WEBVTT - Ep. 327: A Gold Medal Podcast 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:13.320 This is Me Eat podcast coming at you shirtless, severely 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:17.640 bug bitten, and in my case, underwear. Listening to hunt podcast, 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:23.360 you can't predict anything presented by First like creating proven 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:27.920 versatile hunting apparel from Marino bass layers to technical outerwear 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:36.479 for every hunt, first Light, Go Farther, stay longer, everybody. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:38.839 You've heard us talking about it for months now. My 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.400 new book coming out, my third Outdoor Kids in an 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.800 Inside World. Getting your family out of the house and 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:49.440 radically engaged with nature. This book covers it all man 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:52.160 many of the questions that I've gotten over the years 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:56.200 of people, such as like how old should my kid 0:00:56.240 --> 0:01:00.280 be before allow them to start shooting? Twenty two's getting 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:02.720 them started on a b begun? Um? Do I think 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:05.479 it's damaging if a kid sees a deer die when 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.120 they're really young? How do you get your kids interested 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:11.319 in eating game meat? Um? How do you get kids 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:15.600 engaged around gardens? Right? Like? How to? In my view, 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.560 it's how to get your kids radically engaged with nature 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.880 because a couple of reasons. If you're listening to this, 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:25.240 you probably like to hang out outside. You're probably into 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.200 hunting and fishing, and you want to have that be 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:29.479 a family thing, and you want to introduce your kids 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:31.119 to it in a way that it becomes a family 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:33.000 thing that your kids like to because that's what you 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.200 like doing. And there's nothing selfish about that. Man. If 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:41.040 you're a parent, um, you play your best game when 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:45.760 you're engaged too. You want to demonstrate authentic enthusiasm to 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:47.600 your kids. You want to show your kids what it's 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.440 like to be excited about something. You're excited about nature. 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:52.640 This is just some insights and help about how to 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.840 make sure that you can pass that along to your kids. 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:58.480 And here's the thing. If they grow up and they 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.640 never touch it again, that's fine. I still love them. 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:04.720 But you know that they go into life armed with 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:08.320 that toolkit that you demonstrated to them by living a 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:12.320 life outside. It's a good book, if I say so myself. Anyhow, 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:16.040 you have until May second to pre order and then 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:20.960 be eligible to receive an additional fifty page free resource guide. 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:23.280 So when we were doing the book, me and and 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:25.400 Brodie Henderson, who you here on the podcast here all 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.959 the time, we put together a fifty page the resource 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.000 guide full of all kinds of extra advice and insights 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.280 and gear tips and everything for keeping your kids squared 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:41.120 away right, feeding them, dressing them, everything, safety information, resources 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:42.800 about how to find stuff you might want to find. 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.639 We didn't put in the book. It's a fifty page 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:50.000 resource guide that we will email straight to you free 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:55.600 once you share your pre order information for outdoor kids 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:58.239 in an inside world. It's a crazy as you r l. 0:02:58.240 --> 0:02:59.919 I'm not eve gonna give you right now because it's 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.320 of like weird. But here's a couple ways to find it. 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:04.080 No matter where you buy the book. Are you buy 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:06.200 it on Barnes Noble, you buy it on Amazon, we 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:08.840 don't care where you buy it. Take that order information 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.600 and go to this page to redeem the thing. The 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.880 page will be in the show notes to this podcast episode. 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:18.880 If you go to Instagram and go to at Steven 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.320 Ronnella and my bio will just leave it. It will 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:23.240 live there for a while, and my bio will be 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:25.680 a link that takes you to where you put in 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:29.639 your order information, regardless of where you bought it. Where 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:32.840 you put in your order information in order to redeem 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:37.640 and get the fifty page free resource guide. Thanks guys, 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.120 I hope you enjoyed the book. I know you'll enjoy it. 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:43.960 I have been thinking about writing this thing since the 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:48.960 minute my wife was pregnant with our first child twelve 0:03:49.560 --> 0:04:00.120 pretty much twelve years and nine months ago. So thanks everybody, 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:09.440 turning machine on phill. Uh Sam bates you. So you're 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:14.160 better at both skiing and shooting than you? Honest I here, Um, yes, 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:19.080 like you whooped him? I absolutely did, but I think 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:24.960 we maybe had different strategies. She already had her like 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:28.359 her post race big puffy jacket to stay warm on. 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:30.279 By the time I finished the course, I was so 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:34.520 far behind. I don't really understand what happened. You guys 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:39.200 went down with an Olympic who's here with us right now? 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.400 You went down with an Olympic by athlete by what 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:46.400 do you call him? By athlete? By athlete? You doroduce yourself. 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.599 I'm Paul Schumer. I'm on the US bathlon team and 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:54.320 fresh from Beijing. Yeah a few a few weeks out, 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.640 but uh yeah, So at this point, are you guys 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.839 able to speak freely without getting new being worried about 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:03.599 like retribution? Yea, it is still like you guys are 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:05.920 still a little buttoned up. No, not really, I mean 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.200 you gotta be like this snow is amazing. No, no, 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.240 I mean you could speak freely. We're in like free speeches. 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.599 We're back in going to say whatever you want, So 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:18.440 hold on. This is something I don't know about. He 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:21.640 told me all about all this, and he's a skier. 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:25.840 So when all the skiers they were there, you guys 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:31.760 weren't allowed to talk freely, and truly it was strongly discouraged. 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:34.400 Like someone said, like, how is the snow? You had 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.559 to be like, it is the best snow I've ever 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:41.479 seen my life. The thing is, we're Americans and we 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.160 take our American nous with us over there. So they 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.200 there was it was kind of a caveat there, like 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:49.120 we know you're probably gonna say whatever you want, but 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:53.040 we strongly discourage you guys from saying anything negative politically 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:57.400 about the conditions, about the venues, etcetera, etcetera. David introduced yourself. 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:00.560 I'm David Wise, three time Olympic medal US in half 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:05.359 pipe skiing. Did uh was that a nuclear reactor in 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.520 the background? What is that? What was what was that 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.560 in the back? That's a great question, uh, which I 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.600 don't have the answer. Were they like flexing? Were they 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:19.880 like just in case people forget nuclear superpower, I think so. 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.239 I thought it was odd too with the Olympics sign 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:25.119 on it, and it was like a big green space 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.280 as well, so it was like both of them. It's like, hey, 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:31.360 we have nuclear power, but we're also concerned about the environment. 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.400 But was that an active cooling tower. No, it's like 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.760 they decorate with cooling towers. I think they put that up. 