- Ted King,
we're here in your home state of New Hampshire.
- That's right, welcome to town.
- It's so great to be here,
and I couldn't think of a better place to be,
where the asphalt ends and the dirt road begins.
- Love it.
- It is the story of your career I think.
- I think there's some truth to that.
(dramatic music)
- [Jeremy] Ted King is a retired pro tour racer,
who famously shepherded Peter Sagan
to wins all over the world when they raced together.
He now is a pro gravel racer.
He's won the Dirty Kanza 200 twice.
While we're here I had to hook up with him,
and get some tips on how to ride gravel like a king.
(upbeat music)
- It's fun because you don't have to count calories
like I did in a previous lifetime.
You want to be sure that you're on top
of hydration and nutrition.
You're putting in 250 to 300 calories per hour.
I don't want to die up here.
And then I realized that all the guys have kids,
or have families, and they don't want to die either.
(upbeat music)
(explosion)
(upbeat music)
- Ted, thank you so much for taking us out
on your local roads.
This is amazing.
It's super pretty right now with all the foliage.
- Foliage is kicking, we call this peak.
- Yeah, it is super peak.
I'm not far away, in Massachusetts.
Let's talk about that for a second,
both being New Englanders.
- Yeah buddy.
- Not from England, like many people on the show,
but from New England, it's pretty cool to be out here.
We're practically born for gravel.
There's so many dirt roads.
- I completely agree.
I mean it's super cool right now living in Vermont,
where there are literally more dirt roads
than there are paved.
Yeah, it's a blessing.
- Yeah, so we're here for your ride,
which is the King Challenge.
- So, we benefit the Krempels Center,
the Krempels Center is a 19 year old operation,
started by David Krempels,
but it is a organization that benefits those
with acquired brain injury.
So, often from trauma, or stroke, or tumor.
So my dad had a stroke in 2003,
and he's been a member of this community,
and in effect, it's where you go
once you have passed all the therapies,
so it really is, you know, in cycling we love community,
and that is, that's really
what the Krempels Center is all about.
(upbeat music)
- Couldn't help but, obviously,
for nine years I've been wanting to come out,
but always this falls during cross season.
- It is a busy time of year. - So I haven't been able
to come out, and I thought this year we're coming out,
and we're going to do a video,
not only because we've been talking a lot
about gravel on GCN, and all the...
When we started doing this,
these bikes were not at all designed
for what we're doing, but now these bikes are like,
these bikes are made for this type of stuff.
I just wanted to pick your brain on it,
give the people some tips from,
well I said before but, a king of gravel.
I mean, you, we have to play that up.
We have to, that'll be the last time I say it,
but we have to.
- [Ted] I love it, I love it.
- So you've done some pretty long events.
Let's talk about some of the events that you've done.
- Yes sir.
- Dirty Kanza is one that's on my mind.
That is, for anyone that doesn't know, 200 kilometers long.
- [Ted] 200 miles, my friend.
- I'm sorry, 200 miles long.
- Accurate. - So it's 200 miles long.
- [Ted] Yes.
- Let's talk about that for a second.
- Aye aye aye. - How is that,
how is that different than say like a Paris-Roubaix,
or like a grand tour stage?
How is DK different than that?
- So, 2016, there I am in my first year
of retirement from road racing,
and on a whim I was asked to do Dirty Kanza,
and I knew I had a handful of characteristics
that would suit me.
I know how to ride long distance,
I know how to ride on rough terrain,
I know how to do a bunch of things,
but you don't collectively know
how it all comes together, like something like DK.
So, you know, I went in as best prepared I could,
but all of the sudden you're self supported.
It's not the world of the world tour anymore.
How does it compare?
Ah, well let's state the obvious ones.
It's a longer effort than any grand tour stage.
It's a longer effort than Paris-Roubaix.
You're, you got to go into it expecting to do
at least a 10 hour day.
It's totally a race of attrition.
Being self supported is a really cool attribute
of all of these gravel races.
- [Jeremy] How are you preparing for that?
Obviously we know that you own a nutrition company.
- [Ted] Oh.
- But what is it like to prepare
for a 10-plus hour race nutritionally?
Let's talk about that.
- It's fun because you don't
have to count calories like I did in a previous lifetime.
You're counting as many calories
as you can possibly take in.
