We kind of went all over the region. We tried living in Iran because we were always in search of a better place to live. We moved back to Afghanistan very briefly. But again, you know, the trouble with Taliban was just so huge. We just went back to Pakistan.

Hey, everybody. As always, I am Ted King.

I'm your host here on King of the Ride podcast.

Welcome back to the show.

I want to start off today with an email that landed in my inbox, July 11th, 2016.

So literally one day and two years ago. It starts off. Hi, Ted King. I am very fortunate to learn about you in your inspirational cycling career. On an equal weight, I really admire your philosophy about bikes and how they can bring change in the world. I dream to start mountain biking in Afghanistan.

There is a woman's national cycling team on the road that exists under all odds, including

unpaved roads and security threats. I discovered my passion for cycling the summer before I began

at Middlebury. I've hit trails since last fall when I first got my hands on a decent

mountain bike. I'm in Boulder, Colorado for the summer, hitting bigger trails. I aspire to make

mountain biking known in Afghanistan, and through it, introduce my beautiful country, which has earned

a bad reputation through Western media. The mountains back home are more grand than everything

I've ever seen since. Above all, I just love riding, and I have great ideas about how biking can be

used as a vehicle for stability, sustainability, culture, and harmonious living. If this speaks to you,

please get back to me. Yours truly, Farid Nourri, Middlebury,

class of 2018. Are you freaking kidding me? That is incredible. I mean, honestly, how could I not

reply to that? I receive a lot of emails, a lot of notes, tweets,

comments, texts, whatever it is. This exists on another playing field entirely.

Anyway, I will leave that as an introduction to the podcast today. I want to get into the regular

introduction of what's going on in the rest of the

world, but that is just a taste of what today's podcast is all about. Okay. Stage 6, Tour to France,

2018. I don't know why, but here on stage six, it already feels like we're halfway through the tour.

...