, you could people coming.

For a week or a weekend even.

And just to sort of do the Kermis races, which are sort of legendary institution in Belgium. So, you know, we get all sorts of people, you know, a lot of girls, lads, everything really.

And you've, you know, had some pretty astonishing names come through that place, haven't you?

Quite a few riders. Chris Froome stayed there for a season.

Mark Cavendish in the beginning when he was first under 23 rider. He's came, yeah, a lot of riders, really, to be honest. Yeah.

And yeah, I mean, the list just.

Goes on, doesn't it?

I mean, I think Garant Thomas was there.

Was Bradley Garen Thomas never been there. He's the one person that's never one of the riders.

In that case, research.

No, no, no.

But I've seen.

The thing is, I've seen it in the. Everybody assumes everybody's been, but I saw.

That in print, but he hasn't actually been, so. Oh, okay.

Well, let's set the record straight. Not Kevin Thomas, but Bradley Wiggins.

Wiggins has been. Yep. Yeah, before the one of the Olympics, a long time ago.

And so do you, do you coach them or do. Is it just literally a place to stay?

I don't really coach them.

Well, I don't coach them, but all.

I do is try and give advice.

As to where the races are, who the people you might need to know.

Just little things that you wouldn't necessarily know because that is the thing now, nearly every rider's got their own physical.

Coach or their own coach. So the actual physical day to day training, I don't get involved in that, but I just sort of tried to give a bit of advice left and right and say what races might be good for them to do and where they are and everything. So it all works like that, really.

And quite often they come with teams or with coaches or managers.

So, you know, it works a bit like that.

Fantastic. And so, you know, how long would they typically stay with you? Is it usually a season or is.

It can be literally from a weekend to four or five years? So it's literally like that because some riders come like via the Dave Rayner Fund.

We get quite a lot of riders and quite a lot of them sort.

Of come to Belgium when they're juniors.

And then they like it and then they come with the fund or they get on a Belgium team. And the whole thing is it's not necessarily whether you make it as a professional cyclist. It's also a good experience for people to be living in a foreign country and learning racing and sport and everything. So yeah, so really literally from a night to a long time. So yeah, it's very. There's no real set pattern to it. It's just people wanna come, they can come and that's sort of it really.

So there's no criteria for you, you're not screening people out or have you got a particular criteria that, that you would be willing to accept?

The most criteria is the fact that.

You want to come to Belgium to do it.

So most people who would come will.

Be pretty serious cyclists. It's not something to be undertaken lightly. I mean, the minimum race in belgium will be 100km, 110km, really fast.

So people that come, they're all pretty serious.

Well, they are all serious cyclists. You know, they're pretty dedicated ones and, you know, a lot of people, 18 now, brothers and sisters, might be going off to university and they want to be professional cyclists. So for them that's, you know, it's a massive step, massive step to come.

And see if they can follow their dream.

And in the world of cycling now, is that. Is there sort of a maximum age you would kind of. It's feasible to turn pro. I mean, I dare say it gets.

Younger and younger, but it's bizarre sport in the respect that you've got guys like Evenepoel who turned pro at 19.

And he's just world class, and you've.

Got Valverde who's 40, who could be his dad. So the one thing about cycling is quite a long.

You have got a long period that it can be done at, so you.

Don'T normally get injured like in football, with your knees and cartridges. The main things that stop you will be crashes.

So if you don't crash and you.

Still got good morale to do it.

You can go on for a long time.

So there's no real.

I would say there's no real minimal or maximum age, hardly to be a top pro.

Most of the riders that would come.

To stay would be late teens, early 20s, you know, giving to give it a good go.

Does that mean that they can be a rowdy bunch as well, or are they all very sensible and professional?

No, they're pretty sensible. I mean, yeah, they're very sensible.

I mean, because the thing is, if.

You'Re paying for yourself to go somewhere.

And you want to mess about that, you can go on holidays. But these lads and girls, if they come, they want to be. They want to, you know, do it properly. Really. Yeah.

I know there's not quite a lot of stories, but I can't think of.

Any off the top of my head. No.

Well, I just remember reading armed police being called to the house in its early days.

That was early days. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There was some armed police called to the house.

Was that the Aussies causing trouble?

It was an international incident, shall we.

Say.

With regards to turning pro. What's the worst advice you hear people given and where does it tend to come from?

