JMT Atempt Report

[Michael Popov]

Here's a couple of pictures from the field, taken during the attempt. I'm working on videos too. The one when I started to lose it is quite something. Aaron, let me know when you get the link to audio files out, I'm looking forward to listening.

[REINHOLD METZGER]

Michael,
I enjoyed communicating with you & Aaron before and after your record setting hike.
Once again, congratulations on your outstanding accomplishment…I know other big boys will be gunning for your record, but it will be a hard one to beat…you raised that bar extremely high.
I always knew my record was vulnerable to a strong, young backpacker or endurance runner like you….I'm just surprised it lasted 4 years.
It was time to pass the torch to the younger generation and I could not have asked for a nicer guy to accept that torch,
so carry it with honor for the JMT is truely a magnificent wilderness trail of unrivaled beauty and having been the carrier of that torch for the last 4 years will, in my opinion, always be the highlight of my backpacking career.
My love affair with the JMT began in 1996….it was love at first sight and will be love untill the bitter end.
I have now hiked the JMT nine times and have no intention of quiting now, at the tender age of sixty six.
Mike you must now hike the JMT at a more leisure pace and take time to smell the flowers along the way and appreciate its magnificent beauty.
Funny I should say that, I have, on many occasins, been accused by ''purists'' that I am hiking the JMT to fast and not take time to enjoy it's beauty.
Well, they were wrong…I have hiked it slow & fast and enjoyed it's beauty either way just like I know you have and will enjoy it's beauty in the future.

Sorry about the windy post, but I get carried away when it comes to the JMT.

JMT Reinhold

[Al Shaver]

Aaron and Michael,
Congratulations to both of you for outstanding efforts. Resting and starting together was a novel tactic that made it more interesting not just for you, but for your fans back home too.

Last fall after 31 miles in 13 hours (Whitney Portal to Forester Pass) my feet too, became painful, Aaron. The pain became debilitating not long after that. I was in road running shoes. Looks like maybe we both need to make beefier shoe choices. I doubt that I'll ever give Michael's time a challenge, but I'd still like to see how hard I can push myself under optimal conditions.

Michael, you bumped the daily mileage from Reinhold's 40 to an amazing 50 miles/day for over 4 days! That's amazing on that terrain and at those elevations. Now, if you pre-hiked the trail to learn all the junctions in advance, spent 3 weeks at elevation to fully acclimatize and if we could wean you off your stove for water purification and get you into an Aqua Mira kit…you stand a very real chance of dropping the final 8 hours 20 minutes to Kevin Sawchuck's supported, re-supplied record of 3 days 21 hours 5 min (of course he started at Whitney Portal and took the slightly longer route across Hwy 120 through Tuolumne Meadows). But, it would be great to see Kevin challenged so that he too would maximize the potetial of his category. It's scary to think what he could do with full support.

Regardless, having been a less than gifted dilettante in this field, I can appreciate the magnitude of your achievement. I doff my cap to you and as always to our patron saint, Reinhold. He set the pace for this game, but more importantly, he keeps John Muir's spirit and love of this miraculous "Range of Light" alive.

Cheers, Al

[REINHOLD METZGER]

Michael & Aaron,
I enjoyed communicating with both of you before and after your record setting attempts.
Once again, congratulations on your outstanding accomplishment and Aaron's valiant effort…Aaron you must try again…with different shoes.
I know other big boys will be gunning for your record, but it will be a hard one to break, you raised the bar so high.

I always knew my record was vulnerable to strong, young backpackers or endurance runners like you guys…I'm just surprised it lasted 4 years.
It was time to pass the torch to the younger generation and
I could not have asked for a nicer guy to accept the torch; so carry it with honor for the JMT is truly a magnificent wilderness trail of unrivaled beauty and having been the carrier of that torch for the last 4 years will, in my oppinion, always be the highlight of my backpacking career.

My love affair with the JMT began in 1996…it was love at first sight and will be love until the bitter end.
I have now hiked the JMT nine times and have no intention of quiting now at the tender age of sixty six.

Mike you must now hike the JMT at a more leisure pace and take time to smell the flowers along the way and appreciate its magnificent beauty…funny that I should say that, I have, on many occasions, been chastised by ''purists'' for
hiking the JMT too fast and not enjoying its beauty.
Well, they were wrong…I have hiked it fast, I have hiked
slow and enjoyed it immensly each time in a different way, just like I know you have and will enjoy its beauty.

There is something to be said about rising to the occasion
and meeting a challenge, to make a dream come true, that makes all the pain & suffering inconsequential, so don't ever stop chasing your dream Michael.

