Nicola Bima (born in 2001), known as the Killer, is a boy from Cuneo who only started MTB 4 years ago but has already reached an excellent level of technique. He started with football, a year of swimming and then he fell in love with MTB, which he now actively talks about thanks to his YouTube channel (Nicola will film all the Enduro races in which he will take part).
He came to the attention of industry insiders last year in the Toscano Enduro Series stage on the Island of Elba where he gave Mirco Vendemmia a hard time, who overtook him in the last stage after Nicola's mechanical failure . We had the opportunity to have a chat with him via the channel FANTAmtb: you can watch the video interview or read it in text format just below.
Where does the name killer come from?
Practically when I started riding a bike, four years ago, having no experience, I always broke everything, destroyed gearboxes, ruined everything and therefore the guys on my team nicknamed me killer, because I broke everything.
But you want to tell me that only in four years did you get to this level? What did you do before?
I did nine years of football, I did a year of swimming, then I swam as an amateur. In 2018, a high school classmate of mine who by the way is Matteo's son (Mattio cycles), who is one of the biggest supporters, took me on a bike and let me try the €8.000 Cannondale Trigger: first time I'd been out on a bike with an €8.000 bike. And from that moment I fell in love and, after a week of cycling, they took me to Sanremo to ride a van with Jerome Clementz. I was devastated, I had so many falls that I lost count.
Would love still have been born if I had shot with a €800 Felt?
I think so but I can't know because I haven't tried it. Let's say that perhaps the bike helped a little in the choice because having such a beautiful bike almost certainly means having good sensations, perhaps with a slightly less beautiful bike I probably would have had less positive feedback.
And what about this year? I see you loaded on social media.
Yes, this year I started seriously. Already last year I trained but a lot of do-it-yourself, I prepared myself by training myself thanks to the skills I'm acquiring at school (I study motor sciences). The first two years I basically did it by myself at random. Starting last year I started training with more method thanks to the greater experience and support from a trainer who also prepares the other guys in the team of cross-country and street. By joining forces we give each other a lot of advice and we are training seriously for this year.
Enduro training is not easy by mixing resistance, explosiveness and technique. How is your top week? Do you prefer technique to resistance?
Let's say that I started preparation at the end of November. I did the incremental test to find all the values to work from. I decided to focus on endurance since it's my weakness. While in terms of explosiveness I have some interesting values. I've been working a lot on long distance road bikes, while now we're going to move on strength and explosiveness. We will then go on to insert repetitions to also obviously go and regain strength, because the strength is there. However, it must still be maintained.
Goals for this year?
This year I have already registered for the EDR races in Europe: so I will do the European stages except those in Australia and then I will do the Italian Enduro Series and probably I will also do the Toscano Enduro Series races and some regional ones, for example 4Enduro, to gain confidence . In fact we will go down on March 26 to Castiglione (Toscano Enduro) because I will also bring the guys from the enduro team that I follow.
What bike will you ride this year?
I switched from the 2020 Megatower to the new 2023 Nomad in Mullet format. And now I've switched to the Megatower 29″ 2023. I found myself better on the 29. Except that in my opinion the Megatower, the old one, was much better than the new one. I don't know if maybe I found it better because I've been using it for 2 years, but I don't know. For now I'm better off with the old one and instead with the mullet I didn't find it very well and I had a bit of difficulty gaining confidence, so I decided to switch to 29″/29″ and I already feel better with this Megatower .
Those who use the Mullet are a bit like those who take the Mari e Monti in a pizzeria, that is, you cannot mix the 2 things, you cannot eat meat and fish. We have to decide. Either 29″ or 27,5″.
(laughs) Then among other things I have it in size M because the L is too long for me (ed, he's 1.80 tall). The more compact I find the better.
Where will the debut be?
I will make my debut on March 26 in Castiglione della Pescaia (GR), test of the Toscano Enduro Series.
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