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Interviews with mountain runners, photographers, hikers, and business owners who all share the common love for the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Ready? Do do do do. Listen
Andrew:for the wings.
Andrew:And that was the soothing sound of
Andrew:the boreal chickadee. A boreal chickadee?
Russ:Where did you find that one? Lifelister?
Andrew:It was on the Nelson Crag Trail. Thanks for asking. I had a great hike.
Andrew:Nelson Crag Trail.
Russ:Good guy. Local guy.
Andrew:Nelson. Yep. Those gnarly little birds all fluffed up mobbing me. Thinking I was
Russ:a tasty treat. Tasty. Yeah. Some would say you are a tasty treat. Tasty.
Russ:How come you guys have wind screens and my plosives are gonna be popping? Tasty.
Andrew:Everyone have their notes. Yes. Then let's kick it off. Welcome to the 2025 Bubba's Backyard Ultra preview podcast. I am graced with the presence of Russell James Grant to my left.
Andrew:What's up? And Monty McIndoe to my right.
Andrew:How come he gets a full address, a full, like, name and such and I get, like, this sub?
Andrew:Well, because we're gonna bring it up.
Andrew:That's a good point.
Andrew:That's part of that's a topic. I'm not your middle name, not important.
Andrew:It is important. Tell that to my mother. Oh, we're Cool.
Andrew:Well, we're kicking things off. We're gonna go through a little run a show here. We've got a little introduction, which I'm doing now with our picks and predictions. I guess our intro is really just going through the the whole email I sent out, which which covers all the important topics. Then we'll we'll do the picks, and then we'll do some hot takes at the end.
Andrew:Sound
Andrew:good? Yeah. What about the course and weather predictions? We're talking about that at the end or the beginning?
Russ:That was built in. Remember looking at your list.
Andrew:Weather predictions? Yeah. I mean, the the weather forecast is sort of what leads it off.
Andrew:Okay.
Andrew:Do you want us get into the weekend weather here?
Andrew:Yeah. Let's get into it.
Andrew:Well, I'll I'll first say this is gonna be Russ is competing. Yeah. We'll, you know, bring him up later. So he's got his legs up in the foot bath. Oh, we should get the foot bath going, though.
Andrew:And then Monty has the most race directing experience out of the two of us at backyard ultras or last gear standings combined.
Andrew:Yes.
Andrew:So congratulations. I'll just give him a pat on the back when you
Andrew:Thank see you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Russ:Must be nice. It's super nice.
Andrew:We're all fired up. We're not even loopy yet.
Russ:Well, we took that shot of ginger turmeric.
Andrew:The name brand is? Slap. Slap.
Andrew:With two p's. Two p's.
Andrew:Two p's for extra p.
Russ:Take a slap. Thank you. Hillary.
Andrew:Product of Canada.
Andrew:Hillary brought that up. Thank you, Hillary McCloy, for sponsoring us with the original Slap Ginger Turmeric. It's all organic.
Andrew:Okay. It's sitting funny.
Russ:It's not sitting great.
Andrew:Sucking on a spicy lemon. Weekend weather.
Andrew:So I got weekend weather. Thank you, Charlie the Presti. He sent me this little blurb. Hey, Monty. Best weather in Bubba's backyard.
Andrew:Ultra history is on the way. Seventies by day, near 50 at night. Perhaps it perhaps a touch of humidity late Sunday through Monday. And then he asked if we have any interest in a forecast video for the participants. And I said, yes.
Andrew:We do. So thanks, Charlie.
Andrew:Thanks, Charlie. Always delivering the goods.
Russ:Is this the best weather in the history of Bubba's?
Andrew:I mean, warmest? I don't know that's the best. I wouldn't call it the best. Driest,
Russ:for sure.
Andrew:Okay. Leading up to it, yes.
Andrew:Is it dry? The fastest conditions we'll see?
Andrew:I don't
Andrew:Do you think you could I think you think you could go through the years? '19, '20, '21, '22, '23, '24, '25? Do you think you could go through all of them and be like, oh, that was the cold year, that was the hot year, that was the wet year? They're just one mush ball in my brain. Well, two
Andrew:so last year wasn't the cold or hot year. Last year was pretty good.
Andrew:Two years ago was
Andrew:Two years ago was a super wet year where it was, like Muddle. It was, lollapooza. Released lightning for everybody. Was horrible. And then then we went to I went to pick up the course, and I was like, I can't believe they just ran this for, like, forty something hours.
Andrew:2021, the only year I did it, it was cold. I got Super cold. And the first year was very cold at night. I mean, it's it's typical these fall nights when dips below freezing, but in the daytime, it's like 70. Yeah.
