King of the Ride

Episode 53: Rahsaan Bahati — Professional Cyclist, 10x National Champ, Compton raised speedster

In his prime, Rahsaan Bahati was one of the fastest cyclist in America. Rahsaan’s entry into cycling is far from typical having grown up in Compton, California. Successful from very early on, this conversation covers his early days through the present, a time period where he celebrates the number ten quite well: the ten-time national champion with collegiate, road, and track titles is also celebrating the tenth anniversary of the organization he started, The Bahati Foundation, this year. Designed to inspire, empower, impact and transcend young people's lives, you can check them out at www.BahatiFoundation.org. Now as the Social Impact Manager at Zwift, Rahsaan finds himself in a role that speaks to that passion -- empowering people through the bike. The sport of cycling is certainly not lacking in the demographic of middle aged white guys. Take a dive into this conversation with Rahsaan who’s a person of color in a sport that is not necessarily welcoming to minorities, young people, women, and people without economic means. It’s an interesting peek into a perspective not often seen. I mentioned my 2020 calendar in the intro and here it is: www.iamtedking.com/schedule

Episode 52: Jesse Thomas — Red Bull Athlete AND World Record Holder: Dinosaur Costume 5k

If Ted could just get slightly more curly hair, when he throws on some ROKA aviators he and Jesse could be twins. Jesse is a Stanford graduate turned Red Bull sponsored professional Ironman triathlete turned owner/operator of Picky Bars. His story of getting to the big leagues involves a broken neck among other crazy anecdotes. And yes, Jesse took fastest known time in the dinosaur costume 5k at The Running Event in early December 2019. This podcast is a great one and we know you'll enjoy it! If you enjoy this podcast, please take a quick minute to leave a review. 5-star reviews are appreciated! And we highly encourage you to take a quick minute to visit www.MTBAfghanistan.org

Episode 51: Kimo Seymour — President at Life Time, Events and Media

Kimo Seymour is the President of Events and Media at Life Time. Perhaps it's because of his soft spoken and easy demeanor, Kimo seems to operate in the "speak softly and carry a big stick" school of leadership. As you have likely noticed in the cycling world and especially the gravel scene, Life Time is becoming a household name and Kimo is at the helm as this happens. Ted and Kimo sat down during the launch of Life Time's first event they've created in the gravel world, Big Sugar, to see what the plan is here and going forward to keep gravel cycling as cool as can be! Sit back and enjoy the show.

Episode 50: João Correia — Cycling agent, inGamba founder

When João writes a memoir, I'll be the first in line to buy it. Sit down and enjoy this conversation with João and Ted as he unwinds a story from being an illegal immigrant to elite cyclist to the international publishing world back to the World Tour and to a handful of booming entrepreneurial endeavors in between. João's memory is a lobster trap -- he's got stories to tell! The good, the bad, and the ugly. Huge thanks go out to all my sponsors who make this ride possible: Cannondale, SRAM, Zipp, ROKA, Velocio, Rene Herse, Saris, and of course inGamba!

Episode 49: The Life of a Soigneur — Jon Adams, Sophie Roullous, & Al Worozbyt

What's a professional soigneur do? Do they rub legs and make small sandwiches? Do they spend thousands of hours driving across continents? Do they stand on the side of the road in France in July and get into arguments with police officers? Yes, they do this and so so much more! Welcome to the first King of the Ride episode with three guests simultaneously. On the eve of the Grand Prix Quebec City this September, Ted sat down with three soigneurs from the Education First pro cycling team. These three, Jon, Al, and Soso, are three of the best "swannies" out there who Ted had the privilege to work with in his racing days. Sit down for a crack up of a conversation and learn a thing or two about the behind the scenes of a pro cycling team.

