2026 UTMB Power Rankings (Long Run Archives #42)

Disclaimer: We recorded this episode a few days before the news broke that Courtney Dauwalter is racing UTMB.

Brett Hornig joins the show for a preview-before-the-preview of UTMB 2026. We each bring our top 5 storylines heading into the biggest week in trail running, put out our current power rankings for the men's and women's fields, and play a round of Buy or Sell on the boldest claims for each of the championship races (UTMB, CCC, OCC).

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome back or welcome to the Single Track Podcast. I'm your host, Finn Milliansen, and in this episode, Brett Hornig joins the show. It is a classic Long Run Archives edition, but I'm also seeing this as sort of like a preview before the preview of the Sears UTMB week. We each bring our top five storylines heading into the biggest week in trail running. We put our current power rankings out there for the men's and women's fields at UTMB, and we play a round of buy or sell on the boldest claims for each of the championship races. That's UTMB, CCC, and OCC before sharing our best things that we found on the internet in the past week. Before we get started, Norda, the official footwear partner of Single Track, the 5.5 released last month to a bunch of a claim. And for a while there, a lot of sizes were out of stock. It looks like a bunch is back in all sizes. 11 and below are back. If there's any sizes missing, you know, we're looking at a lot of stuff 11.5 and up that's still out. If they're missing your size, head over to NordaRun.com to join their mailing list to be the first know when they're back. For the uninitiated, the 5.5 is an all-terrain speed and stability shoe features, a seamless knit collar, 100% Arnitel TPE midsole foam, a biocircular dynama upper, and a Noda V Brim collabed sole plate with Mega Grip Elite and Lightbase Tech for unparalleled performance and durability. Check everything out at NordaRun.com. Also, thanks to Precision, the official nutrition partner of Single Track. We are in the dog days of summer. Many of you are probably putting the final touches on training for your A goal of the late summer or early fall. Could be a hundred mile or some other big project. If you haven't completely dialed in nutrition yet, I encourage you to go check out Precision's Fuel and Hydration Planner, input your race, answer a few questions around goals, your sweat rate, sweat composition, some other biographical info, and it's going to give you a solid plan to follow. I've used this for every project or race I've done in 2026. LA Marathon, Salt Lake City Marathon. Most recently, I used it for the Beach to Beacon 10K earlier this month. It takes out all the guesswork. Go check it out using the custom link in the show notes of this episode. Long run archives, number 42, joined by friend, colleague Brett Hornig. Brett, I got to ask first, what were you just drinking?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

I went to Taco Bill for dinner, and this is one of their, I think it was like an agua fresca thing. It's basically a cup of strawberry flavored sugar. I opted for that instead of the uh Baja Blast because it's a little bit late at the time of recording and I don't want to stay up all night. So we're just going for the hydration quick carbs.

unknown 2:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

And I will just say to the audience that I am double fisting. I've got a Hannaford brand original flavor, aka plain flavored seltzer, because I am also drinking a little bit of red wine, and I want to make sure that I am hydrating while getting a little bit tipsy.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Nice. Yeah, that's a good good idea. Um yeah, I should have just poured a little something something into my fresca, but that's okay. Speaking of originals, check out what I found at like a little thrift shop today. I found a base set bulbasaur.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Okay. Okay, so you and I this is in crispy, crispy condition as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

This is a 1900s edition card.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

You need to be watching this, and you should forget what Brett just did. But okay, so we were recording a conversational-paced episode a few, maybe it was last week, and before we hit record, we talked at length about Pokemon cards and collections and their value today. What do you have to say about that?

SPEAKER_01 3:41

I have to the what I have to say is I I wonder where my collection is right now from childhood, and I hope they're well taken care of. But um we're slowly rebuilding because Benji's Benji's getting super into it. And we we we started, I bought like this little Pokemon magazine. We're going deep on a tangent right now, but it's long on archives. I bought this Pokemon magazine, and he's like learning all of them and stuff and reading it, and he's looks at me and he goes, Dada, I have Charmander toys and Squirtle toy, but I have no Bulbasaur. And then we were out and about today, and I find this Bulbasaur card. And now I gotta, now I gotta think about getting it graded. And I'm like, sorry, dude, you can't play with this one, you can look at it.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Okay. So, anyways, uh also same. Like I would say baseball card collecting, Pokemon card collecting, uh hard fought back in like 1998. Like I would find ways to make money, and then I would take that money and I would go down to like Toys R Us or something. It would be a long voyage on public transport of my bike, and I have no idea what happened to those. I had binders full of Pokemon. I have no idea where they are.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yeah, don't even don't even start to look up how much those old uh old cards are going for today. It's you'll you'll lose too much sleep.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

We typically do this at the end, but I need to put it up here because both of us are excited. This is the coolest stuff we found on the internet this week. Brett, I need you to look up the following URL.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Okay, okay, wait. Let me make sure my Bluetooth keyboard is all connected. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Foresthillbasecamp.com.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

How many L's is that? Foresthillbasecamp.com. Run, ride, recover, a place built for the endurance and adventure community at mile 62, minutes from the trails, you come and ride. Dude. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Yeah. So let me give you a little bit of context. Like while you're thinking about this, let me give you some context. So my dad went to Texas AM University, Giga Maggies, and I this just popped up on social media because I think, I don't know, we both follow this stuff, but Texas AM football built lodging next to the stadium specifically for their fans. Like they reimagined what the best possible Airbnb could look like for their football fan, and they built it like right near the stadium. So you can imagine all the amenities. And so that was in my brain. And then I get an email from the guy who reached out to us from Climactic Health. Remember Climactic Health? Oh, yeah. Yeah. So this guy reached out with this link, and he's like, hey, I know we talked about climactic health. I also want to show you this other thing that I'm working on. It's called Forest Hill Base Camp. So for those that aren't following the URL, uh these guys, I don't know what, or I have no, I don't, I don't know if it's guys or girls or whatever, but like they were someone is building lodging at Forest Hill, like in that full-on compound. It's a full-on compound. It's like everything you could possibly imagine that you would want as a runner, an athlete, to base out of for training on like the can is 100k course Western States, it's all right there. I don't know what the address is. It's not there yet. They have only like 3D renderings, I think, of the property. And it the website is kind of like you can clearly tell it was made by Claude. But um That's fine. Dude, what's your like initial take here? What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 7:35

