When you're young, you're just constantly, like I said, afraid of…
When you're young, you're just constantly, like I said, afraid of losing that position. And there's a moment where I think as some writers are just afraid to say something wrong that could have a repercussion on their race program, calendar or contract. I think this is the kind of fear, it's like, oh, if I give out about my teammate publicly in the media, maybe my DS won't be happy or whatever. My BS wasn't happy. Loving you came up to me in the next morning without a big meeting because I said, I wanted to smash my teammates head in the window. Hey. The big question is this. How do we use cycling as a tool to improve our health, our happiness and our long chances? That is the question. On this podcast, we'll give you the answers. My name is Anthony Walsh and welcome to the Roadman Podcast. Robeman, welcome back to another episode of the Robeman Podcast. We're back in a regular format this week. I don't want to say regular because that gives the indication that every week I'm going to go with the guest. I suppose I'm back in the format you're most accustomed to this week and I have Nicholas Roach joining me for this podcast. Very proud to chat to my compatriot Nicholas Roach. He's a proud Irishman as we get into this podcast where we talk about his somewhat complicated roots and his relationship with Ireland and his flip-flappy nature as it was, clarifies all that, talks about how proud he is to be Irish now, what it meant to be national champion, spoke about stepping out of the dad's shadow, which is always going to be a difficult thing, almost an impossible task, and wearing leaders, years using Grant Horrors, but we get into all sorts of things. We go off in tangents. We have a bit of crack along the way. I really enjoyed last week's podcast, a break from the tradition of bringing guests on. It was a subject I felt that everybody needed to listen to. That's the task I have. It's trying to balance on the one part, the entertainment value of bringing these guests on and hearing their insights because it is brilliant. I I'm as tickled and excited about our stories as anyone. But on the other hand, I want it to be educational. If I stumble across something, I'm spending a lot of time reading, researching, and I'm in a unique position, just getting the CD amount of training files I do at A1 coaching. So if I stumble across stuff that I think is useful to you, the audience, I want the podcast to be that platform that I can bring it to you. And the idea of the Golden Circle last week, know what you do, know how you do it, but then the main thing, know why you do it. So they want coaching, what we do, we get clients to fulfill their maximum potential on the bike, we get them to lose weight and recapture their youth. That's what we do. How we do it? That's our unique blueprint system that we have for bringing people through it encompasses, not just training, but strength and conditioning, nutrition and all the various steps in our framework to get someone there, but the why we do it, I think is why we've endured and we're around so long. Why we do it? It's because we believe that cycling is a simple tool to solve in some of the world's biggest problems. And with clients and friends, gone through things, ranging from mental health difficulties to self-esteem issues to weight issues to just challenges around our general fitness and cycling proves to be a solution around all those. So the question I posed last week, and I want you to let me know the answer this week, what is your why? So your task, if you choose to accept it, mission impossible, still dain, dain, dain, dain. I'm not even sure if that was mission impossible music. I want you to screen capture if you're listening on Spotify or anything like that, share it with your Instagram stories. Let me know your why, where are you cycling, why are you strapping that kit on in the mornings? God knows, it's a lot easier to go downstairs, get a cross on and read the newspaper and head out the door on the bike. So what is your why? Okay, I'm looking forward to this one. It's a long chat with a long chat, it's a regular, like, chat with Nicholas Roach. Before I jump into it, I just wanna remind you how this podcast exists, how I'm able to spend that time researching to bring you stuff like the Golden Circle. Last week, how I'm able to secure guests like Nicholas Roach, Bling Matches a couple of weeks ago, Toiler Hamilton, still a pinch of me, Toiler Hamilton on the podcast. How I'm able to do that, it's true, the generosity of everyone on Patreon. I'm gonna put the link in the description down below, it's patreon.com forward slash Anthony underscore watch jump on there. And if you be willing to buy me a coffee, if you be willing to buy me a beer, to say, thanks for facilitating these chats, thanks for going the extra yard and putting in this hard work. Please do it there. You get to vote with your euros, you get to vote and say, I want to see this podcast around. I want to see this podcast endure. So please support the small creators. Don't be dropping subscriptions on Sky Sports and Netflix. support the small creators and make sure they're around. Let's jump into a Nicholas Roach. This is a cracker. Nicholas Roach, welcome to the Roadman Podcast. Hey, thanks, good for having you. Nicko, it's brilliant to have you. I'm looking forward to this one. We're gonna dive right in, I suppose, with a question that's on everyone's mind, at least our recycling fans. The Olympics are obviously off. Are you gonna stick around one more year and Roy is the Olympics in our shares next year? It's my big goal. I'm gonna stick around anyway, but I'm not ready to retire, so I'm gonna try and stick around for another good few years. But the Olympics for me, it's one of my big motivation, my big goals to make it on a Ford R-Team for the Olympics. And I feel the first three, but not exactly what I didn't perform the way I wanted for various reasons, sometimes tactics, sometimes physically, but this time around I feel more mature than ever obviously and I think physically I'm still at a very decent level.