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.599 I think they intentionally built that in the background, but 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.479 I don't know. Hey, just so you know, you know, 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:49.800 we're cooking down some uranium. Blew my mind that that 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.000 was there. Yeah, I don't compete in big air, and 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:58.080 that venue was very far from I feel like every 0:06:58.120 --> 0:06:59.560 time I walked by a TV, I was looking at 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:03.080 that cooling tower. Yeah, because especially the early events were 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.679 all you know, snowboard, big air, ski, big air, women's, 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:12.080 men's like that was a very well featured you know 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:16.440 in Hanoi, Um, at least when I was there, not 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.640 terribly long ago. All the parks are still decorated with 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:24.040 down to American aircraft, like a wing out of the ground, 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.600 a tailfin out of the ground, and it will be 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.480 like the date they shot it down. Yeah, that's a 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.200 little flexing and military power. Man. Now that we're above that, 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.800 I mean we got general flex, We've got generals all 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.200 over the place, not fake cooling towers. But I don't 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:39.440 I don't want I don't want to say I don't 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:41.680 want to do this because I don't want to detract 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:45.080 from the experience. But I would need to go to 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:49.920 our colleague Anny to interpret the Olympics for me. She's 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:55.400 never been, but she like follows skiing. I guess I'm 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:58.880 looking at Yah who sports. Right now to the title 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:01.400 the articles reason trying built an Olympic ski jump next 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.720 to a giant factory In the first sentences, No, they're 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:09.160 not nuclear plant towers tower. I'll have to read a 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:11.680 little bit more though, tell you what they are, all right, 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:13.000 So I wanna get back to I want to get 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.040 back to hell. Sam's better than you at skiing and shooting. 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:18.840 You guys, tell me what you guys did yesterday. We 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:24.480 did not ski. We were just like um walking very 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:28.640 fast snow melt as if as if you had skis, 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.199 as if we had Yeah, and you shot, and then 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.760 we shot, and we shot prone twice and then standing twice, 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.360 and then they had us do penalty runs. If we missed. 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:46.360 So basically the way bathon works is you shoot. Every shooting, 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:48.360 you have five shots. Any shot that you miss you 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:50.839 get penalized with a penalty loop or time penalty. And 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.720 so yesterday we had them doing penalty loops. But um, 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:55.800 we took it easy on them in some respects and 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.880 not in others because there's different sized targets as well. 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:02.280 But yeah, they did well for the most part. We 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.040 actually had to walk the course. The course is basically 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:08.400 like maybe forty yards down and around a truck that 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.600 was parked, and the penalty loop was maybe a five 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:16.079 yard loop around two tripods with spotting scope set up 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:20.599 on him. Got it? And what were you shooting? What 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:22.960 are you were shooting the actual We'll get into that. 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:27.439 We're shooting the actual buyathlon gun at actual byathlon targets. 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:33.200 And Yanni had one on one training up to that race, 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:36.199 So I don't know how his excuses are getting removed. 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:40.280 So I just want to I'm not I'm just I'm 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:47.080 honestly asking you guys were toe to toe and you 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:51.960 out shot. I don't think out shot would be the worst. 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.320 I mean, actually, like, do you guys know what you shot? Like, 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:56.040 how many you missed each time, because that would be 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.760 something you could think about. I think was we shot 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.520 I shot dirty? As I learned was the phrase which 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:06.000 means that the first round of prone, I missed all five. 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:12.080 He did me too, You did too? How the first round? 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.000 So that was on prone targets, So is the smaller targets, 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.280 which you always get people like when they first start 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:19.360 bath on. You kind of get their confidence up by 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.600 having them just shoot standing targets in prone. But then 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:24.280 we switched the targets to the smaller ones, and then 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.800 it was a little bit of maybe maybe explain how 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:31.560 like the race biathlon race actually works, because well, I 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:33.360 want to say that for in a minute. Okay, we 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.920 got some stuff we got to take care of. Okay, 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:38.480 we're gonna getting all this. Do you want I mean, 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:40.880 do you want to we can talk about sam strategy 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.400 right now? That might That might be if someone could like, 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:49.640 like imagine that I'm five years old, tell me really quickly, 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:55.160 how said what Sam beat you at? Okay, so I 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.280 would say my strategy that I didn't realize I had 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.920 was to be accurate with the prone shooting as best 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.840 as I could, which I don't know. I think the 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:07.880 second round I got all five, but the first round 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:09.960 I didn't. And then to just be fast with the 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.640 standing because I knew I wasn't gonna be able to 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.160 hit them anyways, and then I could just run my 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.920 penalty laps really fast. And then oh so you just 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:22.200 basically built the strategy where you're planning on missing. So 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.160 just get it over with and then do the penalty 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:27.840 ship because I can't hold that the gun up for 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.160 that long. You know, It's like I knew I wasn't 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.480 like without time, I wasn't going to be able to 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.480 shoot accurately. Not that I was shooting accurately with time, 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:40.360 But in my sport we call that skiing your strengths. 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:46.080 They I just think the biggest send it the Yeah, 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:47.839 I think the biggest thing just remember with blathon is 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:49.920 that it's a race. It's not a shooting competition only. 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:54.679 So as Sam demonstrated that, to get done with shooting quicker, 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.240 you can get to your penalty loops faster, and then 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:00.679 therefore you just kind of keep it moving where I 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:02.800 don't know other people, sometimes you camp out on the range. 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:04.160 I mean, if you're camped out there for a minute 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:06.240 and a half and somebody else shot in thirty seconds, 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:08.559 you can think they have a one more minute ahead 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:11.120 of you on the course already. So it's kind of 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.640 that fine line. And uh yeah, like there, you definitely 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:16.720 see that on windy days when it's like super windy 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:18.600 out people are kind of like, well, I'm not gonna 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:20.400 hit all five anyway. I might as well just kind 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.600 of pill some shots down range and get out here 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:25.280 as fast as I can. But you know, it's a 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:29.000 very fine line in any any competition where it's like, Okay, 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.079 I want to shoot fast, but you know, if I'm 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.439 going five seconds faster but I miss an extra shot, 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.040 it's really not worth it. So you gotta it's a 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:40.679 game of trying to play to your strengths. As if 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:45.600 you imagine like an axis and on one is uh 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:51.480 on one is fast skiing, and then the other is 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:58.880 is being a dead eyed dick. Where is your strength? Um? 