King of the Ride

Episode 145: Christian Meier -- Cyclist, Ultrarunner, Entrepreneur

Finding a single word or short phrase that encompasses all that Christian does is easier said than done. Furthermore, I'm not sure in which order to put those three words, Cyclist, Ultrarunner, Entrepreneur, because over his life he juggles all three. Christian is a long time professional cyclist turned race winning ultra trail runner. He's also started a number of successful businesses in beautiful Girona, Spain. He's the founder/owner of 

• La Fabrica Girona
• Espresso Mafia
• Chance Run Apparel
• Overland Run Shop 

On today's episode we'll talk about each of these items, plus translating a pro road career to professional running, compare gravel and trail running, talk about highs and lows of starting businesses, the grind of an entrepreneur, and how to deal with injury, among other topics.

You can follow Christian at @christianmeier

Please enjoy the show!

 

 

Episode 144: Bond Almand -- A 13,595 Mile, Record Setting Ride

Bond Almand just rode a record setting pace from the northern tip of Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina. Over 75 absolutely wild days, Bond rode into ferocious headwinds, among throngs of cities, highways, oil fields, high mountains, great plains and desert, and so much more to make it to Ushuaia, Argentina. 

More than 13,500+ miles later, he made it.

Keep his website nearby: www.bondalmand.com as you'll want to cross reference it often.

Check out drinkAG1.com/tedking

 

Episode 143: Melisa Rollins -- Professional Cyclist

Melisa Rollins is our esteemed guest today. She’s been in the game for a handful of years, but she’s quickly turning heads, especially here in 2024. Earning the most acclaim was a smashing victory at Leadville, the hallowed 100 mile mountain bike race scraping across some of Colorado’s highest peaks. She just won Iceman Cometh. She was second in the life time Grand Prix. She’s won Chequamegon, she’s podiumed the overall at Redlands. She has seven Leadvilles to her name. And she's seemingly just getting warmed up!

Follow Melisa at @melisa_rollins

Check out the Gravel Kings podcast

And try AG1 by visiting drinkAG1.com/TedKing

Episode 142: Luke Lamperti -- Professional Cyclist

Luke immediately proved his worth stepping into the World Tour, coming third in his first ever race with Soudol Quick-Step having helped deliver his teammate to the victory. He finished 7th at Kuurne Brussels Kuurne, won a stage of Czech Tour, and has a boatload of results coming up through the ranks prior to this year, including back to back to back US criterium national titles. As if it doesn't get better, he's just an awesome guy.

Tune in with this fun conversation that wraps up his neo pro year and see where Luke takes it from here.

Follow Luke at @lukelamperti

And get your hands on the $48 value from AG1 by visiting drinkAG1.com/tedking

 

Episode 141: UCI Gravel Worlds with the Kings -- Laura and Ted Talk Belgian Gravel

In particular, "Brussels Gravel" is on topic today. There has been lots of chatter about the course itself. The less than enthusiastically dubbed bike path world championships. In this conversation, Laura and Ted break down their perspectives on the course itself and what Belgium has to offer; the astounding level of World Tour competition (looking at you Lotto Kopecky and Mathieu van der Poel!); the type of support from USACycling, and how the race shook out... among other things.

Don't forge to visit drinkAG1.com/tedking to try AG1 and get five free travel packs and one year's supply of vitamin D. 

Episode 140: Jessie Diggins -- Olympic and World Champion

Jessie Diggins' name is synonymous with success for US cross country skiing. She broke the drought for all of American skiers as she and Kikkan Randall (episode 36) won the first gold medal for the United States in 2018.

Jessie is a four time Olympic medalist, a six time world champion medalist, an author, and activist working with The Emily Project and Protect Our Winters (POW) as a winter athlete alliance. Among other accolades. 

She is a great follow on Instagram where you can find her at @jessiediggins

And give AG1 a try with the link drinkAG1.com/tedking

 

 

 

Episode 139: Sam Boardman -- Professional Cyclist & The Rookie Report-er

Smack in the middle of finding success (and the yellow jersey!) at the Green Mountain Stage Race, I wanted to sit down and talk with Sam Boardman about all things contemporary professional cycling. From his days at UCLA through the wild times at Wildlife Generation and Legion, right up through the present in his impressive European debut with Project Echelon, Sam has stories to tell! And if you can't get enough here, then be sure to read what he's written at The Escape Collective in his Rookie Report.

Check out the King Challenge and please please join us if you're available October 12: KingChallenge.org.

Help out my fundraising for the ride here: https://www.pledgereg.com/5124/tedking

And get your hands on that jumpstart to the day you're looking for with drinkAG1.com/tedking

Episode 138: Joris Nieuwenhuis -- Professional Cyclist

Welcome one of the world's very best at cyclocross (and pretty handy on all types of bikes), Joris Nieuwenhuis!

Joris is a multi-time national champion of cyclocross for the Netherlands, he earned a silver medal at the 2023/24 UCI cyclocross world championships, he's raced the Tour de France twice, has won on the World Cup stage, and plenty of others. 

We met up in Sweden as we were taking part in the Grit n Grind gravel race as part of the world championships qualification. 

Follow along on Joris' ride at @joris.nieuwenhuis

Don't forget to give AG1 a try, visit drinkAG1.com/tedking

Episode 137: Adam Roberge -- Professional Gravel Racer (🇨🇦 National Champion!)

Adam Roberge is on a tear. By my count, he's won the past three consecutive races, four out of the past five, plus plenty more to his tally this year alone. Today we'll talk about all the things you might imagine, the two of us racing together and landing in identical spots on consecutive weekends, how he got into cycling, what's happening with the general state of cycling in Canada, and his national championship win this year. We'll talk about the more controversial topics like using logic and game theory (i.e. tactics) to win races, aero socks, and aero bars. That and so much more coming up!

You can see my Nepomuk Narly race recap here: https://youtu.be/Tnsn_vs5we4

And get your hands on some AG1, gosh darn it, by visiting: drinkAG1.com/tedking

Follow along on Adam's adventures here: @adamroberge

Episode 136: Sam Bewley -- the Tour de France (and more!) Episode

It’s July so it’s Tour de France time! I’m thrilled to have our guest on the podcast, Sam Bewley. A Tour de France rider himself, a Tour commentator and sports director, we're here to shed light on what's happening now two weeks into a very exciting Tour.

Sam is a New Zealander living in Europe, courtesy of the bicycle. He won a world championship medalist on the track, then  graduated to the World Tour and had a successful, lengthy, thirteen year career there. 

Sam is now a sports director with Israel Premier Tech as well as a new father. Yeehaw!

Don't forget to get your hands on AG1 by visiting www.drinkAG1.com/tedking