That's a hard question, that. Because there is no black and white. There is no real, as I said, black and white way of right or wrong in cycling, you can't sort of.

Say, right, we'll set off and we're going to do it that way or that way or another way.

Because if you ask 50 pro cyclists.

There will be 50 routes into it. So.

There'S probably no real right or.

Wrong advice, to be honest. You just have to be, you know, serious and get on with what you're doing. But I wouldn't say there's that much bad advice, to be honest.

And what are the secret. What do you think the secrets are to getting there as successfully or not necessarily as quickly as possible? Because I suspect that getting there as quickly as possible isn't always the best way. But what. What would be. What advice would you be giving people if they're kind of thinking about taking that next step?

Yeah, you have to really, in your.

Mind, want to do it because it.

Is a big step and you gotta sort of give up a few years.

Of normal type of life.

But the thing is, the people that.

Want to do it know they want to do it. So, you know, they're all pretty much dedicated towards that goal.

Like in any sport, any top sports.

Person, is there a certain mindset or business model or anything really, you know, you want to do it and nothing will.

If you really want to do it.

Nothing will stop you. You'll just keep, you know, trying as.

Hard as you can to make to achieve your goals.

And I think that's the main thing. It's more psychological thing, knowing what you want and then if you have the.

Physical ability, but as well, because obviously.

Not everybody's got a big enough engine to be a professional cyclist or top triathlete.

So with all the best will in.

The world, you know, you've had people that have given it every single thing they can possibly do. But if you haven't quite got a big enough motor, then that's also not possible. So I found over the years, you.

Have people quite often who have a.

Bigger engine, as we say, maybe a little less dedicated, so they don't make it.

Or they're people who are totally dedicated.

But haven't got the engine.

And then somewhere in the middle, the.

Ones are pretty talented and with a good mental attitude. They're the ones that seem to usually make it.

And how do you measure that engine?

You could do. I mean, you can measure it with all the, you know, the VO2, the watts tests and all that type of stuff.

So most coaches will know the physical ability of their riders or their athletes.

But it still doesn't always Pass into performance. Every single person involved in cycling will.

Know somebody who's got the biggest performance on physical tests and, you know, can't get a decent result. And then also know people on paper.

Shouldn'T be very good, and they are.

The whole beauty of cycling, I say it's like chess on wheels, because it's not just a black and white thing that you're faster than somebody else because you're physically better. There's a lot of factors to it. Psychological tactics, bike handling ability. There's a million things that come into play.

And you must see that because you're a driver at the Tour de France, aren't you? So you must see that. I mean, what's that like? What's driving in the Tour de France like?

Tour de France is crazy.

Yeah, it's just biggest yearly sporting event, so just thousands of people, millions of people. And that's really the focal point of the cycling season. So the entire world who's involved in cycling is there in France. So, yeah, it's a madhouse, to be honest.

It looks like.

It looks like it when we're watching on the tv. It looks like absolute chaos when you.

Go up the mountains. It's complete.

It's complete.

It is what it looks like on the tv.

It's pretty mad.

It must be pretty hairy driving through. It certainly looks pretty hairy. Cycling or motorbikes as well. Incredible. And obviously, at the moment, we're in the heart of lockdown and we don't actually know whether the Tour de France is going to happen. What's your instinct on whether it is likely to happen or not?

Well, I live in Belgium and it.

Seems to be rapidly getting better here and in mainland Europe. To be honest. The Belgium government have just said they're allowing there to be races from the beginning of July here, amateur races.

Our season, the pro or World Tour.

Season, starts beginning of August. And so far, the calendar that the UCI have put up, nobody's really hasn't really changed much.

We thought there might be quite a.

Few organisers that decided not to do.

It, but it seems to be quite a lot of races going ahead. So I think if we don't really get another wave and all, there's a.

Lot we've got to do, a real lot of protocols and everything.

But I think.

I think it probably go ahead, actually, the Tour, I think it'll be complicated, but I think that sitting here now, today, I think if I had to put a bet on it, I'd bet that it would happen.

Okay, that's Interesting, actually.

Yeah.

I wasn't so confident, but. And particularly because of the sort of the chaotic scenes that you were talking about on the mountain. You know, that seems like a very difficult thing to police.

It's gonna be very difficult to police. I don't know how they're gonna do.

Or what the French authorities are saying.

Because they're still all in discussion.