Just I wanted to say the outset of the podcast, we actually have a…
Yeah, I know just I wanted to say the outset of the podcast, we actually have a mutual friend, I'm not even sure if you're aware of this big Frankie Campbell and he's in hospital at the moment, he's not down too well. So I was chatting to Frankie earlier on in the hospital just seeing how he's getting on, I mentioned you were coming on the podcast and he said, ask Nico about the forced track testing session I had in Ghent. I invited all the top road guys there and cleared him. He turned up in his spiffy new cough at a skin suit and he slid down the boards on the forest day and I ripped the ourselves himself. Yeah, I mean, it's great. I'm really sorry to hear about Frankie. He actually sent me a text a couple of days ago to see how things work, but he didn't tell me he was ill. So I'm really sorry to hear that. Yeah, Frankie is a legend. We've been through so many life experiences together when I was growing up through the underage to junior, to, well, yet, 223 and then even professional, you know, from the Olympics actually in 2008 to this famous track testing in Ghent. So basically at that moment, there was track in Ireland was basically in existence. And Frankie taught that it was a bit late notice, but why not try and get a track team initially in the pursuit for the next Olympics. And so we all went there, Scanlon, myself, I think, in New Oakland, even if it had a diamond came. And we all took our rental bikes in the Intervena drone there. And with the same kind of normal bike, no changing the gears or wheel or whatever, we kind of did a few tests. So, you know, we were trying to see everything. So, you know, we did like a pursuit, an individual pursuit, a kilometer, a sprint, just to try and see. But it was like November, so there was not much training done. And anyway, yeah, so I was just, just signed with, with coffee this. I don't think I was even, yeah, it was, actually I was coffee this. but I don't know if I was professional or just as you are yet or just had signed. But yeah, we came down this, yeah, I just touched the pedal a bit glassy. Ah, Frankie's a good guy. So Frankie's the director, I'm riding an amateur team in Ireland now and Frankie's the director. So we were, Aquableo and then we merged into Dan Morrissey now, well, Frankie's my director at the moment. So he's had a bad run over, he had a COVID and then he came through with us and there he's back in hospital again with some water complications, but he tells me he's feeling better and he's out on Friday, so. All good. All good. Do you feel like you're Irish? Because you came from a strange family background. And how much is pulled in the Irish direction versus how much is pulled in the French direction? Well, apart from my taste for red wine, I think all the red is basically Irish. Yeah. Yeah, so I was born in France, my mother's French. I did spend quite some time in France now, but I'm 100% Irish, even in terms of passport, dual citizenship, I gave it away, so I'm 100% Irish legally as well. I do not have to do nationality like many have taught. There was a moment in my life where I felt I was always a stranger. When I was in France, I was always Irish. When I was in Ireland, I was always French. So I cried. I need to make a public statement and say and declare that this is my choice. is what I am. I'm not half one or half the other. I'm 100% Irish and make a decision. And I legally ended all the administration work to give back my French citizenship. So I'm actually 100% Irish. And in my heart, I've always been 100% Irish. I started cycling in Ireland. France was what I, France is my mum. France is my mum, my mother's family. But for me, France has not anything else. Ireland is more my family, my home, my friends. It's where I did my first races, my first national jersey, my... Oh, everything that was related, I just felt that I related more to what I was living in Ireland, that's what I lived in France. I'm not saying France is bad and I love France, and I've been living in France for 15 years. So I'm not gonna complain about it. But just in my heart, I felt that bit more towards the Irish side than the French side. Yeah, it's funny because you always struck me as someone who was immensely proud of being Irish when you did come home for the National Championships. Like I've raced against you a bunch of times in the Nationals. And I think off top of my head, have you got two road race wins, two TT wins in the champs? It seems like you are immensely proud and it is cool as another Irish racer racing against and then watching you go and wear that jersey on the world stage. That is always something that gives it's just not the same as much as Connor Dohn and stuff and Connor Dohn wins and works for it. It just doesn't feel like he's Irish, but it did kind of feel like you were one of the lads as well. Well, like I said, most of the guys, when I was here, when I started with the gang, like Stephen Enright, Andrew McQuaid and Tim Cassidy, Philip Dagnum, Stephen Adair. Those are the lads I started cycling with. I didn't start with John Pierre or whatever in France. So, you know, my first years on the bike were all until I was 16. It was all true to Ireland and in Ireland. So, I think on my side it was a little bit easier because I actually raced in Ireland as an underage, I didn't just come once for the national when I was suddenly 25. But my first Irish nationals was when I was 12, so I think this is probably why the feeling is maybe a little bit different. But as you said, yeah, I'm very pro-Arland and very active towards my Irish roots. I think in the world scene, I've always tried to push Ireland as a country and try and be the best ambassador as I could for Ireland too.