Andrew:And this year, we're in the seventies and eighties Yeah. And in the fifties at night.
Russ:Yep. Tickling the eighties. I don't know if there's a full 80.
Andrew:If you're in the field,
Andrew:you're probably feeling under 80?
Russ:Oh, yeah. What's the line?
Andrew:79.
Andrew:What is it?
Andrew:What are the
Russ:what are the betting odds?
Andrew:I guess two to one that it's
Andrew:That's straight money line. I'm going under.
Andrew:You're saying it won't hit 80?
Russ:Won't hit 80. Where's the measuring point? Where's the measuring point? The lightning.
Andrew:Oh. It's gonna be on all week. Okay. We can
Andrew:Will it record it?
Russ:Mhmm.
Andrew:K.
Andrew:In the shade. Yeah.
Russ:I'll bring back. I'm going high then.
Andrew:Wait. You can't say one and then the other.
Russ:Well, yeah. Because now it's getting off of a Ford, ambient temperature sensor, and I know they're not the greatest ambient air temperature sensors on the planet. How dare you? That thing's gonna read, like, 97 at one point.
Andrew:Alright. Keep this moving. So this weekend, we have a 104 ish participants lined up. I just wanna throw that stat out there, but the setup is tomorrow. You're probably listening to this right now in your drive up, Friday, hopefully, and or, you know, maybe you're coming up last minute, Saturday morning.
Andrew:But Friday, we're gonna be setting up in the afternoon, and you're welcome to come set up your spot 3PM onward. We'll have some volunteers and crew there helping out, get everyone squared away. Don't park like assholes, nice and tight. There's a lot of people that need to be close to the finish start corral.
Andrew:Yeah, please don't take up a lot of space.
Andrew:But we do have plenty of space, so just be mindful. There will be signage for guest parking too, so there's a lower field access that Monty hopefully won't have to tow your little sedan out.
Andrew:Yep.
Russ:Then Okay. Don't drive on the course, please.
Andrew:Also, I went and leaf blew with Chris Pagoda, the course, today.
Andrew:I have not gotten to the course section yet.
Andrew:It's Thursday.
Andrew:Okay.
Andrew:Today.
Andrew:Alright. Do you alright. Fine.
Russ:Give us It's like last week.
Andrew:Give us the course.
Andrew:It was dry. Leaf fluid. The course looks great. Not a a couple new things to hop over, but not many.
Andrew:Fantastic.
Andrew:And I don't think I've been back around Bubba's since last year.
Andrew:Fun fact. Bubba's took a hit last summer, blowdowns everywhere, and for whatever reason this year, it was pretty clean.
Andrew:Yeah.
Andrew:Yep. Thank you, Chris Pagoda, for helping out.
Andrew:Helping out blowing leaves, crawling dogs, it was very appreciated.
Andrew:So Saturday morning, registration opens at eight, go to 09:30. We have set a new timing system this year. Every year, we have a new timing system.
Andrew:We do.
Andrew:But this one is gonna be mixed the future with the past year. We've got Sven, who did our very cool timing setup for the White Mountain one hundred, is back at it with the Bubbas. And that's gonna be on our homepage, Instagram, but it's what is it? Bub Bubbas Backyard Itch dot h
Andrew:t t p Stop. S.
Andrew:Just don't do
Andrew:that. Colon/ Don't /
Russ:do that.
Andrew:Bubba's dash live dot com.
Russ:I remember my first
Andrew:website. Dotlivefor a
Andrew:small Is it .live?
Russ:Yes. Dotlive.com/share.
Andrew:Dotnet.org.
Andrew:Yeah. It's bubba's-backyard.live. So there you go. It's it's very cool interface and should add a lot of, analytics for the downtime to ponder over.
Andrew:Yep. Be able to track your favorite participant participants.
Andrew:Pre race briefing, group photo, yeah, right into 10AM start.
Andrew:Oh, this year also prepared to have your glamour shot taken at registration also so we can have your picture before and after.
Andrew:Yeah. On an iPad. So it's gonna be great. We're look like I should have Monty there with his iPad Well, taking the
Russ:before the race, you were very blurry, and you had a thumb in the corner of your picture.
Andrew:Alright. It's 10AM start. That's the excitement. Most people know know the drill. Odds on clockwise versus counterclockwise first lap.
Andrew:Odds, a 100%, I know which way it's gonna go.
Russ:Really?
Andrew:Yeah.
Russ:I'm saying counterclockwise.
Andrew:Yep. It's the same way. Matter what For you're
Russ:those listening, Andrew had to just take his hand out and draw circles clockwise and
Andrew:He's left handed, though, so you gotta give him give him slack.