I mean, the thing is, I don't know how they will do it, but.

They will. Obviously, it's a big, big event for.

France and the authorities and the gendarmes and everybody. They'll the obviously be really big discussions about how to. How to do it all. But.

Still, what is it two months away?

Is it two months away? Yeah. So if it still keeps improving the situation, hopefully it will happen.

Brilliant.

Well, let's hope so, because it would be a. It will be, I think, something for us all to look forward to in a year that's been a completely bizarre year. But I know you said before we got on the podcast that you'd been out cycling every day or nearly every day during lockdown. Are you still cycling? Pretty much all the time. Are you still a massive.

No, no, not at all. No. I just thought I better just get a little bit fit. So I go out now and then.

But, you know, when you're doing the.

Job I do, really on the road all the time.

So you've got very, very little time to go cycling whatsoever, because in the winter, we're on training camps more or less, or meetings continuously, and once the season starts, it's really race to race.

So.

Wouldn'T really get as much chance as I would like to go cycling because spend more time in the car, really.

Tell me about your role @ Bahrain McLaren. What is it that you do.

There? Okay, I've got a couple of things. I'm directeur sportive, so we got seven directeur sportives. So normally in each race, you'll.

Have two, Two team cars behind the peloton. And so I'll be driving one of those. And then also I look after the younger riders in the team or just make sure everything's okay with them, and also looking for new talent on the team. But the main thing really is director.

Sport. Anything, certainly now, because once we kick off again in August, it's going to be completely.

Mad. It's just going to be race to race right up until the Vuelta, which finishes on the 8th of November. So that's going to be a busy, busy.

Period. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. Sorry, go on, carry.

On. But It'll be interesting because I think, obviously nobody's ever had a period.

Like this before, so we could be looking at, you know, different results because, you know, at certain moment you've got the Vuelta, Giro and Paris Roubaix all on at the same time. So it's going to be a.

Lot for the armchair viewer to look at. I think they'll have to wonder which race to.

Watch. And with regards to the younger riders, you know, how do you find that the older, more experienced, you know, the kind of. The more experienced professionals deal with the younger riders in the team? Are they kind of all welcoming or is it more of a competition for, you know, for the.

Places? No, they're really welcome. I think that maybe changed a.

Little bit because, I don't know, I think in the olden days it was. I think it was a bit more brutal. When you was a young lad, you got chucked into these, into a team and you had to fight your way around. But now everybody's, you know, very helpful for the young riders and accommodating. So I think it makes the transition a little easier for them, to be honest. So they get a lot of support and, you know, everybody. Everybody's at the end of day in the same.

Boat. So, yeah, the older guys have been really.

Good. Really, really.

Good. That's interesting because I remember hearing Dave Brailsford speak and he was saying something slightly different. He was saying, actually it was quite. It's quite challenging to get the older pros to kind of, well, you know, I suppose act as role models for the. For the young pros and, you know, it's. It must.

Be. No, I mean, like, for example, Mark Cavendish is absolutely brilliant with the young riders. You know, he's, you know, absolutely.

Fantastic.

So. And Henrik and Hendrik Houseler also, they really, really give a lot of support. So it's good to see, actually, because it makes, you know, it's a big, big step up for the young riders. So if they can immediately feel at home in the team, then it helps. Helps.

Massively. Fantastic. Yeah. I mean, particularly if you're a youngster and you join a team like that. You've been looking up to the likes of Mark Cavendish all of your. In your recent years. It would be, you know, I can see it being a massive help if he's.

Welcoming.

Yeah. The funny thing was I went to Colombia, we have a Colombian in.

The team, and I went over to see him in Bogota at his house, and he was still living with his parents because he's only.

2021. And the funny thing was, being a Colombian, you'd think he'd have pictures.

Of climbers on his wall. So I went up into his.

Room and he had a big picture.

Of Mark Cavendish on his wall, which.

I thought was pretty ironic. A, he was a Colombian and.

He looked up to a sprinter, and.

B, he's now a teammate.

Of. That was pretty.

Good.

Fantastic. Well.

That'S. That's amazing, isn't it? And who's. Who's been influential on helping you through your career, either on your. When it was your professional cycling career or since, you know, with the. With the. What do you call a house, by the way? I couldn't.

Get. I.

Think. I don't call anything. Because it's just a.

House. It's just a house. I know somebody. Somebody I was reading called it the Harris Ryan house, but it hasn't got a name.