Had Chris Hill Jensen on the podcast a couple of weeks ago and…
I had Chris Hill Jensen on the podcast a couple of weeks ago and there's someone who you wouldn't think of from the name that he's such an Irish lad for, you chat to him and it's like chat to one of your mates on the pub. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how he's lived abroad for so long and his accents still remain so strong. He's a funny bastard as well. Yeah, he is. There was a good group of you lads in VC Le Palme. You're part of your Brian, Philip Duygnan, you're a Tim Cassidy as well. Yeah, and Dennis Lynch. And so it was, it's kind of strange, you stay in touch with the lads much. Like obviously, I still race part of your lot on the home scene and he's still brilliant. He's still in hand, you don't want to bring to the line, I tell you. But is it kind of weird that obviously you and Philip stepped up and then part of you team, they made it a conti, but they never quite made that step into the world's horror ranks. Is that when you're chatting among each other, is it kind of like, oh, twist the face, it could have been, you were home and Clansorck going back to college? No, I think at that moment, the thing is, I call these guys friends, and there's no envy between friends. And I always get a good text from Tim or from party over the years of congrats. And I think they're generally happy for myself and Philip turning pro and being there and then accepting that they were not going to turn pro. I don't think there's any bitterness or anything wrong about it. We all know how difficult it is to turn pro and how few do turn pro and just over the years things that happened. Unfortunately Tim was always very fragile. I always had knee problems. He was quite sick. But he gave it a good goal and just didn't work out. That's the way it is and in every business or every aspect of life. It's like that But I think there was always this friendship and respect among each other and today thanks to social media It is really easy to keep in touch with each other and over the years I've had contact with the with all the lads and you know not not later than then couple days ago I got a text from Stephen and writes so which I used to race when he was a whether I would usher back in 2008's in 2000 so So it's great to actually have that support from the lads through my career because there were guys that were important for me back in the day. It's probably was my biggest rival when we were underage. Oh, look, still a lad. We're trying to work over every week. Nick, I'll talk to you about your... You've gone into the family business. And how much of an awareness did you have grown up of how big a deal your dad was? was, or what was the moment when you knew, oh shit, my dad is a pretty big deal here. I think quite soon, I guess, I guess around, yeah, the age of eight, 10, more or less. And as you kind of walked your way through, say, VC Le Palme des, is it like I'm thinking back to when my dad was my football manager, like completely crazy example here. But everyone taught it's a great benefit having your dad involved. But I felt a lot of extra pressure on having them involved as a manager of mine. Was there an extra pressure or an extra spotlight on you as an early kid to kind of, you know, I don't want to say live up to dad's expectations because they don't think anyone could ever live up to what he'd done. But, you know, to almost step out and build your own identity separate to your dad. Well, you know what, I realized, so I was quite active as a kid, played rugby, soccer. I was also quite a fast runner. And I realized everywhere I went, I was always associated to him, not just cycling. I love cycling, so I continued cycling regardless of all the rest. But even in school, I was in Blackboard College because I was the son of Stephen Roach. I was playing soccer because I was the son of Stephen Roach. I score goal. I was the son of Stephen Roach. I was second in the Lancer champs on the track. I was because only because I was a Stephen Roach or some. So everything I did, it was never because of what I was doing, but I was always directly because I was Stephen Roach or some. So I realized that I can't get away with it, especially living in Ireland. So we're in France at the time, they also had Anna and Roche, the famous footballer. So when they say Roche, they say, ah, the son of Anna Roche said, no, the cyclist, I thought the footballer. But back in Ireland, there was just no escape. And I quickly realized that I just had to get used to it very quick, if I wanted to not have this complex of problems or, you know, a lot of people just completely turned the back. I was in my opinion stronger than that. And I said, no, that's the way it is. I accept it. And it comes in one year. It comes in the other. For sure, I do admit that sometimes when the race speaker goes up and he's there, you know, he's giving the results of the guy before me and he's giving his 99th place in the Grand Korea with his neighborhood in 2003 and he comes up to me that had bigger results and he says, ah, Nick is so just some famous TV roach and turns off, he's like, yeah, I've got my results. I'm not just, that's not a, I didn't win that prize of being the son of zero notes. That, that doesn't make me a better or worse writer. So it doesn't really come up on the podium, you know, but obviously that happened to me a few times when I was a kid, but I realized it was just always going to be there. And isn't something you're resentous and you just wanted to be like the normal kids or did you just did you know I was proud of it proud of it.
Just like that. Yeah, it's it's not about resenting it's about…
I just like that. Yeah, it's it's not about resenting it's about accepting it. My dad was who he was one of the best cyclists in the world for for a couple of for for the years that he was there and and obviously you know I was proud of what he did respect what he did. There's no competition. I'm not there to do better or worse. I just know it was difficult to do better anyway. So I just kind of be almost impossible wasn't it? Yeah, I think if Contador had been your dad's son, like he still hasn't stepped out with a shadow. So it's, you know, it's an impossible shadow almost. So as you're kind of going through and you're making your way from Kofi to into AG2 or is there a moment where you go, you know, I've arrived, I'm not going to have to go back and got a college. I'm not going to have to go and, you know, started at nine to five job. This is what I do. I'm a cyclist. Do you ever get that security? Because I've talked to some of the guys, even chat to Mike Wodes from EF a few weeks ago. No, sorry, it was Mitch Docker a couple of weeks ago. And Mitch was saying when he was living in Jirona, he almost felt uneasy about buying furniture because he wasn't sure if you'd get another contract. And he kind of felt like buying furniture was going to jinx him. And he said lived in this perpetual stage of uncertainty. Do you have a moment where you just are fucken I'm a pro cyclist? No, there's, I'm in the middle. Obviously there was years when I was with AG tour and team leader and I knew I could stay there for a couple of years where I had not security but I felt more secure. The only thing is you need more than results to continue in cycling or on the opposite you just have a bit of bad luck and I was saying I get hit by a car tomorrow and that's it or have whatever some disease that takes me out for a year and that's a It's a spoiler boy. Like a spider bed, but that's only two weeks. But you know, whatever it is, it's just more than just being good on a bike to stay professional. It's also being lucky in your life and your decision or not having any bad luck. Look at a Teppster now who's in intensive care. We spend nine weeks at home. He comes out training and he got a hit a goose training or swan, sorry. and his intensive care with a perforated long-term concussion. Holy shit. He's a fun work. We're now one month from racing. I don't know if he's out of contract, no other contract. So he could be finished because he hit a goose yesterday after a 10-month stop in the season. So there's a lot more than being strong. And these end-hour contracts are so short. There is always the moments that you think about it. And even when you feel secure about a contract, you want to make sure you have the good contract. What team should I fit in? Can I change? Can I not change what they want me? What role? Obviously, the salary comes into play as well. So there's always continuously some questions in your mind during your career. 2010, you were with AGT, or I think you were 14th, 15th in the third of that year. You're a good GC, right? That year, I suppose you sprung to public consciousness in Ireland. I think a lot of people would have had to awareness that you were a cyclist in the cycling fraternity, both for mainstream, you know, by Manda, who weren't in the cycling, would have started relos and who you were, because he started the daily independence, right? She started the independence in 2007. Did you? Yeah. That early. But was that decision like you're talking about there, that there is more to being a bike rider than just the results? Was that an awareness that I can throw myself into a little bit of a marketing vehicle? like potentially use this as leverage in contract in the calculations or how much it was just. At that moment, not at that moment through my head. At that moment, I got a call from Jared Cromwell who wrote for The Independent. And he said, out his interest for you, since I was the first rider, that was gonna do a grand tour in so many years, said out his interest of doing a diary for your first grand tour in the 0, 2007. I was interested, I said, yeah sure. And that went okay. And then the year after I did the Vuelta, and I was 13th in GC in the Vuelta. So that was my biggest results in the grandeur. And then I think the biggest explosion actually was in 2010. 2010 was probably already not at the peak, but when it started to really explode. But I think already 2008, and then my first third of France in 2009, I think this is when things kind of grow a little bit because 2010, at that stage I was already doing some of the other World Tour races and then the Vuelta as well. And then from there onwards I even did almost every single race as a diary and then for three or four years I was really active. But initially I did it because I thought, yeah, this could be fun and I enjoyed it. It was like a therapy. I got into the bus and I was like, ah, let's go. This is how my day went. And I just like, just let it all out. I wasn't talking to your coach, it was just like letting all your journey out. And it was fun because I was going back to Ireland and when they were asking me about your unique approach, you don't say how was your last race. It was like, ah, I love the dairies. And it was quite funny how the Grand Public reacted to the dairies and it wasn't much interest actually about my results, more than anything. They were just enjoying my daily routine during the grand tour and the stories and the background. The results that just go on whatever cycling news or whatever internet site that they had at the time and you can see the results. For the Grand Public, obviously the results were important but they were more interested in the little details and the arguments you have with your teammates, the tension, the stress but also the good moments when you share them too.
