[music] Jeremy: In an effort to convince you that
riding in cold, snowy, generally unrideable cycling conditions, I knew I was going to
need to pull out all the stops. So I was thinking of a guy that has raced at the pro tour level,
that led out some of the biggest riders in the world in spring finishes and big races,
a guy that's won gravel races all over the world, and someone that lives in pretty gnarly,
nasty, cold conditions himself. That person happens to be sitting right next to me. [laughs]
Ted King, welcome. [music]
Jeremy: We meet again in completely different time of the year and conditions.
Ted: You know it. Welcome to Stowe, Vermont. We're about 15-20 miles down the road from
where I live in Vermont. We're here at Ranch Camp, which is a super cool bike shop, restaurant,
bar. Right behind us is some awesome fat biking. So I want to take you out and show you around.
Jeremy: That's awesome. We were talking earlier in the year and I was saying that when it
gets snowy and nasty out, you're going to need to take me on a fat bike ride. I've seen
you out there shredding around doing a lot of training on your fat bike, and I knew that
this was one of the ways that you stayed in shape. I just did a video with Tim Johnson,
where he took me skiing. I know that that's part of your training regimen
as well, but tell us a little bit about your experience in this. You've done a huge ride
last year. We talked about it in the last video that we did. I think you called it the
James Bay descent. Ted: Exactly, right. The James Bay descent
was the brainchild of former professional bike racer Buck Miller, Canadian himself.
He and two other buddies, they invited me on this pretty crazy trip which is 650 km
down the West End Coast of the James Bay in northern Canada. The northern-most part of
the trip, we hit the Nunavut Islands, which are technically the Arctic.
It is the least inhabited and furthest north Province in Canada. That ended up being 10
days. It was super cool. It's given me a better perspective of life in general, of what is
uncomfortable. What are you doing this winter? Those guys are actually going on another trip.
I was invited but, coincidentally, my daughter is due about the exact same time they're departing.
I said, "Fellas, sorry, I can't pull this one-off."
Jeremy: I'm not sure what the date is but I definitely have something going on.
Ted: Well, I'll let them know. It's going to be a hoot.
Jeremy: We're going to take a look at all your bikes, your equipment and everything
like that and then we're going to hit the trails. Let's eat some lunch, and then let's
hit it. Ted: Beautiful. I like it.
[music] Jeremy: So let's walk through this Cannondale
Fat Bike. Let's see what your machine's all about.
Ted: Right on. So right here, you got the Cannondale Fat CAAD 1. Indicated, it has the
Olaf fork. Fork, of course, meaning the lefty, so really just one peg over here. Super durable,
overbuilt, but wonderfully light and amazing. One, you're going to be ripping through some
more technical fat bike stuff. If you look at the rubber, we have the 45NRTH Dillinger
5s. Five, referring to 5 inches of width, but what's super cool about these and what
I love about them is the spikes. They are a studded tire.
So that is going to be opportune when you're riding on super-slippery stuff. What else?
Let's look up here in the pogey department. 45NRTH has the handwarmer doohickeys. Pogey,
I believe, is the term that my friends in Canada were using during the fat bike adventure.
These are actually called the Cobra Fist. It's plush, man. It's like sticking your hand
in a nice Down Parker, but it's freaking outstanding. So full dexterity. I know some people can
be hesitant to put their hands in there knowing that you might be prone to fall off a bike
and then have your hands be stuck in there. Never been an issue, it's not an issue, it's
nothing but warmth and comfort up here. Another key accouterment right here in the water bottle
department, bring a thermal bottle. It's cold outside. No matter if you have drink-mix or
just water, it's going to be freezing up. So I throw some warm water in there with a
little bit of maple-ade, delicious. Let's look at the drivetrain. We got a 32
chainring upfront, and then I'm running an eagle 10-50% in the rear. Fat-biking is a
slow sport. We're going at a very low speed. What's really cool about having such wide
tires is you're doing a lot of really low-speed, high-dexterity maneuvers that you wouldn't
be able to pull off on a traditional mountain bike. So I'm using my 50 all the time, especially
around here where we have some really undulating terrain.
The sun sometimes sets around 4:30 in the afternoon or we say 4:30 at night around here.
