 Should I just... Yeah, you're just gonna sit there like that, right? So my friends, I have a very special guest today. This is my friend Jabba, also known as the hiking Viking and you're probably thinking... What's his real name? Yeah, what's his real name and why do we care about hiking? This is a bike channel. Yeah, well the hiking Viking liked him some biking last year. Whoa, and he rhymes and he's a really fun guy I met him a couple years ago when he was the crew chief for Scott Jurek's Attempt at running the Appalachian Trail for the second time and then we've got the hiking Viking out here. Just jam and look at him We connected because he's fun and he's goofy. Same, same. He's fun and goofy. Totally, totally, totally And then we were talking about adventures and he's like I want to ride The Great Divide and then maybe even more. Hold on. At first, I was while we were in that van together Scott's run, you know, you were talking to me about bike packing because I had never been introduced to the world of bike packing So I was learning about your adventures and how cool it is. You had your own signature bike, the Priority 600X adventure And I have my own signature backpack, the Mount Smith Zerk 40 and you know, it just kind of made sense I wanted to take this aging body into the new era of 40 plus, you know, years on this earth and biking just seemed like the, you know, the next step Totally. So you got me one of your bikes. I got you the 600X. Thanks, Priority. Thanks, Ryan You're welcome. I have yet to get one of your backpacks though. Well, thanks for sharing the wealth Okay, moving on. So when I say that he's known for hiking, I don't just mean like he goes on little day hikes He has hiked all of the long trails in the United States multiple times. Give us a quick resume Appalachian Trail twice, once in winter, starting in Maine in the first week of December Which is one of the latest starts on record for that, you know, going from Maine to I said a quick resume. But then I did this Continental Divide Trail, I've done the Pacific Coast Trail twice, and the Arizona Trail, the Colorado Trail twice I've done the You know, the the You just said it too fast. The Wind River route. I've done the Sierra High route I've done a bunch of other stuff Including the Jordan Trail in the Middle East from, you know, Syria to the Red Sea. That's cool So he is no stranger to long adventures. 30,000 miles at this point in my career. Walking. Walking. That's pretty cool Yeah, so he's no stranger to long adventures. We got him a bike because he wanted to, you know, dabble in bikepacking and what did you do last summer? Well, I mean anyone who starts bikepacking I can't imagine starts with any less than 5,000 miles. Yeah, why not? Some people start with maybe a weekend ride. No, but you had never done this before. I hadn't even taken your bike on an overnight trip yet. I hadn't even put more than I think 10 to 15 miles into a couple of the Training rides I went on with it. I hadn't even slapped the gear on it before the day before I was leaving To the southern border of Mexico to start the Great Divide bikepacking route going northbound. So you went in totally inexperienced. Just naked from the waist down. Yeah, and that's your style and I love that about you. Yeah, and so he just went to the bottom of New Mexico with it with the brand new bike The bottom of New Mexico, a brand new bike that was giving me a flat tire on the first day. There's the bacon strip And the sealant's just Flowing out. I probably don't even have any sealant left. Oh man. It was leaking as soon as I pulled it out of the car Yeah, that's user error by the way. That's user error. Not user error. Not loser error either. I'll tell you that much. Yeah, but I certainly had doubts pulling that. Okay This is taking a really long time to get into this. I've got time. Okay. They don't they have things to do Okay, so you're like I'm gonna ride the Great Divide all the way up And then I'm gonna ride the Western Wildlands route all the way back down How about 5,000 dish miles and I'd never even heard of the Western Wildlands route until like you know Maybe a month or two before I started. Yeah, again, cuz you're not you're not in the community Yeah, but you wanted to go on an adventure of a lifetime and you did How was the like first day? You're like I love moving faster than walking. Well, it was like first of all It was like the first week of June. Mm-hmm warm and it was very warm It was you know a hundred degrees a lot of days down there in the desert in New Mexico Hey, aren't you the real hiking Viking Viking? One of those things one of those guys maybe all of them all of them Fortunately, I was already acclimated because I'd already done 500 miles of backpacking in New Mexico just before that Yeah, no big deal. I was already acclimated to the desert. Thankfully, but the Most of the National actually all the National Forest in New Mexico was closed due to like catastrophic fires happening last year So I had to make my own route through New Mexico. Okay, but day one. I you know Yeah, I was on roads the whole time basically pavement. I think I threw down about 50 miles on day one So right on so and that was a late a later start That was the longest ride at that time of your life by far by far. Yeah, how'd your butt feel fine? Fine fine. How does your butt feel now better? But didn't didn't feel fine every day, but it certainly wasn't nearly as bad as some of the horror stories I'd heard I never I never ended up can you know contracting true saddle sores no open saddle sores And a single one you don't want doesn't mean it wasn't tender down there and painful at times You're there's a lot of tender. I've got a lot of you're pushing for the quick wait. No Family channel. No cushion for the bike seat. Yeah So you do your first day you have some mechanical issues you you don't know how to fix a bike No, no, no good thing you're on a 600. I've never changed a tire. Okay, I've never fixed anything on