Was more about the adventure. This is the thing and I know I'm lucky…
It was more about the adventure. This is the thing and I know I'm lucky enough the podcast I get to chat to a lot of World or guys, no friends or world or guys. It is such a bubble. It seems like the results really matter. And they do in the bubble. But when you step outside the bubble, the general public, they care about your experiences, they care about the laugh on the road, they care about the bottle you through and the kid, the car in the crowd. And I think that was definitely the forced insight or definitely for an Irish rider, where you can get where you're at. So, you know what, I can talk about this on the podcast a lot. Since we started wearing helmets and glasses, like the characters have gone out of cycling, like Marco Pantani looked like a pirate. But this was a forced way to peel it back and go, you know what, these are actually people, they're not robots behind, you know, with this crazy piece of oakies, there's a real person here in Nicholas Roach, and he had a shit day, and he had a crap day because he didn't eat enough the night before and his legs feel fucking empty, and all of a sudden there's a deeper connection. Yeah, I agree with that. I think this is what, and also I always spoke without filter, and I think people appreciated that. My darries weren't tamed. It was just the way it came out at that moment. And if I wanted to say shit, I said shit. And if I want to say I'm going to smash Cadre's head, I did say it. And I think that was a thing. And it was a little bit different. Obviously at that moment, I was young and full of fire. And now I think things twice before I say them, but at that moment it was just, it was really all out. Yeah, and it's getting neutralized a wee bit. I know it's funny because you talk to some of the, you can tell on the podcast if you talk to a coroner or who's experienced like you, they're happy to speak to your mind. The younger guys are still very tentative. And then you get D.S.s or stuff like I talked to Matt White a few weeks ago, and he's fucking lads out. And because it's just, I suppose it's the passage through Saiklin and you give a fuck a bit less as you go through. It's not that you give a fuck a bit less is when you're young, you're just constantly, like I said, afraid of losing that position. And there's a moment where I think some writers are just afraid to say something wrong that could have a repercussion on their race program, calendar or contract. I think this is the kind of fear is like, oh, if I get out of bed my teammate publicly in the media, maybe my DS won't be happy or whatever. And my DS wasn't happy. Lavonie came up to me in the next morning with a big meeting because I said I wanted to smash my teammates head in the window. Yeah, maybe it was extreme. But I take that example because that's kind of the most famous article I think I did during my diaries. But at that moment, I think also social media wasn't as big. So yeah, there was Twitter. Yeah, there was a few things. So whatever I said, kind of stayed in Ireland. And in a way, it was nice for me because I could kind of give my, my, it wasn't as worldwide where today the diary, when I say something in a diary, I know that I have 120,000 on Twitter who look at the link or whatever. And it's more worldwide just because the media has gone more worldwide, where before when I did an article, it was yeah, it was in the papers the next day and then they put it online the day after that. So the impact of what I said wasn't as global as well, where today I have to be a little bit more careful about what I say in the diaries. But when it comes to speaking out already when I was young, I didn't really have the tongue in my pocket, but I know some of the writers, and I just understand why for them it's harder to speak out because they're always afraid something is going to come against them at some point where, and because it has, you know, even sometimes I've had problems for talking too much. Doo doo doo doo doo. It's intermission time. This is the time in the podcast where we all just relax a little bit. We all just take stock and think, yeah, what a cool lad Nicholas Roch is. And it's also the time that we don't procrastinate any longer. It's the time where we press pause on this podcast. We jump on over to patreon.com forward slash Anthony under skull watch. Go support this podcast. Make sure it survives. Vote with your euro. Buy me a coffee. Buy me a beer. To you it's might be a small gesture. To me it's vindication that we're going the right direction with this podcast. and it shows me week on week that it's build a momentum and it's build and support which it is and I thank you for that so far. So if you haven't subscribed to Patreon so far and you're listening to this podcast you owe it this to your fellow listeners who have chosen to support it and that's the reason the podcast is around. So do them a favour, give them a dig out and dig into the little pocket. Okay, time to get back to the middle of the road. You even see Sagann with his pinching the pretend pinched girls on the podium that no matter what level the Reuters at, they're not above the public comment down on them for stuff. I know you're still continue to have these sort of candid articles and I know Paul Kimmage is the journalist you seem to like working with quite a lot. I actually have a funny Paul Kimmage story, I was still on my masters in law back or back 2010, 2011. And I knew Park image obviously had a rough ride and I'd read it and I drew a friend of, you know, our cycle and friend of a friend, I managed to get his phone over a rangum up real apologetic, who Paul like real sheep, I got your number from so on, so on.