Episode 48: Payson McElveen — Professional Mountain Bike and Gravel Racer

This was a long time coming! Payson and Ted are not long lost brothers, but they share a boatload of traits in common. Originally a Texas boy, Payson and Ted met up at the behind the scenes Big Sugar in their shakeout event before the inaugural ride in 2020. Now residing in mountain bike mecca, Durango, Colorado, Payson is a professional cross country mountain biker with a particular knack for marathon races, as he's a 2x national champion in that discipline. So "riding bikes off road for long periods of time" is definitely his area of expertise, making gravel racing a particularly good format for him. Yup, he's a ripper! Unsure if Ted would interview Payson or Payson interview Ted, this podcasts takes an interesting turn when they interview each other. Covering the topics of modern media, naturally they delve into the conversation of podcasts, van life, and the politics of contemporary gravel racing, this hardly scratches the surface of what the two of these guys can dig up. Don't forget to hit up www.SugarCane200.com for some early season fun in Florida!

Episode 47: Edward Hult — CEO Education First North America

Edward Hult is a cycling enthusiast. He’s also a big reason that EF Education First came on board to the UCI World Tour and beyond. As the CEO of EF North America, Edward and his brother made the decision to not just sponsor the team, but purchase the team outright. This conversation talks about the politics and geopolitics of sports, how and why cycling hit their radar, the highs and lows of owning a professional cycling team. Ted (an Edward himself) and Edward Hult caught up on the eve of The Rift gravel race in Iceland to talk about cycling, gravel cycling, and all things on two-wheels. As mentioned in the intro: -- Check out all the cool work by Farid at www.mtbafghanistan.org -- A Pinkbike article: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/mountain-biking-picks-up-steam-in-afghanistan.html -- And a video wrapping up what they did at the Hindukish Challenge: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=563716514141393 A huge thanks to The Feed for supporting this episode! Head over to www.thefeed.com/king to save 15% on a box curated by yours truly or use the code KING10 to save 10% on everything else storewide.

Episode 46: Kate Courtney 2.0 — World Champion, World Cup Champion

Kate Courtney backs up her first podcast on King of the Ride with yet another stunner! On the underslept and overserved day after Grinduro, Kate found some time to catch up with Ted to talk shop. And while the first show was riveting, this one goes much deeper into her motivation, her drive, her team, her goals, her entire psyche and what makes her tick. Kate is as eloquent as she is screaming fast on the bike. Let's remember Kate won her UCI World Champion title and went on the pod in 2018. She clinched the UCI World Cup title just before being on the podcast in 2019. Coincidence? We don't think so. Shout out to some awesome events on the horizon: *Registration opening for Rooted Vermont on November 1: www.RootedVermont.com *inGamba's January trip: https://ingamba.pro/trips/the-coast-ride-2020 *January's 200 mile gravel spectacular: www.SugarCane200.com

Episode 45: Katerina Nash — Legendary Professional Cyclist

On the recent heels of winning her seventh World Cup cyclocross victory (we think) in Madison, WI, Katerina Nash zipped out to Grinduro for a fun weekend playing around on the gravel whip. Kat is also one of very few people to win both World Cup cyclocross and World Cup mountain bike races, she dabbles in enduro mountain bike races, she consistently wins the brutally difficult BC Bike Race stage race, and just like this weekend of chatting, she puts a handful of gravel races into her schedule too. Perpetually smiling, always upbeat, and ready to take on any challenge on two wheels, this conversation opens up a lot about Katerina that we think you haven't heard before. Born and raised in the Czech Republic, Katerina Nash took to nordic skiing as a young girl and turned that into a career spanning two sports and taking her to five Olympic games! If you haven't seen Kat's heroics in Madison, which we reference in this podcast, I highly recommend watching the highlights of this foolishly muddy race here: http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/41942 Image credit: @cxhairs -- www.instagram.com/cxhairs

Episode 44: Mike Woods — Professional Cyclist

Mike Woods' is a bike racer, but Mike Woods is a storyteller! You probably know the traditional stuff -- he ran, he ran fast, he got tired of running, and became a Tour de France cyclists -- but there's so much more to learn about Mike. On the eve of his hometown World Tour races, Grand Prix Quebec City and Montreal, Ted and Mike sit down for a chat about bikes, world travel, and life beyond the peloton. After a podium finish at the 2018 World Championships Mike is building some great form going into the 2019 championship race in England. Please enjoy this conversation with Mike Woods.