Russ:I always forget that.
Andrew:I'm not gonna spoil it.
Andrew:Yeah. It's going clockwise, so get ready.
Andrew:Alright. You know what they say about clockwise.
Andrew:Yes. Twice a day.
Andrew:Anyway, for those of you who are not participating and do not have a horse in this race, this event, sorry, come join us. It's gonna be a good time. You can burn some laps in the course. You can spectate, hang out, get loopy.
Andrew:You can also help participants who do not have the luxury of having a crew.
Andrew:That should be one of the volunteer things, is a little crew.
Russ:Who needs a crew? Yeah.
Andrew:That sounds like a doctor's too.
Andrew:Adopt a adopt a a runner.
Russ:Adopt a shop.
Andrew:Little Sydney Lou Who who needed a crew.
Andrew:When we fast forward to Sunday, we will have the beer mile.
Andrew:Yes.
Andrew:Let's go. Beer mile, it's at 01:10PM. Get ready.
Andrew:And I think I heard that at the beer mile, the Ed Clifford of the beer mile is also gonna be there.
Andrew:Yeah. The undefeated undefeated champion.
Andrew:Oh, yeah. That's you, Andrew. Sorry. I forgot you were sitting over there.
Andrew:There's a
Russ:lot of talk. Wins his own race.
Andrew:There's a
Andrew:lot of talk that big daddy's out there training, Andy Elliott Large father. That wanted to know what sort of beer we were drinking.
Andrew:And what vessels it was being drunk from.
Andrew:Bud Platinum this year. You gotta add in the key chain bottle openers for a little extra spice.
Russ:What was the Nordic beer mile?
Andrew:That was bottled beer. There's Bottled beans? Remember they broke in the in the crate when we threw them?
Russ:Oh, god. Yeah. There's glass all over the back of my truck. That was a mess.
Andrew:Who is the guy who did it in, the big clunky, like, Nordic backcountry skis, like, clomping all around?
Russ:Oh, me?
Andrew:Oh, yeah.
Russ:Yeah. That's right. Yeah. We
Andrew:will also have some medical there. We've got Will Peterson from the Dart Dartmouth Wilderness team, Wilderness Medicine team, whatever it that
Russ:the from the back country Will Peterson?
Andrew:The one and only. Wow. Maybe he'll do a live podcast. Oh, nice. Well, you're listening work on that.
Russ:There's nothing like a, running event for an exciting podcast place as we've seen from every 100 mile I broadcast everywhere.
Andrew:For those of you who are not subscribed to the hiking channel.
Andrew:But what we're talking about live, we're gonna debut our halftime show
Andrew:Yes.
Andrew:Slash Venmo lap. Yes. Once we once we get down to, say, four people, six to four, we will fundraise. Monty will take off his clothes in a fundraising effort for those still in the event.
Russ:Is that even fun when it's 50 degrees? It's just man gets naked in the woods at that point
Andrew:for cash.
Andrew:It depends on the quantity.
Russ:Still warm, still naked. Thanks.
Andrew:Give the people what they want. Mountain lightning. Yes. Lightning. Eggs.
Andrew:Eggs, mountain lightning, Bud Platinum. What's your obsession with Bud Platinum? From the beer mile. It's just things to remember I need to do tomorrow.
Andrew:I'll make a note. Jet sled.
Andrew:Okay. Jet sled. That's all that's pretty much what I got. Run a show for the weekend. This thing is, I think we have Monty's book through Tuesday.
Andrew:I mean, sorry, Bubba's book through Tuesday. We got Monty book through Tuesday. Got the halftime show on the brain.
Andrew:Oh my god.
Andrew:We flew in Monty for the strip tease.
Andrew:Ugh. Hey. I mean, god gave me a beautiful body. Why not share it with everybody?
Russ:Give you a body. Let's just be realistic here. You did you looked like a field mouse at LSS. It was like a little pink field
Andrew:mouse. Yeah. It was incredibly cold.
Russ:It was amazing that you got down to that little amount of clothing.
Andrew:I was cold. Yeah. Very, very cold.
Andrew:Moving along. We have a lot of names to list off here. So we'll get right into it, picks and predictions. Everyone get out your pen and paper here.
Andrew:Got it.
Andrew:Tried to do a lot of research this year. Gay did what UltraSynap gave us. We've got 40 returners out of the 104 that were on the list. Those are good numbers. I don't know how that stacks up against the past, but what that says is there'll be some veteran blood out there, people that know the drill.
Andrew:Leading him off, leading the charge is Dan West. This will be his sixth Bubba's. Super impressive there. JP is his fifth. Eric Boden, his fifth.