Then. That's really got a name, because it's. I don't sort of. Yeah, yeah. It hasn't really got a.

Name. No. It's just this.

Yeah. It just kind of almost doesn't exist, but it's. I can't even remember what question I asked now. Oh, yeah. So.

Yeah. With.

Regards. So let's start with your. When you were a professional cyclist, who was it that was most influential and helped you through that.

Time? A lot of people that helped me started off in Norfolk. There was the guy that ran the Renrade Cycling.

Club. He was a guy called Bob Whittier and he ran this cycling club called Renrade Club Norwich. And just all young lads, there's maybe about 20 or 30 of us all, all the same age, and he.

Used to take us all over the.

Country. We had this old bus, old.

School bus, so we used to go.

From Norwich to Liverpool or wherever the races were. So that was. He was a fantastic, fantastic guy. And he's well known. He was well known, but he passed away in East.

Anglia. And then, because my grandparents were.

From Bognor Regis, there was a Mike Perry from the bike shop in Bogdo Regis. He really helped me a lot. And then I went to Holland and I stayed with a family.

And the guy there, Sean, he was.

Good. He really helped me a lot, learnt the language and everything. So he had a lot of people help.

Me. And then with this. Was there a particular person or a particular turning point that allowed this house, this unnamed house, to kind of emerge out? I know you mentioned Rod Ellingworth that you.

Mentioned. Yeah.

Yeah. So Rod.

Came with the academy and then. Yeah, it's just a Word of mouth, really complete word of mouth. It was really before the Internet really kicked off, so it was just people came and then more people came and then they said, there's somewhere to stay. And that's how it sort of, sort of.

Went. So if for any sort of aspiring pros that are maybe a little bit further off, are there any particular tips that you would give them that could kind of get them to the next stage? The next stage being potentially coming to stay at your house? Is there any tips on nutrition, any tips on training, any tips on events? You know, what would your advice be for a kind of a real youngster that's got that showing potential or really, really.

Enthusiastic? Well, the whole thing about it is if you. There's. Nowadays, with the Internet, there's a lot. It's a bit complicated in some ways because there's so much information out there that it's hard to see the wood for the.

Trees. And the thing was, when I.

Was young, you join a cycling club and you'd always have other older cyclists who would be in the club who.

Would sort of help you. So you really need somehow to.

Find a mentor in your area who can give you, put you in the.

Right direction, which is not always easy. It's not easy to find somebody like that always, because everybody can say, well, eat this or train like that, and I'll do all the things you're supposed to do, but you just sort of need a little bit of contact.

With somebody who's maybe done it before. So just push in the right.

Way. Because what you do know is that most top riders have had somebody in the background who really helped them, pushing them on. So, you know, really is to try and find somebody locally who could help a bit, I would say, but it's not easy. The thing is about it all, it isn't easy. It does take a lot of effort and looking and finding people and having a bit of luck as well.

Because every, you know, if I could.

Sit here and write a book saying how to train, you'll be world champion, then everybody would be world champion. That is the beauty of it, on the other hand, is you have to find out a lot of things for yourself. You'll hear a lot of information and try and filter out what's good for you and what's not good for you and then try and find out what works.

Best. Personally, I think you hit the nail on the head in terms of how difficult it is to find a mentor. I found I've only been cycling now for a About six years and doing triathlons for about three years, but trying to. You know, when I first got into cycling, people would be saying, oh, you want to try and you want to go and do that sporty or that event? And I couldn't find them. And, you know, literally, you know, I'd be cycling for two years and suddenly there'd be sort of all these people cycling past my front door, and you'd be thinking, well, what are they part.

Of? Like a secret.

Society? And it's actually, you know, and six years into doing all this stuff, I find out there's a triathlon club literally five miles from my house. But I only found it out a month or two.

Ago. Oh.

Really? Yeah, it's quite. It's a. It's one of the. One of the main reasons that triathlon was born in the first place was because trying to find these different events, people to train with and therefore mentors, is actually really much more difficult than it should be. And it's. And it's interesting you kind of highlight that that is the key, because certainly finding people has been the key to helping me, but it's just taken a long, A long, long.

Time. There's so much information out there. Like, you know, you can go.

