Gear Abby Episode 7: The Wag Bag Incident: Gear Abby Confesses Her Biggest On Trail Sin!
- colin7931
- Oct 9
- 37 min read
On this episode of Gear Abby, Shawnté Salabert juggles listener backlash, bear safety, true confessions, and mid-ride snacks you actually want to eat. It’s equal parts ethics, practicality, and classic Gear Abby candor plus a few puns that Colin swears he didn’t approve of.
Question 1: Listener Follow-Up: Should a Record-Setter Be Prosecuted for Cutting a Switchback?
Cranky Pants pushes back on Shawnté and Colin’s earlier take that prosecuting pro runner Michelino Sunseri for using a closed use-trail (and cutting a switchback) was a resource-wasting move.
Shawnté’s take: She still believes education beats punitive theatrics but clarifies that sponsored athletes carry real responsibility because their actions ripple. Her “Judge Abby” solution: public-facing restitution that blends trail remediation + education (think: trail workdays, signage explaining erosion, and a short film to spread the lesson). Make it a teachable moment for everyday users, not just a warning shot for pros.
Question 2: Do You Carry a Bear Can Even When It’s Not Required?
Snacks wonders whether a bear canister should be the default for wildlife protection, not just in mandatory zones.
Shawnté’s take: She used to avoid the extra weight (she’s used Ursacks and even (gasp!) kept food in her tent a couple times on the Colorado Trail). But experience changed her mind. These days, in known “bear-itories,” she carries a canister even when it’s not required simply for peace of mind and to avoid habituating wildlife to human food.
Gear Abby’s Bear Can Quiver: Bearikade Weekender (light; can cram ~8 days), BearVault 450 (short trips staple), and Bear Boxer (overnighters). She also cops to being “terrible” at proper hangs, so the hard-sided can is the stress-free choice.
Question 3: What’s Your Biggest Backcountry Sin?
Listener Confession Booth helps to turn the pod into a confessional.
Shawnté’s tale of woe: On an old Mount Whitney overnight (where WAG bags are required), she had to, erm, go…a third time. Her bag was already at capacity and there was no earthly way she was reopening it. She dug a proper cathole inside the zone, apologized to the alpine spirits, and vowed to learn.
Takeaway: Rules exist for good reason; sometimes your gut (literally) leaves you no perfect choices. She now plans ahead (hello, Imodium) and aims to be beyond reproach in WAG-bag territory.
Question 4: I Hate Gels. How Do I Fuel Rides Without Them?
Feed Me Seymour loves mountain biking, hates choking down gels/bars on long rides.
Shawnté’s take: You don’t need “sports foods” to perform. Think macros and timing instead.
Short efforts: A simple 3:1 carb-to-protein snack pre-session (e.g., half a bagel with PB + banana).
Longer/harder: Add small carb hits about every 30 minutes to keep the furnace steady—without overloading your gut on pure sugar.
Real-food ideas: Nut-butter packets, honey sticks, applesauce, fig bars, dates, fruit leather, granola bars, grapes, even gummy candy (hello, Nerds Gummy Clusters)—balanced with salty options to stave off sugar fatigue.
DIY route: She loves recipe sources like Dirty Gourmet, Fresh Off the Grid, and Lentine Alexis (whose club she happily pays for). Personal fave: savory shiitake rice balls—umami energy bombs that travel well.
Colin’s piggy pro tip: In ultras, burritos beat burnout. The “energy food industrial complex” is convenient but not mandatory.
The Takeaway
Episode 7 is pure Gear Abby: pushback welcomed, nuance embraced, and “do better” framed as a community project. From turning a switchback scandal into education, to defaulting to bear cans for wildlife safety, to confessing imperfect moments and fueling with real food Gear Abby keeps the outdoors human, responsible, and a little bit funny.
Episode Bings (aka Footnotes)
Want to hear Gear Abby do a whole episode in a Wisconsin accent? Tell us why by emailing us at DearGearAbby@gmail.com
Vegas listed the over/under of how many weird voices and/or accents Gear Abby will do over the course of this episode at 3.5. We’re currently at the 18:58 mark so if you have the over you’re probably feeling pretty good.
Admit it, you’d totally listen to the Judge Abby spinoff show.
That’s 3. So close to the over!
Great, we’re already counting weird voices and now we have to count bear puns. I’m just going to put the final tally here: 3
That’s 4! If you had the over go claim your winnings. There will likely be more but we’re done counting voices for this episode. Vegas will need to set the over/under higher for future editions of Gear Abby.
Please Smokey Bear, don’t sue Gear Abby. Thank you.
This is Gear Abby’s petition to bring back Taxi Cab Confessions but outdoor style.
This was a missed opportunity for a Horny Salmon callback. We here at Gear Abby are ashamed.
Oh great now Colin’s doing voices too.
Listen to the Full Episode
This recap only scratches the surface, listen to all of Gear Abby Episode 7 here or just click the player below.
If you’ve got your own gear dilemmas, need a list of bear puns, or just want Shawnté to settle an outdoor debate, send your questions to deargearabby@gmail.com, they just might land in a future episode.
And remember: there are no dumb questions... just smart advice.
Episode Transcript:
Shawnté Salabert
00:00:01.120 - 00:02:26.340
All right, just in time for fall. We're happy to introduce our new partner here on Gear Abbey Fjallraven. Because you can't Fjall without Fjallraven. That's right.
Fall doesn't get nearly enough credit for hiking. Everyone thinks summer's the season, but for hikers, autumn is the real deal. You got cooler days, quieter trails, more space.
And fall is exactly what Fjall Rubin's KEB collection is built for. Born from trekking in northern Sweden, their jackets, fleeces, trousers, everything lets you focus on nature.
All specifically designed to make cold optional.
Check out the whole KEB collection by clicking on the link in the show notes or search for it when you head to fjallraven.com where your fjall or your fall begins. You got questions going out of your mind. Someone with answers. Now that's hard to find, like the what and the in the house stuff works.
Or just where to go to avoid all the jerks. She's Gear Abby. Gear Abby. Gear Abby. Advice that doesn't suck. Gear Abby.
Hello there, my outdoorsy friends, and welcome to Gear Abbey, where we tackle the controversial, weird, obscure and taboo topics that other outdoor podcasts refuse to touch. I'm Shantae Salibair. That's Gear Abbey, an outdoor educator, writer, former school social worker, and ordained minister of the Church of the Latter.
Dude, just in case you were wondering who's hiked, run, climbed, paddled and adventured all across the United States, and here on Gear Abby, I channel all that experience and more into answering your burning questions about our relationships with outdoor people, products, places and pastimes. Because remember, my outdoor loving pals, there are no dumb questions, just smart advice. So you know how this works. We're deep in at this point.
