Into the Wee Hours Podcast

Don't let Sammy's super chill nature fool you - Sammy is an accomplished endurance runner, up to 100 mile distance, and we have a great chat (on Valentine’s Day!) about how he got into running in his early 20s and the amazing races and challenges and International travel he has completed since in NZ, Japan and Italy - to name a few.

Running has become a huge part of Sammy’s life, including being the way he met his, now, wife, Meagan, after a little Instagram stalking, while racing in a Glasshouse Series trail run. 

Sammy has accomplished a number of Fastest Known Times (FKTs) in Queensland and we have a great chat about why he takes on these solo challenges and the physical and mental sides of these performances. We reference Sammy’s Fastest Known Times which you can view on www.fastestknowntime.com and include: Glasshouse Gallivant; Conondale Great Walk and 2 x Carnarvon Gorge Great Walk. Sammy is super encouraging for anyone to get out there and try these FKTs for themselves -  “If you can’t go fast; go first!”.

We also chat about the year ahead which includes Sammy’s goal to run an road marathon PB at the marathon at Brisbane Marathon Festival; running the 21km at Yandina-Five-O with his wife Meagan, before heading to the USA later in the year to crew and pace for Meagan on the iconic Western States Endurance Run. Other races we mention which Sammy has completed include the BVRT 100 miles, Ultra Trail Mount Fuji and Ultra Trail Lavaredo. 

We can’t forget to mention Sammy and Meagan’s newest addition to the family, Scottie Puppen, a new sibling for Mo Furah. If you hadn't guessed, the Brownies are pun fans so check out Scottie Pippen and Mo Farah for the origin of these names!!

To get in touch with Sammy, you can find him on Instagram @thesammybrown 

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Episode 19! Leif Christensen joined us in the “studio” while visiting from Adelaide for a chat about what being an everyday adventurer means to him. 

Leif shares with us how an exchange program, living in Brazil for a year after leaving school stimulated his interest in experiencing other cultures and places. This passion has seen Leif travel and adventure all over Australia and beyond, both for fun; for fundraising and also for work, as a trained social worker, leading 100km hikes for children while working in an adventure therapy and guide role for Operation Flinders. 

Leif since retrained as a firefighter and we chat about how work and adventure tie in together. He shares with us a whole range of missions he has completed including his self-named project “Six Trails for Change”, taking part in ultra distance trail runs, including the Rapid Ascent “Triple Crown”, as well as summiting the 6812m peak Mount Ama Dablam in Nepal and fastpacking the Great Walk on K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island). Leif has been riding motorbikes since he was 18, and attempted a fundraising ride from London to Cape Town, while also recently taking part in the challenging and somewhat quirky “Postie Bike Challenge” riding an old “postie bike” 1000km over four days in the Flinders Ranges and remote Outback South Australia, raising funds for the Apex Copper Coast Retreats, supporting families impacted by cancer. 

Leif also shares with us intentions for the year ahead including racing Ultra Trail Australia 100km and climbing Mount Cook in New Zealand. 

We finish with a chat about how through working in the fire service, Leif now volunteers with his kelpie, Boston, training as a search and rescue dog as part of the Urban Search and Rescue taskforce.

You can find Leif on Instagram at @leif_c 

We (…Sarah) apologises for the feature guest - Ness - who was fairly vocal during this interview. 

If you’re enjoying these episodes and interested in supporting us on Patreon please head across to www.patreon.com/intotheweehourspodcast We are so grateful for every contribution which "helps keep the lights on"! 

 

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Episode 18! We speak to Allison Piercy, who kindly took the train up to the Sunshine Coast from Brisbane to join us in our “studio” for a fantastic in person conversation. 

Over the past few years Allison has really embraced the art of bikepacking, from riding the 800km Cairns to Karumba bike event with her Mum; to her first trip on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail with a makeshift set up (including a Mexican blanket wrapped in a Woolies plastic bag, strapped to her bars), to now having completed numerous trips on her trusty Surly Bridgeclub bicycle, including a four week trip on the notorious Tassie Gift route and a mammoth solo six week adventure which took in remote parts of Australia, starting in Adelaide on the Mawson Trail, before riding the legendary remote Oodnadatta Track and then adventuring out to the red centre - Alice Springs. 

Allison shares some great insights around bikepacking; solo adventures and the dynamics of travelling with a group when you prefer solo time; community - shout out here to Mattie Gould creator of DesireLines CC; her why for getting out on these adventures and her love for self propelled travel, not to mention the personal growth and self reflection Allison gains from these experiences. 

It turns out Allison is also the "go to" group member if you're looking to win 800 bucks in a pub on a bikepacking trip! Maxxy from BikePackShop gets a mention on this one too.

As we refer to in this episode, Allison is well known by her great Instagram handle and you can find her on Instagram at @allis_on_wonderland 

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Episode 17! While visiting Queensland after five months of COVID-19 induced state border closures, we took the opportunity to have a great conversation with Tom Kinsley - who also happens to be the partner of our Episode 5 guest, Cecilia Mattas.