On the Internet and you can just find out whatever you need to know, but probably not quite what you do need to know, if you see what I mean. It's like. Still, to find the races in Belgium isn't any. Okay, there's a website, but it's all in Flemish, and to find it is pretty difficult. So, you know, you wouldn't do it by typing in if you didn't speak Flemish, things like that. So although in theory it is a lot easier, on the other hand, it's still. Still not that.

Easy. But it has to be hard because if it was easy, you know.

Life has to be a little bit complicated. Can't all be too easy, can.

It? No, you're right, you're right. And I'm sure. I'm sure getting. Getting into the, you know, turning professional is. Is, you know, is similar in that, yeah, you open one door and you go, oh, now I found three.

Other doors that I can.

Open. And you kind of. It's just a learning process, isn't.

It?

Of. Kind of, definitely.

Yeah.

Yeah. Finding out different stuff. And is there any books that you particularly recommend or give away regularly or any. Any, if not books, podcast. But anything you think has been really helpful for you or an aspiring pro should be.

Reading? I've.

Read. I Got a lot of.

Books. I've read probably every cycling book.

In the English language, I would think, nearly. And in Dutch, Flemish, but it's.

Hard to say because also I know most, although I know a lot of the.

Authors. So I'm not sure if I.

Said one is better than the other. So I'll probably.

Get. If you've got, give me three or four great books in the world of cycling that you thought were. That were really worth.

Reading. Actually one you.

Haven'T. You can't read because it's in.

Flemish or unless you've experienced, is by.

A guy called Frank van den Brooker. And it's a guy who was. It's not.

Great. It's a terrible story because the.

Guy ended up dying, but he was a top, top talent in Belgium, but.

He had sort of like a rock.

Star life and ended in tragedy. But he wrote it just before he died. And it's pretty honest book, but it's a sad book. It's more like reading about the collapse of a film star, really. Oh.

Wow. Sounds like a brilliant book. But if it's not in.

English. No, it's not in English yet, I.

Think. So I think they're going to translate.

It. But, yeah, that will be a good book when it comes out. If it comes.

Out. And is there any books that you can think of that are in English that we. That really made an impact or particularly stood out, not even saying it's the.

Best? Well, when I was at school, another book I really liked was. It was called Cycling Is My.

Life by Tommy Simpson, and that was his autobiography and that was a pretty motivating book. But, yeah, now there's so many books out there.

And.

And now I can't really say which is the best one, to be honest. I can't.

Okay. No, it's difficult when there's lots of good books out there, isn't.

There? No. I mean, the whole thing is.

Like. You have to imagine when I first started cycling, if you went to a bookshop, there'd be one book. And now when you go to Waterstones or somewhere, there's more books on cycling than there are on football, nearly, which is amazing.

Yeah. Well, it's incredible how cycling, particularly in the uk, has come to the fore in terms.

Of. Absolutely amazing.

Yeah. And if there was. If you could only give one piece of advice to somebody, what would that. If you could be known for or give an aspiring pro one piece of advice, what would that.

Be? Just if you want to, you just have to go for.

It. You have to give it 100%, you have to give it 110% because it's only you that can really do it. So you have to really. It's more of a mental thing that you have to really put your mind to it. And okay, you can all find. Everybody can find out about trading, everybody can find. Find out about nutrition. But it's. I still say the sport really for a massive part of it is in your mind that you have to have the drive to. The drive to do it. So. Because even the most average person can still become a very good sports person with drive. And that is the main thing, like still going out when you don't want to. You know, that's probably the biggest tip really, is just, you know, if you want to do it, you have to, you know, give it everything. Because you're only going to be really young.

Once. So you might as well when you are young and you just have.

To really try and do everything you can because the world's full of people who, 40 or 50 who wish they'd done it. And then. But it's too late.

Then. Yeah, for sure.

Sure. So you have to isolate the young people. Just really give it everything you.

Got. And how can they do that? How can they. Is there any psychological sort of techniques that they can, or anything that can just help them along that.

Path? No, because it's a will. It's a will to.

Win. And you can't really give that to.

Somebody. The people, if you look at.

A champion, a champion is a champion really for a reason, in the fact that they are the ones that will go further, try harder, suffer more. Also not spoken about. You really have to suffer a lot when you're doing sport because it is.

Painful. It is something that comes within.

Yourself that you have to. Inside you. You're going to go harder or deeper than the other person or try to. And that's.

Hard. It's not like a thing you can.

