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TED KING OPENS UP ABOUT WHY IT WAS TIME TO QUIT CYCLING

with Ted King

49:21·21 August 2024

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TED KING

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Ted King's comeback at 41 hinges on hiring a full team — coach, nutritionist, conditioning specialist — and posting the schedule on the fridge. Pro-level structure imposes household organisation rather than disrupting it.
The "1% of 1% of 1%" rabbit hole is the trap King names explicitly. World Tour experience gave him the perspective to push hard but pump the brakes before the obsessive identity consumes the family-first comeback.
Old-fashioned hard work and smart training still win Unbound. You don't need three weeks of altitude acclimation to be competitive at the top end of gravel — process beats optimisation theatre.
Gravel has shifted from chill-accessible-sport to serious competition. Prize money and prestige arrived; camaraderie and feed-zone sportsmanship took the hit. That's the cost of growing up.
King self-diagnosed his pulmonary embolism — being transparent about it (rather than hiding it) helps other riders facing similar setbacks. Health setbacks aren't career- ending but require proper management.

TOPICS

MOUNTAIN BIKING

Ted King opens up about his comeback to competitive cycling at 41, balancing elite training with family life, and how he's learned to pursue performance without losing himself in the obsessive mindset that defines the World Tour. He also shares the health scare that nearly ended his career—a pulmonary embolism he diagnosed himself—and how he's made peace with the uncertainty that comes with being an athlete.

Key Takeaways

You don't need three weeks of altitude acclimatization to race Unbound competitively—old-fashioned hard work and smart training still win races at the highest amateur level.
Having a coach creates organizational clarity in your household, allowing you to compartmentalize training time, family time, and work commitments rather than letting fitness slip to the back burner.
Gravel racing has fundamentally changed from a chill, accessible activity to a serious competitive sport, which is inevitable once prize money and prestige arrive—but this means lost camaraderie and sportsmanship at the feed zones.
A pulmonary embolism is potentially life-threatening but manageable with proper medical management; being transparent about health setbacks helps others facing similar issues feel less alone.
Experience racing at the World Tour level gives you perspective to pursue comeback goals without falling into the 1% of 1% rabbit hole—you can push hard while knowing when to pump the brakes.

Expert Quotes

"I could take this giant step in that direction but then be able to pump the brakes given my experience and given my age and knowing that I can't and don't want to go that final step to go the 1% of the one% of the 1%."

"The punchline with that being it is been very impressive how many people have reached out and said hey I had a pulmonary embolism also and what am I supposed to do...because I think because a lot of people just jump to the conclusion of you're on blood thinners you need to live the most bubble wrapped life that you could possibly live."

"The spirit of gravel can't die because the spirit is the essence of it—the essence has changed from this very vibe breezy lifestyle side of gravel to a racy atmosphere, and it just has a different type of spirit."

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

Each tagged with the strength of evidence behind it.

ANECDOTE
Ted King is a former WorldTour professional cyclist (Cannondale-Garmin era) and gravel racing pioneer who, at 41, returned to structured competition with a dedicated coach, nutritionist and conditioning specialist as part of his Unbound preparation.
Source: Ted King, interviewed on the Roadman Cycling podcast
EXPERT
King argues that the rise of structured pro- level support can impose useful organisation on a household — schedule visibility on the fridge enables family routines rather than conflicting with them.
Source: Ted King, Roadman Cycling podcast
EXPERT
King has stated publicly that Keegan Swenson and many of the top 1–5% of gravel racers have the physiological capacity to race in the WorldTour, framing the gravel-to-road gap as smaller than commonly assumed.
Source: Ted King, Roadman Cycling podcast
ANECDOTE
King experienced a pulmonary embolism that he has spoken about publicly to support other athletes facing similar diagnoses, with the case managed medically rather than ending his racing career.
Source: Ted King, Roadman Cycling podcast

KEY QUOTES

“I'm 41 years old there have been plenty of times this year that I sort of longingly think back to my days of being 26 in the pursuit of this and loving it and knowing that it's perpetual motion like the more fit you are the more fit you want to get.”
Ted King — Former World Tour professional cyclist and gravel racing pioneer

“having a coach and saying okay this is my two hours today this is my 4 hours today this is my six hours today whatever the training is and just literally having it on the fridge it's created so much organization in the household so I used to think it was kind of hilarious the idea of me having a coach.”
Ted King — Former World Tour professional cyclist and gravel racing pioneer

“mahic was out of the race he physiologically was the strongest person in the race no doubt about it um with that being said Keegan Swenson has the gifts to race in the world tour and a lot of the guys who are in the top 1% of gravel races 5% of gravel races have what it takes to be in the world tour.”
Ted King — Former World Tour professional cyclist and gravel racing pioneer