You've been following along. You're going to send in your questions to Dear Gear Abby. And that's a B. B, Y, no, E. This is not. We're not emailing Edward. Abby.
Dear gear abbymail.com. and I'm going to pick my favorites to answer here on the show. And you've been waiting for it as always.
Joining me today is my partner in Gear, the producer of Gear Abby, and a man who texts me more than my own mother does. Colin. True.
Colin True
00:02:26.580 - 00:02:27.380
Is that true?
Shawnté Salabert
00:02:27.380 - 00:02:28.660
It's. I think so, yeah.
Colin True
00:02:28.660 - 00:02:31.880
You text me a. I'm sorry, do I need to stop texting you?
Shawnté Salabert
00:02:31.880 - 00:02:35.040
No, that's okay. I have things to say. It's generally entertaining.
Colin True
00:02:35.280 - 00:02:41.040
I live that podcast life, you know, just like I got takes I gotta Talk to you. I gotta throw things your way.
Shawnté Salabert
00:02:41.360 - 00:02:58.560
I keep my, you know, I keep my phone.
Like, my phone is on silent between the hours of, I think, 8pm and 7am and sometimes when the phone comes back to life at 7:01, I'll see that you've texted me at some ungodly hour. And I'm so glad that I do the whole silent thing. Like, what do you. When do you sleep, Colin?
Colin True
00:02:59.040 - 00:03:02.180
What? Sleeps? Come on. Who sleeps? Do we sleep still?
Shawnté Salabert
00:03:02.180 - 00:03:08.220
Sleep still things sometimes now that I'm, like, crawling into middle age, not so much.
Colin True
00:03:09.100 - 00:03:09.500
Right.
Shawnté Salabert
00:03:11.900 - 00:03:31.460
All right. So I was thinking let's do a little something different to kick off this episode.
So a few weeks back, you know, somebody wrote in asking for my thoughts on who you just told me his name is not Michelino Sunseri. It is Michelino. Michelino, yes, Michelino Michelob. Mecalika High.
Colin True
00:03:31.780 - 00:03:37.220
Both Michelob and Michelino both Ch. We should have actually seen. You know what? Now I feel stupid.
Shawnté Salabert
00:03:37.380 - 00:03:37.860
Damn it.
Colin True
00:03:37.860 - 00:03:44.180
Yeah, I drank a few my share of Michelob's when I was younger. You know, I didn't put that two and two together there.
Shawnté Salabert
00:03:44.260 - 00:03:50.500
No, no, not me. Not it. I grew up in Milwaukee, so it was like, you know, Pabst or Die, I guess.
Colin True
00:03:50.740 - 00:03:51.340
There you go.
Shawnté Salabert
00:03:51.340 - 00:03:53.420
Milwaukee's Best. The Beast, as we call it.
Colin True
00:03:53.420 - 00:03:56.420
We had some. Milwaukee's Best was popular at college as well.
Shawnté Salabert
00:03:56.820 - 00:03:58.260
That was a college drink for sure.
Colin True
00:03:58.340 - 00:03:58.980
Oh, yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:03:59.550 - 00:04:29.230
But you know our old friend Michelino, the professional trail runner, he was convicted of a misdemeanor in federal court for cutting a switchback and using a closed trail while he was out there breaking a Grand Teton speed record.
And my verdict, and you agreed with me, is that while cutting switchbacks and taking closed trails is bad form, that prosecuting the guy in federal court just seemed like a waste of time and resources. But as we found out, at least one listener disagreed. And because the email was also directed at you, do you want to read it here?
Colin True
00:04:29.900 - 00:04:49.780
Yes. I'm very excited to read this. Number one, love getting now listener feedback on other listener questions and responses. It's great.
So please keep that coming and encourage everyone.
DearGearAbbyMail.com Send in not just your own burning questions about the outdoors, but maybe your thoughts on something we've covered here on the show. So this is an exciting moment, but it's very meta.
Shawnté Salabert
00:04:49.780 - 00:04:52.780
It's very like Inception Gear Abbey Inception. And I like it.
Colin True
00:04:53.100 - 00:06:20.310
Right. Just keeps going around like the top. Will it ever fall over? No, because we're in the. We're In a dream within a dream.
Okay, so first the letter is, dear Gear, Abby and I got included in Colin, thank you for not calling me pig. That's nice of you. Yet you couldn't be more wrong about Michelino Sinceri.
He could have pled guilty and there would have been no trial and no, quote, wasted expense. He thought he was bigger and more important than the rules put into place that are informed by science and good ecological practices.
I'm bigger than the rules because I'm going for an fkt is bullshit. He chose to make his stunt a huge spectacle. We have laws for a reason. Very good reasons.
The Park Service should be prosecuting people who break laws that are in place for those very good ecological reasons. Switchbacks can be devastating sources of erosion, especially in a place that receives millions of visitors a year.
It's wild to suggest that because he chose to go to trial even after he admitted he'd cut the switchbacks, it's somehow the Park Service's fault for wasting money. Furthermore, this is still going. He can still do all the punitive measures you suggested he do. And so can the North Face.
Love you guys, but, boy, is now not the time to be suggesting public lands should be flouted with impunity just because we choose to. Just a historically bad take your public lands abiding friend. Signed Cranky Pants.
Shawnté Salabert
00:06:20.470 - 00:06:32.790
Wow. You reading that? I wish I just. You reading that? I want to know, Colin, before I get to this. Did that.
Did that feel like your shaking fist at the sky moment? Like you got to inhabit it for just a moment there?
Colin True
00:06:33.430 - 00:06:48.850
It was an odd sensation because. Yes, but also, I think this guy's completely wrong, so I got to embody the other side. It didn't feel particularly good, but I. But I'm.
I think we do have that in common. That we're both our Arden Cloudy Pants. Yes.
Shawnté Salabert
00:06:48.930 - 00:07:07.410
Yes. Well, Cranky Pants, thank you for emailing. Truly, I am. I am a huge fan of encouraging healthy dialogue.
And I really do appreciate that you took the time to send us such a passionate reply, especially as reenacted by Colin. And thank you for including Colin so that he could also be implicated in your wrath.
Colin True
00:07:07.650 - 00:07:11.490
I did agree with you, so appreciate that. Would have been weird if I hadn't bitten. Yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:07:11.490 - 00:08:33.940
I mean, it's okay. We're gonna disagree sometimes, you know that's true. Oh, man. Well, all right.
So just like you, I still don't agree that prosecuting the guy was the right move, Colin, but.