Andrew:Adam Ribeiro, fourth. And Austin Black, his fourth. Anything you wanna say about our friends that have been here a lot?
Andrew:No. I'm not even gonna mention friends, because I just go down the list and I know. So
Russ:I think the two sec sections from now is when Monti just names people he knows.
Andrew:That's a long list. Do do we have thoughts? Yes.
Andrew:Who's your favorite?
Andrew:Think of my Who
Andrew:do got?
Russ:Who do
Andrew:you got? Who's my favorite? Lucas.
Russ:Okay. Hard to argue.
Andrew:He was also my favorite. He's he's my pick. If we're if we're a gambling man, why Lucas?
Andrew:Okay. So if we're doing that, then since we both pick, we can't pick them. So who's next?
Andrew:That doesn't work that way.
Russ:Yeah. You still gotta talk about why.
Andrew:Yeah. You can't
Andrew:just stop talking about them. Two picked.
Andrew:Oh, why why pick Lewis? Yeah. Lucas? I mean, Lucas is what do you do? The the
Russ:Swiss Swiss Alton 160
Andrew:He's been training. So my favorite Lucas story between last time I saw him and that was Christian Morgan came in and said, oh, you know, I need somebody to do some running with. And I said, hey. I got the perfect guy for you. He showed up that afternoon, like, broken and bent.
Andrew:I'd send him out Lucas, and Lucas just ran him up and down the mountain until he couldn't take it anymore. So I think Lucas has a I think he's got all his stuff dialed, and he's took last year standing. I think he's going for all the crowns.
Andrew:So Lucas was a favorite last year too. Or at least we had our eyes on him, and but he had knee pain. Mhmm. Took him out, little tendonitis.
Russ:Still had 37 laps.
Andrew:Yeah. Yeah. But not enough in his mind. Yes. And he skipped out on the White Mountain one hundred, which he was gonna do September 5, because it got pushed too close to Bubba's, which means he's taking this Yeah.
Andrew:And obviously, coming off of last gear standing, the dude can stay up. Yeah. And that's what takes a lot of the athletes out, is they get bored, cold, They can't handle the sleep deprivation and yeah, here we are.
Andrew:Giant engine, nutrition dialed. He's, you know, I think he's hitting on all cylinders.
Andrew:Then
Andrew:So who do you have?
Russ:I have Lucas, but I mean, also Aaron Copland is hard to ignore.
Andrew:Yeah. I have Aaron.
Russ:He's always in top three, top five.
Andrew:Well, there's a reason why he has bib, like, number one.
Russ:Yeah. The captain. He's been
Andrew:He's the top returner.
Andrew:Showing up.
Andrew:I've got oh, see some other there's other strong people in in this, but let's go to the woman's side. Who's your top female pick?
Andrew:Erica Nurtini.
Russ:I had Erica too, but Jeez. Come on, I mean, also, looking down the list, there's, Caitlin Cheesley Okay. That we were talking about earlier.
Andrew:That's my dark horse pick, but
Russ:seventh female at Javelina hundred k this year or last year.
Andrew:Mhmm.
Russ:And pretty impressive.
Andrew:And a 100 mile experience. I think that's something I will I'll be repeating, and I have said in the past is Down the distance. Yeah. You you know you can handle a 100 miles. That's that's an unknown for a lot of people, but now we're we're talking about the 100 miles with the sleep deprivation.
Andrew:So
Russ:But I'm also gonna throw Katie Melsky in there. Fair. NTC person, but a total crusher. Finished her grid this year. Has the FKT on the Swan Song.
Russ:Yeah. Stole my money. Yeah. Well, don't put your money out there. She came in third at the twelve hours of Lawrence Woods.
Andrew:Oh, I've heard about that.
Russ:That's a race. Hell of a race.
Andrew:Heard I might be going to court.
Russ:That's No. Actually, all those charges were dropped, so thank you very much. But, she's a beast.
Andrew:Turns out you shouldn't be using, like, Krylon spray paint.
Russ:Was not paint. It was temporary.
Andrew:Everything's temporary,
Andrew:Temporary with the wire brush.
Russ:I talked to DCR. We're cool. We're cool. There might be another one next
Andrew:an acronym.
Russ:I love an acronym.
Andrew:Alright. Sorry. Big alright. So that kinda dipped into my dark horse pick. But if we're still if if you're taking her, I another dark horse would be Abby Foley.
Andrew:Yes.
Russ:CDT.
Andrew:I mean, yeah. So, I mean, off of the trend of hikers going along, yeah. Absolutely.
