For obvious reasons, I wouldn't be where I am today were it not for my dad. But that line goes well beyond the literal. My dad was tremendously supportive throughout my upbringing and that includes during and after he suffered a stroke on March 23, 2003. Fast-forward to 2021 and dad has just returned home after a two month stay in a rehab hospital after suffering yet another brain injury.  Not fun, not good. But dad has a penchant for finding the good in a situation and this is no different. Part oral history, part just interesting conversation, please enjoy this episode with (the other) Ted King. For more about the Krempels Center visit www.krempelscenter.org For more about the King Challenge visit www.kingchallenge.org

King of the Ride

Episode 72: Ted King — My Dad

Professional cyclist Ben King has had a lot on his plate lately. With the birth of his first child last fall, this stalwart of American cycling with twelve years in the professional ranks, still didn't know if he would have a contract for 2021. Covid threw everything up in the air of the already wild schedule for a World Tour cyclist, and no one knew where it was going to land. But Ben is back in Italy with his wife Jenna and baby Luca and the timing is absolutely bananas. That's professional cycling in a nutshell. Saddle up with these two Kings (and special guests Jenna and Luca!) as they chat life, parenthood, bike racing and training stories, and much more. This episode is supported CushCore. Leading the way in tire inserts, you'll be provided better cornering, more speed, a more supple feel, and an all around better ride. For more about CushCore check out CushCore.com and definitely use the code KingCush21 at checkout!

Episode 71: Ben King — Professional Cyclist

Episode 71: Ben King -- Professional Cyclist

Jack Thompson rides more in a week than most cyclists will do in a year. In fact, with the nickname "Ultra Cyclist", Jack holds the Guinness Book of World Records title of most distanced ridden in one week at 3500km! That's just the tip of the iceberg for Jack. Another unfathomable feat is that he's done three KOMs in three consecutive days in three different countries or the Taiwan KOM Challenge, four consecutive times in a row.  But Jack is far more than just an ultra distance bike rider. His battle with mental health issues has sent him to a drug addiction and rehab and it has forced him onto his bike. Jack is chock full of stories and this conversation helps get the notion across that #itsoknottobeok. Follow Jack on instagram at www.instagram.com/jackultracyclist And be sure to check out his recent video documenting his Guinness record setting ride. 

Episode 70: Jack Ultra Cyclist Thompson -- Riding massive distances to highlight mental health matters

Your Guide for a Great Winter Ride!This is a special one, welcome to King of the Ride podcast. Here we have return guest/sometimes-co-host Laura King and Ted talk about how to optimize your cold weather riding. You asked, we answered. After more than 1000 questions came pouring in, Laura and I summarized them and answer them today in this podcast.Here in Vermont, where the sun rises at lunchtime and sets a few minutes later, we need to make the most of our riding window and that takes lots of hardware, software, and just the right equipment.Here are some products mentioned in this podcast:Velocio is the only clothing we use. From stifling hot to frigid cold, there is NO better clothing out there.Alternating piping hot Ginger Mapleaid and Lemon Tea Mapleaid from UnTapped in a vacuum bottle is a definite. Bar Mitts are our dropbar bike hand covering of choice, now with Extreme Cold models.45NRTH is our go-to for winter riding boots. Their Ragnarok are good MTB shoes for the slush and their Wolfgar are great in the deep frozen tundra. We also use their Cobrafist for arctic riding on a flat bar bike.Planet Bike SpeedEZ are the fenders currently on my bike.SKS Xtra Dry fender is currently on Laura's bike.Rene Herse Hurricane Ridge tires when I need some tread. Otherwise their Barlow Pass or Snoqualmie Pass are totally fine -- wide and supple.45NRTH Dillinger 5 are 5" studded tires for fat biking.More questions? Send them to @iamtedking or @lauracameronking.