Where you wouldn't have like 10 minutes to talk to me about my…
So where you wouldn't have like 10 minutes to talk to me about my thesis, it's on dope and in sport. And he's like, no, don't have 10 minutes. He's like, come out the ball, break in tomorrow morning at half 11. He sat down for a three and a half hours, bought me lunch and he fucking skilled. He told me what was what? This was pre-US postal scandals. Here's what they're doing, here's what Armstrong's taking, here's how they're phoned. I was just like, holy shit, this is unbelievable. But I know you spoke openly and candidly with Kimmage. What's their relationship like you have with him? I have a very, I think the best word is honest relationship. I think there is respect between the two of us and I think I actually text him that one time I said I think I spoke more with him than I did with my psychologist when I did this article. I quickly read, so the first time it took me almost 10 years of professional cycling before I actually met Kimmich, I think. And then eventually we did sit down and we had a very long interview. I think it was in 2015, my first year at Sky. And I knew Kimmich was someone that knew what he was talking about because it was someone that I read. I knew the history, I knew everything. And it was like, this guy, I just have to be me, talk and say what I think, no bullshit. Because if you bush them, then you realize you're butchered them and there's no point in going that way. So I think, when I saw them the first time, I was scared. I didn't know what to expect, to be honest. Because it's really a dirty word, Kimmage, in our Soiklin, where you're like, especially if you're trying to, you know, the Polk's Armstrong area, you're trying to cultivate, you know, the new clean generation. But exactly, if you have nothing to hide, it's fine. Nothing to be afraid of. I was worried about, because like I said, I was meeting Paul Kimmage, this megastar of journalism who went down against Amstrung and this and that. And I didn't know how it was gonna go and what I knew was gonna ask questions about my dad and history of cycling, Amstrung and all that. So I knew what way we were gonna go, but just didn't know what to expect. And then we did another interview and coming through this winter, we change a few messages over some article that I had read from him or something like that. And I just said, I'd be great to catch up at some point. And he says, would you catch up? And can we do an article? And I said, yes, we can. And I think we had, it's unbelievable the amount of work I realized that goes through Kimmidge's articles. I think we missus been anything between 11 to 13 hours doing this three whatever two-page article that came out. But there's a lot of trust from you as well because you know when you take the topic like Armstrong and Dopen and Saitlin you know as anyone in Saitlin, if the public might seem like a black and white topic but in your insight, you know it's not black and white, there's a lot of grey areas where morality and legality, they kind of colloid and I know you spoke with Kimmish about use of painkillers in time trial, something that is legal but some would argue something that's not moral. And so there's a lot of trust on your behalf talking to a journalist about stuff like this. You have a moment where you're kind of waiting for the article to come out and go, oh fuck, I hope this is not a statue. really it was more about what I was always worried but I was curious to see how my words would come out. I think this is kind of the key thing because like I said it was yeah people criticized if you take whatever and I said yeah well I tried it it's legal so whatever and then I realized some things I like some things I don't like some things work some things don't work and and of course you're what I was afraid was how it could be read or explained or whatever. But at the end of the day, the words I said were the words that were there. But you need to have trust. But like I said, when there's nothing to hide and no bullshit, the journalist also gives you that trust. That one makes a good reporter or not. And this is why on the Sunday paper, one of all those is interviews that are always very, very intense interviews. He gets so much out of his that the person that he gets an interview from, because there is a moment where you know that if you say something is not put out a context. It is what you say and you have to say it with your own words. Like I said, that have been honest and having an open conversation and the words that you say are not out of context like some smaller journalists who are just purely there for sensationalism. Nico, I'm never going to get to where the leader shares the end of world España. You have where the leader shares the end of world España. What's that like? Nervous versus just proid. Is there a one overwhelming emotion? Yeah, so the first time was unbelievable. The second time also, but the first time was unbelievable. I knew it was going to be really, really tough because the next day it was already a mountain stage finish. And I only had 10 seconds with Danny Moreno and it was going to be very difficult. And I did lose at the next day by about one second. But last year it was just like, yes, I've done it again and it was just nice to wear it for three days because in 2017, I was in second position just two or three seconds behind Froome for almost a week and that was very frustrating. Like you'd serious forearm going into last year as well. don't know if Joe Public realized going in that you were such a contender. Did you have an inkling looking at the data going into the Vuelta that you were going to be there or thereabouts? So you see this is exactly what you're saying cycling has a short-term memory.