a bike YouTube exists, you know Yeah, he would call me There's something happening. Oh, okay, that's no problem What did you love most about it, I mean it's a much different way of moving your body than with your feet But it's still human-powered Well, you know what was interesting for me was that like You know with all the miles that I put on my body. I was also in the Marine Corps for four years in the infantry I've done a lot of wear and tear on this body with backpacking and you know with Marine Corps And with just being a four-sport athlete before that my back's not what it used to be my knees I want they used to be I've had a couple surgeries on one of my knees And what I discovered about bike packing is you can cover a lot of ground and with almost you know little to no Impact unless you're having catastrophic Accidents, which I didn't have any of those fortunately. You want to keep the rubber side down? That's a suggestion. I feel like But so I it was it agreed with my body. It was just a lot of fun to I like going fast, too It's like Ricky Bobby I want to go fast. Yeah, I hear you so like I periodically, you know, whenever I'd have a downhill a significant downhill I would have my phone, you know attached to my handlebars and I've just How fast can I get this thing going? Yeah, you know, I'd have my Gaia and my Strava going and I would see you know Like the stats of the day at the end of the day, like what was my top speed and there would be like 50 you like 15 miles an hour 50 56 57 I think I was at 57.8 like 8 was like my top speed The good thing about your bike is that you know the all the gears that you have the top gear is like Legit Crank you can really crack on that thing going downhill 600% gear ratio. No big deal. I mean, but that's cool Right like like let's put it this way for the couple of times. I was like biking with other bike bike packers I was always smoking them like they didn't have the high-end gear that I Loved it. Well, I loved following your adventure on Instagram I will put it right here or here or here wherever the hiking Viking. He's very entertaining as you can see lots of energy I love following the adventure because you're very good at telling stories if this guy's telling you you have a lot of good adventure You know, it's true. That's true. This guy's got a lot of really good energy. I know I know some I feed off of energy. Yeah, when I first met you I was like, oh, this guy's a lot of fun What rhymes with hiking for Viking and Vikings are warriors. That's right And you went through New Mexico Colorado the whole great divide and You know day by day, I'm guessing you're getting stronger. You're getting more comfortable You're figuring out different things on the bike changing changing up my gear as well Like different bike packing equipment just because you know, you want to learn you want you got to try different stuff to learn too Yeah, and what you maybe they haven't heard yet was it was never my intention to start the West Western Wildlands route Like in addition to the great divide like that was an idea I concocted while I was out there I was loving it that much. I was like, I don't want to stop at Canada When I got there, I figured since I gone this far Might as well turn around just keep on going because the endpoint on it will the northern terminus I should say my endpoint on the great divide route was gonna be the Canadian border I wasn't gonna do go all the way up But that's the same point for the Western Wildlands route that starts in the Canadian border So I was like, I'm already here. Yeah, let's just turn I'll be done in no time. It was not because it's downhill. Yeah So this was like a total force-gump moment. Yeah, you're like, I'm just gonna keep on going. I felt like back I'm I felt like back. Yeah, I might as well just turn back Keep right on going. It's an inspirational thing that you've never done this before. Yeah, you have no background But you started loving it immediately. Yeah, well, what did you love most about traveling by bike? Was it the speed? Was it that you could carry more gear because I know with backpack I got to eat better You get to eat better. Yeah, but backpacking you have to have all this dried foods and stuff cuz you're out in the middle of nowhere So you gotta carry it on your back. Yeah, the bike is carrying the weight Now, yeah, your muscles got to work But muscle soreness and muscle fatigue is totally different than like foot soreness and back soreness and shoulder soreness and hips Soreness and just like you're just exerting a total body differently with bike with backpack and then you are with bike packing So it doesn't mean that the bike pack is not challenging. It's just different, but it's easier in some respects I'm not saying it's like easy. I'm just saying in some respects It's easier because I imagine on backpacking trips. You might be camped out 12 miles from a town which is kind of far to walk I mean it's a half-day of hiking depending on your pace on a bike You can be like, I'm gonna zip into town and get some dinner and then come back and camp or yeah exactly And then just push on. Yeah, whatever it is. Yeah, so I had to carry less Equipment and less food pancakes, bacon, sausage and egg and cheese Oh and showering and cleaning your clothes is very important to keep maintaining good grundle hygiene Oh, yes, really. Is that why you didn't get those saddle sores? Probably. Yeah, man So you're probably the first human that I know of who did the double The whole great divide and then the Western Wildlands and one fell suit 5,000 miles four months, right? So I reached out to some people that like in the Instagram world who were like well-to-do In the bike packing like community and world and I stumbled upon a dude named Kurt refs nighter Oh, yeah, yeah who started bike packing roots exactly co-founder as far as I know and he also helped I think co-find the Western Wildlands route as well. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not super We're not like buds or anything. I just but you would be I we would be we had a few Interactions when I was just like getting my feet wet in this whole world and I you know pose the idea I was like, hey, I was like, what do you know about this Western Wildlands? I was like, well, it's what how rad I you know up to create and As far as I know Nobody has ever completed the full circuit of both the gdmbr and the Western Wildlands route He's like there's one guy out there right now And I don't know how far he's gotten and then I turned out later on down the road that that that guy stopped updating his Route and I don't think he ever completed your number one Doesn't matter but he's not it is interesting It's cool. I think more people are gonna like maybe hear your story and be like I want to do the double Well, let's put it this way like, you know, the gdmbr took you how long, you know, it's about like a month give or take So and a month to the You know to Normal person not saying you're no person but to a normal person a month is like a long journey to me I'm used to like four to seven month long journeys. Yeah, so to do another, you know, two months or whatever I took to go back down You know, I mean, it wasn't quite two months each way. Yeah less than that But yeah, it was just like it felt right to keep going into like autumn. Well, just got stopped by the cops And he stopped to give me water Thought up these two bottles checked a bunch now you love bikes You still love hiking. Oh, yeah, so now you're gonna be the hiking biking biking for sure, whatever you want to call it I'm gonna call it that the I'm gonna call it Do you have any dreams in the future of other adventures? Well, certainly I There's been talks of potentially doing the Arizona Trail this way. Oh, yeah, we'll see about that Okay, and I would love to do an adventure with you sometime. We've been hoping we're gonna make it out We haven't been on a trail together since 2021 and were we even ever on the trail together? I don't think we were not much be fun Don't just ride side-by-side with you holding hands. Yeah, not this way So The I you know, it would be it'd be amazing to ride across Iceland It'd be amazing to you know ride down through Central America into South America Yeah, I mean geez like where wouldn't there be an interest to go ride? So well bike packing is blowing up in general by packing comm is a huge website Everybody goes there to get inspiration and look at their roots Yeah, and gear and all that stuff and there's a reason why people love it because it is a sport That's fun because you're riding a bike And you know when you dream back to some of your first childhood memories Maybe it is when you learned how to ride a bike you have that feeling of freedom and there's a lot of people who are Regaining that that sense of disacitement riding a bike Well, it's just like you know To have the the freedom to go wherever you want More quickly, but under your own human power It's like a perfect marriage between like being on a motorcycle and being on foot Yeah, you know, but it's the human powered part is like there's a rewarding element at the end of a journey at the end of a Day, so where you started to where you got to you know, and and I think I was just continuously fueled by you know Seeing my you know where I was on a map constantly covering great distances I mean, I went from you know day one fifty miles being my biggest day to like doing a hundred and thirty mile day the next week I'm at one hundred and thirteen miles in a day It's been hotter than shit. I mean never read off. I should have like I Don't know like 10 to 15 miles to go. You were doing big miles like you weren't I did contract a little bit of an Akili's Tightness that had to be Managed I took like I think like a ten-day break to let some Akili's Strain yeah, I heal up, but that's because and I just like I said, I won't go fast. I'm gonna go big I want to go far hard and my body said hey slow down dude is your first time being on a bike So but it's still like it's really it was rewarding it and like there's a lot of lessons Continuously, you know being taught to you on a daily basis, especially with a new mode of travel Absolutely, yeah, and it was really inspiring to see how quickly you Embraced it and loved it. Do you have any advice for somebody out there who's like, you know I would love to get into bikepacking, but I'm a little nervous because of this and this and this or the gear or the Terrain and my physical fitness. What would you say? I would say Listen, I'm like when I started biking I was like 225 pounds like you can be any weight you want to get on a bike your your fitness level Doesn't even matter that much like you just got to start and you just got to go and you got to not give up And you got to like listen to your body and you got to like not push yourself to the brink of like Extinction while you're out there because you want to have fun Yeah, the point is to be on an adventure to enjoy yourself. Yes challenging yourself It's fun and getting right over the edge of discomfort sometimes But you want to be at the end of the day like this is so I think I would say the biggest hurdle for most people Who have not who don't own a bike yet for it for this is deciding what bike to get and quite frankly Your bike was the perfect bike to use for it for especially for a new and you know You're not a new but like you put in so many miles and hours and Days and months in biking and then you like said hey, I want to make the just I made a solid bike Perfect for my application and you made a bike that was perfect for your application And it's so good that you you can be a literal like idiot when it comes to bikes And I was I kind of still am I had like that bike took a beating from me I was just unrelenting with how I would brutalize that thing and by and large no structural issues No drivetrain issues That that internal gearbox from gates and pinion and that carbon drivetrain. Yeah, it was amazing It's