Yeah, I mean over the course of a 10-plus hour day,
you want to be sure that you are on top
of hydration and nutrition.
You're putting in 250 to 300 calories per hour,
for at least 10 hours.
It is brutally hot in Kansas in early June,
so you got to be on top of your hydration.
- [Jeremy] Ah.
- Drinking at least a bottle an hour,
often one to two bottles per hour.
So, yeah things that you can't have a hiccup,
or else you're going to find yourself on your back foot
at, you know, hour six, - Sure.
- with many, many, many more hours to go.
What I really like to emphasize
is eating real foods, to be honest.
I mean I think, you know there's nothing better
than going on a sweet ride,
and linking it together with a coffee shop.
Go and eat like a brownie, a muffin,
a cookie, a scone. - Yeah.
- I have choked down too many pieces
of sports nutrition in my life,
to really have any desire to do that anymore.
Hydration, I definitely say drink, drink, drink,
and then when you think you need to drink some more,
definitely drink some more.
I mean, electrolytes are key.
That is the way to really maximize your hydration.
If you're in a pinch,
and you don't have them handy,
water is going to be better than nothing.
But, a lot of these gravel races
are in the heat of the summer.
They're in the heat of humidity,
and you are expelling an absurd amount of fluids,
so you got to be ahead of the fluids.
- What about when you get into the race,
you're at the mile 75,
there's a rest stop with water.
What is the protocol?
Is it gentleman's agreement?
Everyone pulls
off to the side, - Ooh.
- and grabs water?
Does someone keep going,
and you guys all look sideways,
and you like hunt that person down that didn't stop?
Because you guys can't hold
200 miles worth - Correct.
- of water on your bikes.
- Correct.
You know, that's a really interesting question.
That is, that is what we see
in this changing state of gravel.
I like the races that you find yourself
in the right group, and then you can have that agreement
to say, "Guys, we're going to stop here."
- Right.
- You know, your headset's loose,
I got to pee, and Steve here on the left
needs to grab some water.
Like, as long as you have that good community,
you don't want somebody to have a bad day
as a result of a mechanical,
as a result of not being hydrated, so...
- You want guys to,
you want guys to win with their legs.
- Exactly. - But hydration's
a tough one, man.
It's in the middle of that.
- It is, so, right.
I mean, you want to also be smart,
be aware, be aware of where the feed zones are,
be aware of the distances
that you're going to have to go between feed zones.
- So you really made a name for yourself
after the pro tour, now coming into gravel.
It's booming, it's literally booming
in the U.S. at least, and globally.
I mean, you were doing a race in Iceland?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was- - Let's talk about that
for a second, how long was that one?
- That was, it was 200K, so 120 miles.
- Desolate.
We literally raced out from an already desolate town,
and raced around the volcano called Hekla.
- Was it cold there?
- It was not cold.
It was late July.
It was windy, kind of like today.
It was overcast, it was raining,
it was snowing, it was sleeting.
We literally saw everything over the course of the day.
- We had Oliver go over for GCN, and he did it.
- Yeah. - And I think it was,
I think it was a bit challenging for him,
not being a gravel star.
- [Ted] That was a doozy of a race.
- He had a lot of things to say about it.
Would you consider yourself to be
into the kind of the nasty conditions,
like the bad stuff?
- Yeah, I mean, honestly going into DK this year,
for example, this is the first year we see
a lot of world tour guys coming over,
from EF, and Trek, and...
And I was really looking forward to the crap weather,
because I thought it becomes a big mental game
as much as anything. - Yeah.
- And I figure, you know, if it's pouring rain,
the mud is turning to peanut butter.
- That's very cyclocross of you, Ted.
- Oh my lord, right?
Thank you, I appreciate.
That's a good, it's a good homage
to New England crappy weather.
What I tell a lot of people, lot of friends,
world tour buddies who are getting into it,
I say at some point, over the course of the day,
you're going to be in a very, very dark place.
- Yeah.
- So you just have to anticipate that.
You also have to anticipate random stop signs,
and stuff like that.
- Yeah.
(light music)
Let's talk about your machine here.
- We got a Cannondale Synapse.
This is effectively Cannondale's cobble bike,
so this is the bike they're racing in the spring classics.
What's funny about gravel is it's often one bike fits all,
but then, you know, you can really nerd out
on the nuances, and that's what I have the privilege to do.