But I do want to make it clear, which I don't think I did in my initial response, that I do absolutely think it was warranted to kind of make an example out of him in some way and that that is specifically because of his status as a sponsored athlete and for the potential of using his platform, no matter how modest it may be. I mean, he's not Jimmy Chin, but to, to educate others.
So I think, Cranky Pants, you've given us sort of a bit of an opportunity here to have another discussion. And that is what is the responsibility of a sponsored athlete? To set a good example. I said that very Wisconsin.
A sponsored athlete to set a good example and live by it while they're getting those, you know, sweet, sweet brand dollars. Personally, I think setting a good example while doing things that perhaps inspire the everyday person is the whole point of a sponsored athlete.
Like brands aren't just paying these folks because they're very strong and they're super talented and they're really good at getting press, although that's obviously all a huge part of it. They're paying them because they connect with consumers.
I mean, an audience of real life human beings who will probably buy stuff from that brand if they feel aligned, you know. So, yeah, I mean, hands down, I think there is a big responsibility for these sponsored athletes like our old pal Michelino.
Colin True
00:08:33.940 - 00:08:34.900
Michelino.
Shawnté Salabert
00:08:34.980 - 00:09:17.770
Michelino. Michelob to mind their P's and Q's, especially when they're out there on these, like, mythic glory quests like speed records are.
So, as you alluded to in your email, cranky Pants, when a metric butt ton of people, not just metaphorically but also quite literally are following in the footsteps of some of these people and they make these bad decisions, I think the environmental impact can be outsized.
Like you said, you know, there's a lot of people in these areas and if somebody's like, dude, I'm going to go try to beat Sunseri's record and they want to use the same route he used, well, that's a problem. Right? So the Park Service deciding to make an example of him makes sense, but for me it's the how. And this is kind of what we got at last time.
Colin True
00:09:18.010 - 00:09:18.490
Yeah.
Shawnté Salabert
00:09:18.810 - 00:10:10.000
So I think, you know, I don't know if you've noticed anything different, Colin, but I think there's been all these newsy blurbs about it and the conviction and everything, but I've actually seen very little in all of these hot takes that veers anywhere near the educational realm, which is where I think there's a huge missed opportunity for everybody involved, including the park. Service including Sunseri, including his sponsors.
Like tossing the guy in jail or slapping a hefty fine would maybe serve as a scare tactic for other public figures, you know, other sponsored athletes like him. But neither of those things actually teaches anything other than the park service is out for influencer blood and you might be next.
Like I think it's a good tactic to keep other would be record breakers in line, but maybe not the most effective route for the average trail user. So you did not ask this cranky pants. But if I was playing Judge Abby here.
Colin True
00:10:10.080 - 00:10:12.800
Oh, Judge Abby spinoff podcast.
Shawnté Salabert
00:10:12.880 - 00:10:16.920
I know. Colin just, Colin just is writing a whole new segment of the show.
Colin True
00:10:16.920 - 00:10:21.200
I need another three hours of your time a week. Shantae, Judge Abby's coming.
Shawnté Salabert
00:10:21.680 - 00:10:27.920
Dun dun dun. Can we use the law? Do you think we'll get sued just using like the law and order base thumps. That's all I want.
Colin True
00:10:28.000 - 00:10:32.000
If we're mashing up Judge Judy with, with Dear Abby, we might have a lot of legal problems.
Shawnté Salabert
00:10:33.040 - 00:11:39.150
It's, it's fair use. It's parody. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaking of, speaking of criminal transgressions, I don't know, but if I was, if I was playing the judge here, I would basically I would require some sort of public facing restitution that's part remediation and part education that would kind of help people better understand why this was such a big deal. I feel like nobody has done that here, including me right about now.
But you know, the thing is like have Sunseri rally some of the other North Face athletes, coordinate some work days in the park, do some trail work, some restoration.
Ask him to create, install signage that describes how cutting switchbacks, hopping on closed trails doesn't just create like a bad and possibly unsafe experience for other users, but also how it does, you know, speed up erosion.
And it kind of screws with that fine balance between designing trails and outdoor spaces for human use and protecting habitat for all the other living beings in the area. So I mean help be extra North Facey about it if you want make a short film. I mean screen it on the outdoor film circuit.
Donate any proceeds back to the park or the trail cruise.
Colin True
00:11:39.470 - 00:11:41.270
You can criticize it on the over.
Shawnté Salabert
00:11:41.270 - 00:11:58.990
On the rock size it we'll do. I mean we'll put on our, our French beret. Why are we putting on French berets? That's not, I don't know. We're gonna do it anyway.
We are gonna, we're going to pretend we are at Cannes. Didn't we didn't we have like a couple episodes ago, fake French accents. And it didn't.
Colin True
00:11:58.990 - 00:12:00.390
We did. We decided we shouldn't do that.
Shawnté Salabert
00:12:00.390 - 00:12:02.870
I think we decided we shouldn't do it. So I am, partially.
Colin True
00:12:02.870 - 00:12:04.110
Which means we should probably do it more.
Shawnté Salabert
00:12:05.620 - 00:12:10.180
We should. We should. You. I want to hear you. But we'll do that. We'll wait till we have the berets.
Colin True
00:12:10.820 - 00:12:11.380
There you go.
Shawnté Salabert
00:12:11.380 - 00:12:20.020
That's a great thing. But listen, make, make, Make a movie about it, whatever. Like, you can call it trail and error. And I'll. I'll just take a small producer credit.
That's all.
Colin True
00:12:21.060 - 00:12:40.600
So. Tldr, cranky pants, we feel the same as we did before. And the only thing to do here was to say, hey, that you shouldn't have done that.
And we know why you did that because other people have done that before you. And so what are we going to do so that nobody else does it too? Yeah, that's it.
Shawnté Salabert
00:12:42.600 - 00:12:47.400
Oh, man. All right. I feel like. I feel like we exercised some demons in the first question, so.
Colin True
00:12:47.400 - 00:12:48.280
Yeah, that was good.
Shawnté Salabert
00:12:48.440 - 00:12:57.720
Yeah. Now we can. Now we can bring it back down. Now we're calm again. What. What else do you have in your. In your Rolodex of questions?
That's not how questions work.
Colin True
00:12:58.460 - 00:12:59.700
We could. We could create one.
Shawnté Salabert
00:12:59.700 - 00:13:04.220
Your tote bag of. I'm just going to think of weird. Your mayonnaise jar of questions.
Colin True
00:13:04.540 - 00:13:10.260
Rolodexes were cool. They were fun to flip through. It was like, satisfying. It was like. It was like old timey fidget in a lot of ways, if you think about it.
Shawnté Salabert
00:13:10.260 - 00:13:11.820
Oh, that in the card catalog.