Remember ''The pain & suffering will soon be forgotten but
the memories will last a life time.''

JMT Reinhold
Your hopelessly in love with the JMT trail companion

[Michael Popov]

Heineken sponsorship, Al? That's interesting, unlimited beer before the races, and especially after, what's not to like! That's a very alluring perspective! Worth furhter exploring!
Thanks for your input on an attempt, as a matter of fact I did like KlearWater liquid that Aaron was using, no after taste whatsoever. As for Kevin Sawchuck's time – it'd be nice to have bridged the gap, but the courses are a bit different, alas. Although I know now how to shave at least 4 hours off of my present time easy, and even more, but anything more than 4 hours – it'll simply hurt. Knowing the trail is number one time shaver. The calm that comes with it – number two. And I'm planning on lowering my time in the future.
As for water quality on the trail, it's a gamble, but I have yet to manifest the giardia symptoms, so I presume I avoided the dready bug.

Reinhold, you are the hopeless romantic! But so I am. I would be honored to see you in person, or better yet to go on another JMT journey together (this time slowly) and pick some wisdom from the master of the trail. I'll bring beers!

[Aaron Sorensen]

Thank you Reinhold,
Al,
After day one and 47 miles I figured I was good for 42-44 miles a day and maybe even a big push the last day for another 47.

With the time Michael put up there, even if I had done 47 miles each day, I would have been left in the dust.

Next time I will do it in about 10 days and enjoy what I missed. Maybe I'll be able to witness Stamtad go flying by me on his attempt. Maybe with the time Michael put up there we are going to have to change it from attempt to assault.

[REINHOLD METZGER]

Hi gang,
Sorry about posting two similar posts back to back.
This is the first time I posted on BPL.
There seemed to be a delay, I assumed it did not go through, so I send another slightly different version.
I now see both went through to Michael & Aaron.
You can't teach an old dog new tricks, I guess.

JMT Reinhold
The old dog

[Aaron Sorensen]

JMT Reinhold,
AKA: The Southern Lover.

[Michael Popov]

Richard, I finally got it together and ready to lay out the review for the Salomons.

First of all, I'd like to mention that Salomon is not my everyday shoe of choice, I like some other brand better (shhh!). But the selling point was the integrated gaiter and this proved to be major factor on the trail, from my previous experience with JMT from the Portal to Rae Lakes (my only pre-hiked part). I hiked without the gaiters and stopped every 30 minutes to shake the debris out of my other shoes.

I put about 120 miles on these shoes before the attempt, plus the attempt itself and whatever goes with it, 225 miles. So the total mileage is around 350 miles.

So, here goes. First of all the gaiter almost does not add any additional weight to the shoe (claimed weight is 1 lb 10 oz), and once the shoe is on, gaiter stays put and never ever you have to adjust one. I wore these Salomons all 4 days straight and slept in them too, except for one time when I had to take them off to relube and tape my feet.

The gaiter tore on the inside of right ankle, and the left ankle showed the signs of oncoming tearing too.

The closure is velcroed, and it may snag against and ruffle your socks when it's opened.

Putting shoes on is a bit of a struggle, but they have two large grab loops on the heel and tongue parts, which makes it easier. Putting the shoes on in a sitting position is almost impossible, you have to really push your foot in from up above into the ground.

The fit is fine, very snug, but at the same time there's room in the forefoot, I lost no nails. Heel is supportive, no slippage. The shoe is super flexible and the insole is flimsy, I'd recommend flipping for harder insoles (SuperFeet or Dean Karnazes's ones), although it worked just fine for me and I intend to keep them in.

The kevlar laces stay in place once tightened (unlike my Salomon Amphibians which keep loosening all the time), that was a big plus. They showed a sign of heavy wear though, at the tip of the shoe, fraying and almost disintegrating (see pics)

The shoe is extremely breathable, when I got my feet wet they seemed to dry out in a few minutes, but you needed to move though. Socks stayed damp a little longer, but that's another story. The top of the shoe is made of some sort of fine plastic mesh and it wore out where the laces rubbed into it.

The front of the shoe was catching lots of granite and wore out quick with the part of the outsole that curves around the lip of she shoe separating from the body (see pic)

At the same time stiching came undone in many places in the front of the shoe.

The sole wore out quick, but I would imagine the harsh conditions of the jagged granite rocks would do the same to any fast shoes out there.

All in all, the shoe is great for what it is intended for, very narrow and specific use, but don't expect it to last forever. The integrated gaiter is wonderful!!

I'm planning to use these again in the upcoming Headlands Hundred this coming weekend and keep a spare pare of Continental Divides with my crew, just in case.