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT2 SECTIONS

Ted King's Cycling Comeback

Welcome back to the road man podcast today I have the privilege to sit down with Mr Ted King Ted was a road Rider of some distinction in the world tour for over a decade before transitioning into gravel he's one of the early pioneers of the gravel scene before stepping away with it today I talk to him about his comeback how you can balance training with having a family and work commitments Ted has done it and he's got back to the highest echelons of gravel cycling we talk Unbound preparation and preparation for all the rest of his gravel season you're going to love this one it's Mr Ted King Ted King welcome back to the roont podcast pleasure to be here very excited to be back thank you we're I was trying to think back I think 900 OD episodes since we sh it last it's shocking and impressive the Cadence at which you're putting him out um yeah it's that's awesome and I'm glad that me something of an original yeah you're OG We're looping all the way back in and it's it's almost like uh we're we're going through Cycles in life and your training and career seems to be going through one of those Cycles at the moment obviously you were World toward and we knew you as a gravel Pro and then it seemed like you were pulling back a little bit starting a family settling down and just when you think you're gone cycl pulls you back in again it does I mean it's funny to use the tur cyclical in the ter in the in the world of cycling but that is that is what it is you know um I mean you hit on it I had a professional career for 10 years on the road and was very pleased with um my time there and I I hung out my wheels relatively early at the age of 32 and that was way back in 2015 at the end of that season and so even the early ages of what I was doing after my world tour career was not what you see a lot of guys doing now um so 2016 it was it was ambassadorships and it was working with Brands and going to events and and promoting uh promoting what was this next phase of cycling um and I it was probably in the late 201s we started hearing terms like gravel Pro and I I just blocked at that and I thought it was I don't know I thought it was putting the card ahead of the horse I thought it was Jumping the Shark it just it it was in congruent it didn't make sense to say gravel professional um even though that was the direction that gravel has G on in this past nine years that I've been doing this funny second career so uh yeah and then in terms of the cyclical nature of it here we are in 2024 and it was the tail end of last year that I said you know what I'm 41 years old I've had a whole bunch of Health setbacks I've settled down and and have a family have two kids I'm curious what would happen if I double down on training and live that life that I had once before and work with a nutritionist and work with a uh a conditioning coach and work with a a real cycling coach and see what I could do so yeah it's a fun it's a fun bit of Adventure we've got going on a little bit of everything I want to pull that tread a little bit because I feel like I'm in a similar position I don't want to impose my mindset onto you but I turned 40 this year as well and now I I stopped racing pretty much like 2016 2017 like fulltime and then kind of Bounce Around cut one dive into couple of races a year so I still keeping in decent shape but the focus definitely hasn't been there but now I'm this narrative running on my head gone hey you can't do this when you're 50 like no one's jumping back into these races when they're 50 like yeah you can do this when you're 40 you can do this when you're mid-40s we see V extend now it's like should I just roll up the sleeves and do a couple more big years was that what was going on in your head where you can feel the Sans of time slipping a little bit I think I think that was a big piece of it and I mean honestly it came down to one evening where my best friend who who so here we are in Vermont on the total east side of the country and my wife Laura and I uh we spent a handful of years in California so we were playing host of my friend uh best friend from California and he was here we were having dinner and he sort of ched me over the years like what if you really focused what if you made a comeback what if you did this thing and there I was in my late 30s early 40s thinking like that that doesn't make sense why would I do that and I so my wife was in the same same boat I mean she knows that I'm inherently driven I like to see what I'm capable of but it was almost the as though it was almost as though I don't know it I mean they chatted me enough that I was like okay you know what I think this is actually a great idea um you know I'm in this very privileged position to have the support of a whole bunch of the best brands in the industry saying you know you can do whatever you want you can do the tour divide you can do uh Unbound you can do any kind of racis you want to do and then it was it was recognizing that this very enviable position to be in you know I I can double down on training I can go back to this life of of monkhood and Solitude and uh and and see what I am capable of um I mean yeah you can tell there's a lot of ideas floating above my head as I'm saying all that so yeah it is it is those things in tandem with being a parent it's not as though I'm saying okay family I'm G to go peace out and go to a two-month altitude Camp it is training and then finishing up and hanging out with the kids making them a you putting them down for a nap whatever it is uh but it it was both my own natural competitive nature and then my wife and best friend saying you know what this is a itch you need to scratch so let's see what you're let's see what you're up for this I fear this chat could be the Catalyst for me going looking for a coach after this podcast this is like a ter of fusing chat for me well you I mean especially the coaching piece I mean that it added so much uh organization to our house and my wife and I are both pretty typ a people we like to you know have our whis and get things done training was always for the past few years has taken that second step uh the back step the back burner whereas having a coach and saying okay this is this is my two hours today this is my 4 hours today this is my six hours today whatever the training is and just literally having it on the fridge it's created so much organization in the household so I used to think it was kind of hilarious the idea of me having a coach like I have a very small coaching business on the side also um but I'm like I know how to coach I know how to do all those things but it wasn't until I had one myself to say okay this is let's let's Silo it right this is my designated time to train this is my time to be a father this is this is where it all fits together it's this giant puzzle but do you worry as someone who's gone down the rabbit hole before you don't get to the World Tour unless like I always describe the world tour as it's just not for everyone it's a type of air that not every human is designed to breed it's a very rare type of air that's a very rare type of human can get to the 1% of the 1% you have addictive properties beyond the most toxic heroin addictions you have them you possess this do you're not worry about going down that rabbit hole and Awakening that Beast again that it just becomes this runaway train through what areas your life squeezing out marginal gains um no because of having the experience that I've had and knowing knowing that life of solitude and starvation and and monotony it's as though I could take this giant step in that direction but then be able to pump the braks given my experience and given my age and and knowing that I can't and don't want to go that final step to go the 1% of the one% of the 1% so you know I'm here I am like I've said I'm 41 years old there have been plenty of times this year that I sort of longingly think back to my days of being 26 in the pursuit of this and loving it and knowing that it's perpetual motion like the more fit you are the more fit you want to get yeah but knowing that I'm only comfortable taking it so far so yeah it was it was a rabbit hole that I wasn't worried about falling into the the infinite