The Whole California Coast Ride on a Surgically Repaired Elbow

The traditional Coast Ride spans from San Francisco to Santa Barbara over three days every Martin Luther King Junior weekend. That ride is 400 miles divided equally around 130 miles every day. I've done that ride each of the past six years and wanted to do something a bit different in 2022.
I also wanted to up the ante and especially was interested to see how well my recently shattered elbow would handle a truly massive ride. Enter, the WHOLE California Coast Ride, Oregon to Mexico!
Equipment:
I rode the brand new Cannondale Synapse paired with a traditional SRAM Red eTap AXS drivetrain plus a bonus 36t cassette. A Zipp cockpit and a Zipp wheelset of Firecrest 303 and Rene Herse 35mm Barlow Pass Tires (and still plenty of room to spare with the clearance on this bike).
If you're interested in trying out a WHOOP, you can get one for FREE just by visiting join.whoop.com/ted
Video edit by Vermont Social.

[@ktakashismith]

Great scenery, a strong paceline, amazing roads, and pretty amazing weather considering the time of year. Makes me pine for my home state. Good to know that I'm not the only one who can't seem to find a route down the North Coast without occasionally suffering a spell on HWY 101. That section from Gerberville to Leggett is...not great. Also, it's pretty interesting to get a peek over the shoulder at a pro-cyclist's head unit after a long day. 282W NP over 7 hours with an average HR under 120. WHAT. That is what is known as a "diesel engine", folks.

[@ZlatkoUnger]

I watched this while Zwifting. What a great ride. Cheers from north cali.

[@paulhartman3118]

Hope the surgery goes well. Broke my elbow cycling, only had 3 screws though… Range of motion is tough to get back. I was very diligent on PT. Then I went on a one week whitewater kayaking trip in Idaho 6 weeks after the break. The recovery of range of motion was remarkable! My PT asked me not to tell anyone that taking a paddling vacation for a week did more than PT and WAY more fun!

[@galenkehler]

Did this drive on a road trip 20 years ago, in another life, always wanted to go back and ride it, nice one 👍

[@buzzman4860]

Cool to see all the other people making appearances

[@leroyyoder3494]

Followed this on Strava, I was impressed then, but seeing the video is truly awesome. Thanks for putting it up.

[@DD-xx8wh]

oooh my! who keeps coming up with "something a bit different" stuff like this!?...Ted King of coarse! - here's to really good friends!!!

[@wwelsh100]

Cool video. Thanks for putting it out there. I really like the travel log format. It is a like I was on the ride, but a lot shorter. The scenery was great.

[@eterlizzi]

haha, 8,000 meters! 4:31

[@jdeckard1243]

What an epic ride, wishing you a speedy recovery.

[@billsanders8526]

I keep saying I’m going to do that ride. Maybe this video will be my motivation to get it done. Looks so fun.

[@bosanderspublictheology]

Well I, for one, am glad that brought that stick :) Sending you lots of good healing thoughts and energy! Rest well - and thanks for another great video.

[@drsus0]

amazing , more of this!! avenue of the giants is such a stunning road/highway

[@rrrseajay]

Fun to see roads and sights from my 2018 trip

[@stevenschenck7275]

Great video and route - I am doing it this summer and will take notes from your trip - Thanks

[@chrisbaum998]

Congrats to the future addition to the King Family!!! Enjoyed the California coast tour!!

[@arminhess1512]

best wishes to the mother of your son to come! Great to hear!

[@Danburybeeches]

What a great video Ted, hope you are all well and the surgery is a success. Love from the UK.

[@robertbotta6536]

Great fun. Thanks. Good luck with surgery.

[@coltonkennelly8231]

Looks awesome!

[@rudyelizondo1935]

Great vid guys, great riding and videos

[@toddmeerdink4782]

Great video again!

[@manfredseidler1531]

Awesome and stunning

[@TrentSiggard]

16:36 sycamore canyon shoutout! It's my favorite local trail!