 

Tom is an English born, RAAF pilot based in Newcastle, NSW who has been living in Australia since 2013. Tom’s passion for sport, adventure and running in particular really comes through in this conversation. Both within and outside of work he has been on some incredibly diverse adventures around the world and his “I’ll give anything a go” attitude to adventure and competition is clear. 

 

We talk about an array of his achievements and adventures and how, pre-COVID-19 he had been planning to race the iconic trail running stage race, Marathon des Sables, in the Sahara Desert, and how his goals were forced to be re-established amidst the pandemic era. This led Tom on some incredible alternative challenges, including a self-organised, “solo”, 24 hour running challenge around a 1km bitumen loop on the air force base - covering over 170km while raising funds for the UNICEF Australia COVID-19 appeal. Tom talks about the highs and lows of this incredible endurance challenge.

We also cover topics including dealing with injury - and Tom’s attitude to it being a battle of the mind, but with a supportive partner and team around him, how it refocused him to thinking about what he CAN do, including time swimming and on the bike.

Failed adventures are another favourite of conversation and Tom delivers superbly on this, having sailed a yacht with a team across the English channel, before sinking it off the coast of Cherbourg, France. In spite of Tom’s cool and humorous recollection of events, we’ve no doubt this would be a somewhat frightening experience amidst terrible weather conditions during a European winter.

We should also “importantly” highlight that in this episode, Kristen is mainly just stoked she has found her first “Hells No” to pineapple on pizza guest - not to mention a fellow trumpet player. Finally, Tom’s wildest wee may include a Prime Minister and is one not to be missed!

If you would like to find Tom online he’s @tomkinno on Instagram. 

Amongst others, Tom makes reference to the Rim to Rim to Rim route in the Grand Canyon; the Three Peaks Challenge in the UK, the Three Peaks Yacht Race and Marathon de Sables.

We are still sorting out some audio issues with the popping in the background (if anyone knows what could be going on, please slide into our DMs or email [email protected]) but we hope it does not take away from the quality of the conversation. 

Finally, if you’re interested in supporting the podcast, you can visit our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/intotheweehourspodcast or subscribe, rate and review if you’re enjoying these conversations! THANK YOU.

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Episode 16! We have a wonderful conversation with the determined and passionate, Stanthorpe based, Emma Rhymer, about how she discovered mountain biking as a teacher at a school camp in her early 40s and was immediately hooked. 

This discovery sparked an amazing journey from rookie mountain biker to a dedicated Masters endurance athlete, working with the support of her husband, Dylan, and a dedicated coaching support team from skills coaching to dietician to movement coach, in her pursuit of competition and growth, successfully racing 24 Hour MTB championships, amongst other shorter cross country races and her first bikepacking experience at the BrisDivide in 2021. 

Emma is transforming her day to day life around mountain biking including moving towards relief teaching while growing her coaching expertise and is a real inspiration to us to follow your passions. We talk all things that come with getting into a new sport "later in life", including skill development, training, injury and balancing work/family/mountain biking, as well as the value of a very supportive bike community and the self-confidence and new learnings that a journey like this can bring. 

Amongst others, Emma makes reference to Dylan Cooper at rideTECHNICS, Aus Cycling, Ride Sunshine Coast, i-Ride Bikes Toowoomba, Matt Wilkins of Mountain Bike Coaching Australia, her current coach Anna Beck, Jodie Willet, Jess Douglas and Rod Hickey.

Emma also references kicking off her racing at the Wild West XCO series, plus 24 hour racing the Merida 24 Hour at Hidden Vale Adventure Park, the 3 hour MTB race Chicks in the Sticks and taking part in the SEQ bikepacking event, the BrisDivide.

You can find Emma on Instagram at @emma.rhymer.mtb

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Welcome to Episode 15 of the Into the Wee Hours Podcast!

We talk to Evolutionary Biologist and ultra endurance athlete, Danny Longman via Zoom, all the way from the European mountains.

Having taken on numerous adventures worldwide and holding world records for ocean rowing, as a member of the Polar Row team, in addition to his work at Loughborough University which includes research enhancing understanding of human physiology in the world’s most extreme environments, we could have talked to Danny about so many things. However, in this episode we focus on the Lakes Swim Challenge 2021, his latest World Record open water swim achievement, being the fastest to swim the maximum length of every lake in England’s Lake District.

We cover so many interesting aspects of his “Lakes Swim Challenge” from preparation and planning; to the crew and teamwork behind this individual attempt; nutrition; the physical toll an effort like this takes, including Danny having to tape his hand into a swimstroke position mid challenge and the “why” behind the attempt. 

You can see images and more stories behind the challenge on Danny’s Instagram account: @theworldbeaplayground 

Also, we are now on Patreon and would be so grateful for any support! You can check us out at patreon.com/intotheweehourspodcast 

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We’re excited to bring you Episode 14 of the Into the Wee Hours Podcast and this really interesting chat with Rob Saunders.