Colin True
00:13:11.980 - 00:13:54.130
All right, here's the next question. Dear Gear Abby, first, congrats on your show. I'm excited to have a pod.
Yeah, I'm excited to have a podcast dedicated to gear and trail related questions. I'm a new backpacker as of this year and loving it so far.
My question, do you take a bear can on all your backpacking trips, even when it's not expressly required?
Of course, excluding areas where there are literally no bears, I've taken mine to parks when it's required, but it seems like the best option to protect bears and other wildlife, regardless of which trail you're on, even if it's a little extra hassle and extra weight. I've seen the alternatives, like Ursax, and I can't imagine they are completely safe. Maybe I'm just paranoid. Signed snacks.
Shawnté Salabert
00:13:54.530 - 00:14:03.250
Snacks. Well, snacks. Are you paranoid or are you bear annoyed? Colin winced before I even said it. He knew it was coming.
Colin True
00:14:03.250 - 00:14:05.050
I knew it was coming. I know you held up at this point.
Shawnté Salabert
00:14:05.050 - 00:14:11.050
I know I love a bear pun. Don't worry, Colin. I feel like there will be ample opportunity to sprinkle a few others in.
Colin True
00:14:11.050 - 00:14:18.770
Here, but that's the only one you get. I don't want to hear Berrito. I don't want to hear. What other bear puns have you made so far in the very short history of this podcast?
Shawnté Salabert
00:14:19.150 - 00:14:42.430
Listen, not. Not everybody has heard all my beer puns yet. I've got to give them a wide, wide audience as possible. But no, really? Snacks.
That's actually a great question. It's a really thoughtful question.
So first of all, though, I kind of want to roll back because I feel like some people are probably listening or like, what the hell is a bear can?
They might think when they hear that phrase that it's some sort of like extra large garbage receptacle that maybe a bear pops out of Jack in the box style from time to time.
Colin True
00:14:42.670 - 00:14:44.270
No, it's a bear's butt.
Shawnté Salabert
00:14:46.360 - 00:14:48.560
Okay, Can. Yeah.
Colin True
00:14:48.560 - 00:14:51.160
You heard a bug referred to as a can. That guy.
Shawnté Salabert
00:14:52.200 - 00:14:55.080
It sounds like something they probably said in gangster movies in the 20s.
Colin True
00:14:55.080 - 00:14:57.600
All right, showing my age again. We just went up a whole other demo. Okay.
Shawnté Salabert
00:14:57.600 - 00:14:59.960
We went up. We went up 100 years each.
Colin True
00:15:00.279 - 00:15:03.560
So all the octogenarians left listening to the show welcome.
Shawnté Salabert
00:15:05.000 - 00:16:41.570
Oh, boy. I like to shake my can to that podcast. Oh, man. Well. But all of us are wrong. That is not what a bear can is. That is, we are not octogenarians.
As much as it may seem.
A bear canister for people of all ages is basically a hard sided container meant to keep food and other scented items out of reach of bears and other animals. And they're designed to be opened only by the most nimble of human hands, not by big furry paws.
Although anybody who has ever tried opening one on a cold winter morning or just a cold morning period will understand just how human resistant they are too. Especially those bear vaults.
So some places with a sizable bear population and a history of human bear interactions, like Yosemite national park, require that backpackers use these to store their food when they're out in the backcountry. So the idea isn't just to protect your food supply, but also to protect the bears.
It's a really, really bad thing for wild animals to become habituated to human food. And it's not just because snickers aren't a part of their natural diet.
It's also because bears that learn that we humans have tasty vittles will Try to get those tasty vittles. And what happens when you have one too many attempts means that officials may choose to euthanize what's now known as a problem bear.
And that's messed up.
So I love that snacks ask this question because I think a lot of us are like, oh, I, you know, bear canister is heavy and it's cumbersome and blah, blah, blah. And I'll only carry it if it's required. But I think they brought up a really good point. Point. So I'm going to.
I'm going to be honest with you here and say so when I am in a barrier.
Colin True
00:16:42.290 - 00:16:44.450
Oh, no, that's it.
Shawnté Salabert
00:16:44.850 - 00:16:49.250
That is. In case you're wondering, a barrier is a place where bears exist.
Colin True
00:16:49.330 - 00:16:50.290
No, we got it.
Shawnté Salabert
00:16:51.890 - 00:17:18.830
Not everybody knows a portmanteau. It's when you smush two words together. So I do. Do I still carry one of these if it's not required?
And my answer to that has actually changed over the years. So I used to be, like many people, sort of deeply bear can avoidant in the name of reducing weight in my pack.
In fact, I did not carry one at all on the Colorado Trail. And that is a prime barrel.
Colin True
00:17:18.990 - 00:17:23.710
No, no, no, no. I edit these episodes. I'm thinking that, right?
Shawnté Salabert
00:17:23.710 - 00:17:29.760
You do not take that out or you're fired. And I will not have a podcast because I don't want to have it.
Colin True
00:17:29.760 - 00:17:31.960
If I don't have Colin Barratory.
Shawnté Salabert
00:17:32.760 - 00:17:34.600
Barratory. Colin. Come on, man.
Colin True
00:17:35.000 - 00:17:35.760
Oh my God.
Shawnté Salabert
00:17:35.760 - 00:17:40.600
You could have come up with your own puns and you didn't. So think about that for the next episode. Okay?
Colin True
00:17:40.600 - 00:17:44.920
I don't think cranky pants would have liked it if I started throwing puns into his. Into his letter to us.
Shawnté Salabert
00:17:45.080 - 00:17:49.800
He probably isn't even gonna like how you read it anyway. So let's go back to the trail.
Colin True
00:17:49.960 - 00:17:50.440
Sorry.
Shawnté Salabert
00:17:50.760 - 00:18:55.450
Let's go back to the prime bear. A tory on the Colorado Trail where I did not use a bear canister. I used an ursec. And so that col, you know, they snacks mentioned it in their email.
But this is a critter resistant bag made out of super strong materials like Spectra or Kevlar. I think minus Spectra depends on the model. But most nights I was a good girl and I tied it to a tree.
And some nights I flirted with danger and kept it in my tent, which is not recommended. That's not what they're about. You want to keep it away from your human body. But I was pretty lucky. Like, not a single critter walked up on me.
Didn't bother with it. But I do know several people whose Ursax have been chewed on, stomped on or just smacked around like a pinata.
Their food was edible, the food wasn't taken, but it was pretty roughed up. So that's honestly kind of the biggest issue with, with the bags is that they're not hard sided.
So if Smokey or any of his cousins decides to come swat, stomp slobber all over it, your food may not have like the same consistency the next day. So in that case, I hope you really like munching on Frito dust.