bottom of I remember chatting to Dylan Johnson last year and I was due to go over and ride Leadville and I I I didn't end up going over my dad wasn't too well but Just sh to Dylan uh I think it was offer and he's like hey so like what's your protocol how early you going to come in I'm like I don't know two days before he's like now really what you want to be doing is coming in like three weeks before at a low altitude and slowly creeping up the mountain like stay week altitude X then add 500 meters to X and then stay a week there and then stay a week there I'm like I can't stay for three weeks to do a one day 100 mile race like you I couldn't make sense of that and it's just it seems like something like you from you know my 20s where that would have been something I relished is there is that the entry point at the moment to those type of races do you need that level of geeking out on Preparation on altitude on marginal gains or you finding you know what actually with some old school hard work and some 1% jeans you can get there Ah that's a great question and a great Point um those are the same protocols that I'm not willing to take I can't tell my family I'm leaving for three weeks in order to do uh the the various acclimatization you see a lot more of it and the age in which we live and and courtesy of the Dylan Johnson of the world being so public with his social media to to to show the gains that he's gotten I mean shoot he's a he's a great example over the past three four five years he's gone from there was literally a Val news article about it he's gone from mid pack to top 10 Unbound um big big ride from him huge ride and he is the far end of the range of taking it seriously and looking at every every little detail so that is an introduction to the a lot of the young folks who are coming in I mean I don't think you're G to see people I could be wrong I was gonna say I don't think you're gonna see someone who's picking up cycling for the first time at the age of 35 and saying the only way I'm going to be able to get into this and have success is to do the Dylan Johnson approach um and I've heard that argument against cycling right I mean it's already a a hardware intensive business and Sport and so how do you even approach it you know gravel is supposed to be this all coming all very welcoming side of of cycling and if you don't have the right wheel for the right course then you're in trouble like that's that's a little bit daunting so um no I mean it's all over the map right it's nice to see that the Dylan Johnson approach works and I think good oldfashioned hard work works very well as as well yeah and I wonder when so we look at the world for at the moment they're the best of the best optimizing now to the end degree they're doing everything now which maybe they weren't doing when you were at your Canon days agree now with respect to the lifetime athletes they're not the best of the best the best of the best are over at the world tour the lifetime guys are maybe getting the best out of the hand God has given them by optimizing to the end degree I wonder how big the gap is though like if you get someone like who's the biggest dude former teammate yours biggest dude in the last 20 years on the bike sag you get him coming across to gravel he has all that natural talent but he doesn't go down the rabbit hole can he still win that's what I'm kind of fascinated about I think a lot of people look at Unbound because it was what two weeks ago and you had the likes of mahic and Van aat and of course full Suite of Lifetime athletes and all of these the Lawrence tends and the the Thomas Deckers the Ted Kings of the world and none of those names won right it was it was quite a bit of luck quite a bit of hard work um in order to get that the final winner I don't disagree with what you're saying for an instant I have pointed at World Tour professionals having gone down that that lifetime in my in my uh in my lifetime going down that path of my lifetime and recognize that's just the physiological best of the best but there are as much as you have a Perry or Bay with all sorts of variables there's almost more in gravel um and that's why you know mahic was out of the race he physiologically was the strongest person in the race no doubt about it um with that being said Keegan Swenson has the gifts to race in the world tour and a lot of the guys who are in the top 1% of gravel races 5% of gravel races have what it takes to be in the world tour would they be the Remos of the world the wouts the vanderpols no but they they'd have respectable careers um that said there's something uniquely exciting about being a gravel Privateer I think I mean I've seen it as a second career for me but all these young guys are in their mid 20s early 30s like this is their primary career and it's see seem a strange Direction doesn't it like the ambition used to always be to well if you're going to be a bike rider you go and race the world tour but I check with Matt beers and his numbers are absolutely insane he's done 5 or something for 20 minutes but at the same time he didn't get kept on as a stasher at UAE so it's like how do you reconcile those two that one is wild I don't know I think I think it was probably a time that UAE was really is establishing themselves and looking for how many 1% are there the 1% of the 1% of the 1% of the 1% I mean yeah he has what it takes to to ride the front of a world tour racer for start to finish um I mean he's a he's a specimen not to mention he throws out the world's largest draft so it's to the benefit of the entire peleton behind him um if he had wanted to pursue a world tour career outside of UA I guarantee he could have and he's only gotten more fit since then and I don't want to spend too much time exclusively talking about Matt because we could talk about each of these athletes and see what they could do in the world tour if he had wanted to go to a different team I guarantee he could have a a successful career he's an off-road cyclist first and foremost Hing up where his heart is and he uh I think he's loving what he's doing and so there's there's also just the whole business aspect which I think a lot of these type A cyclists want to pursue you know it's it's fun to have the conversations with the sponsors and and do a little bit of media storytelling and and all that as as opposed to living the Monkish lifestyle of signing a contract with a world t team and living at altitude for a month at a time and racing the whatever 75 race days that you have a year it's just it's different sports at the end of the day I guess that's the challenge for Kimo Seymour and the guys over at the lifetime Grand Prix series like how do you select athletes to be part of that series because you don't want to pick 10 Belgian kids who only speak Flemish Peter Siri and Tim the cler and these guys come over and they rip up every race but they don't want to do it a single interview in English that's not what he's trying to build there it's something different how are you finding that balance do you think he's striking the right card between talent and storytelling R man I'm going to date myself here but I've been riding the bike for almost 20 years and in that time I've cycled through every cycling apparel brand out there and I kept swapping out different apparel Brands each season and until I found laal there's something really different about lall and as soon as you slip into the gear you notice it feels different it feels better I've had the pleasure of chatting with yanto Barker on the podcast he's the laal founder and his dedication to crafting the fastest most refined cycling apparel out there it's nothing short of inspiring yanto isn't just trying to create gear I get the feeling he's actively and obsessively trying to perfect cycling gear trust me as soon as you slip on the laar kid as soon as you zip up that Jersey you can feel that commitment the proof for the call it's in the pudding this is the same kit that Jay Henley wore when he clinched overall victory in the Jalia there's a confidence that comes with wearing aarl that's been battle tested and Podium proven in races like the Jalia trust me feeling good on the bike means you're going to perform better if you have a second I highly advise you to jump on over to lol.