So I I imagine the idea is so that way people can spend time out here, like, you know, get ready for Western states, rent your endurance-focused Airbnb for the weekend or the week or the month, maybe. It says uh there's 10 units out here on 37 acres of land, summer 2027 opening, uh 10 minutes from trails. Um private sauna and cold plunge in every unit, a gear wall for bikes, packs, ropes, boards, boats, and outdoor rinse so the dirt stays outside a deck for the first coffee before the sun is up. Dude, there's so many promises on here, but if they deliver, uh I feel like we're gonna be uh needing to rent one of these. Like we gotta at a minimum conversational pace needs to do a review on it.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

And it's not just lodging, it's performance lodging. Like they are already starting to create like a niche around what it means to stay in Forest Hill. You know, this is incredible.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yeah. There's and they they even have like a more like there's a tab on the website called the bathhouse, and it says uh the recovery is private in every unit, but the bathhouse is the social version. So they have a larger outdoor sauna uh with a cold plunge right next to it. So I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

I hope Yeah, here's where my mind went. So we're in this era where more and more of these coaching teams, you think like John Fitzgerald with McKenna Morley, Jan Lichter, Adam Peterman, Aaron Clark, Zach Perent, like the Nick Cornell, the list goes on. Like they have these cohorts of athletes and they do these specialized camps and all these different courses. They go to Black Canyon, Canyons, what like I think that this is tailor-made for those groups. And I I think we're gonna see like an I could see like an arms race happening where it's like who can book this the fastest? Does like ACG just book it for the entire month of March and April for Canyons? Does CTS do it? Like how does it be a good thing?

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Well, I can know who who rents it for Western states just to like have a party house or something? Parking. Who just who's gonna just have parking at Forest Hill?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

I think it's brilliant. And then who's making this at who's making this in Chamonix? Who's making this? I mean, name a place anywhere across the US or the world where there's a prominent endurance event happening and this is an entire market.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Is there 32 uh buildable acres ready and available in Chamonix? I I don't know. I don't know if that's scalable.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

But repurposing, maybe they could repurpose these old chalets. Yeah, and maybe you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

So Yeah. No, I I hear you on that. And I think I think in yeah, in the age of elite trail optimization, slash just like that would be a really fun running weekend. Like, like you know, this is getting rented out for Memorial Day weekend a year in advance because that would be the absolute sickest spot to do the Western States training camp. Like that set of units is putting Western States training camp back on the map. Okay, tell me what you got. Okay, so I'm gonna share a window here. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

What do you see, Finn? So I'm seeing 2026 Western States, I'm seeing Brett's 2026 Western States 100 Strapophile. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

From the day of the race, I ran 13 hours and 45 minutes, 10 minutes of stoppage time, abandoned the whole race. As far as you uh can tell, this is uh fully legit. Like you can see where'd it go? You can see I have it private so you can't actually see it on Strava, but like you can see all my Strava segments, you can see the full GPX map, you can see my pace, you can see my cadence, my heart rate, my GAP. It would be extremely difficult to tell that this is completely made up and fake and uh 100% just built.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

What are you saying here? What is this? This is I mean, this I'm I'm intrigued, but what's going on?

SPEAKER_01 12:26

So there's been so my dad is a he's a computer guy. He has been learning about this thing going on in the cycling world called Strava doping, where basically people are editing their GPX files by like just enough so that way they get crowns, but they don't get flagged. So then my dad and I, when I was back at home, we were talking and I was like, Do you think you could build me a Western states file that breaks the course record? And he was like, Okay, here's what I need. I just need a GPX file and then your data. So I gave him my 2022 run. And using, I don't know if I want to publicize too much of the information, but using a website, a service, a something, he was able to take all of the data from the 2022 run, ch get it all changed to look appropriate, like from a parameter standpoint for 2026, timestamp it, take all the data, overlay it with a map. And as far as anyone on Strava is concerned, I won Western states. Here's where we're going with this. If you do not have a satellite tracker for an FKT, and you just post it on Strava as proof, that's no longer good enough because of what I've just shown. Wow. So like I could just go and like fast pack the Tahoe Rim Trail, just so I have the data for it and manipulate it in like a very, very believable way to set the FKT. Because then when I finish it, I'm like, hey guys, on Tuesday I went and set the FKT on the Tahoe Rim Trail. Here's my data to prove it. And there's no way to show that that data has been corrupted in any way. It would be pretty difficult. Like you'd have to well, because one, you can't, there's no way you can't get the data from here. Like you would have to, I would have to export the full file and send it to you because as Strava's from Strava, all you can do is download the map, like the GPX. So it's like my data. So I don't know. And then so then my dad and I played around with it. The first few times I was looking at it and I was like, oh no, this doesn't make sense here. This doesn't make sense here. Like, you know, I I had way too much stoppage time. And the way that the pacing worked out, because I blew up in my 2022 Western states. So then, you know, he had the whole race just like speed everything up percentagewise. So then I was running like a four-minute pace at the beginning and then slowed down to like 10 minute pace. But I was like, no, dad, you got to make it look a little bit better. So then he was just playing with the parameters of like, okay, speed up this amount of percentage for all the data here, speed it up this much here. Boom. So like there's I haven't looked through it super, super hard, but it doesn't look like there's a single mile that even looks suspicious. And you have like GPS data to back it all up.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

My mind went to two places here. The obvious one for me, like you just said, is it it kind of upends the FKT world where you now need like another layer of verification. Like the, like you said, like the Strava file is not enough. But then the next thing that I went to is what about in actual races, course cutters who want to cover up their files after the fact at races like UTMB, Western States, Hard Rock. Some races are easier than others, but like theoretically, uh could this be something, could this be a use case for that?

SPEAKER_01 16:14

In theory, because so I didn't have to manipulate any of my actual GPS data. Whereas like for course cutting, you'd have to change the GPS coordinates to like stay on the trail, which in theory you could probably do. It would, I'm sure it would be more difficult because it would add another layer onto what my dad helped out with here. But in in theory, that's definitely possible too. But yeah, I was just thinking, I was like, man, if people because there are professional runners who have incentives for FKTs on their on their contracts. And like usually when there's incentives, there's incentive to cheat. And I I feel like now like if there like I just approved you could completely fabricate something. Like I could have fabricated an FKT to make money. And this goes completely against FKT culture. Like the whole idea of FKTs, like it shouldn't even matter. They shouldn't even be on Strava. Like it should just be me calling you saying, hey, I beat your time, and then you are like sick. Nice job, but like that's just they've gotten so big where they're they're going to be cheating, maybe there already has been, and like this is a way that it could happen.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

And you're saying that over in the cycling world, this is already a notable issue. And is it just for clout?