[Richard Nisley]

Michael – Thanks for the review. The pictures added a lot to the text.

[Brett Tucker]

The lace-fraying (at the eyelets) that Michael illustrates has been an issue with all of the Salomon XA models since their inception. That, and the tendency to develop holes in the mesh at the forefoot creases. Salomon sells a lace replacement kit, but it's a bear to install and doesn't seem to work as well as the original – lace slippage at the tensioner, especially.

[REINHOLD METZGER]

Mike,
What material did they use on the gaiters?…regular cloth
with elastic at the ends, elastic material, breathable material like gortex?…did they keep your feet hoter?
Was it it all one piece or did it open on one side and then closed up with velcro?

JMT Reinhold

[REINHOLD METZGER]

Aaron,
I may have been known as the Southern Lover in my younger days, but it is hard to live up to that reputation at age sixty six.

JMT Reinhold
Honorary member, Sr. Citizens Backpackers Fraternity

[REINHOLD METZGER]

Mike,
Is that you doing those push ups? You look so different from up close, compared to those JMT pictures you posted.

By the way, I never used energy gels…how many calories/oz do they deliver & how much do they cost?

JMT Reinhold

[Michael Popov]

Reinhold,
the gaiter is made of stretchy elastic material with velcro closure on the outside. The material seemed to breathe well and my feet never got hot.

My sister went to San Diego tonight for a week, stopping over at Santa Barbara, LA, all that stuff. If I did not race this weekend I'd certainly go too, it'd be nice to see San Diego, I was there only flying by on a freeway. Could be interesting to check out the trails by the city.

[Aaron Sorensen]

Hey Reinhold,
I just had to say it.
As far as the shoe review goes, the JMT is good for absolutly destroying a pair of shoe, (no matter what brand). Michaels shoes looked as new before the hike.
It didn't look like they had more than 20 miles on them.

[Michael Popov]

Well, energy gels work this way, you eat too many and you'll end up like this poor kitten. If you look looooong, you notice he never stops :))

But honestly energy gels are a very easy nutrition on the go, albeit expensive. One pouch usually gets you 100-120 calories and sets you back ~$1.25. Some gels are laced with 25-50 mg of caffeine, some are laced with 5g protein, some are both.

All of them have electrolytes to them and some, like PowerGel, have a high sodium content, 200 mg per pouch.

Also all of them use mostly the complex carbohydrates and a little bit of simple sugar. The ratio may look like – 25g total carbs/3 grams sugar. Except for Honey Stinger Gel, which uses natural honey laced with B vitamins, it's all simple sugar.

And most gels have antioxidative vitamins C,E to them, and some have vitamin B as well. Usually 100% daily dose per package.

I consumed a little less than 40 pouches for this trip, and brought energy bars also, but out of 16 bars I forced myself to eat only 2, all the rest were dead weight. No more bars for me. Mountain House Pro-Packs were amazing though. Sausages laced with cheddar cheese were even better. Gotta have hot food when you stop for a bit.

[REINHOLD METZGER]

Aron,
I agree with you 100%…The JMT is extremely hard on feet & shoes and more JMT record
attempts probably went up in smoke due to
feet or shoe problems than any thing else.
Many running shoes just do not have the support
needed on a rough trail like the JMT and a light
weight hiking shoe might be a better choice.

[REINHOLD METZGER]

First of all, I'm just a old fashioned backpacker, rather ignorant of the high tech energy strategy utilized by present day endurance runners, who can use and will appreciate any help in understanding
the advantages of energy gels etc. over traditional
backpacker foods.

My initial thinking is if energy gels deliver 100-120
calories/poutch, I assume 1 oz/poutch, then I can get more calories/oz from nuts(175-200), potato chips & cookies(150-160), crackers & cereal(110-130), salami &
beef jerky(80-100) delivering fat, complex carbs &
protein at a fraction of the cost and weight of energy
gels, so why use the gels?…I know gels are instant
energy, while the other foods need to be digested, and some are rich in protein & sodium.
But, my thinking is I can get all the protein & sodium I
need from nuts, salami & beef jerky, again at a fraction
of the cost & weight of gels, and, for quick energy I can hunk down some M & M's or a Sniker bar, again at a fraction of the weight & cost of gels.
Sniker bars worked well for Brian Robinson on his
Tripple Crown.
So, from a weight and cost point of view energy gels
don't seem to add up…there must be something else
I am not factoring in that makes endurance athletes prefer gels…help me out here.

[John S.]