Russ:Who was the last Bubba's participant to come off
Andrew:the CDT? Maybe the last finisher.
Russ:Yeah. Danny Mahia.
Andrew:Dan Brown on trail.
Andrew:Good guy. Local guy. And dark well, keep going dark horse dark horse male pick. You guys got someone? Igor.
Andrew:Igor. Yep. Igor, all business, showing up with a an RV. Yes. Ed Ed Clifford style.
Andrew:Yeah. Gonna It's gonna be there a while.
Andrew:It's gonna be good.
Andrew:I've got Tom Hanlon to fresh off Vermont, one hundred second place in a speedy time, seventeen hours. Dude's got wheels. I would say and he's done last year standing into the thirty something hour mark, I believe.
Andrew:Yeah.
Andrew:So I don't know. Dude can stay up, can run fast.
Russ:Yeah. I'm going with me. I'm my own dark Man. Horse What? I've been calling my show out for like two months now.
Andrew:Russ, I will give you I will give you a compliment after all this, but tell me why tell me why you're the dark horse.
Russ:I've been eating a lot of hot dogs this summer. Oh my god. I'm talking a lot of hot dogs. And that's pretty much it.
Andrew:I mean, that would that How can can you argue with that? You can't argue with that.
Andrew:No. Hot dog theory, tried and true, especially the Summit Dogs.
Andrew:So so, I mean, so
Russ:I think threw any of them up.
Andrew:Spencer ate a lot of hot dogs this this summer also Mhmm. In the backyard and then finished the 100 with almost no training. So I think there's a causal relationship there that we should really dig into. Nitrates or
Russ:the nitrates.
Andrew:Yes.
Andrew:Russ nailed his first 100 miles at the, Back Cove Ultra. You stopped at a 100. Why'd you stop
Russ:at a 100? Because I'm an idiot. Yeah. And I had a 100 miles as my goal, and as soon as it happened, it was like everything was not fun anymore.
Andrew:I heard you had your shoes set to explode at a 100 miles, so you couldn't go any
Russ:further. I did take that shoe off and snap it
Andrew:in half. Yeah. Russ also only only person to double Bubba's in the beer mile three times? Two times. Two times.
Russ:Not happening this year. You sure? Yeah. It's not happening.
Andrew:I don't know
Andrew:if I should be, like, bummed or impressed.
Russ:Who asked if they could do the beer mile instead of their lap? Is that still up for grabs?
Andrew:I'm trying to figure out how you could incorporate it, but it's just too much. It's real. I mean, I like I like the idea.
Russ:I I four beers with you on your loop and just come back.
Andrew:That's not gonna work. I mean, if there was a way that everyone could all the participants could witness the beer mile if it happened in the last ten minutes of their interloople time. So it comes up onto the hour and the beer mile's happening, Just total chaos.
Russ:The pro that's you're pulling all the volunteers from the finish though?
Andrew:No. You do everything. You have to re make a new course.
Russ:Yeah. Oh, so they use it at
Andrew:the barn. At at the corral. Oh.
Andrew:Alright. I got a question for you since you guys are going way off topic. Who would you be happiest to to see take this? It's it's a two part question, so let's get answers.
Andrew:I mean, would really like Austin Black to finish off his ultra runner of the year for the Northeast. That'd a monster year.
Andrew:Yeah. That'd be a gigantic I mean, that that's a great call.
Andrew:We're gonna talk about him anyway, so let's just go now. I'd pick him because he has done last Nordic skier standing, last skier standing, and now going for the ultimate DNF trifecta, Bubba's. Yeah. But there's a chance if it goes long enough, he might have it work. He might I bet he would call in sick.
Andrew:I don't know. He is a he's up guy. If he says he's gonna be somewhere, I think he's gonna be somewhere.
Andrew:We'll call in sick for him. Take his phone.
Russ:Take his phone?
Andrew:Okay. Call work. So he so that's
Andrew:He's one. Have a second one.
Andrew:So But go ahead. So you're happiest so we'll just go one and two. He So you're happiest that he who would you be happiest to see be the assist? Ben Feinsen. Yeah.
Andrew:Okay.
Andrew:I'm with that. Okay. Well, who would you say?
Andrew:So my I would love to see August win this thing. Okay. That would it made me incredibly happy, and I think Ben would be the runner-up.
Andrew:I mean, it could you could have either of those two flip flop.
Andrew:Do you know what? You you know August.
Russ:I'm not sure I know August.
Andrew:Super nice Canadian kid, last year standing. Super nice. I'll show you.
Russ:There's so many nice people. It's hard to I mean differentiate.
Andrew:I would just say the Richmond Run Club. I mean, I I'm in full support.
