This week Thomas Reiss joins Singletrack to share a glimpse into his epic journey from a small town in Germany to opening a design shop in Californian wine country. We talk about running Western States, hiking to Everest Basecamp, and punk music and great German food. Delicious.

One of my favorite outdoor companies redesigns their logo and overhauls their brand and I had to hear the story behind it all. Jeff Vierling, co-founder of Tailwind Nutrition joins Singletrack to share the process, the design decisions, and the challenges to keep all the various pieces of a undertaking like this moving. The designer in me loves stuff like this. The runner in me loves their endurance fuel and recover mix.

While the rain and cold is embracing the Pacific Northwest, Maria Dalzot joins Singletrack to talk about summer and sunshine, cows and cheese in Switzerland. We chat about racing along steep alpine trails through cow pastures and cute mountain villages. We reminisce about the incredible food and discuss what races to pick when dreaming of running in the Alps.

Thank you Maria for taking me back one more time to this glorious summer.

Podcast producer, host, and trail runner Emily Holland joins this week’s episode of Singletrack from Boulder Colorado. We talk about the peace, adventure, and community trail running brings us. In the second half of the show we dive into a meta conversation around the future of podcasting.

Also: the Singletrack Holiday Gift Guide is live, go check it out.

Alex Bond is back to share the best mountain running performances in Washington State submitted to Fastest Known Time for the year 2021. And wow, there are some inspirational efforts put up by incredible runners. From Alex Borsuk’s blistering run up Glacier Peak to Alex King’s dethroning of Uli Steidl’s long-held FKT at Mt. Rainier. And yes, we found some cool runs in the Olympics as well. What’s up with all the Alexes in this episode?

The challenges of the last 1/4 at Squamish 50, the joys of the flat interurban trail at Chuckanut, the relentless heat at R2R2R and the brutal beauty of Teanaway Country 100. This and more with PNW running legend and coach Keith Laverty, who finally made it on the show.

Aspire Adventure Running’s Abram Dickerson joins the show to share a glimpse into his jam-packed summer. Gathering trail runners in stunning scenery, feeding them delicious food and showing them unique places all over the West Coast is what Aspire does best and Abram is the mastermind behind it all.

Mountain Goat and otherworldly human being Jason Hardrath joins the show to share his little summer project. No stranger to crazy mountain adventures, for his 100th FKT attempt Jason picked the insane idea of climbing all 100 peaks of the Washington Bulgers list. We bushwhack, sleep on trails and traverse crevasse-filled glaciers.
Let’s go climb some mountains. Bring your ice axe, and a snickers bar.

After an incredible year of running Michael Linscott joins a very special episode of Singletrack to talk about his fabulous fifth finish at Cascade Crest. We also of course dissect my UTMR 100K DNF and talk about what makes racing in the Alps so special.

Also: This is episode 200! And we have some big announcements for the show going forward. Exciting times.

In this brief summer intermission show Mathias shares his travel stress and gear choices for his upcoming trip to the Alps and his 100K race at Ultra Tour Monte Rosa around the mountains of Grächen, Switzerland. Hello Alps, baby!

Friend of the show Tabatha Collins is back and she brought her trail running partner and fellow mountain slayer Mary Flinders with her. They were the first folks who attempted my epic Cushman Six route in the Staircase region of Olympic National Forest/Park.
And yes, I said attempted. When Tabatha contacted me a few days prior I felt comfortable sending them out into these mountains. These ladies are strong, experienced and know what they were doing. But these mountains aren’t easy, and there’s a lot of backcountry off trail travel.

Fresh off his 5th Hardrock100 finish Mike Ehredt is back on the show to share his latest adventures in the San Juans. The veteran Hardrocker reflects on this beautiful route and what it takes to successfully complete this extreme race as a back of the pack runner. We dive into what makes this community special and what the future holds for him in Silverton. Mike’s also a race director, and so of course we talk about the challenges and joys of organizing a trail race.

Mountain goat Steph Decker joins the show to talk about the latest adventure project she’s been working on. Inspired by ultra uber runner Christof Teuscher she’s working on a variation of his “Olympic Loops” in Olympic National Park. The project is a beast and while rendering somewhat speechless is inspiring me hugely to dream of new adventures. And of course, no conversation about massive adventures would be complete without a good conversation around shoes and gear.

Alex Bond returns to the show to share his experience with orienteering races, how it helps him on big mountain adventures and why he won’t run the Barkley Marathons. We talk about the romance and despair of circumnavigating volcanoes in the Cascades and what’s on the adventure docket for the remainder of the summer before the smoke rolls in, or are we already too late for that?

Lots is going on this week: An update on our hosting server changes, summer break announcements and talks about challenges in gateway communities. Orientation runs for LBA are happening and mountains are climbed. We’re continuing our training for summer races and UTMR announces a big change to the route which will have a bigger effect on Mathias’ summer plans. But, we’re excited. Let’s get after it.