Learn. You can't learn that at school or college, really. You can be taught. But the things that make people stand out in life aren't necessarily things that are just black and white. They're things that certain people have. And if you're. That, you have to be one of those persons. You have to force yourself to be one of those people if you want to do it. That's why sport fascinates everybody. Doesn't matter what sport. The reason people are fascinated by sport is because, you know, why is somebody better than somebody else? You know? And that is the thing that's ever since the Greeks did the Olympics, people have been looking at that. So. Yeah, that's. That's. Anyway, yeah, that's what I.

Think. Well, I think that's really interesting because there's quite a lot. I read quite a lot of books in the last few years about how it isn't down to people's physical talent, whether it's David Beckham or whether it's Johnny Wilkinson or whether it's Mark Cavendish. It isn't actually down to the physical traits that they're born with. But I do think that what you've just said is really interesting because actually, perhaps it is more down to the mental traits that they're born with. You know, as you say, an average cyclist with the right attitude can make incredible strides, but somebody that's a naturally built cyclist without the right mental traits probably won't make it. I think that's. I think that's really.

Interesting. No, I think. I think it holds in every, like a business or whatever, is that.

The mental part of things is sort.

Of a little bit maybe overlooked.

Somehow.

Yeah. And yet the more of these podcasts I do, I think almost every one of them, we've talked about how the mental side of endurance sports is probably more than 50% of the battle one way or another. So I think that's really interesting. And lastly, last question. What are you excited about now? What are you excited about for the future? What are you looking forward.

To? I'm massively excited for the rest of the season, to be honest, because. It's going to be a crammed in. The whole season is going to.

Be crammed into three months, possibly like.

Nearly into the winter, deep into the autumn. So I think once the racing.

Resumes, then that's going to be really exciting. And yeah, just excited.

About working.

On this team and, and seeing how.

Well we can do.

Really. Have you got any predictions for the year.

Ahead? I think the one thing that.

I wouldn't be very bright to say is have any predictions, because I think.

We could have a lot of surprises throughout.

History. I suppose there's a rhythm to the.

Season. You've got the early season races, the classics going into the hillier races, and now it's all thrown into a big mix and nobody knows. I mean, some riders are good in July because they're good in the hop in the Tour de France. Now, if it's pouring out of rain every day in the Pyrenees or the Alps in September, is that person going to be the same rider, you know, like in the Vuelta In November in the mountains, you could have really poor cold weather. So I think any.

Predictions? All I'm going to predict is.

It'S going to be unpredictable.

Really. I think it's going to be really interesting. Not just because the conditions are going to be completely different to usual, but also different. People's training will have been very different, won't.

It? I mean, you're going to have.

All Italians and Spanish and French. French are going to have had like 10 weeks off the bike in the middle of the.

Season. So that's also not to be underestimated at.

All. And can you maintain that cycling fitness to the same degree indoors on a turbo trainer, or is it just.

Not? We've had big discussions about.

It. I don't.

Know. I think it remains to be seen. You can obviously train yourself to very good.

Standard. With the modern trainers and stuff.

But whether, like in the last week.

Of a tour that's enough, then that's a different.

Question. Okay, the lockdown's finished now three.

Weeks, and there's quite a long time yet to the first.

Race. So if you see that riders.

That crash quite often come back just as strong later in the season. Most of the riders will be looking after themselves and training. Plus they're all in the same boat, so I think they'll probably be not too.

Bad. Yeah, well, it's certainly going to be an interesting year ahead, that's for sure. Tim, it's been absolutely fascinating chatting to you. Thank.

You. Thank.

You. A huge amount for. For giving up your valuable time. I know you're a very busy man and yeah, it's incredible the story around the infamous house and also what a brilliant career that you've been able to craft out of a sport you clearly love. So massive. Thank you for giving up your time. As you can hear, Tim is just a really humble, lovely guy that.

Has helped so many people and, you know, really has this huge passion for cycling. So it's just great to chat.

To him about, you know, the Tour.

De France, about this house in Belgium. I hope you enjoyed it and got as much out of it as I did. This podcast was brought to you by pipandnut.com delicious nut butters that you can find@pipandnut.com and if you use the discount code Tribeathlon15 Tribeathlon15, you'll get a 15% discount on your first order. So go check it out. As I say, my particular favorite is the coconut almond butter. Enjoy@pippandut.com and don't forget to download.

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