Episode 69: Winter Riding -- Tips and Tricks from Laura and Ted King

In the world of ultra long distance cycling events, Jay Petervary has likely done the race, won the race, or set the course record. A pioneer in ultra endurance cycling in all facets of two wheels -- from gravel biking to mountain biking to an early foray in road cycling -- Jay knows how to cover massive distances in a short period of time.Looking back on the strange year that 2020 was, Jay and Ted discuss the direction both bikepacking and bikepack racing are going, his philosophies on each, his traditional perspective as one of the originals of bike packing, as well as a dive into his experiences in the wild frigid outback for his series of events around Fat Pursuit.You can find Jay at @jay_petervary on instagram.

Episode 68: Jay Petervary - Ultra Endurance Cyclist

This is a very special episode as Laura King takes the mic and hosts our guest, Ted. Fielding questions submitted by you about the grueling 1,020 mile, self-supported Arkansas High Country Race that took place in late October and into November.Ted set the FKT (fastest known time) just a hair under 5 days in this nonstop affair. Sit down and enjoy this conversation to hear how he prepared for the gnarliest single event he's ever been part of.Arkansas High Country Official Site: here. 

Episode 67: Arkansas High Country Race

Back by popular demand, my wife Laura King is a guest on today's show! We last caught up with Laura on episode 55 in early March when she was less than one week away from giving birth. So what are the first six month of motherhood like with little baby Hazel? Better yet, what's life like when we three Kings pack into a Sprinter van and hit the road for two months?! Listening to this podcast will help paint the picture into all of that and much much more. Bonus info:To learn all about our van life trip, Laura created this handy link HERE. To support to my King Challenge fundraising ride -- and help me ride some absurd distance -- you can follow THIS link.To learn all about the King Challenge, just head to KingChallenge.org.And for all your DIYgravel needs, go HERE. 

Episode 66: Laura King — Van Life as New Parents

The list of accolades awarded to skiers doesn't get much more impressive than those belonging to Chris Davenport. Two-time world champion, X-Games medalist, Chris set an FKT on all of Colorado's 14ers and then all of Colorado's tallest 100 peaks. He's been in more than thirty ski movies by Matchstick Productions and Warren Miller, he's a commentator for ESPN, ABC, and Outside Television, plus he's pretty handy on a bike.Ted caught up with Chris in his hometown of Snowmass, Colorado where this conversation took place in Chris's garage which is like a living museum of cool outdoor toys.He's philanthropic with his time, as we'll discuss today, and is a husband as well as father of three terrific boys.For more about Chris, visit www.chrisdavenport.com or on instagram, @SteepSkiing

Episode 65: Chris Davenport — World Champion Big Mountain Skier

Chances are good that if you listen to this podcast, you know Payson McElveen or know of Payson McElveen. Professional mountain biker, professional gravelisto, media maven, fashion guru, collector of shoes, podcaster, Payson knows how to stay busy.With a quick visit to Durango on the cross-country trip for the Kings, they visited Payson and his girlfriend Nichole for a thorough high altitude fun weekend, whereupon Payson and Ted sat down to follow up on their first back-and-forth podcast with each other. This is purely getting to the knitty gritty of Payson's upbringing and what's brought him to where he is now on two wheels and otherwise.Bonus offer for you:I trust you've heard of WHOOP. Want a WHOOP for free? Just follow this link and you'll be on your way: https://glnk.io/ovrz/tedking 

Episode 64: Payson McElveen -- Pro Bike Pedaler and Media Peddler

Jess Cerra is a professional cyclist with a handful of other feathers in her cap (...or helmet). A published, professional chef and entrepreneur as the owner of JoJé Bars, Jess has raced at the highest level of women's cycling and recently made the transition to gravel. During the King family trip across the country, we visited Whitefish, MT for a trip to Jess's hometown where she showed us around the gravel scene in and around Glacier National Park. That was stunning. This conversation is stunning. Jess has hilarious and heart-wrenching stories of what it takes to ride a bike for a living.