Lifetime Grand Prix's Rise

CC and check out their amazing range of Kit and experience this feeling for yourself I can't disagree with what they're doing I think they seem to be telling a great story I mean especially being here in North America the lifetime series is without question the biggest bit of racing we have in North America and so this is happening in tandem with domestic road racing effectively being in the toilet um domestic mountain biking on its rebound but it's not a big sport that people follow cyclocross is nil so it's almost as though this this Confluence of events of other sports sort of circling the toilet and gravel being popular has allowed the lifetime series to to have such success um and yeah I do think they've done a good job I mean I look at the athletes who are literally in the entire lifetime series everybody has a little bit of Storytelling and has their Niche and has their Persona right like who pacon is is different than Matt beers it's different than Dylan it's different than Keegan I could go down the list of course you know this is the male side the same thing happens on the female side um and it allows I think they've done a great job creating the the series I think it's absolutely ridiculous and kind of crazy but also kind of cool that they have a helicopter flying over their races and yeah that's B us it it's wild so it allows fans to latch onto an athlete or a handful of athletes and and really follow the sport I mean who's who's to say what looks like in another half dozen years I know flying a helicopter is not cheap um doesn't sound cheap no not at all um and I think the only thing that that I think some people have quite a bit of beef with is having having it be a select number of riders in the first place as opposed to you know if Peter Sagen doesn't want to apply for the series but he says I want to go do the all of the races you know the point is could it be open um and that's a small can worms that is uh something they need to figure out because it's not easy to get into every race so are you you're series you have the guaranteed entry say that again are you officially part of the series no I did the first year and then I had a wild setback in the form of a pulmonary embolism um almost exactly two years ago which has been that's been part of my my personal comeback story was getting over that and getting over a pretty sizable uh Orthopedic injury in the form of shattering my elbow so no I'm not upset with it I with not being in it in that a lot of the races don't have to suit me I'm a big human and so as much as Matt beers can do well at 10,000 feet I don't do well climbing up a Leadville um Crusher and the tusher absolutely crushed me that's another race that's the elevation profile is literally the shape of an N you climb you just end and then you climb you don't descend anymore um so yeah it's nice to do a handful of races I guess I'll do three of the seventh uh beginning with seaotter Unbound and probably do big sugar at the end of the year but then it allows me to do other races whereas if you're exclusively doing the lifetime series you don't really you don't really have time to do other races Because by the time One race finishes up you got to go to altitude camp for the next one and those are yeah it's those sort of things that I said look it's a very neat series but it's not something I'm going to pursue this year talk to me about that pulmonary embolism what happened there uh I came home from Crusher and the tusher so it was early July uh 2022 and we had a 3w week old child four- week old child in addition to a 2-year-old um and I felt would felt like an orthopedic pain in my uh jeez I forget right or left shoulder I'm going to say right shoulder and it was it just felt like a little niggling pain but then the strange part about it was it hurt the most when I took a big deep breath I would inhale and it would be like ah man that's a little stabing pain uh not huge I think we have the one to 10 scale of pain it was somewhere in the two to three range but it was distinct in that when I breathed it hurt it sort of went about my day I think I felt it in the afternoon woke up that night still felt it was rolling around in bed spending some time on Google you know breathing pain shoulder and I stumbled upon pulmonary embolism and so at 5:00 am I said hey honey uh I can't help you with a kid right now I'm going to go to the ER um it was a little bit of in talking with a ER emergency room doctor friend of mine and talking to my very athletic PCP primary care provider on the way to the hospital they said yeah we encourage you to go but I don't think we don't think it's a it's a pulmonary eism uh but it turns out my self diagnosis was pretty good and the punchline is a pulmonary embolism is a blood clot that is likely formed in your leg and then is moved up into your lungs so I had a blood clot in my lung and so that pain was you know a lung pain I don't think you have nerves in your lung um and it immediately put me on blood thinners um it was a very scary time to be an athlete being told that you're going to be on blood thinners and uh yeah I mean I me basically what it has meant is the end of my the end of that season 2022 um and then working with some some hematologists some special list in coagulation throughout the country figuring out what kind of protocol it I'm on so I'm on a very low dose of blood thinner now and I feel very comfortable training and riding on this very low dose and then if I go into a race where I consider racing to be quite a bit more dangerous that's where the crashes happen that's where a lot more of the unexpected happens then I'll come off the thinner the thinners for a handful of days before where just feel safe enough to go into them that's scary man yeah yeah it was very scary um it's something that I'm very comfortable with now it's something I'm comfortable sharing um you know initially in that 2022 period it's like I don't want to tell a soul uh I don't want sponsors to know I don't want friends to know I don't want anyone to know but a lot of my life a lot of my career has initially unintentionally I mean in starting with the I am Ted King blog and now this miniature media Empire of podcasts and videos and so on and so forth it's it's become very transparent and it's trying to be tell the story of who I am and and my place in the world tour now my place in gravel and my place as a father and athlete and and you know the spouse of another athlete so the punchline with that being it is been very impressive how many people have reached out and said hey I had a pulmonary embolism also and what am I supposed to do and who should I speak with and and how have you gone about your uh subsequent diagnosis why are we worries about telling people I don't know BEC I think because it well if I tell people that are on blood thinners there are a whole handful like don't ever ride your bike you're a father and you're not allowed to ride your bike and I'm like I could be not on blood thinners and get into a car accident and be killed or I could could not be on blood dinners and be on my bike and be killed so I mean The lethality of it the the the risks are there whether you're have a PE or not but a lot of people just jump to the conclusion of you're on pees you need to live the most bu wrapped life that you