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.400 I would say this year I was better relative to 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:05.640 like the World Cup field. I was probably a little 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:09.240 bit above average on shooting and right around average with skiing. 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.920 Got it? So that's good to hear. Yeah, uh, okay, 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:14.760 we got a cover cup. Things rint one thing that 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:20.920 you misrepresent I'm not anti skiing. I'm anti my family skiing. 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:24.440 If I could have my way, everybody in the whole 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.280 world would ski. That's all they would ever do, and 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:30.360 then anything I wanted to do they wouldn't be there. 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:34.880 So like spring break, I had to take my kids 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.400 to six Flags, I'd be like, no one's at six Flags, 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.640 they're all skiing. I'm just at six Flags in my family. 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:46.000 If I go ice fishing, no one's ice fishing, they're 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:50.720 all skiing. But I'm with my family ice fishing. It's 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:54.680 not I am not. I am pro skiing except for 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:59.000 five individuals on planet Earth. But you don't feel like 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:08.680 I want of an hundred seven hundred billion, nine hundred million. 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:15.040 And you know what I'm trying to say, people ski. 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.760 That many people ski, and then there's five that don't, 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.360 but then don't. It's my family. Don't you knock your 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:23.920 honest for not being a cheer outdoors in because he 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.920 I want. I'm glad that he does it, but I 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.480 look down on him for doing it, but I support 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:36.360 support him doing it. I think just look down, I 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:39.880 looked out. It just surprises me. It surprises me that 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.880 he's not a true outdoorsman. I just want to say, Steve, 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.080 that you might need to rethink how you're kind of 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:46.920 framing this whole skiing thing. I know you're trying to 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:48.640 do that actively right now, and I'm proud of you, 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.640 but I'm trying to clarify. I'm trying to the public 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:55.400 reaction to you. Do you are in brodies. I don't 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:57.920 even know what to call it. Grievances. The other day 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.600 I to them it up. I'd say they thought you 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.280 were selfish and insane, kind of how I felt as well. 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.120 Now my daughter, Now, my daughter was like, I'm gonna 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:12.200 be a ski racer. Okay, what what about by athlon? 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:17.360 What about by athlon? Do they do it on weekends? 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:21.320 I'm sure if they do it on weekends, I don't 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:26.800 like it week days, weekends, you know, every day every day? Now, Listen, 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.880 my kids skied nine saturdays in the roll this winter. 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:36.320 The Ronella household was dead. The Ronella Household shut down, 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:42.720 nothing like ground to a halt. The minute that ship ended, 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:48.440 we went to Texas hunting. We went out fishing. Here 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:54.320 this weekend, we're going beaver trapping. We're back on. Why 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:58.400 are we back on? Because ski and ended? But here 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.080 don't you there's two days every weekend. You know that, 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:06.960 But it doesn't work that way. No, because I like 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:12.120 to leave. I like to go Friday night out gone. 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.400 Don't don't you feel like you're stance on this might 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.640 actually be hurting you in the long Yes, because my 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.760 wife doubles. My wife's like, my wife has taken now 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.200 like a sort of screw you, I'm gonna make it worse. Yeah, 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.760 she's she's digging her feet in. She's like, you ain't 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.280 pulling me away from the now. She's like, yeah, you 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:34.680 know so now listen, I got to be on at 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:38.840 the ski hill when his kids are they're skiing. They're 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.440 skiing right next to my kids, and the smiles on 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:46.680 all three of Steve's children as they enjoy gravity pulling 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:51.320 them down there. I love it, like like you wouldn't 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:55.200 even believe it. It's just like pure joy and so 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:59.120 much fun. And probably because partly the enjoyment there is 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:01.840 because they're like dead like us doing this. Oh yeah, 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:07.080 it's like the night right. Okay, But what if they 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:14.399 did buy athlon and they're shooting, Uh, practice was increasing 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.920 their their accuracy and their hunting prowess. If my kids 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:20.880 all of a sudden said, Hey, you know what I'm 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:22.840 gonna I like to do. We like to go up 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:26.479 the mountains on our skis and ski around hunting snowshoe hairs. 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:28.960 I'd be like, I think we should do that every weekend, 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.840 and then would you take till we die? Yeah? Okay, 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.000 if that's what the no, I'll be like, that sounds 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:37.359 right up my alley. That sounds right at my Listen. 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:39.680 If we get this trip to Sweden dialed in, where 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.440 are we at with that? Sam, I'm waiting for someone 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.600 to approve it? Okay for our capra Kelli's yeah, we're 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:51.120 gonna be here. I hereby approve it. Do tell Ann 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:54.800 and Tracy we're gonna be skiing on. I don't know. 0:17:54.840 --> 0:18:00.000 It was like held up on me and foot skis eleven. 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:05.399 He probably bring some short right, they have to be 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.679 they have to be long for flotation. So the one 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.000 thing that I would say about I was like when 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:13.560 I was ice fishing as a kid, I was definitely 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.480 wishing I was out skiing. So I mean, but I 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:18.880 was also in Appleton, Wisconsin, which is just like there's 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.480 no skin around there anyway, So it just this fantasy 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.080 thing you ever go to like sunburst, which is right. 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:25.800 I didn't ski when I was growing up, so I 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:29.200 just didn't. I was just like I wish. So when 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:31.760 did you actually start? Um? When I was like sixteen, 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:36.280 I started skiing before that was a wrestler. Okay, hold 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:38.760 tit a minute. Yeah, I'm gonna reintroduce our guests. Let're 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:42.399 gonna get serious about this show here. David watse Reno 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:47.439 Nevadam first Light Ambassador. If you have to watched the 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:49.640 Olympics and see a Feller run around and first light 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:54.000 hunting clothes, probably you. It's probably me. I would have 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:57.639 sup unless they're picking up ambassador's left, left and right. 0:18:57.680 --> 0:18:59.840 But I think I'm the only one. Two times Olympic 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:04.080 old medalists and four times X Games gold medalists. So 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.879 the Olympic gold medalist two thousand, two thou eighteen, four 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:12.840 time X Games gold medalists twelve thirteen, fourteen eighteen, he 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.600 took silver for half pipe and this year's Beijing Winter Olympics, 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:20.440 that's not the one I'm wearing. I'm wearing his medal. 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.160 I almost like three just one step shot at three 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:29.440 for three? There? Really? What are these way like five 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:36.040 grams and just over a pound. One that's old. I 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.480 didn't know. I didn't know what this sill I read 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.639 it today, you're like Tom Brady. Yeah, I've been getting 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:47.439 some Tom Brady references. Plenty plenty of yeah, plenty of 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:51.399 old old. Well, if you think about it, it's all. 