Episode 63: Jess Cerra — Professional Cyclist, Entrepreneur

Welcome to gravel! Angela Naeth's story is one of tenacity and fulfillment. With high highs and difficult lows, she shares her fascinating trajectory through the sport of triathlon which coincidentally has her lining up for the SugarCane 200 in January 2020. With health now on her side, Angela is at a point where she's writing the script to her story rather than having it written for her. 2020 is wide open for possibility and that allows more gravel in her travel. Despite the global pandemic that we find ourselves in, despite not knowing about this pandemic when this conversation was recorded, Angela's positivity is almost tangible. Find more about Angela at AngelaNaeth.comRead about IRaceLikeAGirl at iracelikeagirl.comAnd follow along #DIYgravel at iamtedking.com/diygravel 

Episode 62: Angela Naeth — Professional Triathlete, Ironman Champion, and She's Coming to Gravel!

On a pleasant Friday afternoon in early May, Geoff and Ted cracked into bottles of Chimay beer, raised a glass, and sipped and chatted... from across a computer screen and across the country.At his US home in Truckee, CA, Geoff Kabush tells tales that are quite frankly of legend -- and that legend spans more than two decades of professional cycling. From his time at three Olympic games, to how it came to be that he went head to head against Yao Ming in 2008 in Beijing to how he came about with this legendary Coach K cyclocross training techniques, we'll discuss a crazy ride at the Tour of Cuba, his time of Jittery Joes in a US Postal/Discovery Channel era at the Tour of Georgia, where the Dopers Suck campaign came from, chat about his brief but successful running career, who his heroes are from cycling, and much more.Be sure to check out the YouTube video to see the amazing and hilarious anecdotes from this show: https://youtu.be/UzFUveyGZSUJoin the #DIYgravel revolution at www.iamtedking.com/diygravel

Episode 61: Geoff Kabush — Professional Cyclist of All Stripes, 3x Olympian 15x National Champion, Victor of One of Few Bikes Races in 2020

Holy moly, where does time go? Welcome to episode number 60 of King of the Ride podcast. And welcome a very special guest, professional mountain biker, 2x Olympian, Lea Davison!Lea is a Vermont native from Jericho, the very next town over from where Ted lives now. She's a perpetual body in motion, having ran in college, skied division 1 in college, earned a degree in college and then segued all of that into a professional mountain bike career. With podiums at two world championships, Lea is still in the hunt for an olympic spot at the now very derailled 2020 games.Forever the optimist, this round three of the 19-Questions series jumps all around Lea's past, present, and future, and you'll hear that bright shining happiness that helps fuel every ride she's on. Please enjoy the show!(Standby, we're still working on the video upload. Meanwhile...)Lea's amazing organization, Little Bellas: www.littlebellas.comLea on instagram: @leaeatsalotDIYgravel: www.iamtedking.com/diygravel

Episode 60: Lea Davison — Pro Mountain Biker, Happiest Person on the Planet

In the latest round of covid 19-Questions, Ted and Toms are sitting in Vermont and Girona, respectively, catching up on what it's like from the perspective of a World Tour rider operating through coronavirus.Toms Skujins is known for his affinity for potatoes, for winning heroic stages of Tour of California, and for proudly wearing the KOM jersey in the Tour de France. This conversation ranges from how he got into cycling in Latvia, how he's holding up all cooped up in Spain, how he foresees the rest of the year panning out, what an authentic multi-day Latvian wedding is like, and much much more.To WATCH this podcast in enhanced video version, click and enjoy here. 

Episode 59: Toms Skujins — Everyone's Favorite Latvian Pro Cyclist

Welcome to King of the Ride podcast host hosted by yours truly, Ted King. A former World Tour cyclist, I competed at the world's highest level of the sport for a decade, retiring from conventional road racing in 2015. Returning home to the USA I was unexpectedly swept up by the then fledgeling and now burgeoning gravel scene. I've taken the top step at Dirty Kanza twice and have finished on the podium in virtually every "big" gravel race out there, but more than anything it's been the gravel community that has struck a chord with me. The community is alive and I freaking love it! I a co-founded UnTapped, the maple syrup based sports nutrition company. I work with the sport's best brands, I lead rides, host camps, dabble in gravel, and just love life on two wheels. I now have the chance to chat with athletes, entrepreneurs, and all walks-of-life who love the bicycle. Hop on board and please enjoy the ride!

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King of the Ride

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