Mr Trail Safety Speaks!

Nobody gives a fuck about your FKT or World Record. Nobody gives a fuck about your FKT or World Record. Seriously. Both are stunts on a continuum. In Before Times, a John Muir Trail FKT was the Holy Grail. Sometime in the 90s Blake Wood did it out of curiosity, having backpacked it with his dad over ten times as a teen. Fast forward to now. Why anyone would want to race thru spectacular Sierra topography is beyond me. But they do. There have been some hilarious misfires on JMT FKT's , one noted here. Actual races, on a defined course, with a disinterested party running the clock is where bullshit gets taken to the woodshed. This is also where the Last Man Standing idea is brutally savage. World Records are a different animal. Like how many London cabs can you jump over with a pogo stick sort of thing. Things you can argue about while drinking. The Guardian keeps an eye on this . Sharp minds have seen ways to game that genre. World Records are a personal obsession that is bent to mo...

Facts, damnable facts. Peter: It's always good hearing from you! Seeing that we're all real busy these days, I'll make this short and to the point.  [for those just dropping in, here's my original 2001 post that enraged Peter Bakwin ] 1] I stand by my observations.  2] Sharp-focus commentary is not "picking on you"; it's part of the "balls to wall" experience.  3] If I am living a dull and creativity-challenged life, let me know. I'll be at Highline 50 next week, Mile 44. [But, time's a wasting! Back to the main show...]  4] I don't dispute your reasons for pre-announcing your intentions. What was fascinating how you two did it. The terms "enabled" and "enabling" come to mind; along with "safari hunting with a brass-band".  5] Unsupported. Unsupported. Unsupported. Big noises about that. Now it's easy to say otherwise.  Whether or not Tweit, Hoff, LaCava or anybody else had support is beside the po...

I love this talk about John Muir Trail and "record fever". There's such a rancid desperate air about it. But it's Spring, and it's with us again.  Blake Wood did a masterful job. The account is low-key, insightful, accurate and bullshit free.  Bruce Hoff did his turn several years ago. Again, low-key, honest, funny and sobering.  Last year Buzzy & Peter treated us to a brass-band fanfare prior to the Great Unsupported JMT Record-Breaking Event. We were directed to the appropriate press flackery, which Was All True, of course.  The air was thick with attitude about it all, Cali trails being wimpy and all, and how Two Colorado Dewds were gonna show ever'body a thing or two about trail running. Unsupported. This was canon law.  The Mountain Gods stirred from their torpors. Pulverized mule turds set the tone, and the howling started there. Four days of no sleep and robotic humping thru what...Gawd's Epic Back Yard. They might as well have run along the si...