could possibly live um I wonder if there's something as well with when athletes were so focused on performance we're so focused on marginal gains next race it almost when you have that focus on performance there's almost an implicit oh my health is perfect my Health's 10 out of 10 I kind of had a Moment Like This 18 months ago actually ended my actually a little less probably 12 months ago my ended my season last year went for a long ride with a friend we tried to do one of these fkt fastest on time for a Weck way route here which is I think it was like a 14h hour record so we R pretty hard all day through and off and then we had the record easy and the two of us attacked each other up the last climb and I remember you know your garmin's almost out of battery and it goes into that like power saver mode so I couldn't see the screen anymore but we went full over the top so you know I'd expect my heart rate to be pretty close to Max but we were coming down The Far Side in The Descent and I still felt like I was at Max and I was like well that's weird and we got to the bottom and that was literally the end of the ride at the bottom after for 14 hours I hit save and it came up like new max heart rate detected 222 I was like well that's not good because I've never hit above 190 so that's not super good and I was like maybe it's just glitched out or something so I didn't even say anything to my buddy I saved the file and I restarted a new file so I could see my current her rate and I was sitting at like 219 stopped like 20 minutes after and I didn't even say anything to him because I was in the middle of hour and I just remember thinking to myself well this is where it ends this is the end of the road W and he's like are you all right and I was like no I'm in a I think we might have a big problem here and I was like there's no point even calling an amulance we're so far away like the ambulance trying to even describe PR to an ambulance would be impossible I was like I'm pretty I'm I'm in a bad spot here and we just had this moment where I like this is really dangerous like it it turned out ended up getting home a horrible night all night heart rate barely came down below 200 for the next 12 hours so went into emergency it turned out it was uh Co and oh wow viral infection he said coupled with dehydration and that's what gave the heart rate but I had that few moments Sitting Waiting for the results of the consultation where I was like okay is he going to tell me of weeks to live is he going to tell me I need a heart surgery is he gonna tell me I can never exercise again because it's so much a part of her identity as well that was the part I found I was Googling phds and philosophy going like oh maybe I could you know a new identity could be like a philosophy Professor or something I was going on a weird rabbit hole but I wonder is it that for you as well in your reluctance where it's like you're Ted King I am Ted King your conondale your world tour it's the identity piece is hard to let go of it is it's very hard um and I've prior to that happening prior to that diagnosis I remember having some Orthopedic injuries and you know sitting in the emergency room thinking would I be okay if I could never ride a bike again and in those moments being very peaceful about it like yeah I could do that I could survive and and pursue the next thing um but odd and knowing in those moments that I was going to come out of the orthopedic problem no problem right if like play a shoulder and and you're okay yeah there was something about this one that was more abrupt and more uh I don't know it shook me more and I and I having now had the benefit of two years over that period I still like to think that I can I could step away from cycling and go to the next thing if it if I was told to your point hey you know what you cannot do this again and and in speaking with hematologists one of the country's leading hematologists among athletes on very rare occasions they have that the the conversation with the athlete to say no you can no longer do this like if you're in rugby or or in the NFL you can't have those chronic cumulative injuries and have an issue like the one that I have so on occasion they'll tell them that their career is over um yeah I mean we could have another three-hour conversation purely on that topic but it's it's it's a good thing to think about because nothing in this life is certain yeah no for sure and I've definitely noticed I've started accumulating these weird I don't say injuries because there's something like you say with Orthopedic injury I've had big crashes but there's something reassuring about an orthopedic injury it's a very laid out path to recovery it's like okay it's a collar bone I know progress after a week two weeks three weeks there the uncertainty of something like a cardiac event or a pulmonary embolism that's kind of scary as well yes yes and my I think part of my Approach in having peace with it is my father uh when he was 58 years old he had a stroke and some of our listeners might be saying oh Ted well look into that in case you have a a hereditary thing and that's perhaps why you had your PE they are entirely separate the cause of his stroke has nothing to do with uh blood clots but he had a stroke and it was he was the pillar of our family and he was an orthopedic surgeon which was very convenient amid uh a youth upbringing of Orthopedic injuries um but you know I I watched the rug get yanked out from under him and he's lived the past 20 years at a in a very difficult diminished State um but he's also had tremendous peace through it all and and watching the peace and peacefulness amid a lot of trials and tribulations that my mom has been able to to deal with as his caregiver you know that offered me this totally different perspective as opposed to oh I broke my collar bone my career's over it's like yeah no no no there are much bigger things and there are ways to approach these setbacks and there are ways not to so their perspective and their uh teachings towards me have been invaluable taking a little bit of a left turn there t divide I know it didn't end super for you again with more health issues it seems like Ted King's long list of health issues podcast yeah but talk to me about the t devide is it an event you would consider do again is it you know as it's painted in the media this magical Whimsical event or is there just quite a lot of hardship involved hey Ro man excuse the short Interruption I love riding the bike but on account of being so busy with the podcast at the moment I'm now what's called a time crunch Rider I never thought I'd see to day but I have a tool I'm using W bike to keep myself sharp and on point with specific sessions to maximize that available training time I have a what bike Adam right here in the recording studio beside me and when I have an hour in between interviews I jump on it's removing all the friction points from me there's no more 10minute setup unfolding legs banging my knees off stuff getting my hands dirty usual connection issues it just works every single time the atom's perfect for virtual racing as well because it has crisp gear changes it has 1% accuracy and it has Max gradient capability of up to 25% if you're looking for an indoor trainer I honestly couldn't recommend this any higher I've been using a w bike since 