Every year I get the same question
Every year I get the same question. Every year I've done exactly the same preparation results more or less the same level when I go into the Vuelta and every year I get the same question. Are you surprised? It says Nope. Since 2008, I did seven Vuelta's and I think only the last two because one I abandoned and then 2018 was a strange year for me. But until then, all my Vuelta's were top 15. But say, 50 or top 10s in stages. So for me, it's more disappointing if I don't go good than then be surprised when I go good. So if you're going into a Vuelta, are you, I know you're typically going through a similar build up, but are you, how much attention are you paying to, like your data, your training peaks, your CTLs, your ATLs, these sort of stuff? Or do you just hand that off to the coach? Chinese, no. That's a job for the coach, is it? Oh, no, I don't look at that. I go in a couple days, a week, 10 days before that. I do a 10 minute test, a five minute test, a one minute test, and a three minute test. Give us over 10 days. Give us over 10 days. Don't first error, a baffle listeners. What sort of figures are you hitting on a 10 minute test? 10 minute tests, my top ones around 480, 490. Stupid shit. That's why you fucking run me off. I'm going to do the vulta, I would be around 70 kilos. Oh. And then first, my five minute top is in a race, In a race, 550, 555, and I was in Turkey. And on top of the climb, there was just two of us, myself, with Cenko. And then there was like a 20K descent and we got caught, but it was also easy. It was a 5K, multi-way, just straight, not a corner. So it was not that I was saying that it was easy to get the power done because the power was there, but there was no freewheeling, there was no, So my normalized power and my normal power was there. All I can say is a Frankie Campbell, how to keep you on that track, kept you up right before I had a procedure. I thought about it many times because my peaks are around that three to seven minutes, I think this is why I go so good the first week of the Vuelta because they're all below 10 minute efforts. So it's 3K, 5K, where they're too hard for the sprinters or classic riders, but they're just good enough for me I could really purely express power and not a power to rate ratio like the 30 or 40 minutes climbs were there because I'm 10 to have kilos heavier than most of the climbers. I tend to struggle. Nick, I'm going to put, I like an L flutter in the bokeys. I'm going to put a bet this year. I think this is your year for a sort of round stage because it's flipping into the place where where the Vuelta normally is, hopefully. And you're normally going to Vuelta, you know, like, has it been full straight? And the sort of France like, that you haven't rolled the stage. I know coming in, was it past the year with R.L.E.M.P.? Yeah, there, I messed up with the gears. I had no more, the radio was completely out and I came through this corner. And I had no idea there was crossroad and straight up I came there with 54-12 and I just went oops no and then T's Benute Sordash and he went and just opened the gap and then on the top there was a head wing and that was it. I had gone a little bit too deep on the previous climb to drop the guys. That plus too much of a big year coming into the bottom of that climb, into that ramp. I was just, I fucked it up. Unfortunately, that was a big chance of victory there. But it's happened to me a couple of times in my career to be so close. And it's just, I don't know, I think I like 20 or 25 top 10s in stages in the tour. It's just never got into place in the tour, unfortunately. And it's my biggest frustration, actually, that I haven't been able to pull the stage off yet. because people have jumped into cycling over the last couple of years. They probably don't realise you'd quite the kick on you back in the agency or it is. There was a time there where you could have been moving to a small sort of pack sprinter. And like I know, MP is fast, but you still do have a decent finishing kick on you. Yeah, especially after the tour this year, well, sorry, before the tour and all that. But I have, I say I have a good kick. I'm not as fast as what I used to be, definitely not. I have the same power, like the one minute, three minutes is very similar than what it used to be, but definitely my 15, 22nd power has dropped quite a bit. What is that? Is that way? Just because I've worked so much on climbing over the last 10 years to try and transform myself into a pseudo climber that I wanted and didn't work as much my sprints. And two, you're also aging. I mean, even the best printers lose their peak apart from Grapple. A lot of the other guys you see there, when you're young you just have that bit more of that fast switch. And I think from me not working it because it's everything. If you don't train it, you don't improve. And two, I was always running kind of late and trying to push myself with losing weight, working on my 20 minutes that I wasn't doing those 15, 20 seconds sprints. I'm back doing them now, actually. This is one of the new things that I've been doing with somewhat, especially here with Mike and Machu, who's my good friend and training buddy. The two of us, we have the same coach and there's a mix of everything in there and the two of us kind of work on sprints and climbs together. And it's quite, it's very fun and dynamic. And we have a great time training, but for me, it's great to be able to try and with someone, to train someone like Michael who is not a pure sprinter.
It's not only about doing 100 sprints in one training, but we do a…
So it's not only about doing 100 sprints in one training, but we do a lot of like smaller 30 seconds, 40 seconds, one minute sprints or accelerations. And I think all these are the works that we do continuously has helped me to get a little bit more of a fiberback. I had Michael on the podcast last week. We had good phone now. He's going to go to last. It's the first time I've talked to him. Yeah, I get on. We get on really, really well. It's, you know, it's, I'm so happy we're in the team together. And he just lives down the road for me. We, you know, we're on the phone every day with training and on the bike. And during the confinement, he's been extremely good help to me. You know, he knew I was alone in my apartment. and he was always there, kind of checking up on me and giving me a quick WhatsApp. A few texts here and there, it was great, I was supportive. He tells me if I combed the France for a trying to ride, like the fucking roids are just on. There's no fucking about, he's like, your boy's trying hard. Yeah, we do train hard. We like to train hard, and then, you know, sometimes even when, like, you today, we're doing these, as a coach, we were doing these one minute efforts and then four minutes recovery. So we had 10 of those. So we did it on the medone because obviously you need quite a long climb. And in one of my gear slips, because we're trying to do them like not beside each other, but not like, yes, slightly beside each other. But more than your bike race. But because we're more or less the same way, it's an everything. So we kind of do them together because we always push each other a little bit more. there my gear slipped and he shoot it off and by the time I put it back on and then he kept on looking back and I said that's it I'm on. And then we just started attacking each other during the effort. So the coach or eating said what happened to that effort number seven that the what's like over the roof and we just had a good laugh and you know most days are always like that. There's always one of the when we do like you know five or six efforts in the day. There's always one that we kind of go into the competition side and attack each other and sometimes you win, sometimes I win, and we always have a good crack. It seems like you guys are quite well-suited with Australian partners. I know I chat to some of the guys and when you're talking about nutrition, they're talking about ketones, weighing food, measuring carbohydrate intake. When I talk to Bling, he's talking to me about meeting you and going for a gelato in the evenings. Yeah. It seems like a nice relaxed balance between trying to reel hard on the one hand, but also knowing how to switch off on the other. Yeah, and I mean, come on, Gelato is not really... I mean, I think some guys are just... There's a moment in... There are things that people just have... An extreme mindset is like, people are shocked when I say that I like to have