Andrew:Yeah. So I tried to find out from my what Ben's mindset is because it's they're they're also from Vermont, so their mindset has to be correct.
Andrew:Yeah. Fair enough.
Andrew:And if they're not that's why, like, Adam Rubaro, I think, could take it at any point in the year. But at certain points, he's like, you know, I got I got something else to do. I could keep on going, but, know, I'm feeling good. And it's like, okay.
Russ:I think he has crew this year too.
Andrew:I mean I mean, yeah. He's well, he's always I think he's gonna be up there no matter what. And I I'd say I mean, that means you have to have a good mindset going into this. And that going back to Ben Feinstein, it's like, if you're not in it, like you're not mentally, if you're not checked in, like, you're just not not gonna go too far. I don't know how you turn that on when things get rough,
Andrew:but Yeah. But you Russell, you have a giant crew showing up.
Russ:It's like a group crew.
Andrew:Yeah. Yeah. Tell me about the group crew.
Russ:It's NTCB, Northeast Trail Crew.
Andrew:Who's who's the head of it?
Russ:It'd be Colin, Walton, and Ruthie. Colin's gonna
Andrew:be the So it's a it's a hydra. It's a three headed beast.
Russ:If you have split leadership, no one can take the fall when something horrific happens.
Andrew:Said the guy who's four minute whatever.
Russ:Yeah. I mean,
Andrew:Jesus. Is is Colin bringing the pizza?
Russ:I heard there will be pizza.
Andrew:Did you? Yeah. Will there be tariffs on that pizza? What pizza? Tariffs.
Russ:No. No. It's all locally sourced.
Andrew:Okay. Just checking.
Andrew:Oh, yeah. Alright. This is going out
Russ:on the Internet.
Andrew:We're just getting cut.
Andrew:The only
Andrew:three of us The joke. And maybe Dan Kurtz.
Andrew:Oh, shout out to Dan Kurtz. Also, he couldn't be here, but he said he wanted to be here.
Russ:So Van Hertz. Van Hertz. Dan Kurtz Van Hertz. Oh,
Andrew:I do you have a female dark horse besides Erica? What's up?
Andrew:Yes. Well, no. They're not dark horse.
Andrew:I have one, but I I don't know. I I pronounce the last name. I can't pronounce the first name. I think it's Janessa.
Andrew:That's the
Russ:word you had
Andrew:said that? No. Based on that, I have trouble with
Russ:it. Janessa. Yeah.
Andrew:I mean, I I've never seen it nor have I ever said it out loud. Janessa. That's what I think it is. Bisonette.
Russ:You nailed it.
Andrew:My dark horse female. So look forward to meeting.
Russ:Why is she your dark horse? Ticks a lot of boxes.
Andrew:Lot of a lot of results on ultra sign up, and I think yeah. I don't know. I don't have to tell you my secret stuff. Okay. I sometimes I wonder why up for these.
Russ:Alright. You keep your secrets.
Andrew:I wanna keep them.
Andrew:Okay. Heavy hitters.
Andrew:Who do got? What do mean heavy hitters?
Andrew:I mean, JP. I mean, people that big names, big names, all this, have a have a reason that you think will do well that maybe they're they're not your, like, dark horse or your lead pick, but you think are gonna be in there late. Is this Jimmy's first Bubba's?
Andrew:I mean, yeah. I mean, I think Jimmy's gonna I mean, that's a tough call for Jimmy. Like, is I think he's gonna go deep.
Russ:If he can keep his forehead off the rock. I I don't know. I mean, keep all his skin on his face.
Andrew:I have a hard time picking people that don't have experience in this format because it is the wild wild west.
Andrew:The the turn on and turn off is a nightmare.
Andrew:Yeah. Everything's fun in the sun that first Saturday and then the lights go out. Not as much fun. Yeah. Next day, fun.
Andrew:Yeah. Next night? I mean, but it's like
Andrew:I mean, the the way you want the way I look at it is when I say it's not fun, it's like Erica Nottini, like, balling and then getting up and going out again. Yeah. That is that is the, like alright. You want a picture of it? That's what it looks like.
Andrew:That's what it feels like inside. That's what it looks like outside.
Russ:Yeah. Those not fun fun swings. For real. It can go, like, twenty minutes. Violent.
Russ:Oh. For for for twenty minutes, you'd be like, oh, I feel great. And if the next, like, three hours, like, I'm I wanna die. I hate everything. This is terrible.
Andrew:And that's a good point. Just having been there and experienced the not fun and the scariness of the second night. That's if you get to the second night. Yeah. And the numbers say only 20% make it to twenty four hours.