I have some really powerful lights up here that I'm very pleased with. It's a Blackburn
Countdown, 1600 upfront, super-powerful light and plus there's a timer which is awesome,
so I see how much time I have left. It's a cyclic rear, so there's a camera back there
just in case I want to catch you on camera. Yes, lights are key, especially this time
of year when the sun is not going to be abundant. Jeremy: Up top regular helmet, something on
your ears. Definitely want to cover up there so there's no like little bits sticking out
getting frostbit. Ted: Indeed you see a handful of folks when
it's super cold using their favorite ski helmet. Totally fine. Great idea, but I run a standard
helmet with a winter cycling cap, so it goes up over your ears. It's thermal. It's nice
and warm, it's toasty, it's stylish. Then just in case, the sun's out, you got a little
flap upfront. Jeremy: Then let's talk about you have a unique
pump because these tires have a whole thing going on. Very low pressure but a lot of volume.
Ted: Accurate. Two things going on here. Here is a high volume mountain bike pump, which
is key when you know that you're not going to have a CO2 might not fill you up. You're
in the middle of nowhere. I am running a low-temperature sealant, which I do highly recommend. It is
rare that you need this, but when you need this you really need this. Another cool thing
to talk about while we're on the topic of air is the Quarq TireWiz. That there knows
the air pressure of your tire down to a 10th of a PSI.
It hooks up Bluetooth with an app on your phone, and so you can set a range. My range
is from four pounds to seven pounds, if it is above that range, it's going to flash quickly
red. If it's within that range, it flashes a peaceful green, and then below is a slow
red. I'll know how to adjust my tire pressures accordingly, whether the app is out and my
hands are getting a little bit cold or just by looking at it when it's absolutely freezing.
Jeremy: Okay. It's pretty low pressure but because these tires are so wide and everything
like that, I have no idea what I have in mind because I haven't really ridden a fat bike
very much, but we go low is key. Ted: Low is key, and that's what's super cool
about fat biking. If we rode yesterday when it was fresh pillowy champagne powder, it
would be super hard to ride. Whereas now we've had an overnight chill, it precipitated a
little bit of 33-ish degree precipitation. So right now this is a hardpack, you could
run up actually pretty high pressure on this, whereas yesterday you would've been like down
to two, three PSI. Jeremy: Ted, let's talk about what you wear.
I know when you're out there there's probably like an opportunity to make an igloo or something
like that, but that's not the case when you're out riding your fat bike.
Ted: No, you want to always be moving because in temperatures like these, you'll see us
dancing around right now because as long as you're moving, you're going to stay warm,
as long as you're pedaling, you're going to stay warm. As a result, you don't actually
wear a ton of clothing. I find that layering is absolutely key. You got your thermal tights
down below and then a nice base layer. As always, welcome to new age cycling. You
need to have some sort of neckwear to keep your neck warm. Gloves, when you have your
hands in these Cobra fists, all sorts of different thickness gloves will keep you nice and warm.
It's got to be super-duper cold for you to throw on the big dogs. You can be wearing
a nice set of Woolies and your hands are warm by and large throughout the day.
Jeremy: Got it. Ted: Keeping the old feet warm is a very important
aspect. Some people have good blood flow, some people have less good blood flow in their
feet. Jeremy: Where do you fall on that spectrum?
Ted: I fall in the freezing cold hands and feet category. First things first, if I know
it's cold outside, I crack open my chemical toe warmers, and I put those directly on the
sock. Then from there, you put your shoe on. So your foot in the shoe with the toe warmer
on top. This is the 45 North Ragnarok. It rides like a good mountain bike shoe. It's
light, it's dynamic, it's cool, it's reflective, which is cool when you're riding at night.
Jeremy: All right, we're going to go do a ride. Let's get warm and then hit it.
[music] Ted: This is literally a single track that
you'd be riding in the summer or the other three seasons a year. It has to be covered
in snow right now. So this is one style and you're going to get fat biking. Another type
you might see is a snowmobile trail, so picture 10 feet wide and it is where the snowmobile's
going to rip through the forest. That's a good way to some wide-open just long endurance
miles. Another way to do it is traditional fire roads.
Here in Vermont, we are blessed with more gravel roads than there are paved. In the
winter, they're often covered often with a nice actually tacky layer of snow, and that's
another way to get some good miles in. This is definitely the most dexterous area, it's
literally cross-country mountain biking. Jeremy: It's beautiful in here. There's no
one to bother you. It basically trails for miles and it's really pretty because I think
you're riding in stuff that, yes, you may be able to mountain bike here, but also if
you're riding some snowmobile stuff, if they pack it down, definitely height and stuff,
you can get good traction on there. You wouldn't be able to do that necessarily in the summertime.
Where a snowmobile goes it's going to be all high grass and stuff like that, but on the
fat bike, because they tamp everything down, that's like primo.
Ted: Spoken like a proficient fat biker. Jeremy: Like a true fat biker right now.