[@siriosstar4789]

i ran into a huge mountain lion in sycamore canyon many years ago .It jumped out of the manzanita bushes about fifty feet in front of me . initially it didn't hear me and then it stopped turned around and hissed and ran back up the slope . i had so much adrenaline , i rode up one of the steep fire trails like it was flat .😂

[@TrentSiggard]

@@siriosstar4789 OMG I ran into a little bear in sycamore canyon a few months ago! Same thing- came around a corner at night and the shadow didnt go away... then it had eyes. I remember having seen news reports of. abby black bear being pushed into the mountains. Screamed and yelled and he went away. I PR'd up blacktop hill WHILE singing to the bear and its parents hahahah

[@samuele1658]

Great stuff!!!

[@redwoodJB]

Jan Orick haaa! Fun tuning in watching you go through my back yard (Eureka).

[@davidmagee1007]

Unreal stuff! Fair play.

[@andrewwylie9259]

great video, look like a blast....hope you recover quickly and start rebuilding that arm...there's a child on the way that will need it :)

[@kaduceusz]

Great video, very inspirational. I have to try this Whoop, looks very interesting.

[@theonewhofuckedup]

Got a Glimpse of my uncle there too! rad!

[@zap...]

Hey, I heard you're going to have a surgery to remove the hardware out of your elbow. Good luck! Be well!! Speedy recovery!!!

[@scottamy404]

Amazing ride! Think I did a tiny portion of your route when I did the Jens Voigt grand fondo out there.

[@ralphwiggum4president506]

Damn the pictures alone are so incredible would love to do as small stretch of that route myself :)

[@daniels.2720]

Thanks for sharing the Ride & Inspiration. Congratulations to you both on the New Little one. ((Ted > if you're interested, look up guitarist Leo Fender & what he resorted to after a serious car wreck destroyed his Elbow > holy cow !)

[@Nicoya]

Love to see you rolling through the golden state, what a beautiful ride! Speaking of California, have you ever done the ride from the bottom of Badwater Basin to the top of White Mountain? Seems like something that would be up your alley. Just gotta time it right so you don't burst into flames through Death Valley or freeze solid up at altitude.

[@budlacombe]

You bailed on the fenders eh? Ted, great content pal. I even played all the commercials without skipping 🤑

[@TedKing1]

Needed fenders for about 5 minutes. So then they went into the suitcase.

[@joshlloyd9698]

Nice one

[@pingpongballz5998]

Take a gravel bike to the old Coast road, Ted. It's awesome

[@baxtersewall1735]

Have you done a video about your Whoop and how you keep track of sleep and recovery? I’d be curious to learn more about that

[@theonewhofuckedup]

That's my cousin! Cool vid!

[@robertm1552]

Sorry, you blew through the Redwood National park outside of Crescent City home of the Worlds largest trees and mention avenue of the giants? Not right. Hope you ride this again!

[@4SeasonCycling]

Sweet Ride with a Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man arm to boot! Great views, people and bikes!

[@andyheilmann1656]

I'm inspired to ride all of my states coast! (I live in NH tho...)

[@joecalarco2227]

What an awesome ride. Hope the elbow is better. With so much pavement, what size tire did you use? 35mm?

[@bartmullin8018]

Santa Monica mountains, fun dirt; the rangers, non-riding 15 mph trail-speed 'enforcers'. Got ticket for riding Chicken-Bone bridge by a ranger; nobody was endangered and even the hikers thought the ranger was a prick...

[@wheelfastracer]

Any plans to put the route on ridewithgps?

[@scdstrout]

@Ted, if you could only do 2-3 days again, which sections would you do?

[@km_loop]

ayyy I've slept in that pull off at 6:12 many times lol

[@ChrisWagner-bh3vn]

everyone wants to ride tour of the unknown coast until they do.

[@hawkeye5035]

8000 meters (top of climb on day 2)?!

[@eterlizzi]

Haha, I commented on that too and didn’t even get a bite 😂

[@bengrannis]

wow Kate AND PAYSON??

[@buzzman4860]

Next time, start south and go north. No glare

[@MattGrovesFTW]

You boys like Mexico!?

[@TedKing1]

Soooooper Troopers

[@larrycritser512]

Encinitas isn't close to Mexico. I'm just saying....

[@lauraking7754]

the rest of the crew made it to Mexico, not just Encinitas.