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Are there incentives that people are clicking into getting people on Strava being egomaniacs? I haven't heard about anything other than it just, you know, just stealing crowns for the sake of stealing crowns. But uh then I was thinking, I was like, oh, well, if this was FKT world and I already had a a run at Mount Tam, you know, I could just manipulate the data to make it a little bit faster and then say I did it. Like, I don't know. I just thought I just thought this would be like kind of open a bit of a Pandora's box, but maybe something that us us good guys in the world are finally, we're finally getting ahead of the bad guys.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

I was trying to think of like a good Harvey Dent quote that we could transfer over. Um, the like the I like the David Laney one of like you either you either die on the SOU track or you live long enough to see yourself racing Western states.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Yeah, like this isn't uh this isn't the Stravophile that the world wants, but it's the Stravophile that the world needs.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Dude, this might this would have been, I mean, this could be one of our best content of the week combinations ever. This is great.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

This is this was a really good one. It was funny how they're both Western states adjacent.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Just by chance. I I've been sit I've been sitting on this one for almost a month now, just so excited to tell you about this fabricated Western states file.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Are you are you legitimately concerned about this for the trail world? Like now that this is even more out in the open, do you think that we've opened a Pandora's box?

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Well, I mean, I just think that what there's in in actual races, there's more fail-safes in place to make sure that someone's not cheating. In in the FKT world, there's a whole category that nearly encourages it because you're just by yourself and like no one gets to see it. And, you know, I I love that, you know, most of these athletes are doing it with spot trackers now. I feel like for part of the verification purpose, that it almost feels like with with where the tech currently is, that almost needs to be mandatory.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Raid is the official equipment partner of Single Track. We've got some news here. The LF5L Vest, it's going to be back in stock this month. Uh, Henriette Albin has joined the athlete team. She will be racing UTMB in a debut raid kit that they have been working on with her. So be on the lookout for when you are viewing the livestream at the end of this month. That's yeah, really exciting. A few new additions to their trail tech range, including an Anorak shell. This is the lightest three-layer shell, I believe, that you can find on the market. Also, their race tech tea that weighs 66 grams and has an integrated ice pocket for hot days. Finally, and this might have actually launched a few days ago, but uh this month they're debuting their first women's specific kit. This includes a women's running belt and cargo crop top. Go check out everything at raidresearch.com. That's R-A-I-D-E-Research.com. Also, thanks to John G, the official apparel partner of Singletrack. And I got to talk here about the pinnacle endurance kits trusted by athletes like Ryan Montgomery, the first and only American to ever break 14 hours at Western States. There's four race forward styles built from relentless experimentation with athletes like Ryan, including their gossamer-based t-shirts and singlets. Uh, gossamer, it's this fabric technology that uses wave-shaped fiber to mimic gauze-like construction for exceptional breathability. It's ultra-light, it's cling-free, cool to the touch, essential for my racing and long project-based days because it is built to go the distance too. Go check out our johngy.com forward slash singletrack. Let's transition to I'm not going to say like top storylines, but these are some of the storylines that for whatever reason you or I or both of us are intrigued by. What's what's your first one? What? Pick a pick a race. UTMB.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Okay. So an interesting storyline is I d I mean, and and I don't have every name listed because that would just be a full-on preview episode, but I just highlighted a couple of the main names as like for like the UTMB men. There's like they're fresh running UTMB. They are potentially tired running UTMB. And then there's the category of recently injured and potentially less tired running UTMB. And I'm really curious to see where these circles of runners overlap because it just seems like every year we there seems to be a more a bigger split between you can't do the Western States UTMB double, but we also every year see more and more people having somewhat more frequent A plus races in the same calendar year.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

So then we have like you have like Ben Diemen, Caleb Olson, Chris Myers, John Albin, like fresh, maybe tired, Von Saint Bouillard, Canyon Woodward, Zach Miller, injured, but maybe still fresh. Jim Walmsley killing Journey. Like where where where do these how does this all work at UTMB this year?

SPEAKER_00 23:33

It now makes me think about. Yeah, we've talked a ton about whether or not there's like this insurmountable toll to doing the UTMB Western states double. And now I'm starting to think, especially in previous years, how much was I discounting the entire first half of the year instead of putting it all on Western states? Like how busy was the first half? And maybe is it more valuable to look at like the duration of the season overall as opposed to just like that 10-week window of our sport? Because like Jen, for example, has put together a masterclass, six months of racing, which I would say is a full season. Like she has already completed a full season of racing, Black Canyon, Gorge, Don't Fence Me In, Western States, et cetera. Like, boom, that's a season. Uh, so maybe like six months of racing is more important to hone in on than like just this 10 weeks.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Yeah, or what's more important for success at UTMB, your cumulative six months of training in terms of like total volume vert, et cetera, or the seven to eight weeks right before the race. Because there's we have a decently split group of people who have been working towards this race all year. And then there's a good amount of people on both the men's and women's side, uh, who are kind of who are doing the double. And and it I feel like the equation is not the same every year. So I feel like it's always a worthwhile storyline to bring up.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

I wish I had the stat for the number of people that have podiumed Western states in UTMB in the same year, but I do know that the only person on the men's side, at least, to win Western States in UTMB in the same year is Killian back in 2011. So if if Von Sant does it this year, I believe it's I actually believe, especially with like theoretically gym racing, Killian racing, the current field, the current era, I believe it would go down as the best season in men's ultrasound history to do that double successfully in the same year.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Yeah. I I think I agree with that. I mean, it's just it's well, and the race is more competitive than in 2011. It's so much harder to get a win now. Um, you know, granted, there's more resources now, but I I feel like winning UTMB today is harder than it was 15 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