pretty cool like it really is. Yeah, you know just anything can break. It's mechanical Yeah, but the bike is strong and I did not pay him to say any of this very nice He didn't give me the bike. I'm not gonna lie like yeah, but honestly, I don't think there's another bike that makes sense for me Yeah, you know, yeah, if you ever ride another bike You're And you're gonna delete this video from the library Give me a quick Somebody out there might might be thinking I want to do the gg mbr or the Western Wildlands route What are they getting into as far as the route the terrain the beauty the magic moments trail magic? It's not without it's like challenging sections from time to time But honestly, it's all pretty darn rideable. Yeah, you know I mean, a lot of I think a lot of people's like concerns can be like when you're on like paved road with other vehicles on the road Slow down I didn't have and I know this isn't like everybody's experience. I didn't have any like significant issues With like drivers being, you know jerks. Yeah, I'm like, you know Swerving at me, you know, whatever like I had no issues. I I just trusted I put a lot of faith and trust in People and that's the price scared of a beer. I mean, I'm certainly not your average sized rider No, I'm a beat watt. Yeah, so I imagine it I'm not being involved in some of the more iffy situations that so other solo riders were but I did both You know, aside from nine days. I did all of those 5,000 miles solo. Yeah, and I was just really rewarding and You know, I honestly the biggest besides, you know Finding the right bike the biggest hurdle is just saying I'm gonna do it and then just doing it because You can come up with a thousand reasons why not to but really all you need is one reason why to and in this day and age when you know We're just getting Closed in more and more by our society and his concrete jungles and technology Like we need to get out more you need to get out more. Yeah, and the more that I'm outside the happier I am inside. I know that for a fact. It's a good. I like how you put that. Yeah, say that again The more I'm outside the happier. I am inside like that. It's literally the first time I ever said in my life And I don't know why that's deep man Hey, that was actually not being inappropriate Cool Anything else you want to talk about just kidding But again, you know, not everybody has the time to do a gigantic four-month. This is my career. Yeah This is what he does. I get to do this for fun, you know But if you're out there, you're thinking I would love to travel by bike You know, you don't have to do anything giant. You can go do a two-night trip Yeah weekend and just get to know what it feels like to move all of you and your gear on a bike and sleep Under the stars and set up country roads country roads as the sun is setting rainbows Yeah, they're listening to nature. There's nothing better and you get to do that day after day Yeah, and whenever I come back from my adventures. I always feel a lot more connected to nature and to myself What's important? You know you come back You're just your heart is a little bit more tender and you're more loving. Are you that way? Yeah? I mean when I'm out there like I mean that's where I can like connect Most deeply with like my emotional sides And if you don't think you have them, I mean go spend go try and go spend, you know a month outside For as or as long as you can the longer I am on a on an adventure the more and more introspective I get and the more and more in tune with myself I become and It's because there's nothing hiding you from yourself. There's nothing distracting you from yourself You're not staring at your phone all day long being bombarded by thousands of other Accounts trying to get you to you know buy their products or be like them or you get to like literally be with yourself Like that's the biggest like takeaway is that you get to like literally Find yourself. That's why I've been doing this for a decade, man I've been living this life for a decade and there's no the reason I keep doing it is because I Keep remaining in touch with myself more and more and more and in my audience has heard this But I always feel like my adventures make me a better human when I come back I am just more compassionate and more patient with people and myself just like gratitude gratitude Yeah, just appreciate the little things when you can like you appreciate a toilet You appreciate being like like this is there's things that allow you to have a different perspective and a different point of view to appreciate things when you when you like you know remove the You know the creature comforts the Compact, you know, excuse me like you just become More grateful. That's really what it is hundred percent Yeah, and that and then you like you spread that love to your friends and your family And then you're like it before you know it. You're a hippie with a long beard Yeah, just to shave this beard twice a day in the Marine Corps now. I haven't seen my face since 2013 Really? Yeah, how does your girlfriend feel about that? She's only ever seen me with a beard. Wow. She better feel great Job up my man. You're so fun brother Thank you for coming and chatting with us. We've been talking for a little over 20 minutes I hope you all enjoy this go follow his adventures on Instagram The real hiking viking the real real the real one because it's a fake one. I actually have that handle too Yeah, okay, I wish y'all the best on your adventures. I hope to do there you put her there partner Hope we get to do something fun someday I love your energy and we are and what you're about and I hope you've inspired some people out there to try this out And to get out there and to get out there On the 600 X get outside more get inside more And this dog that you kept saw seeing come over here her name is Emmy and she's on the couch though Should we move the cat? Yeah, yeah, we got a cute little dog We love you Emmy All right like and subscribe Subscribe and like