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.800 It all comes in, Like the comes down to the 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:58.359 age range of the sport. And there's no collegiate competition 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.720 for half pipe skiing, so for too much, you either 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.000 drop out of high school and start as a professional 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:08.800 at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, or you complete high school and 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.119 then you have you have to launch your professional career 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:14.280 fairly early. It's a young sport, Like I turned pro 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.080 when I was eighteen, but some of my peers like 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.280 started signing contracts and traveling the world at fifteen sixteen 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.680 years old. So even though I feel like I'm young 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.000 as a human in the sport, I'm old because I've 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:32.720 been doing it for you know, old skier, yeah, old 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:35.159 half pipe skier. Because because then you went back and 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:37.800 if you went back and tell U isn't four years 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:43.040 uh fo years, you'd be the oldest dude. Yeah in 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:45.760 your competition, I would assume. So I was the second 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:49.240 oldest in finals this time around by one year. And 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.240 if I go again, I'll be the oldest. I'm sure 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:55.960 in in in half not not not on the Olympic 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:59.360 team and half. But there can't be many other athletes 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:02.879 much older of the American Olympic team, right. Yeah. There 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:06.280 was a snowboard cross guy in his early forties this year. 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.320 He was the oldest guy. And Jacob ellis that one 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:17.560 gold She was like thirty six or seven, right, yeah. Um, 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:20.200 So this is what troubles me about this whole thing. 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:23.119 You can be the best of the best and have 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.520 like a whole career and then you're like thirty two 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:28.600 or whatever and you gotta go do like a whole 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:32.080 other one. Yeah, that's real pain in the app I 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:35.200 guess you become a commentator. Yeah. Oh, there's so many 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.800 different things you can do, Yeah, commentator, coach, whatever. Do 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:41.040 you think you're going to the commentating business? Yeah, I 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:43.720 enjoy that. I'll do a little bit of that. I've 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:46.359 the last couple of years, I've gotten really into doing 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.760 mental strength training. So just kind of taking this twelve 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:52.639 year cycle of going to the Olympics and trying to 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:55.760 perform at your best under pressure has taught me a 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:57.159 lot of things. I feel like I've learned a lot 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:58.359 of things the hard way, kind of like you do 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:00.040 when you're hunting and you're like, well, I'm never to 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:02.000 make that mistake again because they winded me and they're 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:04.560 all gone. So that's kind of how my experience has 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:07.440 been as a professional skier. So lately, I've just been 0:22:07.880 --> 0:22:11.439 picking young. I essentially look for athletes who are like 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:13.920 I was when I was young, because I had all 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:17.240 the talent and a little bit. But but I look 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:19.640 more for people who are getting in their own way mentally, 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:21.639 because when I was young, I was I could do 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:24.000 all the same tricks as everybody else, but I could 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:26.119 not land a contest run to save my life. I 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:28.280 didn't win my first X Games gold medals. I was 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:30.520 twenty one, which was already old for a for a 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:35.359 first time X Games gold medalist. Target panic, major target panic. 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:37.480 I would get there and I would just stress out 0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:39.119 of me, like I have to land this run right now, 0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:42.840 I gotta do it, and of course crash. So all 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:45.760 those mental like strongholds that I built over the years, 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:47.760 I'm like, man, I mean, I could just use these 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:49.480 for myself for the rest of my life, or I could, 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:51.679 you know, help out some young athletes who are like 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:54.600 I was. So it's been pretty fun. Let's let's test 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:57.159 your commentator skills. I want you to give a formal 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:02.280 introduction to Paul. It's highlighted there like this young man otto. 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:05.439 You know, I like going to baseball when they like 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:08.560 do all their talking between swings. Oh there you go, 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:15.399 apt Wisconsin swinging to miss alright, grew up joining us 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:17.720 here on the Meteor podcast. Today we have Paul Schomer 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:26.000 from Appleton, Wisconsin. He's a Wisconsin I like Cheddar nickname, 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:31.760 Yeah Chester, the tester sometimes goes by Cheddar because of Wisconsin. 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:35.480 He's a Wisconsin at like. Chester is a biathlete who 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:39.399 represented the United States at the Olympic Winner Games. His 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:41.879 first World Cup podium finished was a silver medal in 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:46.040 twenty nineteen for the men's ten k sprint competition. And 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:47.800 if you're gonna be a real commentator, you have to 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:50.840 get good at stating very obvious ship. So you'd say, um, today, 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:56.080 he's gonna need to ski fast and shoot straight and 0:23:56.200 --> 0:24:00.400 not lose his skis. I need my thing back. Job. 0:24:00.880 --> 0:24:02.199 You got a bright future I don't care. If you're 0:24:02.240 --> 0:24:05.840 into consulting, commentating, you get time to figure it out. 0:24:05.880 --> 0:24:09.720 Appreciate that, all right. Uh, the auction House of Bodities 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:13.080 is back on. The auction house is open. It's live now. 0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:17.359 So it closes on four. You got another week to 0:24:17.400 --> 0:24:21.840 go bid on some of the following items. So five 0:24:21.960 --> 0:24:28.159 day Alaska king Salmon fishing trip dates. That's awesome, go 0:24:28.280 --> 0:24:31.359 bid on that. Go to Alaska fish king Salmon five days. 0:24:32.200 --> 0:24:35.280 I got for two people I don't know who donated that. 0:24:35.880 --> 0:24:40.800 The guide, the officer. We've got a custom silver smith belt, 0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:45.119 buckle and grave with the meat Eater logo. Listen, we 0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:48.000 have one of the streams. You know, does everybody know 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:49.560 those things? I feel like they sell them in like 0:24:49.800 --> 0:24:51.879 what's that place where they sell those things? And airports 0:24:51.880 --> 0:24:55.440 and whatnot. The head scratchers, little k those little tingly 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:58.879 head scratchers. Crean made one of those out of pheasant feet. 0:24:59.760 --> 0:25:03.080 They're cow's business. We got a raccoon hide, so one 0:25:03.119 --> 0:25:06.920 of Clay's raccoons, signed by Clay. We have my left 0:25:06.960 --> 0:25:16.320 handed mark weatherb Mark five and first, like Camo, we 0:25:16.440 --> 0:25:19.679 have my complete archery set up from so if you 0:25:19.720 --> 0:25:21.960 watched the season ten episode of Me Either where me 0:25:22.000 --> 0:25:23.840 and Phelps are hunting elk and I shot a bowl 0:25:24.960 --> 0:25:29.200 that bow like ready to go? I actually like had 0:25:29.320 --> 0:25:31.080 I had. I haven't really shot that bow since then 0:25:31.080 --> 0:25:33.040 because I had a shoulder injury and I'm just now 0:25:33.119 --> 0:25:34.520 trying to get back to be able to pull my 0:25:34.560 --> 0:25:43.640 ball back. Um Cal's pruning shears. That'll fetch a pretty penny. 0:25:45.560 --> 0:25:47.560 Lots of good stuff in the auction House of bodities, 0:25:47.560 --> 0:25:49.560 So go check out the auction House of bodities. Now, 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:51.359 can I tell you one thing that's not on that list? 0:25:51.720 --> 0:25:53.719 It's going to be a bad stuff on the on 0:25:53.760 --> 0:25:57.320 the list. Yeah, James Miller, who you know. We had 0:25:57.359 --> 0:26:01.720 dinner at his house down there in Colorado Crafty Fellows. 0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:04.240 In my repertoire of stories, there's a James like I 0:26:04.280 --> 0:26:05.960 only have like a certain stories, Like I have like 0:26:06.440 --> 0:26:08.080 five or six stories I tell him, and one of 0:26:08.119 --> 0:26:10.440 them is about him. Do you can't render tell it now? 0:26:10.760 --> 0:26:13.520 I just probably told it last podcast. It wasn't. Do 0:26:13.560 --> 0:26:16.960 you try to beat him up? That's right? And uh, 0:26:17.080 --> 0:26:21.479 he is building a or has already built a quiver 0:26:21.920 --> 0:26:25.040 that goes on your back that is leather lined and 0:26:25.080 --> 0:26:28.560 then finished on the outside with a coyote pelt. And 0:26:28.640 --> 0:26:34.600 with that he makes custom wood arrows footed shafts, and 0:26:34.720 --> 0:26:39.320 usually he just sells the shafts themselves. So footage means 0:26:39.320 --> 0:26:42.560 you take another piece of wood that's heavier and with like, 0:26:42.600 --> 0:26:44.040 what do you call that connection? Is it just a 0:26:44.080 --> 0:26:48.960 dovetail chester? There's there's different there's a few different ones 0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:53.480 that you can use for He also tapers these wooden shafts, 0:26:53.680 --> 0:26:57.639 which doesn't happen. Often makes them tighter, stronger, and straighter. 