So I'm gonna pit two groups. Going off your talking book here, I'm gonna pit two groups against each other, and I want to know which one you currently have more faith in. You can explain why if you want. First group is people that have at least started Western States. So you've got like Riley Brady, Abby Hall, Von Sant, Zach Miller, Jim if he's racing. Then you've got the people who are focused on like it's Ruth Croft, Caleb Olson, Chris Myers, Drew Holman. I'm missing people, but like just kind of painting a picture of the two camps. Which camp do you have more faith in?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Yeah, it's it's actually really tricky. I I right now, I think I lean towards the group that has put the focus for the whole year into UTMB. Um not I think the potential ceiling, like the best performances might come out of the other group, but I'm just not really sure if like anyone's really even like healthy enough. There's been a lot of injuries this year leading up to Western states. Because I I guess that maybe the demands for training for Western states are a little bit harder on the body. Maybe it's because you go straight into it after a winter, potentially a ski winter, and you know, that increasing that kind of load, maybe not great on the body. I don't know. It's uh I don't I think I think I'm gonna go for the the the UTMB focus group for right now.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

All right. I'll stay on the UTMB uh thread here. My top storyline, I just have written down the question, what is Rachel Entrikken's ceiling? So there's no question she's great, no question she belongs. That was, I feel like that settled science from the first half of this year. Now the question for me is like, okay, how good? Like I'm genuinely curious. In such a in I believe this is the most uh competent women's field that we have ever seen at the history of this race. I I believe we'll we could see a course record. I think we I think the entire top 10, we could see like tremendous uh uh uptick in overall times from the top 10 this year, too. And like this is an amazing proving ground to like even further solidify. So she doesn't really need to do anything. Like her season, like she, of all people, has already run a season. Like Jen Lichter, she's run a season, so this is kind of like gravy. But you know, she she kind of cleared her schedule after Coca-Dona and has been like just running to stay fit and like then building towards UTMB. She's out there right now. I think she's doing like a guided.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

She's put in some monster, monster runs out there.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Monster miles, and I think this is interesting. And I don't think any other elite ultra runner is doing this. In the midst of her build, she is stopping, she's pausing time to go do a guided tour around Mount Blanc as well. I think she's doing something with Vagabond. I just read her latest blog.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Just a scheduled high volume down week or something. I don't know. I think that Rachel is should be in the conversation of any race that she is signed up for that's in her wheelhouse in terms of, you know, distance for blah, blah, blah. She can win. I think she's automatically in the can win this race conversation until further notice.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

I'll give you one, I'll give you another storyline. This is also UTMB. I believe this is my left field one. I'm not saying it's a top storyline, I just think it's kind of funny. Like every single year we get someone who we didn't account for that just runs off the front. And sometimes they go for a while. Like there was that Duncan guy from like three years ago. I think he was like a 211 Hoka marathoner, and I think he ran the first 20K alone. I can't think of his last name. Vons Bouillard. But last year it was Theo Datien. He he was sort of to UTMB last year, what Hans Truyer was to Western this year, led from the start, I think through the first, definitely through Cormayer, I think through 100k, faded. I think he dropped due to injury. So like the question is, does he like does he come back and does he lead again? Like what's his what's his game plan? So um I'm I'm really curious to see like if there's growth off of that strategy.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

I just don't understand that tactic. Von Sant didn't do that tactic. Von Sant ran his own race and he moved to the front and then was in the lead by, what was it, Cormaillaire? And then had a good day and held everybody off. It's not like he did the, you know, the Pow Capell five-minute mile right out of downtown Sham and just wired a wire. Like Pows might be the last person to purposely wire to wire the whole race. I just I don't know who in the actual favorites list would do that.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

I I could see this being yeah, whether or not it's successful is one question, but I do I do see this being a theme because also I I've always wanted to know this. I've always wanted to know this, especially with the magnitude of UTMB. How beneficial is it to your brand partners if you have that live stream spot?

SPEAKER_01 31:57

It's a Tour de France breakaway effect. Exactly. Smaller teams in the tour who don't get the same budget, the same love as some of the bigger teams, they will be at the tour specifically to have guys in the breakaway, mostly for airtime. Best case scenario, you win the stage. But no, that's a good point. Who's who's just gonna send someone up the road for airtime?

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Yeah, and in fact, I would go as far as saying, like, I think this could be an this this is an amazing long run archives question, but we are we are like two months away from the sort of or we're too much away from like the middle of contract season. What if there is a well-qualified athlete who, with the purest of intentions, pitches a brand, I will start Western next year. And I promise to at least lead for the first like 50 miles of the rise.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

Okay. Finn, when you were the fittest in your life, how many miles could you lead UTMB?

SPEAKER_00 33:00

I I genuinely believe I could have led for the first 10 miles of the 2025 Western States 100. What about UTMB? I think I could have made it to Red Star for Western, and I think for UTMB probably nah, probably the first six miles, like Lesouchas.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Nah, you can make it for I bet I bet you could lead UTMB for 50k.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

I feel good about the first 10 miles. Yeah. But I mean, if if I'm an upstart brand and I sign someone just to like have diligent currents, it's too short. No, no, no. But like what if what if we train for 50? Like for sure. I believe there are plenty of sub-elite athletes in our sport who could sign with like innovate and you know, lead.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

I was like, I was so curious which brand you were just gonna throw under the bus for this.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

Innovate is just a little out of scope for they're a great brand, but they're out of scope for sure for Western at least not. I think so. I guess I think so. Um yeah, like take those like six six millimeter lugs out of the Western States card.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Yeah, like like I think if I get in the best shape of my life, I could lead the race to the bottom of Swinging Bridge. Yeah, because I would just like race to Robinson Flat, survive all that next 13 miles runnable downhill, totally blow myself up to the bottom of the canyon, and then just die out there on swinging bridge.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

All right, neck your next storyline.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Okay. From a purely emotional standpoint, who do you want to see take golden tickets from CCC? Like, not who do you think is going to get it? Who do you want to see at Western States next year?

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Obviously, I want Hans. Okay. Obviously, I want Hans back on the men's side. On the women's side, that's an interesting question. I mean, I think it's really interesting that, you know, Martina Milanarchik has had the consecutive struggles she's had. So like I think she's a favorite for the win at CCC, but again, like we've already seen two editions at Western, and I think I just would rather have someone who's more of a mystery. Uh I don't know. Who do you think on the women's side?