In this episode we talk to Brisbane based, Rob Saunders - the man behind the heartfelt documentary - In the Footsteps of John Stuart. This short film is currently touring in Australia with the Wild film festival.  It covers Rob’s incredible, personal and historical journey to find his great uncle John’s grave in an unrecorded location on a Tasmanian mountainside, following a tragic climbing and exploration expedition in 1956 which ended in John’s death. 

We would certainly encourage you to check out the film - you can view a trailer of In the Footsteps of John Stuart here.

We mainly focus on the development and making of the film, which involved a challenging expedition into the wilds of Tasmania for Rob and a select team of friends. We chat to Rob about many aspects of what a remote bushwalking and climbing adventure like this entails; not to mention the comparison between wilderness adventures for his Great Uncle in the 1950s, compared to now. 

We also chat about the logistics behind filming your own adventure, and touch briefly on Rob’s recent trip to k’Gari (previously known as Fraser Island) and his aspirations to create another adventure based film. As is becoming the case with many of the awesome everyday adventurers we chat to, we barely scratched the surface of Rob’s adventure knowledge and experience! 

We also have some big news! We’ve launched an Into the Wee Hours Podcast Patreon account. As much as we’re doing this for fun, podcasting certainly doesn’t come without its own financial costs - and we would be sooooo grateful if any of you listening would be inclined to throw a few dollars our way. There’s absolutely no pressure, but if you’re curious you can check us out on patreon - https://www.patreon.com/intotheweehourspodcast

We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land and seas where this podcast is being recorded. The land of the Gubbi Gubbi people on the sunshine coast. We pay respect to their elders past, present and those emerging. 

 

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Following Episode 10, where Kristen interviewed Sarah about her upcoming bikepacking trip in Outback Queensland, this is the post trip wrap up!

Sarah talks broadly about the experience of her ten day adventure, including how her route changed from the outset and how her trip mantra became “Make good choices, there are no rules”. She talks of the kindness of strangers; gratitude for her body; the challenges of being solo in a remote, Outback environment, including water management and camping around wild dogs. Sarah also touches on the idea of "wherever you go; there you are" and the deep presence found on these endurance missions. 

Sarah travelled 2000km in her van; over 600km on her bike, Celeste; hiked 43km in her Teva sandals and spent 9.5 hours on the Spirit of the Outback train to complete her loop from Emerald to Longreach and back.

Sarah references her dynamo hub system on her Curve GMX+ which is an Australian built KLite set up. 

For a daily breakdown and images of the trip, you can visit Sarah’s Instagram account @allthegearnaeidea 

The annoying popping sound made a return for this one - we're so sorry. We think we've sussed it now and hope it never returns again! Thanks for bearing with us. 

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Having recently completed riding the Great Divide on a bicycle he crafted himself, from wood, we have an awesome conversation with Adelaide born, US based, Toby Lukins. 

Toby is an incredibly experienced everyday adventurer and no doubt, with an extensive range of adventures and experiences behind him, we barely scraped the surface in this fantastic hour chatting to him. Toby shares with us how he balances life as a husband and father of three, while working “fly in fly out”, adventuring and creating some amazing items through his self-taught love for woodworking. 

The particular focus of this conversation was around how Toby recently rode a bucketlist off-road route for bikepackers worldwide -  the Adventure Cycling Association’s 4000+km “Great Divide Mountain Bike Route” - a route following the Continental Divide from Banff, Alberta, Canada to the US/Mexico border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Incredibly he rode this on a bike he designed and made entirely himself, out of wood. We cover a great range of topics from how he made his bike; to the challenges of a solo ride on this world renowned route; wildlife encounters and being bear aware; the community of trail angels along the route and the “why” for taking on a challenge like this. We also touch on how these adventures are balanced with life as a parent and how parents can be amazing role models for their children by taking on challenges like this. 

We make reference to the absolutely incredible Lael Wilcox and the 2019 coverage of her riding the Divide in the short film  - “I just want to ride”

Bikepacking.com is also a great resource for anyone curious to find out more about the route and about all things bikepacking. 

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Fresh off her awesome run, completing her third Run Queensland, Blackall 100KM, Sarah takes the host spot in this episode and chats to Kristen, less than 24 hours afterwards, about her experience at this iconic Sunshine Coast ultra trail run event. 

This is a great opportunity to hear Kristen’s personal experience of running 100kms - amidst a very busy life beyond running - and whether you’re an experienced trail runner, interested to hear the perspective of another athlete, or you’re curious about what it takes to participate in an endurance event of this scale, there’s something in here for you! 

We talk about training and injury; preparation; coaching; the “why”; race day experiences; nutrition; community and all the highs and lows that come with such an epic achievement. 

You can find out more about the Blackall 100 here. We also reference some of our favourite podcasts including Megan and David Roche’s Some Work All Play Podcast (woooohoooo - if you know, you know); the recently launched female, pro athlete led podcast Trail Society and Jason Koop’s KoopCast. Kristen mentions the awesome book from Stacey Sims, ROAR and shout out to Sunshine Coast locals Rachel and Jason from Infinit Nutrition Australia.

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