Colin True
00:18:55.690 - 00:19:00.090
I was going to take a note to be prepared for the Smokey Bear libel suit that's coming.
Shawnté Salabert
00:19:00.650 - 00:21:10.860
So many, so many lawsuits. On today's episode, legal Eagles.
So that Colorado trail hike was about eight years ago and I have actually since swapped over to carrying a bear canister all the time in known barriers in even when it's not required just simply for peace of mind and for the fact that like you mentioned, snacks that at the end of the day that peace of mind also extends to the health of our bear populations and not, you know, my actions. Not causing a bear to lose its life is pretty important to me. But so I now own and as a caveat, I'm a guidebook author. I spend a lot of time outside.
I teach. I own not one, but three different bear canisters. I've got very lightweight barricade weekender which I've been able to cram eight days of food into.
Um, Bear Vault 4 50, the classic, which is really good for shorter trips. And then I have a bear boxer. That one's my smallest one. I'll use that sometimes on a one nighter.
Um, never ever did I think I'd own a quiver of bear canisters. But having a selection actually does make it a little easier for me to grab one out of habit.
And I'll also be honest, I am absolutely terrible at doing a proper bear hang. And that's when you counter wait and hang your food from a tree. And that's allowed in some areas, but not others. I tried it a few times on the pct.
It's actually called the PCT hang when you use a certain technique. But I barely slept every single night.
I did it because I had this fear that I had just done such a shitty job that I'd wake up and find my food was just reduced to a pile of slobber coated wrappers.
So yeah, I've also heard way too many stories, especially on the pct, but from some other people of people whose food was just half eaten or completely stolen by little furry thieves in the night. So my lack of fine motor skills is just another great incentive for me to honestly just carry the can. It's. I, I don't notice the weight anymore.
My pack is relatively lightweight and it's. The peace of mind is the lightest thing.
I mean, I, I'm not gonna lie, I'm still worried that one day a pissed off bear is just gonna like heave my can right off of a cliff or something. But I'm sure that single rock I plop on top of it every night on trail will stop this from happening. Right?
Colin True
00:21:11.870 - 00:21:23.710
While you were offering your answer to snacks, I asked ChatGPT what the marmot equivalent of a bear can would be. And the best one they came back with was a chonk can. Because marmots are basically alpine chunks.
Shawnté Salabert
00:21:23.870 - 00:21:32.270
Oh, they're so cute. I can't believe that you killed the marmot's environment. With the environmental degradation that ChatGPT brings.
Colin True
00:21:32.590 - 00:21:34.510
It was worth the 32 marmots that are dead now.
Shawnté Salabert
00:21:34.510 - 00:21:47.320
The marmot could now live in a chalk can instead. Wow. I'm just, I'm, I'm still thinking about the poor marmots, but I'm. When am I not thinking about marmots, to be honest?
Colin True
00:21:47.320 - 00:21:49.480
So never. Always thinking about marmots.
Shawnté Salabert
00:21:49.640 - 00:21:53.960
Never. Until you put my mind on a new question, Colin. So why don't you do that?
Colin True
00:21:54.120 - 00:21:58.200
We got, after a couple of long winded questions, we have a nice short one.
Shawnté Salabert
00:21:58.200 - 00:21:59.000
Oh, okay.
Colin True
00:21:59.560 - 00:22:08.720
Dear gear Abby, I'm going hard with my first question. What's the biggest sin you've committed in the backcountry signed confession booth?
Shawnté Salabert
00:22:09.600 - 00:22:10.080
Wow.
Colin True
00:22:10.720 - 00:22:19.280
I mean, do we have to like, do you have to choose from like one of the seven deadly sins? Only like those are yours is like anything quote unquote naughty. Is that where we're going here?
Shawnté Salabert
00:22:19.280 - 00:22:21.600
I'm going to go with anything naughty here.
Colin True
00:22:21.600 - 00:22:23.440
Okay. Seriously.
Shawnté Salabert
00:22:23.600 - 00:22:49.190
You know, it's funny though, I actually this summer I was up on Mir Pass in the Sierra. It's along the PCT and I found a composition book. So there's a hut up there it's called, called the Muir Hut.
The Sierra Club built it and it's just this really cool stone kind of shaped like a beehive almost stone hut that's on top of the pass. And so I was hanging out in there for a while and there was a composition book titled Through Hiker Confessions and you better.
Colin True
00:22:49.190 - 00:22:50.030
Oh, that's Amazing.
Shawnté Salabert
00:22:50.030 - 00:23:25.130
Oh my God. I spent like a good half hour just reading it. It was mostly poop related sins.
It was a lot of like people burying their toilet paper and things like that. But then you'd get really weird like ones you were not expecting. Like this for some reason.
I took a picture of one page only one page of this book and this. What was on it. I opened my Slim Jim and found out it had gone bad. But instead of packing it out, I threw it in the river. I hoped the trout liked it.
What? Anonymous hiker I do not think they did. Psa. Don't, don't feed the trout, Slim Jim.
Colin True
00:23:25.130 - 00:23:29.650
What if like a little, you know, Randy Macho Man Savage fish swam along and picked it up and he.
Shawnté Salabert
00:23:33.010 - 00:23:44.150
Now, now I'm next time I might be going up to the Sierra one more time before the snow flies, but I'm going to be thinking about do I see trout wearing jaunty little like ripped T shirt bandanas in their hair?
Colin True
00:23:44.150 - 00:23:44.950
That's right. That's right.
Shawnté Salabert
00:23:44.950 - 00:23:49.270
Very tan. We, we're just continuing to age ourselves on this podcast.
Colin True
00:23:49.270 - 00:23:51.150
Oh my God, you're right. That's, that's true.
Shawnté Salabert
00:23:51.710 - 00:23:55.550
All right, well, you want to know my most mortal outdoor sin?
Colin True
00:23:55.710 - 00:23:57.150
I definitely do.
Shawnté Salabert
00:23:57.390 - 00:24:06.430
My God. I debate. I'm debating here. I can't believe I'm about to admit this outside of a small circle.
People who know about it, but we'll just rip off the band aid and do it.
Colin True
00:24:06.850 - 00:24:12.850
We're seven episodes in and you've revealed actually quite a bit in the six prior episodes. So I can't imagine this is going to be that big a deal.
Shawnté Salabert
00:24:13.010 - 00:25:33.480
Okay, that's true. I feel, I feel like I'm generally a good person. I'm a very, you know, I try to be in good relation to the earth when I'm on it. So.
All right, let me set the stage. This is many, many years ago. I was on the main Mount Whitney Trail for the very first time with three of my friends heading up to the mountain.