SPEAKER_01 35:35

I chose a couple names on across because it's uh three golden tickets, right? It's a super golden ticket race.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

I think it's a super.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Okay, so I picked three on the men's and women's side, and some of the names are because CCC is probably the easiest golden ticket race for them to get to, as opposed to like I mean, I guess you have like Keanti, but uh on the women's side, Meow Yao. I want to see Meow Yao take that golden ticket and run Western states. Uh Tony McCann and Danny Moreno. Yeah. I think those would be sick golden ticket grabs.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

Danny would be great. I think it'd be cool to see Robin Lesh, another American, Aaron Clark, Claire Rhodes. Uh yeah, this is interesting. A lot of these folks, like Caitlin Field is already back in.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

There's a lot of returners. Uh but yeah, I was just thinking like I don't know what other golden ticket race like Tony McCann or Danny would want to do.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

I want to see Helen Mino Faulkner decline another one.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Oh yeah. Just add to the add to the rings. Like we're getting into like Tom Brady Super Bowl era for Helen Mino Faulkner and golden ticket turndowns.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

I take everything back. That is what I want to see the most. I want to see Helen Mino Faulkner top three decline the Western States ticket.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

That would be a that's a good one. Um I want to see David Sinclair get that golden ticket and go. He was one of the most uh he was one of the runners I wanted to see at at Western States this year. And then uh another name that I think would be fascinating to the Western states field is Dmitry Mityev. Because Dmitri's had some amazing runs at Ultra Trail Cape Town. And a lot of people have said that race has felt hotter than Western States. So like let's just let's get Dmitri to Western States. And then third third name, Eric Lapuma, of course.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

Of course. Of course. Eric would be a great one. Uh those are good. I'm just scrolling through the list here.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

There's a ton of there's a ton of people that could get tickets and would be really fun to have tickets. But I just wanted to throw three men, three women out there. I was like, they would be a sick addition to the Western States field.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

I mean, I think in theory, I would be stoked about Eli Hemming, but I also want to see just I want to see him like stick it at the 100K, or at least at like races like Black Canyon and Canyon's 100k that I think are just more indicators for the state's course. But like obviously the talent there is through the roof, and I'm stoked about him, you know. But he's still young.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Yeah, like for someone like Eli Hans, you said, I didn't put their names down because I feel like they could just go get a golden ticket at one of the other domestic golden ticket races. Like, I can we can we see a rule at CCC where like two of the three golden tickets have to go to non-Americans. Because like, what if there's a scenario where like all six of these golden tickets just go to Americans? That's stupid.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

There's also a very real chance that we see every single golden ticket declined at this race. I I believe it happened at UTMB two years ago. It was either on the men's side or the women's side or both, but yeah, one of the years UTMB was a golden ticket, not CCC. It it it was either declined, I think it rolled down quite a bit. It was either a very significant roll down or a lot of declines.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

And if if there's golden tickets from CCC that don't get used, I still and and there's still golden ticket races left. My vote is that they get reallocated towards those races. Throw throw the golden tickets back into the golden ticket pot.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

All right, let's do let's do one one more. I'll do one more on my side for Storyland, then we'll go to buy or sell. So this for me, I just have elite orienteers crushing Ultra Trails. So Tovey Alexanderson, Judith Wider, Frederick Tranchand, Christian Jones. Couple reasons. I think like technical terrain, like if you think about the orienteering background that they come from, technical terrain is their baseline. I also wrote down that especially with orienteering, you are under a constant cognitive load. Like there is so much intellectual decision making that you have to make from start to finish. I think it it creates a massive competitive advantage in Ultra, where I think a lot of athletes are just used to like following course markings and maybe even checking out or relying on crew. And they have that baseline to like really be have that presence of mind and critical thinking for like I'm not gonna forget to eat, or like I can still like have the presence of mind to like make a move here or there. Like I just think that I I bet if you did some sort of brain scan, I wouldn't be surprised if like all those like decision-making areas of the brain are like lighting up better than your average trail runner.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

Yeah, you'd think that in theory it would just be like a trail race for Tove would just be easier because there's so much less to think about. She's like, all I have to do is run and eat. I don't have to worry about getting lost. I don't have to carry all my stuff. I don't need a compass. I could just run and eat. Like that's that's that saves energy if you're mentally just that much fitter than your competitors. You got one more? I got an interesting OCC storyline. Um Lauren Gregory, McKenna Morley, Molly Seidel, Canyon's 50k rematch. I'm they went one, two, three at Canyon's 50K, and now they all get to race each other again at OCC.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

I saw McKenna in Missoula a few weeks ago, super fit, and I actually think that her experience at Broken Arrow leading early and then still having that fight to finish seventh after like basically front running with um why am I blanking on her name? But anyway, she was front running at the 23k. But then I also just got to watch in in person Lauren Gregory sub-6 at Speed Goat, which I think is a really great indicator race for anything out in Sham. Yeah. And I I don't know where Molly is, honestly, in her training. I know she's been out to Sham before to spectate and like take it all in, so like getting there is not foreign for her. But um my gut tells me it's sort of like in that of that trio, it like the battle is Lauren versus McKenna. I could be wrong, but that's what it feels to me.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

That's how I feel too, especially as it gets more more mountainous and more technical.

unknown 42:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:52

Good one. Uh first buy or sell. So buy just means agree. For this is for the audience. Buy means agree, sell means disagree. We kind of riff. First one here, I'm gonna go a little out of order just because we've talked about some of them. An athlete who started, not necessarily finished, but at least started Western this year, will land on the podium in any of the six races. Buy or sell.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Buy a hundred percent. For sure. I mean, I can I give you one name that makes it an easy buy. Jen Lichter.

SPEAKER_00 43:27

Is she racing?

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Do we know? She said she was in her post-race Western States episode.

SPEAKER_00 43:37

I wonder.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

But that would be I don't know. That would be my buy. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

It'd be fun if she was. An athlete aged 40 plus cracks the top five in any of these six races by herself.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

I'm gonna buy this. I'm gonna buy this. I'm gonna buy this because. Because of Christian Minoggio at CCC.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

A Chinese athlete wins one of these races. One of these six races by herself.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

I was really on the fence about this one, but I think I'm I think I'm selling this. Even though there's a couple really good chances. It was kind of just ended up being a coin flip. Because it's like Miao Yao at CCC, Fuziaang at UTMB. Those are both in the c in the conversation absolute to win, but I don't know if I'm going to say they're heavy favorites. So I think for now I'm selling.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

Ruth Croft repeats by herself.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

I'm going to sell. Yep.

unknown 44:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

See, I buy that. I buy Ruth Croft.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

You think Ruth's gonna repeat? I don't have any reasoning why she wouldn't. But I'm gonna sell. Well, I guess the only reason why I think she wouldn't is the rest of the field.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

That's a good point. So I actually wonder I wonder how much of an advantage she had via her training for this race and whether people saw that. Because again, that playbook is everywhere. Like you saw Scott Johnston Evoke make the rounds talking about it. And a part of me is like, okay, like that is a great, looks like appears to be a great formula to win her podium at West at UTMB.

unknown 45:41

Right?

