Florian Vermeersch is a Belgian cyclist with some very impressive palmares to his name. 2nd place in Paris-Roubaix as a 22 year old, a pair of silver medals at the UCI gravel world championships, a handful of wins, a whole bunch of podiums, not to mention he's often the right hand man to Tadej Pogacar in plenty of races on the UAE Emirates squad.

This was a really fun conversation to learn more behind the scenes with Florian on his ride through the World Tour ranks.

Our most frequent guest is back! Roger Brown brought a new training technique to UNBOUND XL and that was a mix of training, not training, waffling on whether he would do the event or not, a trip to Europe, and ultimately a successful go at the 359 mile UNBOUND XL! 

We'll talk all the usual song and dance about his preparation, how it all shook out, how he bought a shirt (for free!) in the town of Alma, seeing things deep into sleep deprivation, GLP-1, and why we weren't at the Formula 1 race in Montreal this weekend.

Rob Britton stole the show Saturday morning at UNBOUND. He not only passed Lachlan Morton after a 200km chase, but he forced the UNBOUND organizers to rethink their morning strategy because he crossed the line just before 9am, when there's traditionally a 50 mile roll out. He rode the nearly 360 mile in smoking fast pace!

Rob is not new to racing, as he's won some of North America's biggest road races. With the switch to gravel in 2022, he's has big results in the LTGP and plenty of other big events. With success at Badlands, the BC Epic, and others, the ultra distance is nothing new to Rob either. Sit back and enjoy this fun conversation picking apart the very long day (and overnight, and the next day too).

Mads Würtz Schmidt has national titles, world titles, and World Tour pro wins but going into 2025 he's taken his skillset to gravel off-road to gravel. He's already racking up wins taking two UCI wins, the prestigious Traka 200 title, and now he's here on North American soil to try his hand at Unbound. Mads and I met up two days shy of the boiling hot Gravel Locos for this face to face conversation.

Covering his time in rainbow stripes, his World Tour career, struggles with physical and mental setbacks, how therapy helped him rebound to the incredibly positive (and productive) place he is now.

Bike racers don't come much friendlier than Emily. They also don't come much more fierce, much more driven, they generally don't juggle as much, their palmares are usually shorter and they probably didn't have a first career as a professional pianist. But this professional athlete is all of those things which makes her an amazing podcast guest, which make for a really fun conversation!

Enjoy this conversation with Emily Newsom and follow her at @instagram.com/emilyjoynewsom

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As always, boost your health with my favorite bit of greens, the newest generation of AG1. Visit drinkAG1.com/tedking for your welcome kit.

Fresh off hosting the 2nd annual Growler bike race and the 16th annual Levi's Gran Fondo, Levi sits down with Ted to talk about the state of cycling here in North America. The Growler has the crown of the highest purse of any one day race in the world... let that soak in for a second. Bigger than winning Paris-Roubaix or a Tour de France stage. $156,000 is up for grabs and the race draws road racers, the top gravel racers, mountain bikers, and more.

Ted and Levi raced Tours of California together, lived in Girona at the same time, and were members of the same peloton so there's some interesting overlap that they can discuss and dissect in today's episode.

Simplify your life by giving the Straz Sealant Funnel a try! Visit strazcomponents.com and using the code KING15

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Ted sits down with a return guest, Jan Heine of Rene Herse Cycles and Bicycle Quarterly, to discuss how to be fast in the modern age of cycling. "Get low and pedal faster", right? Well... there's a lot of truth to that, but there's a lot more nuance to it. Tire widths, frontal exposure, riding with aero this and that, this dynamic duo talks through lots of the hot button issues on the tip of gravel racers tongues these days.

If you enjoy this episode, be sure to scroll back to episode 97 where we talk lots of other fun anecdotes from other the years together.

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As always, try out AG1 -- and earn a free gift with your first purchase -- by visiting drinkAG1.com/tedking

Chase Wark and I set out on a pretty wild adventure on Sunday March 26, separately but for the same purpose. Purposes, rather. We were both seeking an FKT on the Mega Midsouth and in a much bigger picture, we were seeking to raise funds for the United Way of Payne County. 

This podcast is in conjunction with The Stable Cyclist and covers a lot from a very busy weekend in Oklahoma. Please enjoy.

I am continuing my fundraising through the end of March by sending money to my @iamtedking Venmo.

Get your Viair Recon Mini by visiting this website and using the code TEDKING10

And get yourself some AG1! Just visit DrinkAG1.com/tedking to get yourself a free $76 value with your first purchase.

Maghalie is a supremely successful professional cyclist with a lengthy list of palmares including nearly 50 UCI wins, World Cup podiums, and loads of national titles. She's in the midst of being a cyclocross racer with her heart and soul in the sport that is thriving in Belgium and is trying to find its legs elsewhere.