2013 honestly it's the last indoor trainer that you're ever going to need if you head on over to W bike.com now and use code roadman 10 that's r o a d m n t n and that's going to get you 10% off your W bike both it is a magical women School event which I would love to go back to at some point one of my tabs open on my computer is that do watching which is the most riveting it's like watching grass grow and it's amazing um so yeah my setback there is a a case of rabdom mysis where I think effectively your your muscles are cannibalizing yourself or I've heard when you do a yeah it's a lot of like the ultra Runners have it anyway there it was on day four not feeling myself I was about to continue for another 150 miles I had just left the town of but Montana and I I had a conversation with my wife and she's like you know it's not the worst idea because don't forget about our friend so and so who had this massive setback and so basically go back and check yourself out and then check myself out the the hospital they said yeah you can continue you're just going to keep digging yourself a hole so I mean yeah it's an over overextending of yourself uh I attribute it to a lack of sleep which is something that I'm not sure I'm going to be able I mean lack of sleep is is a given if you're doing bike packing what I am unable to do even if I'm going to set myself a three or four hour window of sleeping I can't finish a big day of riding get into bed and fall asleep like that is yeah a gift when it comes to bike packing I finish a day I get into bed and sleep and I spend the next two hours just pinned and heart's racing mine's going a million miles an hour um so in talking to somebody like Lawrence tal who's racing it now he said that's one of his gifts is he can just get into bed and immediately go to sleep so uh I would love to go back it is a great deal of misery no different than a an Unbound you know you could do a 200 mile race or 2,800 mile race and they're very romanticized in hindsight and in thinking about them but in the moment I mean they're miserable they're really really awful and hard and you're Jo Bally just racing to that finish line to be happy again um it's cool to see what folks have done I mean what ol did to win it is awesome what L does year over year um um and what lawrens is doing this year as a as a young 43y old it's it is an adventure of course Lin I mean his race last year or in in doing it documented and therefore having it be an unofficial record is just stunning and fascinating and a really cool approach yeah you had lck on the podcast last week how was that that was a hoot I mean he's a long time overdue right I mean I have 130ish episodes with all kinds of folks in the cycling industry from from industry insiders to Racers and so on and so forth and so yeah I mean he such a character he's some you'd want to have on regardless of the circumstances so I felt a a privilege and honor to have asked him the you know two days after he one Unbound and he said well I've said no to a lot of media requests but this is that I'm going to say yes to and I you know that that felt neat it was great chatting with them we were never teammates per se but in I spent a year on the slipstream program and he's obviously some type of slipstream athlete uh in the Jonathan bers program and uh the canondale connection is neat and just you know there sort of a Brotherhood and camaraderie having racing the world tour together so it's it was a fun one that that I I think we it seemed we both really enjoyed the conversation did he give you much insight into his Unbound prep uh fair amount I mean yeah of course I encourage listeners to go back and check it out it's on YouTube it's on my podcast I'll link it Up Down Below right on appreciated um he he is such a interesting character I mean I can't think of a better word than an enigma like he's he he has this totally different approach to everything and so much as people think of him as purely laid-back and chill which he is he he also does seek out marginal gains right I mean he's doing the the hydration bladder down the front which nobody did I I think he was one of one who did that uh he has Arrow socks on he has this I think he was the only person with an arrow uh Pock helmet on he has a skin suit on he he I I'm almost positive he had his uh uh dino plugs on the back of his triceps like slipped into a special pocket that was sewn into his jersey um he thinks about a lot of details which is really neat he obviously has a massive wealth of accumulated training um and then he has he's working with one of the best most renowned cycling coaches in the gravel space Dennis vanwinden so it's not a mistake I mean I don't think you can go into an Unbound and Win It purely on accident and so he does cross the te's and Dot the eyes and he also has a great approach to having fun on the bike anyway I think you're kind of uniquely positioned in a couple of Senses obviously you've been World T and then gravel but you're also positioned to see gravel before and after the beginning of the lifetime Grand Prix series are you happy largely with how it's developed because when I look at the development the gravel obviously it's not one person or one event that's caused the development of this but your early Vlogs on YouTube were so formative for so many people getting into gravel I know it was the Catalyst for me during the pandemic buying a gravel bike it was the Catalyst for me going across to Iceland and you know spending money over there way too much money in Iceland if anyone's never been most expensive place I've ever been but how do you see that development of gravel as an industry are you largely happy with the direction it's gone short answer yes yes I just wrote a Blog about this again self-promotion I Amed king.com I wrot a Blog about the spirit of gravel right we talk about the death of the spirit of gravel and my argument is you can't have the death of the spirit of gravel because the spirit is the essence of it and so right now all it means is the essence has changed from this very viy broy lifestyle side of gravel to it's it's a racy atmosphere and it it just has a different type of spirit um I love I love that the industry has gotten behind it I mean I think the having wider tires and better gearing and disc brakes and frames that are uh allow gravel riding and racing to be much more comfortable I think that's fantastic and then it's cool to see it trickle both towards mountain biking and uh a lot of that technology go towards Road biking and vice versa um there are things that are a little bit rub me the wrong way I mean you know I talk about in the blog as much as it's an inevitability I don't think it's great to race through a feed Zone at the expense of some of your comrades who say shoot I would really like to stop and have a drink right now you know there's sort of a sportsmanship piece that's been killed but that's just that's the inevitability of sports and competitiveness in human nature is to make it once you put a number on it's a race and you want to go faster the next year and you want to look for ways to do it and there plenty of races and events that are chill and fun and you don't need to be hellbent and have the right arrow helmet and then there's plenty that really require that next level of dedication um you know what I see