SPEAKER_00 45:41

Like, why not?

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Yeah. But now if I I I feel like if Ruth wants to win again, she can't repeat the playbook. It has to be elevated from last year. I believe Ruth is going to need to run better than last year to win again this year. How I I don't know how she feels about her race last year, but I mean it was pretty dang good because it won. So then now we're thinking, like, how do we knock X number of minutes off? Like, how do we how do we get even fitter for this race? Uh, there's a lot of other people in this race who don't necessarily have that kind of pressure to change uh something from last year. Instead, they're just doing it because they're still trying to get their first win. And there's just a lot less pressure than being the one person who won the race last year. Like there's only one Ruth.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

I don't know about you, but in the hour or so before run, especially the early morning training runs, I find it helpful to have something easy to grab that actually keeps me going and not feeling like I'm operating on empty right off the bat. Lately, that is why I have been slotting in Kodiak bars to my morning routine. I think everyone has that bar that has earned a permanent spot in their glove box of their car. This one is mine. They come with seven grams of protein per serving, and they are made with whole grains and real ingredients. I am partial to their chocolate chip in s'mores flavors. Find them at Kodiakcakes.com or your local grocery store. They are the ones with the bear on the box. This episode is also brought to you by Momentous. You can use our discount code with them on all sorts of products. I can highlight anything I want: vitamin D, Ashwagandha, a few other supplements that I take daily. But the one that I want to highlight here is their signature spec creatine. Honestly, I have been on and off creatine for the last six months. I was taking it all through the winter. Then I backed off candidly after some weight gain concerns, but I am back on it now doing a bit more research and tuning my diet. I am confident in the ways that it can indirectly help with training adaptations and expediting recovery in endurance contexts. I'm now taking about five grams a day. I think this stuff is the best as it screens for PFOS and microplastics and has two to five times tighter heavy metal limits, which is an unparalleled standard amongst creatine supplements on the market. If you want to try Momentous uh signature spec creatine head to live momentous.com forward slash creatine and use code single track checkout for up to 35% off your first order. Two more. Buy or sell. The men's winner at UTMB comes from outside what I'm calling the big four, which is just the top four ranked via UTMB index. Jim Walmsley, Killian Jornette, Ben Dieman, Caleb Olson. So you are yeah, buy or sell.

SPEAKER_01 48:46

Correct me if I have this backwards by saying I'm gonna sell because I think the winner does come from that group.

SPEAKER_00 48:53

Okay. So yeah, you're selling. The winner is one of those four. Yes. I sold it as well. Oh, okay. I sold it as well, and I highly doubt that either again, I don't have any inside intel. I really don't. I highly doubt, just as a fan spectating scene trans, I highly doubt Killian or Jim are racing. So I think it actually is the big two. I think it's it's Ben or Caleb.

SPEAKER_01 49:19

And I think even if Killian and Jim do race, I just can't see where they have to drop out at states so early due to injury, and then be not only healthy enough to win UTMB. Well, no, not only healthy enough to finish UTMB, but then fit enough to win UTMB. Because they could both between Western states and now get healthy enough to finish UTMB. But I imagine that would be at the expense of most of their fitness, because they would just do nothing between Western states and now. That's not how you win UTMB. So I don't, I don't know how they do it, unless it was just a fluke, you know, rolled my ankle on the way down to Swinging Bridge and, you know, I had to call it. But it didn't really sound like that was the case for either of them in Western states, because we all both knew that going in, they were all kind of beat up anyways.

SPEAKER_00 50:21

Last one, buy or sell Tovey Alexanderson wins OCC by more than 10 minutes. I think I'm gonna buy that.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

I think Tove is just right now where Tove's at with running, the conversation is just it's two things. It's how much is Tove gonna win by, and then let's talk about the race for a second. Like it just I has she had a single miss since going all in on professional trail running?

SPEAKER_00 50:57

I don't think so. And I think the only question is again, going back to what we were talking about earlier, it's just the the frequency, the entire like season-long load of racing so far. It's it's been tremendously granted. You know, it's not like ultra, ultra distance stuff, but still like it's it's already you could end you could end it today, and it was already a fantastic season.

SPEAKER_01 51:19

Totally. But in terms of like her racing age, it's way younger than some of her peers because her breakout worlds, was that last year?

unknown 51:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

Has it not even been a full calendar year?

SPEAKER_00 51:33

I don't think it's been a full calendar year.

SPEAKER_01 51:35

Yeah, Tove can race as much as she wants for at least two years, probably even three.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

Let's go to power rankings. We first debuted these at Western States earlier this summer, or actually before that, when when Jim Walmsley, you know, his earth-shattering announcement that he was racing in late April, we you know talked about that and then we rolled out, we trotted out our power rankings. And Brett, you want to describe them again? Like how we're how we're doing this.

SPEAKER_01 52:08

So the power rankings, the power rankings are a ranking of power. It's not it's not necessarily who we think will actually win on race day in all the head-to-head matchups, but it's like when you look at all the categories. The NFL does this every week after each week of games. They like they look at the offense, they look at the defense, they look at the special teams, they look at the coaching, they look at their penalties, they look at their efficiency, blah, blah, blah. And then basically it pumps out a score. And momentum is another thing that they take into consideration. And then that gives a ranking for basically who's the best team and who's the worst team. We don't have Amazon Web Services Analytics, but we're trying our best to create a similar list. So it's not necessarily think I think these people are gonna go one through 10. It's more like who's who's been putting it all together the best leading up to now? And some of the things that we struggled with for Western states that we're probably just always gonna struggle with with these power rankings is some of the people who have been racing super infrequently, or we can't see their training, you know, hiding one thing or the other, or both, lack of insider information. Sometimes having insider information screws them up too. But um I I made some lists. Did you make a list?