a glass of wine or whiskey. He's like, what? You're an athlete, you drink a glass of wine. So yeah, but I don't eat the beating tub of Nutella, you just have to choose your battles. So... So speculos though. Or, no, I don't like the speculos. I can't expect you to also. I don't want to copy you sometimes when they put it beside, but I think it's more by anxiety than anything else, because they don't even know it's just like it's there and you just want to grab it. But when I was in jail, when you do a good job training, it's all a bad balance. So the day we go for gelato, obviously you're not going to do steak, pasta, and five kilos of avocado and nuts and Coca-Cola and pastry at the stop. And then the gelato in the evening, that doesn't work. So today we do that though you kind of cut off on something else. It's all about having a balance and the same the days where I want to have a couple of glass of wine I just cut off on something else and just choose your right days. What's a day looking like for you over there at the moment Snicker? I know it's I hate this phrase new normal because you just sound like a wanker when you say what is a day looking like for you at the moment? Well for example today we did four and a half and we just had a reference, but it was beautiful like 25, 26 degrees. So, thank you. It's pissing Ryan here, I just saw you know. Yeah, well, they had really bad, I was away, I went to Lake Garda, I needed to pack a suitcase. I was just like a junkie, that needed a fix, I just needed to pack a suitcase, it's been three weeks, without packing a suitcase. I'm like suitcase, suitcase. So everything was, oh, borders reopened and everything. So I thought that I just needed to take my car, put the bike in the boots and go and train somewhere else for three or four days. So I went to Lake Garda. So beautiful ride in the dollar meets for three days. Nice. But the weather here in Monaco has been the troasters over the weekend. They had really, really heavy storms today and this week is supposed to be pretty good. So I'm going to make the most of it. Yeah. I was chatting to Bling. He was saying he was meant to do a tree or something. went home after like an hour and a half or two because it was raining. It's like you wouldn't get much training done in Dublin if you're fucking going home after an hour and a half in the rain. Nick, what's next on the horizon for you? Do you have one eye on life after cycling? I know you kind of you're a bit of an entrepreneur in the background even during your cycling career so maybe it's not going to be the harsh step into retirement that a lot of people have because you're spinning so many blades already.
There's two things. There's the the plates that you're, I mean, for…
Well, there's two things. There's the the plates that you're, I mean, for some people, it's a whole package, you know, there's a financial side, there's a mental side. It's quite difficult to reinvent yourself as a person as well. I have quite some businesses or shares in businesses that are in place at the moment that financially I could not survive if cycling from these businesses yet, but it's all kind of in place for things to work out in the next couple of years. I've been three years now working with my business partner in rocket sports distribution for opening this wrap-and-shop now and hopefully now we're all set to open in August. So I'm really looking forward to that. Where's that going to be? So beside Middleton in Little Island. Oh, nice. So we're going to try out and store. So now we're on the final details. Actually, one of the things I did when I went to Lake Garden. One of the reasons why I went up there is because I popped in Carrera Bikes, who the company is based there, and had a meeting with the son of my dad's ex-sports director in Carrera, the team who owns Carrera Bikes. So it was quite nice to see him. And so we'd be distributing their brand as one of the brands, but it was good to get the final details and showing me how the company works and all that. So I've been used by basically, and then I have, with my best friend in London, have shares in four restaurants in London that we open so they're healthy, fast food and delivery mainly in offices in central London. I've been in one of them. I couldn't tell you which one it was, but I was in there and I don't know the Instagram story and then my DM's lit up going, What about Nikko Rocha on that place? Well, I'm partly on it because there's eight of us in total. So we're quite, it's more like an investment fund and with that fund we've opened, well, three and we're opening the fourth now in the end of the year. And that's been cool because the manager is my friend from school and let's say I get more than just being an investor. I get all the kind of background information and he sends me photographs when he's choosing the tiles or the bar, how it's going to assemble this, or what do you think if we do this, and maybe we should change. Because obviously, like every business, it's not easy to start. And the first, at the bit, we had a new concept and our concept just didn't work. So we had to reinvent it because we had this kind of healthy takeaway food and for lunch, and then there was a more sit down grill and evening with premium meat. in the city, it just doesn't work, the city is dead after six. So we... Sure, it's a hard camp. Exactly. So in the evening now, where we do after work drinks with co-peder, and that works, we have there beer on the draft, and we're now almost more in the evening than after. So not a pub, but like an after-after work kind of drink, and on a Thursday, Friday, we get a DJ there at six o'clock playing. And then in the afternoon, we do delivery in offices. And it's all, you know, chicken breast with broccoli and salmon with broccoli or carrots and your pumpkin suits. And we also do breakfast. So you get your morning porridge with your banana and peanut butter and all that. So it's kind of healthy and kind of the way modern food is, or daily food is at the moment kind of cautious. You've got to have your smash of a karados. Exactly. And I mean, you know, we also have there at Chicken Burger because you can't have a restaurant in London without having a chicken burger. It just doesn't work. But the healthy options are there. And like I said, during the confinement, we're able to we invested in the delivery truck. And we were full on with the delivery. And we had to work with reduced staff. But we managed to get it going. So like I said, between the shop, this and a couple of other stuff, a bit of real estate. You're going to roll the sporty for mine. Sorry? You're going to roll the sporty for Dublin again next year? Yes. That's planned on the third or fourth of October. I just have to remember if it's the Saturday or the Sunday but that's kind of the days. This year's guest is the King Kelly. I'm really looking forward to that. I know a lot of sport teeth have used Kelly in the past and he's very popular in Ireland but just from my own kind of thing this year with the new season It was very, very difficult to get an active rider just because unless I do it in December, it's just impossible. Do you have a word if the sporty is going to go ahead? It's supposed to be yet. So, apparently, from what I understand, events up to 1,000 would be back in place from October. So we should be fine. If we're not, we just refund. But yeah, we're going to start selling probably in mid-July. Amazing, amazing. Nico, it has been a pleasure. If people want to follow your journey, I know I've been following you on Instagram for a little bit and your Instagram game is quite cool or quite strong at your skill and blink matches on the Instagram game as well. He's telling me he's going to bring enough his game of it. Yeah, well, the thing is with cycling and social media is for years, social media has been tamed and cycling because people were afraid that if they did something different, I wasn't just ride your bike and sleep, you'd be criticized or told that you're not professional. But it is perfectly right to, if you like a motorbike to go on a Saturday night, drive or whatever and look at the sunset for the picnic or whatever. I think the idea of being robots and machine has slowly gone away. Yes, we are robots and machine when it comes to training and we make so many sacrifices, but it needs to be balanced and it is perfectly human and normal to also have passions if it's fashion, cooking, having a sports car or motorbike or watches or painting or whatever it is or even if it's fishing.
