Alex Howes had a World Tour contract, a team car behind him, and a directeur sportif in his ear. He walked away from all of it. Not because he was finished — because the racing had stopped feeding him. That distinction matters, and when I had him on the podcast, he was more honest about it than almost any rider I've spoken to. Quitting when you can't compete anymore is one thing. Quitting when you still can is something else entirely.
The Tour Divide is where he landed, and the contrast is total. No team. No support car. No race radio. Just a loaded bike and the Continental Divide from Banff to the Mexican border. Weeks of self-supported riding through mountains, weather, mechanical problems, and the kind of loneliness that structured racing never asks you to sit with. Howes's argument is that this is cycling in its purest form — and having done both, he's one of the few people who can make that claim with any credibility.
Here's the thing that speaks to the amateur rider, though. Most of us aren't choosing between a World Tour contract and the Tour Divide. But we are choosing between doing the thing that looks right on paper and doing the thing that actually lights us up. Howes's story is about having the honesty to recognise which is which. The riders I hear from most often aren't struggling with training load or nutrition. They're struggling with the question of why they're doing this at all. Howes answered that for himself, publicly, and three Roadman conversations later, it's still one of the clearest accounts I've heard of what happens when you stop riding for the structure and start riding for yourself.
The privateer piece is worth sitting with too. Going from full team support to self-funded racing changes everything — logistics, motivation, the relationship with the bike. It's humbling. It's also freeing. Both interviews are linked below, and they're a good starting point if you've ever caught yourself wondering whether your current cycling path is the only one available.