0:26:58.000 --> 0:27:00.400 Usually he doesn't finish them, but for this he's gonna 0:27:00.440 --> 0:27:03.399 finish a dozen arrows. So if you if you bid 0:27:03.440 --> 0:27:05.840 on it, you're gonna just call him up and say, hey, 0:27:06.240 --> 0:27:09.679 I shoot seventy pounds draw length. Is this da da 0:27:09.760 --> 0:27:12.160 da dada? I need this spine of arrow, and he'll 0:27:12.200 --> 0:27:15.560 build you exactly what you want. Is one crafty craft. 0:27:15.840 --> 0:27:18.560 They're so beautiful that when you get them, you're gonna say, 0:27:18.640 --> 0:27:21.000 I don't know if I should put him on the 0:27:21.000 --> 0:27:22.720 wall and just look at him, or if I should 0:27:22.760 --> 0:27:24.840 go and shoot him. He would rather have you shooting him, 0:27:24.880 --> 0:27:27.120 but maybe you'll take two or three and just keep 0:27:27.200 --> 0:27:30.160 him as art and he's sending them in that kyote 0:27:30.240 --> 0:27:34.440 for a quiver, no ship. M Oh, you'll appreciate this 0:27:34.560 --> 0:27:37.840 as a as an archer bow hunter. Yanni and I 0:27:37.880 --> 0:27:40.439 were doing a little research on something the other day. 0:27:40.920 --> 0:27:48.720 UM three arrows recovered at the Battle of the Little 0:27:48.720 --> 0:27:57.680 Big Horn site sold at auction d dollars beautiful though 0:27:58.920 --> 0:28:03.280 steel steel aide points on them. Wood shafts, feather veins 0:28:04.640 --> 0:28:07.719 from a Little Big Horn. That's wild. Just picture one 0:28:07.760 --> 0:28:11.040 of them sticking right out of Custer's forehead. That what auction? 0:28:12.080 --> 0:28:16.000 We didn't get that far museum or something custards. How 0:28:16.080 --> 0:28:18.440 much did that chunk of Oh? I can't never mind, 0:28:19.480 --> 0:28:22.800 I almost just ruined something that. Oh, check this out. 0:28:24.359 --> 0:28:26.679 They were you know, uh, there's a thing called a 0:28:26.680 --> 0:28:28.520 copper light. You bloys know what a copper light is. 0:28:29.040 --> 0:28:33.760 They teach you that at the Olympics, no fossilized human 0:28:34.119 --> 0:28:38.680 or fossilized poop is a copper light. Okay, some guy 0:28:38.720 --> 0:28:44.440 drops a deuce in the thou years ago by becomes 0:28:44.480 --> 0:28:49.160 a copper light. They were analyzing the copper light in Texas. 0:28:51.080 --> 0:29:00.680 Was this near um bonfire shelter? Buffalo jump Ah, I 0:29:00.800 --> 0:29:03.280 do not know, Oh, did you see those pictures that 0:29:03.360 --> 0:29:05.920 me of me and cal posing with those dinosaur tracks 0:29:05.960 --> 0:29:17.920 down in Texas. I took them. Okay, well, no, here's 0:29:17.920 --> 0:29:19.920 the problem I have. Like I used to always because 0:29:19.960 --> 0:29:22.360 Yeah and I traveled so much together. Any time something happened, 0:29:22.360 --> 0:29:24.080 I assumed Yohni was there. And it's not always be 0:29:24.080 --> 0:29:25.800 like hey, yeah, do you remember when he's like no, 0:29:25.840 --> 0:29:27.400 because that wasn't there, Like, how would you not have 0:29:27.440 --> 0:29:31.920 been there? You're everywhere? Yeah, sorry, cran I thought that 0:29:31.920 --> 0:29:36.239 I was honest. Took those pictures. Uh. So they were 0:29:36.280 --> 0:29:42.040 examining a copper light and this feller, this fella that 0:29:42.040 --> 0:29:49.200 it took a growler years ago, had eaten an entire 0:29:49.960 --> 0:29:58.640 whole rattlesnake and past like the scientific term is shot. 0:29:59.840 --> 0:30:09.040 I out, Uh even one of the fangs a hungry 0:30:09.120 --> 0:30:14.480 dude vertib or the more because because well it was 0:30:14.520 --> 0:30:19.160 probably in the next right, in the next one the 0:30:19.200 --> 0:30:26.360 next day, or he had his coffee smoked cigarette so 0:30:28.440 --> 0:30:38.520 vertebra ribs, fang fortysome scales and as happens in this 0:30:38.640 --> 0:30:41.640 discipline in archaeology, and we've joked about this in the past. 0:30:41.680 --> 0:30:45.240 We've had archaeologists joke about it anytime you find something weird, 0:30:46.600 --> 0:30:49.880 you say it may have been some kind of a ritual. 0:30:52.680 --> 0:30:55.920 So of course there's the this may have been ritualistic. 0:30:56.880 --> 0:31:00.960 I'm picturing this being some kind of poetic justice. So 0:31:01.320 --> 0:31:04.160 I have chickens at my house, and we had a 0:31:04.280 --> 0:31:08.400 we raised a pig, and the pig was very kind 0:31:08.520 --> 0:31:11.280 and it's super lovable, and then at one stage it 0:31:11.400 --> 0:31:14.360 just kind of went feral and started eating the chickens. 0:31:15.440 --> 0:31:18.680 So when we butchered the pig and turned it into bacon, 0:31:19.040 --> 0:31:22.080 I took some of the got some stuff like that 0:31:22.080 --> 0:31:23.760 and fed it back to the chickens. Felt like it 0:31:23.760 --> 0:31:28.440 was poetic justice. So I think maybe this feller had 0:31:28.520 --> 0:31:32.040 a pet rat that was like his, you know, his homie, 0:31:32.120 --> 0:31:35.800 and he watched this rattlesnake swallowed the rat hole and 0:31:35.800 --> 0:31:37.120 he was like, I'm gonna kill you, and I'm gonna 0:31:37.120 --> 0:31:38.600 do the same thing to you. That's probably you should 0:31:38.600 --> 0:31:42.320 publish that. I just wrote it right now. Alternate an 0:31:42.400 --> 0:31:47.880 alternate explanation. Really interesting now, halfle Finger, I can't tell 0:31:48.120 --> 0:31:52.200 how serious was halfle Finger when he was suggesting that. Yeah, 0:31:52.280 --> 0:31:53.640 never mind, I don't because he kind of made a 0:31:53.680 --> 0:31:55.760 flipping off the cough comment. I don't want to hold 0:31:55.800 --> 0:32:03.479 him to it. Um, Yanni, this is this is like 0:32:03.520 --> 0:32:05.960 a hard to explain thing. This is between me and honest. 0:32:05.960 --> 0:32:08.240 But I sent Karrent a screenshot of my text message 0:32:08.240 --> 0:32:11.520 exchange from Yanni, So yeah, I gotta gonna I haven't 0:32:11.560 --> 0:32:19.800 asked Yanni about this yet. Yanni shares with me how yeah, yeah, 0:32:19.960 --> 0:32:24.680 one day shares me how he and Mingus operatings together 0:32:25.120 --> 0:32:28.840 as a soul unit, caught a mountain lion. And this 0:32:28.920 --> 0:32:32.680 is like a threshold. This is a this is this 0:32:32.760 --> 0:32:36.680 is almost like a religious experience for Yanni because this 0:32:36.720 --> 0:32:41.000 is like, like the archaeologists always say, Yanni knew he 0:32:41.000 --> 0:32:43.280 would arrive, like him and his dog as a hunting 0:32:43.440 --> 0:32:49.160 unit would arrive once Mingus just caught a lion, because 0:32:49.200 --> 0:32:53.120 then it's like it wasn't that he was following one 0:32:53.120 --> 0:32:56.440 of his buddies dogs, He wasn't just along for the ride. 0:32:57.040 --> 0:32:59.040 He wasn't barking but didn't really know what he was 0:32:59.080 --> 0:33:05.200 barking about. He caught his own line irrefutable proof, which 0:33:05.280 --> 0:33:07.360 last time unless he just had me walking through the 0:33:07.360 --> 0:33:10.080 woods and noticed the lion in a tree, which doesn't happen. 0:33:10.400 --> 0:33:12.680 And last time we were talking about this on this 0:33:12.760 --> 0:33:15.960 year podcast. I was saying that that's you're asking me, like, 0:33:16.120 --> 0:33:19.200 what's next. I said, that's next. We gotta go out 0:33:19.200 --> 0:33:21.240 and hunt and do it on our own. And since 0:33:21.240 --> 0:33:24.560 caught three, Yeah, so that was number one. And then 0:33:24.960 --> 0:33:27.760 we got lucky and uh caught a trail of two 0:33:27.800 --> 0:33:32.320 lions together and Mangus treat them both. Really, yeah he did. 0:33:32.760 --> 0:33:36.360 He thought treat two separately that day. Well, did they 0:33:36.360 --> 0:33:39.920 go up the same tree? No, so it was he 0:33:40.040 --> 0:33:43.120 kind of we were in a creek bottom. He cut 0:33:43.160 --> 0:33:45.520 the trail and took off up the hill. And I've 0:33:45.560 --> 0:33:47.440 realized now this is one of the cool things about 0:33:47.520 --> 0:33:50.440 like getting to know what your dog does, is that 0:33:50.680 --> 0:33:52.840 if he opens up, meaning that he starts to like 0:33:52.920 --> 0:33:58.200 bark on trail, if he is not moving very quickly, 0:33:58.640 --> 0:34:01.360 he's on a bobcat because there just must be just 0:34:01.440 --> 0:34:04.200 less scent. The bobcat weaves and bobs through the woods more. 0:34:04.400 --> 0:34:07.480 That's where they got their name from, bob and weave. 0:34:08.600 --> 0:34:10.520 And uh. So he doesn't move very fast. I can 0:34:10.560 --> 0:34:13.040 usually catch up to him if he just lines out 0:34:13.080 --> 0:34:15.080 and all of a sudden, the GPS shews a straight 0:34:15.120 --> 0:34:18.080 line of like a hundred yards like it's a mountain 0:34:18.080 --> 0:34:21.440 lion track, so this is what's going on. And so 0:34:21.520 --> 0:34:25.480 I just started bogging up the hill, and uh, I 0:34:25.480 --> 0:34:29.160 imagine that he had those lions caught in thirty minutes. 0:34:29.719 --> 0:34:33.520 But I had steep deep snow, like probably crash deep 0:34:33.560 --> 0:34:35.359 snow going to get to the ridge. When I got 0:34:35.400 --> 0:34:37.359 to the ridge, I thought, oh, yeah, easy going now, 0:34:37.480 --> 0:34:39.279 But it turns out the south face and slope was 0:34:39.320 --> 0:34:42.520 covered in like screen and loose rock with like two 0:34:42.560 --> 0:34:45.320 to six inches of fresh snow. So even it looked 0:34:45.360 --> 0:34:48.080 like it was gonna be breezy, I'm just gonna grease 0:34:48.160 --> 0:34:50.440 right across it and not being so. And it was 0:34:50.520 --> 0:34:53.320 kind of treacherous, like slipping a slide and feet poking 0:34:53.360 --> 0:34:55.800 through into holes, smashing my shins on the rocks. So 0:34:55.880 --> 0:34:58.040 I had to slow it down. I haven't busted out 0:34:58.040 --> 0:35:00.239 my trek and poll, it's how bad it was bad. 0:35:00.360 --> 0:35:03.600 So he was there for a solid hour. I finally 0:35:03.600 --> 0:35:05.880 get there, making noise the whole time. I don't know, 0:35:06.840 --> 0:35:10.600 hopefully that's what he's supposed to be doing, right. All 0:35:10.680 --> 0:35:12.880 I know is that I get there. Right as I 0:35:13.000 --> 0:35:16.040 get there, he maybe quits barking like five or ten 0:35:16.120 --> 0:35:19.480 seconds earlier, and it wasn't until I was under two 0:35:19.880 --> 0:35:21.759 yards I could even hear him barking, just because of 0:35:21.760 --> 0:35:24.440 the curvature of the hill, you know. I get to 0:35:24.480 --> 0:35:27.520 kind of a rock out cropping and he's quit barking 0:35:27.560 --> 0:35:30.280 for maybe ten fifteen seconds, and I looked down below 0:35:30.320 --> 0:35:32.400 me and I see a mountain line on the ground 0:35:32.719 --> 0:35:36.080 slinking away to go in the direction I came from, 0:35:36.160 --> 0:35:39.440 but eighty yards below me, and Mingus is not barking, 0:35:39.440 --> 0:35:43.279 and I'm like, oh, I did it like your dog killed? Yeah, 0:35:43.280 --> 0:35:46.120 I got my dog killed because he's by himself. Bad news, 0:35:46.120 --> 0:35:47.719 you know, it was just in the back of my head. 0:35:47.760 --> 0:35:51.400 Even the daughters would have been pi. Yeah, but I 0:35:51.400 --> 0:35:58.879 could have fixed that problem with another puppy, but good news. 0:36:00.320 --> 0:36:04.000 I would have had a very heavy heart. So I'm like, Mangus, Mangus, 0:36:04.040 --> 0:36:06.040 talk to him, talk to him, like just like trying 0:36:06.040 --> 0:36:07.799 to just to get something out of him. And he 0:36:07.840 --> 0:36:09.640 immediately just comes kind of out of the woods and 0:36:09.640 --> 0:36:11.440 I can see him and he runs up to the 0:36:11.440 --> 0:36:13.440 base of this tree that I was not looking at. 0:36:13.640 --> 0:36:16.320 I was looking at the mountain walking away, and he starts, 0:36:16.560 --> 0:36:18.520 you know, treeing on that tree, and I look up 0:36:18.560 --> 0:36:20.279 the tree and about eye level with me, actually a 0:36:20.280 --> 0:36:24.120 little bit below me, there's a cat. And so, like 0:36:24.160 --> 0:36:26.120 I said, I knew I was following two because I 0:36:26.120 --> 0:36:28.160 was following two different sized tracks. Every now and then 0:36:28.160 --> 0:36:31.200 they would split, and I could see at the base 0:36:31.239 --> 0:36:33.120 of the tree that he had worn it all out. 0:36:33.480 --> 0:36:36.480 You know, there's no snow left, and he's a tree biter, 0:36:36.760 --> 0:36:38.880 so at about when he's on his hind legs and 0:36:38.960 --> 0:36:41.480 about head height for him, there's usually like an eighteen 0:36:41.520 --> 0:36:45.480 inch oval circle of where he's worn the bark off 0:36:45.560 --> 0:36:49.399 the tree. So he does that for a minute or so. 0:36:49.560 --> 0:36:52.759 I'm like, okay, Like, I don't know what the other cat. 0:36:52.840 --> 0:36:54.800 I don't know. Had he been going back and forth 0:36:54.840 --> 0:36:57.879 between two trees where the other cat was, I don't 0:36:57.880 --> 0:36:59.480 think the cat would have just been on the ground 0:36:59.600 --> 0:37:02.280 watch him treat the other one. That doesn't make sense. 