We were doing an overnight trip and because of the high volume of traffic in what's known as the Whitney zone, the area that comprises most of the TR that's east of the Sierra Crest that leads up to the peak.
Because of that, because of the sensitive nature of the environment, the general lack of dirt in the trails upper upper reaches, you, you are not allowed to bury your poop. You instead have to carry a wag bag. And for the lucky people who've never experienced this and do not know what a wag Bag is wag.
WAG stands for waste alleviating gel.
And the whole concept is that you lay this thing out, you do your business right in the middle of it, and then you pack it up and carry it out while the chemicals inside begin to sort of break it all down real special. Real, real special. So it was my first experience with the WAG bag.
None of us had actually used them before, and I was the first to have to use it, much to the delight of all my hiking companions who asked me for a full report when I got back to camp. Like, they actually cheered me on. I was sort of holding it above my head like it's a big deal.
Like the Rocky theme song is going on in the background.
Colin True
00:25:34.880 - 00:25:39.040
Were they one of the ones? Like, the ones only one I've used were on Shasta and Rainier.
Shawnté Salabert
00:25:39.040 - 00:25:39.400
Right.
Colin True
00:25:39.400 - 00:25:41.680
And they give the thing you poop onto literally as a target.
Shawnté Salabert
00:25:42.480 - 00:25:42.960
Yes.
Colin True
00:25:42.960 - 00:25:48.000
It was like, yeah, all right. So you've like, something to aim for. Which I was like, this is the best. I want to do this all the time.
Shawnté Salabert
00:25:48.480 - 00:25:49.360
I love a game.
Colin True
00:25:49.760 - 00:25:50.920
Yeah. Who does it?
Shawnté Salabert
00:25:50.920 - 00:25:52.240
You're a winner, Colin.
Colin True
00:25:53.040 - 00:25:53.920
Bullseye.
Shawnté Salabert
00:25:55.920 - 00:26:06.100
Well, you know what? I was not expecting after that.
So I was really flying high after my first successful use, but I was not expecting to have to use it a second time, but I did.
Colin True
00:26:06.100 - 00:26:07.220
You only had one bag?
Shawnté Salabert
00:26:07.460 - 00:26:32.420
Yeah. That's all they give you, one bag. One is all you get.
And I mean, now you can buy a second bag, but this was a long time ago and they just kind of gave you the one and they were like, good luck to you and your poops. I was. I was less excited about using it the second time.
We'll just say that what I really, really, really did not anticipate was receiving a third visit from the poop fairy within a 24 hour period. Oh, my God. We were already on our way. You're having.
Colin True
00:26:33.040 - 00:26:33.680
Let's start there.
Shawnté Salabert
00:26:33.840 - 00:26:42.960
When am I. Listen, I. This is.
I feel like this is shortly after I realized that gluten really did a number on my body, but I hadn't yet given over to a gluten free diet.
Colin True
00:26:42.960 - 00:26:49.520
So this is like slamming crackers and wheat bread. Like, I don't know what's going on. I got to poop again. Yeah, right.
Shawnté Salabert
00:26:49.680 - 00:27:11.900
Pretty much. You're not wrong. But yeah. So we were. We were on our way down when the third time happened and.
But we were still in the Whitney zone, so you're supposed to use that bag. And I was doing this mental math. I remember thinking like, can I summon an iron will and just keep clenching till the trailhead.
And I looked at the mileage and I the. There was this like fiery grumbling that told me no, I could not.
Colin True
00:27:12.700 - 00:27:17.020
So a voice came from Shantae's nether regions. No.
Shawnté Salabert
00:27:20.779 - 00:28:10.390
That seems I'm. I'm having a little bit of PTSD because that's. Sorry, you really do sound similar to my guts at times.
So here, here is where the sinning occurred because there was not a muscle in my body willing to untie layers. I had two shopping bags wrapped around that thing and then reopen the damn wag bag. That was not happening.
It was already at max capacity after two visits, if you know what I mean. So full of shame and stomach pain, I just, I ran off to the first cluster of trees that I could find. I dug furiously like I did make my cat hole.
And I just whispered, I was just apologizing sort of in a whisper out loud as I unleashed the demons within. It was, it was truly mortifying. And I said, still feel guilty about it to this day.
And I am very grateful that I have since learned about the magical powers of Imodium.
Colin True
00:28:11.670 - 00:28:15.190
So you just pop an Imodium now when you're heading into the Whitney zone? Is that what happens?
Shawnté Salabert
00:28:15.270 - 00:29:01.740
Yeah, well, you know, I was on the trail this summer on the other side and finishing over trail crest, coming down to Whitney Portal and so same thing, you need to have that wag bag. And luckily though, on the other side in Crabtree Meadow, there is this three sided.
I think I've told you about it before, maybe on the rock fight podcast, but a three sided privy out there and you just get a lot of fresh air and exit evacuate before you go up the mountain. And that's what I did that and I took an Imodium. So, you know, the thing with the Imodium, it is a pretty common thing people do now in Whitney.
You'll see it in the Facebook message boards and stuff like that. They're like, oh, just take an Imodium and stop it all up there. And you do need to remember that there's an effect to every choice you make.
And so a few days later you'll feel the effect of that choice and it will be hard.
Colin True
00:29:04.140 - 00:29:26.140
I don't think you should feel bad.
I think like you talked about, you know, in one of our first episodes about having, you know, giardia and at some point, like you don't get to abide by the rules of like the accepted practices of the backcountry. When you're just trying to get your shorts down so you don't poop your pants. Right.
I think every once in a while these things happen and the rules exist for a reason. Back to our friend Michelino Sinceri. You gotta have the rules.
Shawnté Salabert
00:29:26.220 - 00:29:32.070
Yeah. Listen, cranky pants. Okay, I don't want another letter. If you write another letter, put it under a different name.
Colin True
00:29:32.470 - 00:29:46.230
Exactly. But, you know, what were you gonna do to your point? Like, there wasn't room. There was no room at the end. AKA the wag bag. In.
And yeah, I don't think you should. I don't think. I bet if you, if you dug deep, you probably have worse sins.
Shawnté Salabert
00:29:46.790 - 00:30:04.020
No pun intended. Wow, Colin. I feel like I. I'm always a little. It's bittersweet. Whenever we get to the fourth question, we're about to wrap up.
We're gonna like any banter we do between now and next week is just for us, nobody else. We're not recording it for anybody. That's kind of boring.
Colin True
00:30:04.020 - 00:30:07.140
Well, we technically are up there in our text messages. You know, that I send you all the time.