Andrew:Yeah. That's 10AM on Sunday.
Andrew:Well, because, I mean, because it's I still believe the the switch flicking concept of you how you set a goal. I wanna go full day. Once it becomes that day, you all systems shut down.
Andrew:I so we were talking Jimmy has to go at least, what, forty five hours Mhmm. To match his time on the White Moon. White Moon Leonard. Great logic there. I don't think that math applies at a 150 miles.
Russ:That's the record. It's never gone 45.
Andrew:I it has.
Andrew:Ed versus Brian Burke.
Russ:That's 45?
Andrew:Yeah.
Russ:Yeah. Ed Brian Burke one or Ed Brian Burke two?
Andrew:Two. Two.
Andrew:2021. The year I dropped because it went to next next daylight.
Andrew:Yeah. '21.
Andrew:Hot take. There will not be a record set this year. That's a hot take. Is that the hottest take?
Russ:That's a hot take.
Andrew:Prove me wrong. I mean, you
Russ:get some crushers in there.
Andrew:So, I mean, with the heat, is it sub 40? I think the heat's not gonna be good. I think the heat's gonna be bad.
Russ:I think
Andrew:the heat's gonna be hot.
Russ:It's high seventies.
Andrew:That's a hot take.
Russ:Yeah. That is a hot take.
Andrew:But it's been in, like, the forties and thirties here.
Russ:Oh, that's where the southern people have an advantage.
Andrew:For those people who cannot stay hydrated, it's gonna be bad. Why are looking at me?
Russ:Why are looking at me? Yeah.
Andrew:Keep moving. Keep moving.
Russ:That was a 10 k. That doesn't count.
Andrew:So hot yeah. I don't think so is it is it gonna go? I think it's gonna hover right around forty forty laps. I think the sun will come up, and it'll be over.
Russ:I don't know. Sun coming up really energizes people. Does it?
Andrew:I have a I have a vivid memory of Remstone. Remember him walking through like the twenty four hour mark? Yeah. Death on legs. Did not look good.
Andrew:But, know, I mean twenty four hours is a long time. Oh, this is again the I think I will speak for myself, not for everybody else. My perspective is so warped. Like, thinking like, oh, twenty four hours, you're just getting into it into the event. Twenty four hours is a full day, and they've gone really far in a course that just wants to trip you.
Andrew:So I mean, like, it's you like, it's no big deal. It's awesome that they go that far. It's just people go a lot further.
Andrew:It's fun until it's not. I mean, how many times do have to say that? I love watching everyone. I always remember Tom Hooper skipping around laughing at why all the roots were marked. Yeah.
Andrew:And then come like ten ten laps into it, he's like, this isn't fun anymore.
Andrew:I wanna go home.
Andrew:Yeah. Alright. Other people on your list, Monty? You did research, so let's let's dig into it.
Andrew:I I mean, I've hit most of the people. Russell, JP, Lucas, Adam, Ben, August, Erica, Aaron, Igor, and then, you know, I mean So
Andrew:I'm gonna go I'm gonna drop my names here. Alright. So JP didn't really get a fair shout out. Bridesmaid in both the Beer Mile and Bubba's. Yep.
Russ:Former bridesmaid. Former bridesmaids, former assist. Always bridesmaid, never bride.
Andrew:Breakout Beer Mile performance last year. JP wants in on this, and I think if he can latch on to someone, he's going deep. We have Lila Herod Herod? Herod? She just set the AT record.
Andrew:I mean, we've seen people coming off trail go very deep. Kraeger Taber went deep last year. She's there. Very cool seeing Becky Lamar.
Andrew:Yeah.
Andrew:Her name on there. So if we recall, Nate Lamar has done exceptionally well here, especially that, you know, coming back. Yeah. His first year was Was the assist. Was the assist.
Andrew:It just eke out twenty four hours, but then came back Super strong. Deep again. I think I was maybe, like, one of my break the dark horse females was was Taylor Miller. I could see a breakout performance happen here with her experience at Ghost Train, Ragged Stage Race, and was just second at the Jigger fifty miler. Kyle.
Andrew:Kyle Hughes. Kyle, one lap Kyle. Kyle's other half Abby's other half.
Andrew:So how does that play into it?
Andrew:I don't know. Abby versus Kyle.
Andrew:Is it? Or are they working together? And then who supports who?
Andrew:I got Abby. No offense, Kyle. Yeah. Sorry, Kyle.
Russ:Yeah. Is Zan in?
Andrew:I mean, I'm I mean, she's I I don't wanna say I'm I'm on team Abby with the teacher. Up.