0:37:03.000 --> 0:37:04.319 So I don't know what happened there for an hour, 0:37:04.520 --> 0:37:07.080 but he only trees there for a minute, and then 0:37:07.120 --> 0:37:09.080 all of a sudden he stops and you can see 0:37:09.120 --> 0:37:11.600 his nose kind of points the direction where that line was, 0:37:11.640 --> 0:37:13.719 and I think it was about ten ten thirty. I'm 0:37:13.719 --> 0:37:16.680 guessing that he caught like an uphill thermal. It must 0:37:16.680 --> 0:37:18.600 have caught the center of that other line that left 0:37:19.080 --> 0:37:22.319 and boogies down to that track takes off in two 0:37:22.400 --> 0:37:24.680 or three minutes later. I can hear embarking treed like 0:37:25.480 --> 0:37:27.279 yards away. So he went and caught that one. Was 0:37:27.360 --> 0:37:31.080 it a female and like a semimature kit exactly female 0:37:31.080 --> 0:37:34.279 and a subadult man. We gotta set some time. We 0:37:34.400 --> 0:37:38.120 gotta set like some time to hunt. But I'm telling you, 0:37:38.160 --> 0:37:43.440 I'm getting the lion yes over Mingus. So that's how 0:37:43.440 --> 0:37:46.879 we get back to this text chain. Oh so oh, 0:37:46.920 --> 0:37:50.000 but one quick thing U Yanni informed me before we started. 0:37:50.120 --> 0:37:54.640 Yanni has now secured permission with his spouse to get 0:37:54.880 --> 0:37:59.680 a second lion hound. Mingus needs a buddy. Are you 0:37:59.719 --> 0:38:02.040 gonna like a high test, like a you know, like 0:38:02.080 --> 0:38:06.399 a high test pedigreed. I've already had some offers for 0:38:06.440 --> 0:38:11.440 free to just take dogs. I think that there's plenty 0:38:11.480 --> 0:38:17.120 of hound trainers, handlers whatever. They might not even necessarily 0:38:17.200 --> 0:38:21.360 be breeders, but they like to see lineages keep going, 0:38:21.520 --> 0:38:23.680 and they're not in it to like make money. They don't. 0:38:23.680 --> 0:38:26.840 They're like, hey, I have great dogs, this other person 0:38:26.920 --> 0:38:29.440 has great dogs. We're gonna make some great dogs. We 0:38:29.480 --> 0:38:32.440 would like them to go to people that hunt and 0:38:32.680 --> 0:38:36.279 keep those dogs hunting. And then that line hunting. Yeah, 0:38:36.320 --> 0:38:39.719 and you like obviously takes super good care of it 0:38:39.880 --> 0:38:43.399 and hunt it. Yeah, you won't be like some guy 0:38:43.440 --> 0:38:46.000 who you know just watching TV. But it was going 0:38:46.040 --> 0:38:52.439 to be a lion hunter. Yeah. Uh so. And Paul, 0:38:52.480 --> 0:38:58.839 there's a there's a picture of Mingus change Textas texts 0:38:59.320 --> 0:39:06.080 me that Mingus caught his first line, and I texted 0:39:06.160 --> 0:39:07.840 him like, I don't remember the hell. I said, great. 0:39:08.920 --> 0:39:12.520 Then I text you on a photo of a fox 0:39:12.560 --> 0:39:16.759 squirrel eating a shad in a tree. Hold On, let's 0:39:16.760 --> 0:39:19.080 get exactly right, because I feel like I'm about to 0:39:19.080 --> 0:39:21.279 get thrown under the bus here, you said, just you 0:39:21.360 --> 0:39:23.759 and Mingus? I said, yep, I did get a tip 0:39:24.200 --> 0:39:28.200 from my body about two spots to check um and 0:39:28.360 --> 0:39:31.359 the cat was in the second spot. You said, that's 0:39:31.400 --> 0:39:35.600 gotta feel good, and right below that's gotta feel good, 0:39:35.640 --> 0:39:38.759 there's a picture of a fox squirrel in a tree 0:39:38.800 --> 0:39:44.360 eating a shad, all coated in blood. Yeah, and to 0:39:44.480 --> 0:39:49.000 which she has zero reply. I just sent him the 0:39:49.000 --> 0:39:55.000 most interesting photo in the history of photography. No, I said, 0:39:55.440 --> 0:39:59.200 I said, I'm on cloud nine, I said, coincidentally, I 0:39:59.239 --> 0:40:02.240 got to watch him find the tree she was in 0:40:03.000 --> 0:40:05.640 the first time she jumped twice. This is while sitting 0:40:05.719 --> 0:40:10.120 on the most groundbreaking photograph known to man. I said, 0:40:10.200 --> 0:40:16.959 it was beautiful, the fish eating a shad in a tree. 0:40:18.640 --> 0:40:21.880 This is like I think of photos that could compared, 0:40:22.080 --> 0:40:25.800 oh like Neil Armstrong, like on the Moon with that flag. 0:40:27.560 --> 0:40:30.240 I basically sent that to Yanni, but it's nineteen seventy 0:40:30.320 --> 0:40:33.040 or whatever the hell that was, right, Yeah, so I'm 0:40:33.040 --> 0:40:36.840 in like a very different headspace, Cloud nine. My dog's 0:40:36.880 --> 0:40:40.719 just treat its first mountainlin on its own, and you said, 0:40:40.760 --> 0:40:43.319 that's gotta feel good, and then just slip in this 0:40:43.400 --> 0:40:46.239 picture and I look at it like, oh, well, that 0:40:46.320 --> 0:40:48.360 must be one of those memes. But that's like Steven 0:40:48.400 --> 0:40:51.719 Ronella's style, like that's gotta feel good, just like this 0:40:51.800 --> 0:40:54.520 fox squirrel has to feel good munching on this chat 0:40:54.600 --> 0:40:58.040 because most fox squirrels don't get to comment on the 0:40:58.120 --> 0:41:01.680 squirrel eating the fish. There's a picture of the squirrel 0:41:01.719 --> 0:41:03.719 eating the fish. If you guys, I figured it was 0:41:03.760 --> 0:41:08.440 a meme, Jana says, is that real? I figured it 0:41:08.520 --> 0:41:14.479 was a meme, went with that's got to feel good. 0:41:18.239 --> 0:41:22.120 I want to clarify something for you and everybody. I 0:41:22.200 --> 0:41:26.480 have never, in my life, nor will I ever in 0:41:26.560 --> 0:41:31.080 my life, ever traffic in a meme. I'm right there 0:41:31.120 --> 0:41:33.960 with you. I'm on team no meme. I won't text 0:41:34.000 --> 0:41:36.440 a meme. I won't put a meme on social media. 0:41:36.840 --> 0:41:41.440 I will not. I do not traffic in memes or emojis, 0:41:42.360 --> 0:41:46.520 just like all of it. No, I don't traffic in emojis. 0:41:47.440 --> 0:41:49.520 I will never traffic in a meme. You guys, big 0:41:49.560 --> 0:41:54.440 meme guys. I mean I appreciate a good meme. I'm not. 0:41:54.480 --> 0:41:56.480 I'm not a trafficker of memes either, and I don't. 0:41:57.360 --> 0:42:00.319 I don't create them or you know, I to do 0:42:00.400 --> 0:42:13.480 that and then I share him. Quick note, this is 0:42:13.520 --> 0:42:19.040 the opposite of an apology to the falconer community. We 0:42:19.360 --> 0:42:22.200 need to get a falconer on it. I pointed out, 0:42:22.920 --> 0:42:24.960 they're not even taking on what I said, they're not 0:42:25.000 --> 0:42:27.200 even tagging what I said. I pointed out that I 0:42:27.320 --> 0:42:30.600 believe that I made an estimate. I believe half of 0:42:30.640 --> 0:42:36.040 all Falconers got into Falconry through a D and D 0:42:39.160 --> 0:42:41.920 took a path that went through D and D to 0:42:41.960 --> 0:42:46.239 get into falconry. That's all I said. This guy's like, 0:42:46.280 --> 0:42:49.399 we spend a hundred and fifty days in there. That's 0:42:49.400 --> 0:42:53.160 not what I said. His was not the only comment. 0:42:53.520 --> 0:42:59.399 He's representative of an upset. Yeah, but like some other thing. 0:43:00.000 --> 0:43:05.200 What is a LARPer? He said? Players. I had looked 0:43:05.200 --> 0:43:09.399 that up too, because alert there's alert, which was long 0:43:09.520 --> 0:43:13.160 range reconnaissance patrol in Vietnam. A LARP is not nearly 0:43:13.200 --> 0:43:16.759 as cool. It could be a LARPer about alert. You 0:43:16.760 --> 0:43:19.800 could large alert, you can LARPer liver um team. No. 0:43:21.000 --> 0:43:25.000 So just a clarification to the falconer community. I didn't 0:43:25.000 --> 0:43:27.279 say they don't go out a lot. I said, I 0:43:27.360 --> 0:43:32.920 believe that of all people that self identify as a falconer, 0:43:33.920 --> 0:43:37.279 came through a D and D took a D and 0:43:37.360 --> 0:43:41.000 D path, came through D and D rather than coming 0:43:41.000 --> 0:43:46.120 through relationship with the outdoors. I think you're wrong. We'll 0:43:46.160 --> 0:43:49.560 never know. Oh no, I think, well, what if we 0:43:49.680 --> 0:43:52.839 just pulled ten falconers? Do I need to pull more 0:43:52.920 --> 0:43:57.080 to find out? Because how are you gonna find them? 0:43:57.239 --> 0:44:00.960 I don't know through Instagram? Okay, that's fine, but you're 0:44:00.960 --> 0:44:03.719 actually gonna do that? Yeah, I'll pull ten? About it? 0:44:03.760 --> 0:44:05.799 Are you gonna be happy if I pull ten and 0:44:06.000 --> 0:44:08.799 zero of them say I've or of all of them 0:44:08.840 --> 0:44:12.160 say I've never played D and D. I will be 0:44:12.239 --> 0:44:16.080 happy with it once I see your methods. If your 0:44:16.080 --> 0:44:18.920 methods is going through your network of people who are 0:44:18.920 --> 0:44:22.560 big time hunters, I won't trust the data. I'll get 0:44:22.600 --> 0:44:24.399 with Chester the test are on it to make sure 0:44:24.440 --> 0:44:27.480 that how to test that that I'm doing the right 0:44:28.280 --> 0:44:37.080 All the falconers I know are pretty serious. I questioning 0:44:37.080 --> 0:44:40.520 whether they're serious. Marping festival and see if there's any 0:44:40.520 --> 0:44:43.600 falconers there and ask them if they got into it 0:44:44.200 --> 0:44:46.640 from D and D. If I said, if, I said 0:44:47.360 --> 0:44:55.120 after the movie Top Gun came out, um inductees into 0:44:55.120 --> 0:44:58.680 the Air Force skyrocketed, and then some guy said, but 0:44:58.760 --> 0:45:00.760 I wound up being in the Air Force for twelve years. 0:45:02.920 --> 0:45:04.719 You'd be like, but once they have to do with 0:45:04.760 --> 0:45:08.440 what I'm talking about, Yeah, you're not. They're not talking 0:45:08.440 --> 0:45:12.279 about what I'm talking about, and and you're not. I 0:45:12.360 --> 0:45:19.080 get it now. Is it a video game? Dungeons and Dragons? 0:45:18.880 --> 0:45:23.360 There was a class. There's there's a class and a 0:45:23.360 --> 0:45:26.040 lot of fantasy role playing called a druid that has 0:45:26.120 --> 0:45:28.319 that can like communicate with animals, and they're like theirs, 0:45:28.440 --> 0:45:31.680 their spirit familiars. It's sort of like like a ghost 0:45:31.760 --> 0:45:33.880 or or like an animal that they sort of have, 0:45:33.960 --> 0:45:36.160 like not like a spirit animal, but not too far 0:45:36.239 --> 0:45:41.879 off from that concept. And falcons are very common familiar 0:45:42.080 --> 0:45:46.200 that druids used to like, you know, they wear that 0:45:46.280 --> 0:45:51.040 little s and m hood the birds do. It's like leather. Yeah, 0:45:51.239 --> 0:45:53.680 that's like it's very like medieval. There's a lot of 0:45:53.880 --> 0:45:57.600 medieval symbolism, like like they're like blinders. Yeah, it's all 0:45:57.680 --> 0:46:01.799 there's all very medieval. So I get it. I get it. 0:46:01.880 --> 0:46:07.920 Did you guys know that, um m hmm. It's estimated 0:46:07.960 --> 0:46:09.640 that the ski was I'm just looking at some stuff 0:46:09.680 --> 0:46:13.400 Curt shared with me. The ski was perhaps invented before 0:46:13.440 --> 0:46:18.520 the wheel. Yeah, of course, Oh that's obvious to you. 0:46:18.760 --> 0:46:21.640 I mean it seems obvious to me. Maybe that's my 0:46:21.680 --> 0:46:24.600 ski background. But it's also much easier to construct a 0:46:24.640 --> 0:46:26.360 ski than it would be a wheel. That's kind of 0:46:26.400 --> 0:46:28.520 what I was thinking. It's a big flat thing. The 0:46:28.560 --> 0:46:32.480 first the first were glorified snowshoes, you think, so absolutely 0:46:34.920 --> 0:46:36.920 saying that there's I don't, I gotta, I don't, I 0:46:36.960 --> 0:46:42.360 gotta get this evidenced years worth of evidence of skiing. 