Shawnté Salabert
00:30:07.140 - 00:30:18.380
Those are recorded, copious text messages. That's true. All right, well, I am emotionally ready for the final question. Now that I've confessed my sins. Please tell me, what is this last one?
Colin True
00:30:18.540 - 00:30:24.940
If I had to guess, I might. There might be. We're not done with, you know, Poop Mountain yet on this.
Shawnté Salabert
00:30:25.420 - 00:30:28.940
Probably never. I probably ever, ever done with Poop Mountain ever.
Colin True
00:30:29.500 - 00:30:44.220
Because this one is a deer gear. Abby.
I started mountain biking about a year ago and I think the only thing I don't like about it is feeling like I need to choke down gels and bars to keep my energy up on long rides. Please tell me there's a better way. Signed Feed me Seymour in Fayetteville.
Shawnté Salabert
00:30:45.580 - 00:31:28.770
I love that. I love. That's a great. That's a great sign off. Keep them coming, Seymour. There is a better way, I promise you.
So I think buying prepackaged gels and other energy foods, you mentioned bars, that's. That could be really convenient.
You know, you got something portable, it's nicely packaged, designed for quick absorption, and you can see all the, you know, dietary information for that product directly on its packaging.
But I think despite marketing trying its hardest to convince you otherwise, you don't need store bought energy foods to fuel any of your pursuits on or off the bike. It's, it's. Listen, they're a convenience. It's nice to have sometimes.
I've certainly used my fair share, but, you know, do you know, you know what I ate before going to the gym today? Colin?
Colin True
00:31:29.250 - 00:31:33.370
I thought you're gonna ask me what you ate before you were eating up on Mount Whitney, but you don't want.
Shawnté Salabert
00:31:33.370 - 00:31:36.050
No, clearly just gluten. Just piles of gluten.
Colin True
00:31:36.530 - 00:31:37.970
What did you eat before the gym?
Shawnté Salabert
00:31:37.970 - 00:31:42.370
Okay, I had a homemade salted brown butter Rice Krispie treat.
Colin True
00:31:42.770 - 00:31:43.690
Sounds delightful.
Shawnté Salabert
00:31:43.690 - 00:31:44.170
It was.
Colin True
00:31:44.170 - 00:31:46.290
And you had me a salted brown butter.
Shawnté Salabert
00:31:46.290 - 00:32:11.590
Oh my God, it's truly the best. I actually somebody made these.
I was doing a trip in the Joshua Tree backcountry like a decade ago and somebody made these and brought them on the trip and it was mind boggling to me. So I was like, give me a recipe. And she did. But I also this morning deadlifted the most I've ever deadlifted. So what's up?
Power to the Rice Krispie treat. You know what I'm saying? That's right.
Colin True
00:32:11.590 - 00:32:12.670
Strong hamstrings.
Shawnté Salabert
00:32:16.190 - 00:32:17.550
Hamstrings are Hammond.
Colin True
00:32:18.670 - 00:32:25.840
But you know, you, you wore out all of your like funny little isms with you with all your bear p. You blew it all in that one answer.
Shawnté Salabert
00:32:26.160 - 00:34:08.350
I'm still trying to recover from cans, man. Seymour, Seymour, ignore us, but listen to this. The thing you want to do is think about macros.
And macros is a word I used to think was made up by fitness influencers, if I'm being honest. But it really just stands for macronutrients. And that's fat, protein, carbohydrates, kind of like the holy trinity. And it.
So it depends on like how you balance those out for the length and intensity of your ride or, or anything else you're doing.
So years ago I was actually asked to write a piece for the Zappos blog, of all places, on how to build a pre run meal, which required me to interview a bunch of different nutrition experts since clearly I am firmly in the Rice Krispie camp, which is maybe not the best daily driver for performance. And all of them are like, yeah, this, like pre exercise snacking is important, but it doesn't have to be complicated.
So they taught me just aim for a 3 to 1 ratio, carbs to protein, so you get this good mix of quick burn and slow burn fuels. So that could be something like, I don't know, half a bagel with a smear of peanut butter top with sliced banana.
Um, so I have, I've followed that for shorter runs, hikes, rides, since it kind of gives me upfront energy and it sustains me for, I'd say maybe an hour max, depending on what I'm doing and like how intense it is for anything longer or anything more intense, like significant elevation gain or whatever. I'm looking to add fuel mostly in carb form, like roughly every 30 minutes or so just to keep my furnace going at like a steady rate.
And if you listen to the first episode, you learned that I am not above cramming delicious sweet potato tots into my running vest. But there are in fact more portable and less messy options for fueling your longer runs.
Colin True
00:34:09.470 - 00:34:13.230
Also, you don't absorb anything by cramming them into your vest. You have to eat them.
Shawnté Salabert
00:34:13.230 - 00:34:17.969
You have to actually put them in your mouth hole. It's true. Which I do. Gladly.
Colin True
00:34:17.969 - 00:34:21.889
Okay, good. Wanna make sure we clarified that Seymour could have been confused.
Shawnté Salabert
00:34:22.049 - 00:34:58.900
Yes. So Seymour. So basically, Seymour, if you're doing something short, just eat something at home and then go out and do your thing.
But if you're doing something longer, there's two kind of routes that I would go with this.
First, there are these, you know, there's other ready to go foods that might be more tasty and agreeable to your digestion system, which Colin kind of alluded to when he was introducing this question.
A lot of times if you have a lot of those sugary gels and things and the chews, if you eat too many of those, it actually overloads your system and you kind of put your digestive system into a little bit of shock and you will get the runs. So I know a lot of runners have experienced this and a lot of cyclists have experienced this.
Colin True
00:34:58.900 - 00:35:00.580
So pack that wag bag.
Shawnté Salabert
00:35:01.780 - 00:35:36.870
Pack that wag bag. That's right.
But yeah, if you want to move away from those, do nut butter packets, honey sticks, granola bars, applesauce, fruit snacks, dried fruit, fruit leather fig bars, pit free dates, grapes, even gummy candies. I think I've used all of that.
I actually have a friend who will just go buy one of those pound bags of those dense cinnamon gummy bears from gas stations and just methodically chew through them till she's done with her activity. And I have no idea what that does to her digestive system, but I remember thinking her energy levels were something to behold.
So, you know, you could try that.
Colin True
00:35:37.580 - 00:35:43.980
Just on that note. Exactly. The, the, the snack du jour, especially in the ultra running community right now, are nerds. Gummy clusters.
Shawnté Salabert
00:35:44.380 - 00:35:46.620
Yeah. Huge in the hiking right now.
Colin True
00:35:46.620 - 00:35:47.740
Yeah, there you go. Right?