Reinhold, in a race situation, energy gels will be easier to take in while moving and easier to digest than more solid foods. The ingredients probably have hardly any fat so they are made for competitive events over relatively short periods of time (hours to days).

Being able to take in your fuel easier and put it to use quicker are the advantages.

[Richard Nisley]

Reinhold – As your heart rate goes up you transition from burning primarily fat to primarily carbohydrates.

For a JMT record attempt you need a very small amount of protein, no fat, and mostly carbs in your race diet. Your body can store a maximum of 1,200 C of carbs as glycogen and glucose and after that is expended, you bonk.

You can only digest 30 – 60 grams of carbs per hour with a race exertion pace. At 4 calories per gram for carbs, that is 120 C to 240 C of carbs per hour.

1 – 2 gel packets per hour provide all of the carbs your body requires for maximum aerobic performance and nothing else. By contrast the conventional foods you mentioned are harder to digest but most importantly don't provide the required carbs.

For example, 100 grams of your nuts (almonds as typical of this food group) provide 578 C or about the equivalent of 4 gel packs. The nutrients in 100 g are 21.26 g of protein, 50.4 g of fat, and 19 g of carbs. The 19 g of carbs is further broken down as 11.8 fiber, 4.8 g sugar, 4.54 g Sucrose, and .12 Glucose. In summary only (4.8+4.54+.12)/100 = .0946 or 9.5% of the energy is useable for eating while racing versus 100% for a gel.

I created this chart as part of a forum post to Aaron a while back when he was planning his JMT attempt. It uses Aaron's specific physiology. The analysis showed that if he wanted to carry the least amount of food that he would have to keep his VO2max at about 38%. In retrospect, if he was going to beat Michael by a significant margin, he would have to keep his VO2max in the 62% range and that would require close to 400 C of carbs per hour. The only way to get close to this energy expenditure is to ingest up to 240C (versus Michaels 120C) of carbs per hour while racing plus carb load for conventional meals.

[James Schipper]

"For a JMT record attempt you need a very small amount of protein, no fat, and mostly carbs in your race diet."

I would disagree with this statement. The amount of fat utilized during exercise depends the persons level of fitness and diet. Studies comparing untrained individuals, amature marathon runners and professional marathoners show that as the level of trainig increases the percent of energy coming from fat during exercise increases. Also, recent studies have shown that a high fat diet for 2-3 weeks prior to an endurance race increases fat utilization and improves performance. People don't eat fat during a marathon because it takes longer to be digested and utilized, however use of fat stores during the race slows depleation of intramuscular and hepatic glycogen. A marathon however is only a 2-4 hour race, while finishing the JMT takes days. For a trained athelete, adding fat to his diet would privide sustained energy and slow depletion of glycogen. It also has the added benefit of being more calorie dense and therefore lighter.

There have also been studies that show consumption of protein improves performance in endurance events. In a multiple day race where you at get least some rest, the addition of extra protien to help with muscle recovery would likely be beneficial.

Still, carbs will make up the majority of your calories (60-80%). I'm sure people could argue endlessly what the optimal ratios should be, and it probably varies between individuals.

[Richard Nisley]

James – I agree that the amount of fat utilized during exercise depends on the person's level of fitness and diet. But what is consistant is as the exercise intesity moves up, the fat % moves down and the carb percentage moves up. The majority of athletes have enough stored fat (3,500 C per lb) to take care of their fat requirements for a 5 day race.

Protein requirements for Lance Armstrong and his bike race team averaged only 15% during the long endurance races like the Tour de France.

[James Schipper]

Yeah, Cris Carmichael says the team tried to get 15% protien, 15%fat and 70% carbs. But if you are eating a lot of energy gel (0%) protien, or even snickers bars (5% protien) you are going to have to find something higher in protien (like jerky) to balance it out to reach 15%. It acutally can be fairly difficult to get 15% protien in your diet. Even strait almonds are only about 14% protien. Getting 15% fat in your diet is far easier since anything with nut has quite a bit (snicker 50%, almonds 80%) My main point was that while you can run a marathon on just energy gel and water, you need a more balanced diet for a multi-day race. I gave a range for the carbs (60-80%) because its difficult to control for all variables.

[Richard Nisley]

James – We are in general agreement.

I should have clarified "race diet" to mean what he consumed when running/fast hiking and not resting. Michael said, "…Bratwurst sausages with Cheddar cheese, got these 500 calories in… two pouches of Mountain House Pro-Pak freeze dried dinners – “chicken teriyaki with rice” and “spaghetti in meat sauce”". When resting, his gel carbs were augmented with the approximate 15% protein and 15% fat he required for a multi-day endurance event.

[Author]

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