I I see your point there totally and I do think there's inevitability in that Innovation at the front end of the race what kind of concerns me a little bit about gravel it's not the front end of the race it's the mass side of the race when I think about what cycling should should be and why it's beautiful it it for me it's a group of friends get together for an activity we all love and it's fun and there's very few barriers you need a bike any bike will do just get out and ride you can have fun I was in Jona I didn't race but I was in Jona for the time the track I was on and it just seemed like an army of these what i' call them the Paranormal Bros that they're decked out like when I started cycling used to be able to identify the world tour guys because they're the only ones who had good kit like if you had good kit you a world tour the nice you had a nice matchy kit you had a nice bike you were a world tour everyone else had kit and gear commens it to their level now you're seeing like an entry point into the sport which it's fine if you have money and you want to spend it on this stuff but My worry is that if you've a 16y old kid now that thinks he needs to have a $112,000 bike and €4,000 Euro full of stinking panoral kit before he can compete in one of these events it just it feels too exclusionary yes I mean the same thing could be said about road racing and and and I agree with that argument understand it and I said the same thing in the Dylan Johnson approach like do you need to spend time in a wind tunnel in order to get into gravel cycling like you don't want to have that be one those perspective but then you know rewind a decade before gravel was even a thing and to your argument with with the world tour guys and they look the World Tour Part that is they were up on this pedestal and if you're new to cycling you have your $800 road bike but then at one point or another you're going to spend time on cycling media you're gonna see him and JY you're gonna see the world tour guy and I want to Aspire to that I want the crisp white socks I want the what do a bike cost 10 years ago you know I want the $6,000 bike so it's almost as though that just that happens in every sport it happens at any time like I could I like playing hockey I like watching the NHL playoffs like do I need to have the latest $900 skates no I could also get some cheap skates and play it against Sport and go play on my pond in the winter and I think I think that's just across the board in in any form of Athletics there is the entry level stuff and then there's the how far deep into the equipment rabbit hole do we want to dive I almost wonder is there something countercultural coming because gravel seems to trace some of its Origins from the mountain biking skateboard and countercultural and at the moment when I walked around Jona at track of time it didn't feel very countercultural it felt very mainstream middle-age white dude I wonder is there a push back coming to that where we're going to see almost segments of a newer type of gravel guy emerging who is a little bit more countercultural I would encourage you to come to some of the bigger races or or some of the smaller races in the United States and I know that gravel young everywhere in the world but I think in my experience which is very limited in Europe but extensive in the United States there's still a ton of that counterculture of the masses run what you br show up with whatever bike you want going on and I I make the same argument in my in my blog the masses have the spirit of gravel that we know and love and and like and and my experience European gravel has been LED by the world tour Pros immediately and so it trco is one of the races that that I have experienced that yeah I mean that very much feels like the retirement tour or the aspiring Pro racer um and not much of that original gravel Vibes labor um and so you know it's all the the events you do in talking to Lawrence tendon over the years I mean he was one of the first Europeans to come to the United States and do things like the grasshopper Adventure series and then he tried to introduce it to Europe and he talked about the gravel events that he was doing and leading and experiencing they were very limited and it's it's as though they were intentionally uncompetitive so now he has his event to live Slow Ride fast Fondo and it's basically a Fondo people are there to chill um but then yeah the next week he can show up it literally was the next week he'll show up at the traka and race with the best of the gravel Pon so that that's that's what is neat about gravel I think here in the states and I hope that Europe can do it and the rest of the world can do it is you know you vote with your participation you vote with your registration dollars and if you want to do a hellbent race you can find that if you want to do a chill race you can do that and every every range of the Spectrum in between I love that H just finishing up what's success look like for the comeback oh wow that's a good question do you have to tr your hands in year I won a race two days ago it was a tiny race it was really neat I mean it was well and it was I mean yeah exactly as as I explained to a very good friend you know I sort of qualify like ah it was a tiny race he said winning is winning winning is fun and I'm like yeah you're right winning is fun it's a tiny race it was very viby um you know proportionally right like instead of 40 people being hellbent Racers at the front after the first hard section there were four so we duked it out to the finish line and then instead of 3,000 people in the masses there were I forget what uh 100 or something so yeah there's there's still the races that have the Vibes there's still the grassroot races that are that are fantastic uh winning is fun to win a big race might be I don't want to say the metric of success that would that would I think be the icing on the cake I mean I'm trying to get through the season really well to see what I can do for my S I mean it it is this storytelling piece of hey what does a comeback look like what does having had some setbacks look like what is it to be a competitive racer and father of two kids like you know those are the folks that are I think really gobbling up my media there's a lot of dads out there that that want to be a racer and like seeing the the experiences that I'm having yes to win a race would be really neat to win a big race would be something that I insire to you might just have me out of retirement appreciate it you might just have inspired me out of retirement we'll see excellent well yeah it's it's a heck of a lot of fun to see what you can do in this the other side of 40 so did you say you're turning 40 soon just turned 40 couple of months ago it's rough it is it was the first reality check I think 39 is great you turned 40 you're like oh wow oh this I should have stuff figured out I shouldn't be hosting a podcast I should have a real job exactly yeah you should go I don't know be a lawyer or something right got a suitcase Ted it's been a blast thank you my friend yeah I appreciate it have a good one thank you if you enjoyed this conversation please click up here there's another video I know that you're absolutely going to love click over here and subscribe to the channel so you don't miss any of our amazing upcoming guests