0:46:43.239 --> 0:46:47.240 Cave drawings suggests man use skis during the Last Ice Age. 0:46:49.760 --> 0:46:54.640 The oldest ski artifacts come from the Mesolithic period. Fragments 0:46:54.680 --> 0:47:00.279 of ski like objects discovering the nineteen sixties date back 0:47:00.320 --> 0:47:07.080 to six thousand BC in northern Russia. You buy that, yeah, 0:47:07.120 --> 0:47:09.360 I mean you got much winters out there. You have 0:47:09.400 --> 0:47:11.360 to get around in the winter, so I mean otherwise 0:47:11.400 --> 0:47:13.279 you're gonna just be post holing around all the time. 0:47:13.920 --> 0:47:16.920 There are from four thousand BC rock carvings of a 0:47:17.040 --> 0:47:25.080 skier in Norway. There's skis, actual skis discovered in Finland 0:47:25.120 --> 0:47:30.840 that were three from three thousand, three hundred BC. In 0:47:31.000 --> 0:47:35.640 Sweden to skis and a ski pole emerged from a 0:47:35.760 --> 0:47:42.120 bog in Sweden dated to two thousand seven BC. From 0:47:42.160 --> 0:47:45.080 two thousand five b C, there are rock drawings that 0:47:45.200 --> 0:47:50.400 depict a man on skis holding a stick on a 0:47:50.480 --> 0:47:56.600 Norwegian island two b C. They got into skiing in 0:47:56.680 --> 0:48:01.560 China and check us out. The word ski comes from 0:48:01.600 --> 0:48:07.399 the old Norse word. I don't know what's that word. 0:48:09.120 --> 0:48:11.880 I'm not not quite sure, but it sounds it's probably 0:48:11.920 --> 0:48:15.440 like chia or something like that. My coach is Norwegian, 0:48:15.520 --> 0:48:18.200 so here we always butchered Norwegian words and it drives 0:48:18.280 --> 0:48:21.239 him nuts because he's like, no, it's not that. It's 0:48:21.239 --> 0:48:28.640 oh yeah, so the words derivation is a split piece 0:48:28.640 --> 0:48:33.200 of firewood. That's pretty damn interesting. Oh do you guys 0:48:33.239 --> 0:48:34.680 know what the alimal means? I don't know that. It 0:48:34.719 --> 0:48:40.640 meant cotton wood. Did not? I know that? Now? All right, 0:48:41.600 --> 0:48:44.560 do you explain to me because because as a bio like, 0:48:44.800 --> 0:48:49.439 let me ask this as a biathlete, Um, how much 0:48:49.640 --> 0:48:52.920 is like how much is the history of skiing and hunting? 0:48:53.120 --> 0:48:55.279 Like how much is it interwoven as sort of like 0:48:55.320 --> 0:48:58.040 a genesis myth? And how much is it that people 0:48:58.040 --> 0:49:03.359 are like, yeah, who cares? Um? Like how many by athletes? Yeah? 0:49:03.400 --> 0:49:05.759 Like is it like are you harkening back to the 0:49:05.800 --> 0:49:07.560 olden times? Or there are a lot of people who 0:49:07.560 --> 0:49:10.160 are like, I don't give a ship where it came from. Um, 0:49:10.200 --> 0:49:12.279 I would say a lot of people probably like I 0:49:12.320 --> 0:49:16.600 don't really care, but I mean it really depends what 0:49:16.719 --> 0:49:18.839 nation you come from to like, I mean, if you're 0:49:18.880 --> 0:49:20.840 coming from Germany, the sports just so big, you're like, 0:49:20.880 --> 0:49:23.800 I don't care. I just am like out here to compete. Um. 0:49:23.840 --> 0:49:27.000 But I think there are definitely other people who have 0:49:27.200 --> 0:49:29.200 like more of those those roots, like if you're up 0:49:29.200 --> 0:49:33.640 in Norway, Sweden, Finland. Um, but I mean it kind 0:49:33.640 --> 0:49:35.720 of went from like hunting also to the military side. 0:49:35.719 --> 0:49:38.319 So I mean I would say the military roots are 0:49:38.360 --> 0:49:41.719 still pretty strong because they still have like military world 0:49:41.760 --> 0:49:45.319 championships every year and stuff like that. Um. But yeah, 0:49:45.320 --> 0:49:48.000 because that one that one of the Finns we're whooping 0:49:48.040 --> 0:49:52.040 on the Russians prior to World War Two, Yeah, I 0:49:52.040 --> 0:49:53.920 mean they used to they kind of dominated them in 0:49:53.920 --> 0:49:57.319 winter combat, right, Yeah. I mean that's how like I 0:49:57.360 --> 0:50:00.160 mean in World War Two as well, like Norway the 0:50:00.400 --> 0:50:02.839 Germany they just like really couldn't hold Norway because they 0:50:02.840 --> 0:50:05.440 were just so one they knew the land so well, 0:50:05.560 --> 0:50:07.799 but too they could get around really really well. Um. 0:50:07.840 --> 0:50:10.440 But I mean they had trained their military um in 0:50:10.480 --> 0:50:14.480 their like border patrol uh, pretty heavily on skis for 0:50:14.520 --> 0:50:17.080 the longest time. Um. And that's when like those training 0:50:17.080 --> 0:50:20.480 exercises really started to morph into competitions and people are like, hey, 0:50:20.520 --> 0:50:21.920 this is pretty kind of this is pretty fun to 0:50:21.960 --> 0:50:25.160 watch and like do and um continue. It more came 0:50:25.200 --> 0:50:30.279 out of of of military units trained to travel by 0:50:30.320 --> 0:50:35.200 ski yeah, I think but that but like because it 0:50:35.239 --> 0:50:38.520 originally had come from hunting, because you know, back in 0:50:38.560 --> 0:50:40.480 the day and you're in the middle of winter up 0:50:40.480 --> 0:50:43.879 in Sweden, Norway, Finland, uh, Russia, I mean you just can't. 0:50:44.160 --> 0:50:46.440 It's so much more effective to get around on skis 0:50:46.480 --> 0:50:49.880 and so, um, I think the military adopted that, and 0:50:49.880 --> 0:50:53.279 I'm sure that back then that's where, um they kind 0:50:53.280 --> 0:50:55.440 of saw the success of it and we're like, hey, 0:50:55.480 --> 0:50:57.879 we're gonna we're gonna adopt what these people have been 0:50:57.880 --> 0:51:01.640 doing on on snow and um train our military because 0:51:01.640 --> 0:51:04.839 it was just like very effective. What what countries kicked 0:51:04.840 --> 0:51:06.920 the most? Asked them by athlon? Like who has the 0:51:06.920 --> 0:51:11.520 most gold h Norway for sure right now, um, And 0:51:11.800 --> 0:51:13.840 I mean it's it's pretty big. It's the most watched 0:51:13.840 --> 0:51:18.040 winter sport in Europe. So um it's really yeah. Yeah, 0:51:18.120 --> 0:51:21.280 Like the average World Cup has about thirty six million 0:51:21.719 --> 0:51:27.200 UH viewers on television. Um. He has some like huge 0:51:27.200 --> 0:51:33.280 market chairs in in Norway, Germany, Sweden's growing, Russia, France, 0:51:33.440 --> 0:51:35.640 but um, for the most part, I would say Norway 0:51:35.680 --> 0:51:40.360 has like a really uh strong development of younger athletes 0:51:40.360 --> 0:51:42.880 as well. So it's they just mean they have the 0:51:42.960 --> 0:51:45.160 numbers as well. I mean here in the US you 0:51:45.200 --> 0:51:48.120 kind of struggle to get more than like a hundred 0:51:48.160 --> 0:51:51.239 people at a race to to go where uh in 0:51:51.280 --> 0:51:52.919 Norway you show up and you may have like twelve 0:51:53.000 --> 0:51:55.640 hundred kids just like racing on a weekend. So you're 0:51:55.840 --> 0:51:59.000 you're sort of like testing. They're testing a much higher 0:51:59.040 --> 0:52:04.759 percentage of youths for talent, yep, and they have a 0:52:04.760 --> 0:52:07.600 lot of talent that we don't know about. But also, 0:52:07.680 --> 0:52:08.919 like in the US, you have a lot of talent 0:52:08.920 --> 0:52:12.160 going elsewhere. I mean in the U s it's like, hey, 0:52:12.160 --> 0:52:13.839 you could be really good at bathlon or you could 0:52:13.880 --> 0:52:15.840 be like really good at another sport that's going to 0:52:15.920 --> 0:52:18.319 have a lot more support. Um. Not to say that 0:52:18.360 --> 0:52:20.279 there's not talent in biathlon, but it's a lot harder 0:52:20.320 --> 0:52:21.920 to find as well. I mean most people don't even 0:52:21.920 --> 0:52:24.080 know what the sport of bathlon is. I mean back home, 0:52:24.120 --> 0:52:25.799 I say it and they're like, like, oh, what do 0:52:25.800 --> 0:52:27.640 you do? And I'm like, I'm on the Bathlon team 0:52:27.640 --> 0:52:30.640 that oh, so you're like running bike or swimming do 0:52:30.800 --> 0:52:33.800 something else and you're just like close, but it's skiing 0:52:33.800 --> 0:52:35.600 and shooting. And then they get even more confused. So 0:52:35.640 --> 0:52:37.600 it's I mean, it's just so David here, if he 0:52:37.640 --> 0:52:40.359 lived in Norway, he might be uh, it's more likely 0:52:40.480 --> 0:52:43.560 he might be a biathlon might be a biathlete. I mean, 0:52:43.600 --> 0:52:45.880 but Norway in general, they just have like a killer 0:52:45.920 --> 0:52:49.440 winter sports, uh, like across the board. Yeah, I mean 0:52:49.440 --> 0:52:51.880 they won the medal count in the last two Olympics. 0:52:51.880 --> 0:52:53.920 And they're a country of five and a half million people. 0:52:54.400 --> 0:52:59.160 So it's it's like basically Minnesota dominating the Olympics just 0:52:59.280 --> 0:53:02.040 as one stay. But they're an entire country and part 0:53:02.080 --> 0:53:04.799 of that is because they care a lot about it, um, 0:53:04.840 --> 0:53:08.040 and they have training centers and um, everything else set 0:53:08.040 --> 0:53:11.799 in place to develop all the sports across the board. Um. 0:53:11.840 --> 0:53:14.400 So I mean, I don't know who. I mean. I 0:53:14.440 --> 0:53:17.520 think the US is still like the powerhouse of freestyle skiing, 0:53:17.560 --> 0:53:21.000 but it's the example would be then, uh, like snowboarding. 0:53:21.520 --> 0:53:23.359 The US has always been really good at snowboarding. Why 0:53:23.440 --> 0:53:25.680 because we like kind of invented the sport, and Norway 0:53:25.760 --> 0:53:27.480 is kind of the same way. I mean, they they 0:53:27.560 --> 0:53:30.160 it's like their sport. Um, they've always been doing it, 0:53:30.239 --> 0:53:33.120 but like there's always there's also a huge following in 0:53:33.160 --> 0:53:37.080 Germany and Germany, uh have really good by athletes as well, 0:53:37.120 --> 0:53:39.440 but it's because it's it's really popular there as well. 0:53:40.320 --> 0:53:43.880 Do you have this experience where you go to Europe 0:53:44.520 --> 0:53:47.360 Scandinavia especially, where like you get off a plane and 0:53:47.400 --> 0:53:51.839 you're you're like almost an A list celebrity because you're 0:53:52.320 --> 0:53:55.760 an Olympic biathlete. Um, I wouldn't quite say like getting 0:53:55.760 --> 0:53:59.799 off the plane. Yeah yeah, yeah, but no, like if 0:53:59.800 --> 0:54:02.799 you if you go to these races, um, like my 0:54:02.840 --> 0:54:05.399 first World Cup and told Italy, uh, there was about 0:54:05.440 --> 0:54:07.960 like sixty sixty five thousand people at the race, and 0:54:08.000 --> 0:54:11.480 it's like yeah, it's it's like people I are just like, oh, 0:54:11.560 --> 0:54:13.799 can I get your autograph and stuff? And You're like yeah, sure, 0:54:13.800 --> 0:54:15.640 I don't know why, You're just kind of like confused 0:54:15.640 --> 0:54:18.279 by it all, but yeah, no, people are definitely into 0:54:18.360 --> 0:54:20.799 it um over there for sure. And then you come 0:54:20.800 --> 0:54:24.080 home and people are like you do what? Yeah? Well 0:54:24.120 --> 0:54:26.400 why I mean I landed in so I live in 0:54:26.400 --> 0:54:29.239 Fargo right now, and I landed there right like, flew 0:54:29.280 --> 0:54:30.880 from Beijing home for a week before I had to 0:54:30.880 --> 0:54:32.759 go back for the last World Cups. I land and 0:54:32.760 --> 0:54:35.640 I'm wearing like my team USA sweatshirt and this woman 0:54:35.640 --> 0:54:37.120 comes up to me. It is like, I hate to 0:54:37.160 --> 0:54:38.640 be weird and stuff, but like I was looking for 0:54:38.719 --> 0:54:40.200 him and you kind of look like him. But did 0:54:40.200 --> 0:54:42.879 you just come back from the Olympics. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, 0:54:42.880 --> 0:54:44.520 I did actually, and she's like, oh, what's your sport? 