Ted King

The cobbles never really leave you 🧱 ​ Years after racing Flanders and Roubaix as a WorldTour pro, Ted King went on to build a Hall of Fame gravel career as one of the sport’s early privateers. He returned to the heart of the Classics season to rediscover what made it so special.​ ​ Riding the routes on his LAB71 Synapse and SuperX, while reconnecting with old friends and soaking it in from the roadside instead of the peloton. ​ ​ ​🎥 @millimans #ridecannondale​

Is it technically “hoarding” if I create a neatly organized space?! Big props to the @sarisofficial Stringer for keeping me from being featured on the next A&E special, Bike Hoarders

As far as moms go, I’m lucky to be surrounded by two amazing Mrs. Kings. Life is full of glorious highs and heart-wrenching lows and I recognize I’m very fortunate to be my wife’s husband and my mother’s son. So thanks to you two and all the rad moms out there.

Tadej Pogacar is leading the Tour of Romandie in cripplingly dominant fashion. He’s won two-thirds of the stages and is the odds on favorite to bag two more this weekend. When I visit Velo.com, the first mention of Romandie is the 18th article. Cyclingnews features it as their seventh story. Escape Collective prioritizes road cycling and Romandie is their their second story. Meanwhile, courtesy of The Traka this weekend, gravel is all over the cycling headlines (especially of the former two. Not much gravel over on Escape Collective). Gravel race results, gravel race news, gravel tech. Modern cycling media is wild! It’s wild because gravel is still the Wild West. The recent @fantastgravel post-race interview with Romain Bardet makes me chuckle. They’re trying to laud him with praise while Romain appears casually shellshocked, absorbing his first full season racing the open roads of gravel at the highest level. Gravel is intentionally left-of-center, but while it’s being professionalized, it still really needs to prioritize safety. Modern gravel is a teenager after all. Professionalization comes in many forms; there were cycling news headlines when I won DK/Unbound in 2016, and then exponentially more coverage when I won two years later. I didn’t wear bright emblazoned clothes at the time, just off-the-shelf kit. So I’m very late to the game to debut my first custom kit here ten years later. Professionalization. With this awesome lineup of sponsors in support, I can still ride and race, on occasion make it into the news feed. With this epically long preamble, what news, road of gravel) do you gravitate towards when you want your dose of two-wheeled news? Aaaand when do you think Tadej wins his first gravel race 🤣? @assosofswitzerland @cannondaleroad @kavhelmets @llbean @reneherse @sarisofficial @bicycleaccidentlaw @untappedmaple @whoop

Active recovery day.

A man with an extraordinary story, a man who had a profound effect on thousands, a man who embraced the passage, “to whom much is given, from him much will be required”, a man who had a meaningful impact on my family, rest in peace David Krempels. David’s story is unique as much as his life story could happen to any one of us. These few sentences won’t do it justice, but that won’t prevent me from trying. David and his new bride were driving home from their honeymoon in 1992, where they were hit by a tractor trailer truck. His wife was immediately killed, he suffered a massive brain injury, spent two weeks in a coma, and then the next two and half years in a post brain injury haze. He was eventually awarded a sizable sum of money and with that, he started what has become the incredible @kbicenter . In all likelihood, I wouldn’t be aware of the Krempels Center or David’s story were it not for my dad’s stroke. Dad became a member of the Krempels Center and that community became a very meaningful part of my dad’s journey through his brain injury, just as the Krempels Center has become for thousands of others. Some of us went on to create the Krempels King of the Road Challenge, later the @kingchallengeride , all to benefit those living with brain injury. Not quite an obituary, it’s more of a brief, really interesting story of an incredible person, I’ve linked an article in my profile that helps tell David’s story more clearly than I have here. Thank you for all you’ve done for our family and so many others David.