SPEAKER_00 53:50

Yeah, and here's what I'm thinking. So I'm thinking we do this. I will give you my 10 to 1, and maybe as I'm doing that, you take notes, and then you give me your 10 to 1, I'll take notes, and then we kind of go back and forth about that, and then we'll do the women. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 54:05

Okay. Let me uh when you're talking, I'm gonna mute my mic because my keyboard's pretty clicky clacky, and I'll try and type some things. I'm gonna go 10 to 1.

SPEAKER_00 54:16

In 10th, Drew, home run, Drew Hallman. Ninth, Caleb Olsen, 8th, Rod the God Far of Art. Seventh, Von Sampouillar. Sixth, Baptiste Shassang, 5th, Joaquin Lopez, 4th, Josh Wade, 2, sorry, third, Hanna Stamberger, one Ben one second, let me count these. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Sorry, I miscounted. Drew in 10th, Caleb in ninth, Rod in eighth, John Albin in seventh. I missed John, Von Sant in sixth, Baptiste in fifth, Joaquin Lopez in fourth, Josh Wade in third, Hannes Namberger in second, Ben Diemon in first. So that's my 10 to 1. And you're muted.

SPEAKER_01 55:06

Thank you. So, okay. I wrote down your I wrote down your names. Um, what were some of the things that you took into consideration when making this list?

SPEAKER_00 55:18

I would say the three factors that weighed most heavily for me were number one, racing, the type of racing, the frequency, how far out, and whether I believed it served as great preparation to peek at UTMB. Because again, I think I tend to believe a little bit more in the camp of like what Chris Myers, Ruth, the Calebs of the World are doing. Then, second, I relied on how much disclosure these athletes offer via podcasts, social media, substacks, et cetera. I think that weighs heavily. And then Strava for me is number three. Okay. I don't weigh a ton onto that because you never know how much is actually there. But if I can see stuff that I think is applicable, if I if they're being based in applicable areas of training, I count that too.

SPEAKER_01 56:07

So one thing that we were we we did not have the ability to do at Western States that you were able to do here is neither of us were able to take Killian or Jim off of our power rankings list, no matter what. They are both absent from your UTMB power rankings list. Is that due to I mean recent DNFs at Western states?

SPEAKER_00 56:41

Absolutely. I think that has to be a major consideration. And just like what the communications that we have heard and or lack thereof from both of them. Uh I I am making a massive assumption that they're just not going to be there. So I think I'm not picking them. And there's other people on these start lists that I also don't think are going to show up. Like I, like, for example, Matthew Blanchard just announced, I think, yesterday, that he's not going to be on the start line this year. So other people haven't announced that, but I'm under the assumption that we're not going to see Jim or Killian. So it's mostly due to absence. Like, I actually think I would have had a really tough time leaving them out if we had this like statement from Jim being like, I'm back, I'm good to go, training's been great. See a C and Sham, same thing from Killian, but it hasn't been that.

SPEAKER_01 57:28

He's like, check out, check out the Strava file of this giant run that I just did. And we're like, well, that actually could be completely fake. And the title's like F-weighted hiking. Yeah. Like, I don't know. I don't know. Can't trust Strava anymore.

SPEAKER_00 57:45

Exactly. As of this episode.

SPEAKER_01 57:49

Yep. Sorry. Strava Strava shares. Just what's your what's your top 10? Okay. So from 10 to 1, I've got Rod Farvard. Zach Miller, a name that you omitted, and I'm never omitting that name ever again. John Albin in 8. Chris Myers in 7. Josh Wade in 6. Baptiste Chassin in five. Caleb Olsen four. Hannes Nomberger 3. Vonsant Bouillard 2. Ben Dieman 1. First question for you.

SPEAKER_00 58:35

Uh Von Sant is way up there.

SPEAKER_01 58:38

Yeah. Talk about that. He's won the race. He's coming off of an incredible Western states that he didn't seem that jacked up at the end. Like I'm sure he ran about as fast as he could have on that day. But like he didn't have to get, you know, wheeled off into a wheelchair next day at uh awards ceremony. He was just like hanging out, seemed like relatively put together. That to me means like you're going to recover from that race a little bit better. And then he he's he knows he's really good at racing. Bonne's really good at racing. That's the thing. Uh, you know, he went straight back. I think he went right back to Europe pretty immediately after the race, been able to just settle back into family life training. He knows how to win UTMB. He's one of the few people that actually knows how to win UTMB. So that's that's why he's so high up in my rankings.

SPEAKER_00 59:44

And then I feel like I feel like these two people are almost like uh different sides of the same coin. You have Zach Miller on your list. I have Drew Holman on my list. We don't have the other ones. And I feel like there are people in the audience who'd be like, never bet against Drew, and they'd be so right. Never bet against Zach, they'd be so right. Talk about why Zach and No Drew.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

Zach's had more success at UTMB. And so far, he's been good this year in terms of health. So if Zach is stacking a good Canyons performance into a better Western State's performance, does he now have the ability to stack that Western State's performance into a UTMB? Yeah, he has no shortage of lifetime vert in his legs. So maybe, maybe that's maybe all the tools are there, and all that was really missing for a UTMB block was a little bit of speed work.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:42

Hard to argue against that. I'll just say with, and I and again, it didn't, it's not like you left off Drew to add Zach, but like just to I'll say this about Zach. Drew turned down a golden ticket last year. Drew podiumed at CCC. He did have a rough UTMB the year before, did gutted out Adam Peterman's style for a finish. I think he was really close to 24 hours. Yeah, I think he's got a lot of experience on the UTMB course, and it's just like, can he extend the that potential from CCC to the big loop? I think he can.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:15

Yeah. Yeah. The one thing that I'm kind of waiting to see this his his Gorge race this year was was okay. Yep. It was pretty good, but he's had better races. Sometimes that's a good thing, but sometimes it's not, you know. Good point. We we talk a lot about, you know, not only do you have to improve yourself, but you have to improve at the rate that the sport does as well, in order to just not place worse. That's getting harder and harder to do. Uh this is a big opportunity for Drew to prove that he's still improving with the rest of the sport.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:55

Let's go to you first for the men uh women's picks.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

Okay. Women's picks. All right. Did I I'm just making sure that I actually I think I got my name my numbers all correct. 10. Leah Yingling. Nine, Henriette Albon, eight, Martina Valmasoy, seven, Riley Brady, six, Lucy Bartholomew, five Sunmaya Buddha, four, Marianne Hogan, three, Rachel Ancherkin, two, Blandine Lirondell, and number one, Ruth Croft.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:48