[music] Jeremy: This is what you're talking about
when you're talking about the slow speed stuff. Ted: Yes, I say, "You're never going to have
as much fun as you will fat biking at super slow speeds."
Jeremy: Yes, because we're going three miles per hour right now, but it's super, super
pretty and I'm still getting in a pretty good workout here.
Ted: Absolutely. Honestly, it feels like a strength workout every time I get on the bike,
but yes, I mean you're running lower pressures, you're able to grip, it's super damp out today,
and yes, just go for a rip. [music]
Jeremy: I think the thing that's interesting is, you've got a suspension fork on, I don't.
The tire is doing this all the time with the snow so you think, "Man, I'm solid because
I'm climbing slowly and I've got a lot of grip and I've got all this momentum with these
big tires and this huge contact patch in the ground." Then you start going downhill and
everything's in the tire going all over the place.
Ted: 100%, it is such a wild ride literally and figuratively. Studds on conditions like
these, completely unnecessary. Then if we were to roll out onto an icy hill that's where
these things will allow me to take off. Jeremy: Bite in, bite in, for sure. All right
cool. We're going to continue on this journey. Ted: Let's mossy on through the hoods.
Jeremy: All right. Ted: As I get out of the shrubs.
[music] Jeremy: If you're going to go off-trail, someone's
going to need to break the snow. Ted: Exactly. You've got to have somebody
literally blaze the trail ahead of you. Sometimes it takes two, three, four passes of the bike
to get through which opens up a whole conversation on etiquette. That's the stuff you're going
to want to do in your backyard. That's the stuff you want to do in an area that you know
there's going to be traffic immediately behind you because if you're going to open up one
lane of traffic, or two lanes of traffic, and then you're got to be looking at the forecast,
the next day it freezes over, there's a trail just like this.
After the cycle cross world, when there's a rut just the size of one tire, that's going
to make for trouble one day. Something like this, we're going to go a little off course,
I'll blaze a trail for you and you'll knock in the second round.
Jeremy: I love it. All right. You hit out and I'll follow you, but it's significantly
harder I think. [music]
Ted: Grab my trail. Jeremy: It is a lot easier behind you, I'm
not going to lie. Ted: Good. I'm glad I can do the hard work
for you [laughs]. [music]
Jeremy: People on these other trails have already snow-shoed them in, and then probably
people have fat biked them, or some or whatever. It's definitely good to have it tamped down,
but if you're riding in the front it is definitely a big workout.
Ted: It is. It's almost like a strength workout. You're always pushing a bigger gear. Like
we were just talking about, it's like- you're slightly out of breath, but you're not actually
pushing that hard, you're not going that hard, you're not going too deep.
Jeremy: Let's talk about working out because you're not doing 40/20s on this bike necessarily.
Ted: No sir. I mean especially at this time of the year, you don't need to be going super
deep, so it's conducive the fact that fat biking really plays well with zone two, zone
three, endurance tempo work. Pushing anything harder than that especially on terrain like
this, you're never going to find anything consistent to get a really regular workout,
so you almost just play the terrain. You got a little uphill, yes, do a little tempo, the
rest of the time you're playing in the snow. [music]
Jeremy: This is the way that you stay fit in the wintertime. Something that I haven't
done a lot of but you, you use it as a training tool.
Ted: I totally love fat biking. Pro Racing been there done that and now I want to do
a different things on two wheels. It's all about having fun on a bike so diversification,
variety is the spice of life, it's some Nordic skiing, some Alpine touring, a lot of fat
biking this time of year. Jeremy: Yes, it is definitely a nice way to
be outside to be amongst it and to do something different, not on the road. There's no way
you could ride on the roads with this stuff that's going on here right now.
Ted: Definitely not on a day like today. Jeremy: What do you got coming up for your
season? You got a lot of events planned, I know you guys have something big coming up
too. Ted: Yes, we got a busy, call it race calendar
but way more important than that. Super excited about having our first child, we have a daughter
coming in March so that is going to be the chief priority of the year 2020. Soon after
that Rasspetites is on the race calendar and then from there it's a full-on season.
Jeremy: Yes, you're going to be doing events all over the country and the world, you've
done a lot of them already but definitely one of the pioneers in this new wave of gravel
and expedition routing and racing. Ted: It's crazy man, gravel, it's a thing,
it's taking off. Jeremy: [chuckles] Really is. Well, I want
to thank you for taking us out today, it was beautiful and really appreciate you taking
the time to show us around this beautiful area of Vermont that you have. I look forward
to seeing you this spring and summer. Thank you again.
Ted: Awesome. Thanks for making the trip, Jeremy.
[00:16:21] [END OF AUDIO]