If you look at a Tibopino, he spends most of his rest day has gone…
You know, if you look at a Tibopino, he spends most of his rest day has gone fishing or with his lamb and he's got a goat's class. And those are things that weren't really popular years ago where you just have to be this crazy machine and it was wrong and if you're not lying in bed with your legs up, you're not professional. You're also selling stuff for the sponsors, which is your job. You know, is there a war? Yeah, for sure. But a trip to the set to me. My social media, without being an advertisement board, I always try and bring something cycling relative, but also you need to find a balance because today people want to see your real life. They just don't want to see your... So if you're in the game of social media, I would totally respect those who don't want to show their private life and all they want to show is when they have a race number in the back. And that's perfectly fine. choice. I'm more open with my social media and I kind of let people in my house or in the way I live. And yeah, a couple of days ago, I had a bottle of wine with a gnocchi and truffle, but I did six hours and skipped lunch and had an app to be able to enjoy my night. So there is a bit of a... You know what? I don't know. The more you share on different angles of it, the more people you're bringing into your ecosystem. Like if you share a wine, you're going to have a group of people who are like, Yeah, I like cycling. Yeah, Rocha's grand. Then you post a picture of a glass of wine. They're like, fuck, I love wine. Rocha knows it's wine. Or you post a watch. And they're like, fuck, I love watches. And they're in your ecosystem. I'll watch you have to be a little bit more careful. But you get everybody, they've been knocking on your door when you've gone racing. So I think showing kind of more, like I love my watches is not a, and I've said that before, but I know like a lot of riders are more afraid about watch just because they don't want to attract too much attention to the guys when they're traveling so much. You know what I mean? And come back and there's no more watches there in the house. But yeah, when it comes to wine, for example, during the confinement, it was amazing. I had so many just, you know, normal people who just loved their wine and we just kind of randomly I was kind of had nothing else to do. So spend a bit more time answering DMs and all that and sharing conversations about wine and whiskey and giving sharing experiences and has been very enriching. What's your Instagram handle for people that don't follow you already? I don't even know. Is it Roach, Nicholas, Noah, Nicholas, Roach? I'll find that I'll link it up in the description down below for anyone that's... Yeah, it's Nicholas Roach. That's an easy one to find. Nicole, it has been a pleasure. Thanks for your chat. Yeah, enjoy that a lot. And yeah, I'm looking forward to the sporty in October. Great, talk to you soon. Talk to you soon. Well, well, well, that's it. Nickle, I really enjoyed that chat with Nicklas Roach. He's a lad that I actually didn't know super well before the podcast, but he's a lad who'll definitely be staying in touch with an Irish guy, a proud Irishman. And you can tell the passion, what it's meant for him to wear that national champs jersey and showcase it around the world. And I know as an Irishman, Traveling across to watch the Tour de France or even watching on the TV. Seeing it on the, seeing the Irish National Champs jersey on the back of someone who is mixing it up in the biggest races in the world, gives you a big kick. It definitely doesn't. It'll give me an extra kick now, knowing that how passionate Nick always about being Irish on that jersey. That's it for this week. For this week, folks, I will be back again, as always. Next Wednesday. In the meantime, please do jump on over to patreon.com forward slash Anthony under score a watch, hook me up with a beer, hook me up with a coffee. It's the way we make sure this podcast keeps going forward. Also, I get a lot of questions on Instagram, I get a lot of questions on Twitter and people want to know about the coaching because it's what we do, it's our game. So I'm in a fortunate position that I get to work with an amazing team of coaches. Their research and the latest coaching trends, the latest coaching techniques, But also I'm able to crowdsource and have to chat to Nicholas Roch this week bling matches a couple of weeks ago and find out what's the new trends and where I will marry our research with their research and bring a product that we think is absolutely unbeatable and unroyable than the culture market. And the vehicle that we're doing that at the moment is called the 8 week challenge. If you're interested in signing up for the 8 week challenge, there's a limited number of spots left that we're going to work personally with you for 8 weeks. I'm gonna build your training plan around your unique demands around your work schedule around your life Circumstances and we're gonna get you a serious level of fitness inside eight weeks I'm gonna put a link for that in the description down below and I hope I hope real soon to be working with one of you listeners That's it folks until next Wednesday be safe out there