Shawnté Salabert
00:35:47.820 - 00:36:01.660
They're so tasty. But I mean, same thing though. The goos eating just a bunch of straight up sugar is not good. For your digestive system.
So try to get some real foods in there if you don't want to shit all over yourself on your ride. But if you're willing.
Colin True
00:36:01.660 - 00:36:02.980
We don't kink shame around here.
Shawnté Salabert
00:36:02.980 - 00:36:05.340
We don't though. So you do it if you want to.
Colin True
00:36:05.660 - 00:36:06.620
If you're into it.
Shawnté Salabert
00:36:07.210 - 00:36:37.250
I'm not judging. We're not. We're not judging. If you are down to put a little more effort in though, Seymour.
It's also not that difficult to make your own version of things like bars and you know, other quote energy foods.
Which is really just a marketing term because there are so many recipes out there now on the interwebs and in books that are kind of geared towards people who want to eat a bit better, a little cleaner and more gut friendly when they're out getting at it. I've actually, I've made tons of different things like balls and bar, balls and bars.
Colin True
00:36:37.250 - 00:36:37.920
Oh my God.
Shawnté Salabert
00:36:38.950 - 00:36:40.350
Love, love talking. We haven't talked.
Colin True
00:36:40.350 - 00:36:45.870
All right, let's see. Puns, check. Poop talk, check. Cock and balls, check. We're good.
Shawnté Salabert
00:36:45.870 - 00:36:48.070
I didn't say that. Just balls and bars, man.
Colin True
00:36:48.070 - 00:36:49.510
That's what we were getting at though.
Shawnté Salabert
00:36:51.030 - 00:38:32.660
Listen, these are real things. I have made them. Okay, Colin, if you want to look for yourself. I love Dirty Gourmet. I have both of their books.
Fresh off the Grid does a bunch of amazing recipes on their site. They've also like been regular contributors to Adventure Journal over the years.
And then I follow this former pro endurance athlete, chef and ayurvedic practitioner Lentine Alexis, who has. Her recipes are so amazing that I actually pay real live human money to be part of her recipe club. So.
But I think my very favorite one of all the ones I've tried so far is actually not a sweet one. It's a shiitake rice ball recipe that I found in Dirty Gourmet's first book.
And they're like these little umami calorie bombs that, that always hit the spot. I may I sometimes just make em at home cause they're so fricking good.
But I mean, at the end of the day, Seymour, like all you really need to do to properly fuel is eat something that has a good amount of carbs. That's also not gonna make your stomach do somersaults when you're mid ride.
Like, you know, you don't want it to be messy and sloppy in your hand too. So think about something a little portable. But really eat what you want. Eat what you want, buddy. You don't have to go buy those packets.
I mean, I know a guy who fueled his. He did like a one week speed hike of the John Muir Trail, New Muyo. And that's over 200 miles.
And for better or worse, all he ate on that trip, like 90% of what he ate on that trip were just baggies. He didn't eat the baggie, but it was baggies filled with what was essentially pureed oats and peanut butter.
It sounded boring and disgusting to me, but then again, I once ate a stale tortilla filled with canned chicken and a slice of sun melted kraft cheese that I found in a plastic bucket at Muir Trail Ranch when I was on the pct. So who am I to judge?
Colin True
00:38:32.740 - 00:38:33.940
I bet it was delightful.
Shawnté Salabert
00:38:33.940 - 00:38:35.380
It was really, really good.
Colin True
00:38:35.860 - 00:38:38.540
When you're that hungry, it's all. It's so good.
Shawnté Salabert
00:38:38.540 - 00:38:41.460
Oh, it was deranged. We ate so much weird stuff on that trail.
Colin True
00:38:42.020 - 00:40:12.780
Yeah, it's. This is the, this is the dark side, I feel like, of the. The sort of, you know, energy food industrial complex or whatever.
Because I think, you know, for most of the way. Yeah, if you see, if you look at this stuff and what's out there and the gels and whatnot, it exists for a really good reason.
And if you're doing a really hard race or something like that, it's an easy way to consume stuff, all that kind of stuff. But now it's sort of, you know, painted this sort of picture of what you're quote, unquote, supposed to do, right?
Like seeing like, hey, I'm starting a mountain bike. Well, I guess I'm supposed to have these things when I fuel now it's like, no, man, you eat whatever you want. You know, just.
And actually, when I worked at goo, the kind of lead scientist person who head up product development and everything would be like, yeah, man, this is just sugar. Have a Snickers, have a can of Coke. You're gonna get the same thing. No, the delivery of. It's what matters.
And so, Seymour, if you're just riding your bike and you happen to be going longer and you don't mind carrying a few extra things, you really can carry whatever you want. It's the people who are trying to win a race and those kinds of things who might want to rely on that. Now, occasionally, I don't mind a gel.
I like that every once in a while. But salted watermelon, right? My last big event that I did was a 50 mile ultramarathon and I made like a dozen egg and cheese burritos What?
And we had that. My crew would meet me at the aid stations.
And if it's a picture, actually a picture on the Rock fight website of my buddy Bryce pouring ketchup on one. And it was just with the ketchup especially, it was this perfect blend of everything.
And I wanted to eat it because a lot of times with these sugary foods, too, you don't want to eat it after a while, too. So you stop. Then you stop fueling. So.
Shawnté Salabert
00:40:13.170 - 00:40:32.850
Oh, man, that makes me think of. That's right. Listen to Colin have a burrito. No, I think it makes me think of my favorite. One of the trail races I did. Valencia Trail race.
Had some pretty great aid stations. And I just remember one aid station had peeps and pickles. I was like, oh, yeah, bring it on.
Colin True
00:40:33.090 - 00:40:34.330
Yeah, it's like a perfect combo.
Shawnté Salabert
00:40:34.330 - 00:40:35.090
It was perfect.
Colin True
00:40:35.650 - 00:40:49.190
That was the thing I learned because I kept. I burned out on the sugary stuff real quick. And by like the mile, whatever.
On whether it's bike or run or whatever, I'd be like, can I make some potato chips? I just want something salty. I do not want to eat anything sugary anymore.
Shawnté Salabert
00:40:49.190 - 00:41:32.970
So maybe you need to start making your own bars and balls, Colin. All right, well, that is it for this episode of Gear Abby.
Until next time, send your burning questions about your relationships with outdoor people, products, places and pastimes over to to dear gearabby gmail.com and I'm going to do my best to answer them or find someone else who can. And of course, head over to your podcast listening service of choice and subscribe rate review to support the pod and personally make my day.
In the meantime, today's episode was produced by David Karstad and Colin True, your favorite pig. Art direction provided by Sarah Gensert. And I'm Chante Salibair. And remember, there are no dumb questions, just smart advice.
