Getting into gravel racing has been a totally fresh experience. I love it so much that I have now set up my own gravel team (NR GRVL). A lot of professional riders quit cycling in their 30s. Stop. Done. But I was 37 when I retired (in October 2021) and that felt young. I was not tired of cycling; I was just tired of the road. I had done the same programme - Paris-Nice, Volta a Catalunya, the Classics, Tour de Romandie, altitude camp, Tour de France, Clásica de San Sebastián, Vuelta a España - for 10-12 years. But I still like to race a bike. And gravel cycling feels 100% new to me.
When Moto GP racers retire, they might become a test pilot, or ride in the World Superbikes. But traditionally road cyclists haven't had much else to do. I want to show that road riders can race gravel too.
I got into gravel last year. A lot of people have a winter bike in Ireland, so it made sense to have a gravel bike. I did the TV show Dancing with the Stars, and afterwards my brother Alexis was telling me about this Gravel World Series race in France. He said: "Why don't we race it?". I said: "Well, I haven't trained in four months!" But I thought: I will just train and see how far I can get, and I will have fun on a boys' weekend with my brother.
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Air Apparent - Pollution hasn't gone away. It's still there in every lungful, even if we can't see it in the air or on the news. But there are reasons to breathe easier, thanks to pioneering projects using cycling 'citizen scientists'. Rob Ainsley took part in one...
The toxic effects of pollution have been known about for years. 'Just two things of which you must beware: Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!' sang 1960s satirist Tom Lehrer.Over recent decades, though, pollution has dropped down our list of things to worry about, thanks to ominously capitalised concerns such as Climate Change, AI, Global Conflict, Species Collapse, etc. That doesn't, unfortunately, mean the problem has expired. Air quality often exceeds safe limits, with far-reaching and crippling effects on our health.
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