Great list. Uh couple questions for you. First, similar with Von Sant, a lot of faith in Riley to have a successful Western C T double.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:58

Yeah, Riley's this is one of those, like, I don't know, it's like a Riley's like a like show-up or blow up. And right now, it seems like like Riley's had two really good races back to back. Riley did have a pretty good run rabbit. Was it last year? So pretty big mountains. If if Riley can put the pieces together of a run rabbit and a Western states paired with a full year of being sponsored by ACG, that could be very good for UTMB. Because it's it's nice to be more comfortable in the resources that you have.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:48

And then it looks like you are feeling very confident that Rachel will debut impressively at UTMB this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:59

Yeah, I mean, these are just the power rankings. These aren't my finish order. But if we're looking at races Rachel has done and had success at, especially recently, Rachel has a very impressive performance racing in Europe this year. At least I don't know how many races Rachel has done this year. At least one solid hundred miler and a Coca-Dona. So Rachel's one of the few people who's going to be going in this year, where in the calendar year they did a race that was longer. That's got to help. And I'm just kind of in the camp now that, like, if Rachel's in the race, we're talking about Rachel potentially winning this race.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:43

Last point for me, or question. I Marion Hogan is a bit of a question mark for me. I only because I'm not sure she's racing. I know she's at Solomon camp, but I don't know. Because obviously, like I had a great western. I think it took a lot out of her, and I'm not sure. I know she's on the list, but I I could see someone like her not starting.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:04

If she doesn't start, she's tumbling down the power rankings for sure. But as as right now, play it as it lies.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:15

Okay. My top ten. You ready to mute for the keyboard? In tenth, Rachel Drake. Ninth, Martina Valmasoy, eighth, Henriette Albin, seventh, Rachel Entricken, sixth, Leah Yingling, fifth, Jasmine Lothar, fourth, Sumaya Buda, three, Lucy Bartholomew, second, Blandine Le Randell, first, Ruth Croft.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:44

That's a solid list. I I was super on the fence for for Jasmine because yeah, there's Jasmine was definitely in my like receiving votes category for sure. Or the worlds last year. Yep. Great run. You got you got Lucy moving all the way up to third.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:08

I think she's ready. I think it's been a consistent progression on the women's side over the last three or four years. Like she has shown that like she can kind of similar to Leah, I actually think. Like I think they both have proven beyond reasonable doubt that at these big races they can like lock top tens. And now the only question for me is are you ready to race for a podium or win? I think Lucy is, I think a lot of these are winner, but I think Lucy, of all people, can do it this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:36

Yeah. And we always get a lot of flack for like both having like say like Leah in our top 10, because people are like, really? That seems a little biased. Go look at Leah's race results and tell me you wouldn't bet on her in a hundred miler.

unknown 1:06:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:56

Like Leah does not have very many misses in hundreds. So when Leah starts a hundred, that that helps for the power rankings when you look at the race experience. Um Rachel, Rachel Drake, I feel like like it's it's crazy to call Rachel like your random baller of UTMB, but it that it's like it's UTMB is pretty out of pocket for what we're used to seeing Rachel race in.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:28

I have a really fun explanation here for you. And it is a little self-serving because it's my race, but both so Rachel Drake survived the Twisted Fork 68K, which you know you can speak to because you were there, had some of the most heinous weather and underfoot conditions of any race in North America. The history of the world. The history of the world. It was terrible. And I believe that that is an invaluable experience for UTMB. I point to what Ruth experienced at Trans Vulcani last year, where she basically survived that crossing of the island. And she said, like, I look back, and UTMB had really bad inclement weather last September, and like she put her jacket on before others did. Like she took the night really seriously. And I think that, you know, I do think Rachel might have struggled with nutrition at Twist of Hour because of the weather and maybe didn't pull certain equipment, you know, at certain times that she should have. And I think like what a place to like figure all that out at a relatively inconsequential race so that you are solved for U Timby. And I think like that's a huge X factor coming into this.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:36

Yeah. No, that's that's a great point. And that that definitely should be taken into uh power rankings consideration.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:47

And she's training well and did a had a great broken arrow. I think she's been out in Colorado training at altitude a bunch with Tyler. They've been doing some altitude camps, it looks like on Strava. So I think she's had a really successful summer, and there's some intangibles which are hard to factor into, you know, forthcoming single track analytics, but like she is a gamer. She's a huge competitor.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:07

Like Ray Rachel's one of the best racers I know. Like I think Rachel's still like one of my biggest racing inspirations. I forget it might have been a Trail Network pod, but uh oh gosh, what does Rachel say? It's like an apologies, Rachel, if I butcher the quote, but so like uh like racing is the ultimate art of like uh of self. Like you're never more vulnerable than when you're just out there racing as hard as you can. And I was like, dude, that's one of the dopest things I've ever heard. Like I is like who who said that like it was either Rachel Drake or Lil Wayne.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:59

Before we go, because we have to go review the A6 Meta Fuji Trail 2 over on conversational pace. Any any parting thoughts? Any because this was sort of like our preview before the preview over in Shamini. I have a final thought, but what any final thoughts from you?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:13

Yeah, the one thing that we just don't get to talk about yet is weather. I love talking about the weather.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:20

Dude, I cannot believe that someone as steeped in the sport as you, this will be your first year over in Sham, and I cannot wait to just see you take it all in. I'm so stoked.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:29

Oh, yeah. I'm I'm so excited to get to experience the week of racing in person, um pin on a bib and hang out with you for the week. You can show me the ropes, we can go drink some Aperol spritzes. They got, you know, if they got any taco bells in Chamonix, I might need to hit up a strawberry fresca.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:54

Dude, no, but you know what's crazy about French culture? And I learned this the hard way. I I like to eat very efficiently, as you know, and they will not like you need to stay at the dinner table for like three hours in France. I love that. They they will not take the check. You have to like hunt them down, and then when you do, they're like impossible. And I'm like, no, it's very possible. Give me the check. And they're like, impossible.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:16

Yeah, they're like insulted that you want to leave. Yeah, I'm I'm really excited for that. I I love a long dinner and just bottles of wine.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:27

Dude, we'll do it, man. I'm stoked. Yeah. Oh, it's gonna be so good. I'm so excited. Okay. Until uh until next time, which is in like two weeks or no, yeah, yeah, week and a half.