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why did Ted King retire from professional cycling?+

Ted King stepped back from competitive cycling to focus on raising a family in Vermont after years at the WorldTour and gravel racing level. He discusses this decision in detail on the Roadman Cycling Podcast, explaining that the demands of elite sport and the responsibilities of family life prompted him to reassess his priorities rather than continue chasing results.

How is Ted King training for Unbound Gravel at 41?+

Ted King has hired a dedicated coach, nutritionist, and conditioning specialist to structure his comeback programme around his family schedule. Training blocks are planned and posted on the fridge alongside parenting duties, so his household runs to a clear routine rather than being disrupted by his athletic commitments.

Can you balance elite cycling training with family life?+

Ted King argues that structured, professional-level training can actually impose useful organisation on a household rather than cause chaos. The key is pre-planned schedules, clear communication with a partner, and support staff who work around family commitments rather than against them.

When did Ted King start calling himself a gravel professional?+

Ted King resisted the label of gravel professional for years despite being one of the most recognised names in the category. He eventually committed to the title after returning to structured competition in his forties, a decision he explains on the Roadman Cycling Podcast with Anthony Walsh.

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Key Takeaways

You don't need three weeks of altitude acclimatization to race Unbound competitively—old-fashioned hard work and smart training still win races at the highest amateur level.

Having a coach creates organizational clarity in your household, allowing you to compartmentalize training time, family time, and work commitments rather than letting fitness slip to the back burner.

Gravel racing has fundamentally changed from a chill, accessible activity to a serious competitive sport, which is inevitable once prize money and prestige arrive—but this means lost camaraderie and sportsmanship at the feed zones.

A pulmonary embolism is potentially life-threatening but manageable with proper medical management; being transparent about health setbacks helps others facing similar issues feel less alone.

Experience racing at the World Tour level gives you perspective to pursue comeback goals without falling into the 1% of 1% rabbit hole—you can push hard while knowing when to pump the brakes.

Expert Quotes

"I could take this giant step in that direction but then be able to pump the brakes given my experience and given my age and knowing that I can't and don't want to go that final step to go the 1% of the one% of the 1%."

"The punchline with that being it is been very impressive how many people have reached out and said hey I had a pulmonary embolism also and what am I supposed to do...because I think because a lot of people just jump to the conclusion of you're on blood thinners you need to live the most bubble wrapped life that you could possibly live."

"The spirit of gravel can't die because the spirit is the essence of it—the essence has changed from this very vibe breezy lifestyle side of gravel to a racy atmosphere, and it just has a different type of spirit."

KEY QUOTES

“I'm 41 years old there have been plenty of times this year that I sort of longingly think back to my days of being 26 in the pursuit of this and loving it and knowing that it's perpetual motion like the more fit you are the more fit you want to get.”
Ted King — Former World Tour professional cyclist and gravel racing pioneer

“having a coach and saying okay this is my two hours today this is my 4 hours today this is my six hours today whatever the training is and just literally having it on the fridge it's created so much organization in the household so I used to think it was kind of hilarious the idea of me having a coach.”
Ted King — Former World Tour professional cyclist and gravel racing pioneer

“mahic was out of the race he physiologically was the strongest person in the race no doubt about it um with that being said Keegan Swenson has the gifts to race in the world tour and a lot of the guys who are in the top 1% of gravel races 5% of gravel races have what it takes to be in the world tour.”
Ted King — Former World Tour professional cyclist and gravel racing pioneer

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why did Ted King retire from professional cycling?+

How is Ted King training for Unbound Gravel at 41?+

Can you balance elite cycling training with family life?+

When did Ted King start calling himself a gravel professional?+

TED KING OPENS UP ABOUT WHY IT WAS TIME TO QUIT CYCLING

Key Takeaways

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Ted King's Cycling Comeback

Lifetime Grand Prix's Rise

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2.Lifetime Grand Prix's Rise

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