So, tomorrow for example is largely a road ride,
with a little bit of very tame gravel,
so a bike like this is largely meant
for pave, and traditional paved roads.
This is also the identical bike,
this is the bike that I won SBT Gravel on.
So going to an event like that,
140 miles long, I know it's going to be
a whole lot of gravel, of a variety of types,
but overall it's tame,
so, you know, you don't need a knobby tire.
What we have going on here, pretty traditional gear ratio.
Two-by up front, 11 speed in the rear,
whereas the gnarlier gravel races,
you're going to want to have a lot of tread on the tire.
You're going to want perhaps even bigger,
or easier gear ratios,
and that's where you might go with,
as we call it, mullet protocol.
Mullet protocol is business up front,
party in the rear.
So, one-by, 44 tooth front.
Eagle in the back, 10-50 gearing,
so you can just spin on up anything.
Iceland is a perfect example of that,
where you're going to have a lot of short, steep pitches,
so you want to save- - Volcanoes.
Mainly volcanoes. - Exactly, volcanic ash.
You want to save your legs over the course of the day,
so spin to win.
I've always been a high cadence kind of guy.
- What about tires?
What are you doing for tires?
These, you said these were 32s,
but these look pretty big to me.
- These, if I said 32 I misspoke.
These are actually a 35,
which is super cool that you can fit this
on a traditional road bike.
- Yeah. - So, tubeless 35c tires.
These are by the good folks at Rene Herse.
- [Jeremy] When would you say like,
"Okay, I need to get a knobbier tire, or a semi-slick?"
There's every kind of tire that you could imagine right now.
- [Ted] That is the truth.
That's probably the number one question I get,
when I am going to an event.
Ted, what pressure are you running,
what tire are you going to run,
how slick is it, how knobby is it?
Given that these tires are tubeless,
and virtually all tires that I'm doing
in a gravel run are tubeless,
you get so much grip just by running lower pressure.
So, slicks are awesome in most events,
so long as it is dry.
Once you know that there's going to be
either some wet, or muddy,
or a little bit gnarlier conditions,
that's when we're going to go with a knobbier tire.
- You ride the tire that matches the condition,
in theory, right?
If you know it's going to be super muddy,
you're thinking okay, I better ride this tire,
but it's not going to be as efficient,
so it is always that kind of like that seesaw,
of like, eh, do I give a little here,
because it's going to be slower if I have to push it,
but it's going to be, it's going to be a lot safer,
because there's tons of big rocks, all that stuff.
- I agree.
You're going over super long distances,
so there's typically not a ton of cornering.
I mean yeah, gravel events can be 20 miles,
they can be 220 miles.
In the shorter events,
that's where they might get a lot more technical,
and that's where you're going to want to have
some chunk on your tires, some knob on your tire.
- Yeah. - But,
I think there is often a lot of over analysis
that goes into tire.
I think having a tire with tread,
when you're going to need to do a more technical ride,
that's great.
And then on more straightforward rides,
like people look at this all the time and think,
is that going to be enough,
and I say absolutely, especially with that lower pressure.
- [Jeremy] Yeah.
- I am a huge proponent of tubeless in gravel.
You want to have some good sealant in there.
I have been riding with, what do you call these things?
Plugs?
- [Jeremy] Yes.
- That's a new attribute to my repertoire that I have
going on in the saddle bag. - And so, tell me
about what happens with a plug.
You're riding along.
(whooshing)
You've got, the sealant's going everywhere.
But the sealant's - You see the sealant.
- supposed to seal it.
- Every once in a while you're going to hit something
that is going to be bigger than what sealant can seal.
So, you quickly pull to the side of the road.
You, I highly recommend you have your plug
in your back pocket ready to go.
Pull it right out, boom, stick it into the hole,
and then hopefully that plug is going to seal your malady.
What you want to remember is,
as you stick the plug in,
and it continues to leak air,
why don't you flip that tire over,
so the sealant can seal where there's now a plugged hole?
- Whoa.
- Get going again.
While we're on topic,
- Yeah. - It's important
to have your CO2s handy,
because you probably lost some air at that point.
- Yeah. - But,
let's go through the contents of my saddle bag.
You got a tube, you got your plug,
you got tire levers, you got a tool,
and I don't know, a little bit more CO2,
just in case you got to gas up the old jet.