The cycling merry-go-round has seen me all over the map on this particular trip… and I love it. But there’s something tantalizingly close that will serve as a serious press and hold of the reset button to recalibrate my idea of hospitality. This is an invitation to @theranchatrockcreek and their first ever Gravel Rendezvous June 4-7. Link in profile to check it out for yourself. Photo 1+2: @millimans Photo 3: @chaseincolor

Now THIS is a crazy story! I was in Northern Europe last week for the spring classics as a cyclo-tourist (plus a @ridecannondale + @llbean project — stay tuned). It was a reunion, having raced Flanders and Roubaix four times each, but always there as a racer, never able to take it all in. In an age before knowing every inch of the course like the back of your hand, my first time seeing the hallowed Arenburg Forest was 2012 at 60kph in the heat of race. Still front group going into Arenberg, I exited in one piece, but not front group. A dozen of us in a similar position grouped up and we were riding to the finish line, full of chaotic Roubaix race stories. I wrote a blog about it days after back in 2012 and the link is in my profile if that’s of any interest. The real story starts there. As my groupetto and I counted down the kilometers to the velodrome, one particular cobble disagreed with me and flatted. I rode on the flat for a while, then waited on the side of the road for a while more, and for whatever reason no follow vehicle ever arrived. Five hours into the race and unsure what else to do, I called out to the fans, there in whatever town I was in lining the side of the road, “Does anyone speak English? Can anyone drive me to Roubaix?” A friendly Belgian family consisting of three generations — son, father, grandfather — were taking in Easter Sunday as race fans with a thermos of coffee and chocolate in the car. We hopped in, exchanged stories, they saved my day, and dropped me in Roubaix. I wish I got their names or snapped a photo then, but missed that opportunity. I thanked them profusely and we went our separate ways. So there I was last week, walking off the Carrefour de l’Arbre in the herds of thousands doing the same, soon after Tadej and Wout had just stormed by towards Roubaix. Nearby, someone inquisitively said, “Ted King?” I kid you not, it was @giannipaelinck , the son from that memorable day across northern France 14 years ago. He was there with his dad (grandpa is still alive, but didn’t make the trip) and we exchanged eager hellos and snapped this picture. Everyone who makes it Roubaix has a story and that’s mine. #llbeanambassador

The sport is thriving with young cyclists at the top of the box, so upon recent reflection we need a new sub-category of Elites, “Ted and up”. If it were held it this year, I’m happy to report I got first. 👍 It’s interesting to start the season with the hardest race of the year, but it’s also the grab-you-by-the-collar reality check that’s helpful every spring. Last year I got my doors blown off on the wall that starts @seaotterclassic ; it took me 30 minutes to pretend to be recovering at threshold to get back to racing. So I have to admit I was pretty stoked when we were nearly an hour into the race yesterday and I was still in the first group . Things went a bit sour after that and it’s the serving of humble pie that keeps you humble. Cycling is addicting like that. Work hard, play hard, it keeps me coming back! Thanks @chaseincolor for the pics.

Join us for Gravel Rendezvous at The Ranch at Rock Creek, where every turn leads to Montana’s most breathtaking views. From scenic 25-mile rides to epic 75-mile climbs, all while surrounded by the Pintler Mountains. @iamtedking will lead you through the adventure of a lifetime. June 4-7 | Reserve now at our link in bio. #TheRanchAtRockCreek

#NewKitDay! The @seaotterclassic circus is back in town and that’s as good time as any to debut my first ever custom kit by @assosofswitzerland . “Back in my day” I thought the idea of a custom kit for gravel was a little… ehh, presumptuous? I guess I thought we were taking ourselves a little too seriously. Well things got real serious real quick, things got real quick real quick, and this kit is seriously awesome. I appreciate all the sponsors who support my habit @cannondaleroad @kavhelmets @llbean @reneherse @sarisofficial @bicycleaccidentlaw @untappedmaple @whoop Also thanks to @chaseincolor for the impromptu cyclocross course and the 📸

Lots more details to show+tell soon that make this kit my own, but I’m beyond thrilled with this @assosofswitzerland custom kit for 2026! Time to rest up. Gotta try to shed that jet lag before tomorrow’s Sea Otter. (Thanks @johnbonbenson for tolerating our back and forths.)