Andrew:She's had, like, a week off. Is Zan in? Zan? Zan might be in.
Russ:I think Zan can do some damage. To himself, to his body. Dude likes to suffer. He's recklessly destroying himself.
Andrew:Yeah. There's there's a couple last minute entries. Jimmy Rip's one of them, and I think Zan is about to hit confirm Yes. On an invite. Alright.
Andrew:Moving on. Andy Johnson said that Patrick Mulready, Hutt Kids. We know we know what Hutt are capable of, so do not count him out. Tyler Kuhn's very strong. Oh, who didn't that's funny.
Andrew:We're going through all this stuff, and we're talking about, well, Michael Conley, not really dark horse, has a ton of stout times in the White Mountains. He's got a White Mountain 100 under his belt. He's got, what? I don't know, Pemigntial. Tons of long efforts in the whites, so he's not like a dark horse.
Andrew:He's at the top of the ultra sign up list. Yep. I think what I was getting at was the this format is such an unknown that it's hard to gauge what happens. I look at people like Clark Plummer or Conor Brown's coming back. Yeah.
Andrew:Also, like, have done some big efforts in the whites, but it's just like, I don't know. Don't know.
Andrew:Yeah. I I would love to have this split universe where you had people just go and not stop versus the stop and go and see how different it would be.
Andrew:I know. There's there's that talk of, like, if this Bubba's was a twenty four hour. Ugh. Imagine doing a twenty four hour in the spring No. As a as a, like, opener.
Andrew:What do you mean season opener? Twenty four
Russ:hour Bubba's in May?
Andrew:Like, whatever the heart of mud season is, just do it there.
Russ:Oh, god.
Andrew:It's a great idea.
Russ:I'm into that. Make it thirty hours. I'm putting putting those in the Snagger.
Andrew:Oh, the 20 mile hour. The twenty five hour of Yeah.
Andrew:Nice. Okay. Spring. Travis Lone Car in the house, I think, driving up from PA. Be cool to meet him, the brains behind Free Trail Fantasy.
Andrew:And who else? Michael Whitmore. He's a nut. He did Cocadona. He was chomping at the bit to get into this, so he, like, set the registration date alarm way in advance.
Andrew:I think that so that's that's all on my friends list that I I need to get through, I think. I'm I'm sure I'm missing someone. I could name a million people. Name them all. We have the list.
Andrew:Yeah. Russell, you got anything?
Andrew:Will there be a new woman's record set?
Russ:What is the current woman's record?
Andrew:Does Maya have it? Yeah. Are you sure?
Andrew:I'm pretty sure.
Russ:Maya did one thirty, a 133 miles.
Andrew:You guys you guys have anything else? Do you wanna
Andrew:contribute here? I don't. I'm looking forward to it. I'm I would just wanna, you know, get it here, say hi to all the people, get them all parked, and send them off to school.
Andrew:Yeah. Yeah. The excitement the excitement happens when when that first lap kicks off and that clock starts ticking. Wanna give a shout out to sponsors. As always, it makes a little fun little more fun for the participants.
Andrew:We're always grateful and we got a lot of giveaways. Terex will be there, so Erica from Terex will be handing out some swag. We're gonna have the medallions out in the course, redeem those for some some cool prizes. I have little coupons for Neurona and HOKA, and well, all the shoe companies as well. So Terex, HOKA, normal, whatever we carry in the shop.
Andrew:Nice nice little swag bag gift cards. We've got some stuff from White Mountain Ski Co Coffee, which is very cool. Pierre roasted a bunch this morning. There'll be, like, a little coffee bag lap. That's fun.
Andrew:That will be happening. Hillary McCloy PT will be floating around, doing some, I don't know, on the spot PT, probably, not by choice. And I don't know, who else who else is contributing this year? Oh, Best Day Brewing. I got a we got a beer hand off for the beer mile, so how could I forget that one?
Andrew:Sorry Bud Light Platinum. I know. I know. I'm sorry.
Andrew:Oh, big thanks to Bubba. Oh, yeah. Big
Andrew:thanks to Bubba. Cheers.
Andrew:Thank you, Bubba.
Andrew:You will all get to see Bubba at some point. He'll be out there on the course doing a little maintenance. But I think we covered it all. Thanks for bearing with us. The weekend's gonna be a blast.
Andrew:Again, come swing by, hang out, especially on that Sunday. It gets very cold, dark, and depressing once everyone leaves, so we could certainly use some support. If anyone is listening to this and wants to volunteer, just ping me. I'll get back to you. We have a sign up sheet, and we'll see you on the other side.
Andrew:Thanks, Andrew. Thanks, Russell.
Russ:Thanks, guys.