- All right Ted, so let's talk about pedals,
because I've seen you at different gravel events.
Sometimes you're riding road pedals,
sometimes you're riding mountain bike pedals.
This is somewhere in the middle.
What makes you pick one versus the other?
- So, what we got going on here
is a Speedplay Pave pedal.
This is a pedal that Speedplay created
for the gnarly fields of northern Belgium.
Basically if you're going to be getting off your bike
to avoid a crash or something,
when you're racing through Belgium,
and you need to step off your bike
into stuff exactly like this, you can reengage.
So, this is an opportune pedal
for a gravel race when you don't anticipate
getting off your bike for more than about two steps,
but beyond that, if you know
that there's a river crossing,
if you know there is going to be a whole lot of mud,
or really averse terrain,
that's when a mountain bike pedal
is going to be more in your wheelhouse.
- [Jeremy] Got it.
- Any sort of running event, up something steep.
I don't know, running is part
of your former cycling repertoire.
Running's hard, so I don't do a whole lot of that,
but in those events, I know that I want to be reaching
for a mountain bike pedal.
(dramatic music)
- You also did a ride that you called the James Bay descent.
- [Ted] That is correct.
- [Jeremy] What was the temperature of that?
- Well conveniently, -40 is where Fahrenheit
and Celsius overlap.
- Okay. - And on day one,
it was -40 degrees.
- Disgusting.
- That is a vicious, vicious cold.
That was also the day that I got frostbite on my nose,
and I realized that you can't let your nose,
or any skin be exposed for that matter.
- Oh my gosh.
What a, hang on, bring it there.
So what did you wear?
- You know, it turns out your body
is something of a furnace.
So, as you're riding, you wear very, very little.
I would wear a nice Velocio shell,
with a thermal long sleeve under that,
but truth be told,
so long as you're moving,
you're producing so much heat,
it's not until you stop that two down jackets would go on,
and all of the sudden you're like,
okay, now is time to not freeze to death.
- Seven days long.
- Seven days.
- And, it was, how long was it, 600 kilometers.
- 500K. - Okay.
- But when you're riding a fatbike,
and your max speed is somewhere around 10K an hour,
it takes a really, really long time.
It was gnarly.
It opened my eyes up to bikepacking,
to what -40 degrees feels like,
what it's like to be in polar bear country.
Laura really, really wants me to come home from this trip.
I don't want to die up here,
and then I realize that all the guys have kids,
or have families, and they don't want to die either.
- In that type of environment, what do you eat?
Because it seems like everything would either be frozen,
or it'd be like astronaut food.
- Yes, well you actually do do that.
That's, so we can work backwards from there.
Dinner is camping meals, where you have a bag,
and you pour boiling water in it,
and that is your meal.
And it turns out the three cheese macaroni is delicious.
You know, you are fueling throughout the day.
You're riding, throwing in a whole lot of sugar,
a whole lot of carbohydrates,
so a lot of un-tapped maple syrup,
cookies, trail mix, chocolate, peanut butter.
Eh, peanut butter would begin go get a little bit frozen,
so you put that under your jacket.
You got to create your own water,
so you're boiling water in the beginning of the day,
you're making coffee with that hot water.
You got your oatmeal in the morning.
Pretty rudimentary living.
- [Jeremy] How did you keep your water from freezing?
- You have really nicely insulated bottles.
- Okay.
- That, if you fill them up,
I think they're about yay big,
then you're going to get,
as soon as they are beginning to freeze,
that is when you basically run them dry,
and then by then it's basically the end of the day,
and you're ready to setup camp.
- And off-camera you were joking that,
or maybe it was on-camera you were joking
that you were going to do it again?
- The crazy guys are going to do it again.
The invitation has gone out.
Coincidentally, they're thinking of doing it in March,
and March is when my wife is due with our first child.
So, - That's
- I probably won't be going
on that trip. - A blessing.
- Yes. - On a couple
of different fronts.
- Exactly, exactly.
(upbeat music)
- That is some gravel tips with the king, Ted.
Thank you very much for your time today.
If you guys like this video,
please give it a thumbs up.
If you want to check out other great gravel videos, Ted?
- You're going to want to click right over here.
- And, if you want to subscribe to GCN,
you know how to do it.
All right Ted, let's get out of here.
- Let's do it, fun riding.