0:54:44.560 --> 0:54:47.000 And I'm like, blath line. She's like, oh, so you're 0:54:47.080 --> 0:54:49.440 You're a summer athlete, so you're not actually competing right now. 0:54:49.440 --> 0:54:52.560 And I'm just like, well, no, I just said I 0:54:52.640 --> 0:54:54.759 flew home from the Olympics. And it was just like 0:54:54.920 --> 0:54:57.760 people just don't get it. And I mean it's like, okay, 0:54:57.800 --> 0:55:02.720 well whatever U as the U has any US team 0:55:02.719 --> 0:55:06.840 member ever placed the medal in biathlon, not the Olympics. 0:55:06.840 --> 0:55:09.839 We're the only US sport to not have meddled at 0:55:09.880 --> 0:55:14.640 the Olympics. Oh yeah, how how does that hurt? Or 0:55:14.640 --> 0:55:16.319 is that like a challenge? How many? How many more 0:55:16.320 --> 0:55:17.839 do you got any more? How many more Olympics you get? 0:55:17.840 --> 0:55:22.480 Any old? Are you? I'm twenty nine, I'm I'm like middle, 0:55:23.120 --> 0:55:26.720 I'm not old. But what's the old? What's an old? 0:55:26.960 --> 0:55:31.879 What's the oldest person to compete? Like nine? I think 0:55:31.880 --> 0:55:34.359 I guess you guys can squeeze more years out of it. Yeah, 0:55:34.440 --> 0:55:36.200 yeah for sure. I mean and during sports you're gonna 0:55:36.200 --> 0:55:38.560 have a little bit a little bit more time. Um, 0:55:38.680 --> 0:55:41.840 so you'll go back potentially. It's something I'm definitely thinking about. 0:55:41.880 --> 0:55:44.160 But I mean, twenty nine, like, I got all the 0:55:44.200 --> 0:55:45.920 things I want to do in life too, So I 0:55:45.920 --> 0:55:47.719 don't know, but you'll live to be like in your 0:55:47.719 --> 0:55:50.600 early eighties, Yeah for sure. So, but it's a lot 0:55:50.600 --> 0:55:52.360 of time on the road too. There's just a lot 0:55:52.440 --> 0:55:54.160 of different things to kind of balance. But do you 0:55:54.160 --> 0:55:56.640 think about wrapping it up? Um, I've at least two 0:55:56.640 --> 0:55:58.000 more years. It's a matter if I want to go 0:55:58.080 --> 0:55:59.759 two or four more years. Where's the next one going 0:55:59.800 --> 0:56:03.120 to be in Cortina, Italy? So it would be pretty 0:56:03.120 --> 0:56:06.080 sweet actually, And that's something I've definitely thought about because 0:56:06.080 --> 0:56:08.120 I've had my best races in on Told Italy, which 0:56:08.160 --> 0:56:10.239 is the venue that those Olympics will be yet and 0:56:10.280 --> 0:56:13.919 so it's kind of like, man like go back and 0:56:14.120 --> 0:56:16.040 um have a good thing going with the team and stuff. 0:56:16.080 --> 0:56:20.080 So yeah, it's definitely something I'm still thinking about. But um, 0:56:20.120 --> 0:56:21.719 going back to the question of like does it hurt, 0:56:21.760 --> 0:56:25.040 and I mean it's something that's always talked about any 0:56:25.080 --> 0:56:28.560 Olympic cycle. It's like, oh man, the last sport to 0:56:28.600 --> 0:56:30.879 not have won a medal and um, I mean there's 0:56:30.880 --> 0:56:32.880 definitely a lot of media hype and stuff around it, 0:56:32.960 --> 0:56:36.239 but um, it's not an easy sport to win, and 0:56:36.280 --> 0:56:39.240 that's for sure. I mean it's it's kind of crazy 0:56:39.239 --> 0:56:41.880 to think about how many nations are also represented in biathlon, 0:56:42.400 --> 0:56:45.279 um in the depth and I think you just look statistically, 0:56:45.320 --> 0:56:47.840 it's one of the most competitive sports at the Winter Olympics, 0:56:47.840 --> 0:56:50.520 which you think, like maybe cross country skiing or something 0:56:50.560 --> 0:56:54.240 like that would be easier, but um, blathlon is actually 0:56:54.400 --> 0:56:57.880 harder to get into UM for the Olympics in some 0:56:58.120 --> 0:57:01.640 sense than cross country skiing as even though there's uh 0:57:01.760 --> 0:57:05.839 the rifle shooting component because because you're shooting iron real quick. Yeah, 0:57:05.880 --> 0:57:09.040 for sure, Yanni said, Uh. Janie said the not you 0:57:09.080 --> 0:57:12.400 particularly necessarily, but he said the biathlon community is pretty 0:57:12.440 --> 0:57:19.040 loosey goosey about gun safety. Any comment, Well that I 0:57:19.680 --> 0:57:22.360 would say, in some ways we are, um, but like 0:57:22.400 --> 0:57:26.360 growing up hunting, Uh, the biggest thing on the rifle 0:57:26.400 --> 0:57:28.480 that you'd like talked about is like the safety. She'd 0:57:28.520 --> 0:57:30.120 be like, you always gotta have your safety on. And 0:57:30.960 --> 0:57:33.160 I was taught growing up. You know, when you're walking in, 0:57:33.240 --> 0:57:35.200 you put that live round in. You gotta be ready 0:57:35.240 --> 0:57:39.280 to shoot whenever. But um, my biathlon rifle does not 0:57:39.440 --> 0:57:42.000 have a safety on it. And the biggest reason for 0:57:42.040 --> 0:57:44.040 that is is I never have a live round in 0:57:44.240 --> 0:57:47.560 the chamber and tell him like ready to shoot, tell 0:57:47.560 --> 0:57:49.480 me what I'm looking at here. So it's a on 0:57:49.640 --> 0:57:53.120 Shoots Fortner Uh, slide action rifle. It's a twenty two 0:57:53.440 --> 0:57:56.800 long rifle. So yeah, it's a slide action. It's like 0:57:56.800 --> 0:57:59.680 a yeah, it's like a bolt, but you don't close 0:57:59.760 --> 0:58:02.600 the boat describe it. You don't need to go like 0:58:03.640 --> 0:58:06.880 when you think of working a boat. This is Yeah, 0:58:06.920 --> 0:58:11.160 there's no handle that moves up and down across the action. 0:58:11.240 --> 0:58:13.880 It's just a handle that just pushes that slides slides 0:58:13.920 --> 0:58:17.280 over a slight little ledge. Yep, damn. So it's it's 0:58:17.280 --> 0:58:20.080 basically it works with ball bearings, um, and that's how 0:58:20.120 --> 0:58:22.120 it locks into place. And then when you pull it 0:58:22.160 --> 0:58:25.800 back those ball bearings and then come out Yep, I'm 0:58:25.800 --> 0:58:30.160 trying to This is a complicated ass grip. So that's 0:58:30.200 --> 0:58:33.920 like the pistol grip there and then the ahead of yep. 0:58:34.040 --> 0:58:36.480 So so basically when you reload it, you pull it 0:58:36.520 --> 0:58:39.040 back with your index finger and then you close the 0:58:39.080 --> 0:58:43.160 action with your um with your thumb. I gotta do 0:58:43.160 --> 0:58:44.640 it left you just to get a sense for the trigger. 0:58:45.000 --> 0:58:47.920 It's really lights about five grams, so you'll feel the 0:58:47.960 --> 0:58:50.040 first stage if you pull it in super super light 0:58:50.560 --> 0:58:52.040 and then you hold it and then you can feel 0:58:52.040 --> 0:58:57.520 it get the last part. Oh so that's yeah? So 0:58:57.800 --> 0:58:59.960 uh that I mean there's a lot of big differences 0:59:00.040 --> 0:59:03.440 between like just a bosling rifle and a normal hunting 0:59:03.520 --> 0:59:06.120 rifle and what what what explained the site to me? 0:59:06.720 --> 0:59:08.640 They're all open sites. You have a rear aperture and 0:59:08.640 --> 0:59:11.160 then the front site. Um, basically it's just a circle 0:59:11.200 --> 0:59:12.960 that you line up around it. You have to put 0:59:12.960 --> 0:59:17.120 down out the snow. There's two on each site. There's 0:59:17.160 --> 0:59:22.040 snow um snowguards. Well. I mean, if it's like nuke 0:59:22.120 --> 0:59:23.760 and snow out there, you don't want to get all 0:59:23.840 --> 0:59:26.200 up in your sites and you can't see anything. So 0:59:26.560 --> 0:59:29.240 even by athletes used the term nu king. I mean, 0:59:29.360 --> 0:59:32.040 I don't know, do you guys use No, not really, 0:59:32.600 --> 0:59:35.240 We're actually not that like cool in a lot of ways. 0:59:35.400 --> 0:59:38.080 Do you ever say stoked. Yeah, for sure. I mean 0:59:38.160 --> 0:59:41.320 as I mean, I got a point, Stoked has gone 0:59:41.680 --> 0:59:45.320 very mainstream. That's been stolen away from the skiers no 0:59:45.360 --> 0:59:50.680 longer ours you guys lost that you guys lost from 0:59:50.720 --> 0:59:52.280 skateboarders in the first place. But I mean it's kind 0:59:52.280 --> 0:59:53.800 of cool. Like here the lingo too, because I was 0:59:53.840 --> 0:59:56.600 like in Beijing walking through the the village and i 0:59:56.640 --> 0:59:59.160 saw this Japanese snowboarder and I'm like, oh, how's the 0:59:59.200 --> 1:00:01.200 how's the courses here? She's like, oh man, they're like 1:00:01.600 --> 1:00:04.680 super sick, but like the weather is also really sick. 1:00:04.760 --> 1:00:06.440 And so it was like you're using like all this 1:00:06.600 --> 1:00:08.480 lingo and you're just like, oh, it's kind of funny. 1:00:08.640 --> 1:00:10.680 How like the rest of the world has adopted some 1:00:10.760 --> 1:00:13.280 of that that culture. What's that little burr on the 1:00:13.320 --> 1:00:16.640 trigger to help you with finger placement? Yeah, exactly, and 1:00:16.680 --> 1:00:18.160 just like being able to feel it, so I shoot 1:00:18.200 --> 1:00:19.959 with my gloves on, UM, so I'm not like messing 1:00:20.000 --> 1:00:22.200 around taking gloves off or anything else like that. So 1:00:22.240 --> 1:00:23.920 it just gives you a little bit better triggered. Funny 1:00:23.920 --> 1:00:26.040 little sweet spot. Yeah, So it's basically just like a 1:00:26.040 --> 1:00:29.720 little little pin to um. So that one, you're putting 1:00:29.800 --> 1:00:32.160 your your finger on the trigger the exact same spot 1:00:32.160 --> 1:00:34.120 every time. But then also you can get a good 1:00:34.160 --> 1:00:37.720 feeling for it and tell me what, um, how far 1:00:37.720 --> 1:00:39.240 are you shooting and how big you're trying to hit. 1:00:39.720 --> 1:00:42.240 The targets are all at fifty meters, so about fifty 1:00:42.280 --> 1:00:44.800 six yards um. Yeah, I pull up my notes, so 1:00:44.840 --> 1:00:49.560 I got everything right. But there's two different sized targets. Um, 1:00:49.640 --> 1:00:52.720 you're gonna have the prone target, which you would shoot 1:00:52.720 --> 1:00:56.560 when you're lying down, and that's about one in diameter 1:00:56.720 --> 1:01:00.280 and it's yep, yep, it's all hit or miss um 1:01:00.320 --> 1:01:05.120 and there's uh let's see here. Yeah, if you it's 1:01:05.120 --> 1:01:07.240 like it's all or nothing. So you're prone, you're hitting 1:01:07.240 --> 1:01:09.600 a target that's what size about the size of golf 1:01:09.600 --> 1:01:13.400 ball one eight inches in diameter. Open sites, open sites, 1:01:14.600 --> 1:01:17.240 just I'm not yeah, I'm not diminished because like most 1:01:17.280 --> 1:01:18.640 people think of open size or think of like a 1:01:18.680 --> 1:01:22.040 buckhorn site, right yeah. And I mean there's no magnification 1:01:22.080 --> 1:01:24.760 a lot, so it's all just like open peep, there's 1:01:24.320 --> 1:01:28.080 no nope, nope um. And then yeah, so it's at 1:01:28.120 --> 1:01:33.120 fifty about fifty four yards um or hut. And because 1:01:33.120 --> 1:01:35.439 it's so because it's fixed. That's why you have such 1:01:35.440 --> 1:01:37.760 an elevated you don't need to worry about well, what 1:01:37.840 --> 1:01:40.640 of the shots at forty yards? What are the shots that? Yeah, 1:01:40.680 --> 1:01:42.600 it's all the same. And every day every yerio very 1:01:42.680 --> 1:01:46.120 specifically for fifty yea and every day before we shoot zero, 1:01:46.200 --> 1:01:49.000 so zero every single day. You're not like showing up 1:01:49.040 --> 1:01:51.520 and um, you know like pulling it out and going. 1:01:52.080 --> 1:01:53.840 Part of that is one if you're going from range 1:01:53.880 --> 1:01:58.760 to range, you don't know like what the and there's 1:01:58.760 --> 1:02:02.400 just like airs moving and because we shoot standard velocity, Uh, 1:02:02.480 --> 1:02:05.400 you're gonna have wind affecting where where your bullet goes. 1:02:05.640 --> 1:02:08.120 Um depends on elevation as well, when you might push 1:02:08.120 --> 1:02:11.520 more at elevation or um if you're at sea level, 1:02:11.840 --> 1:02:15.640 that all changes. And then also lighting can change things. 1:02:15.640 --> 1:02:19.400 But then lastly, um, you take your part, your rifle apart, 1:02:19.440 --> 1:02:21.640 you travel with it, you put it back together. Um. 1:02:21.680 --> 1:02:24.640 How the rifle reacts in the cold. So like on 1:02:24.760 --> 1:02:28.320 race day, once our rifle goes outside, like before zero 1:02:28.360 --> 1:02:30.240 and stuff, we leave it outside because you know, if 1:02:30.280 --> 1:02:32.120 you bring it in and then it's getting warm and 1:02:32.120 --> 1:02:34.720 then you go back outside and it's getting cold. UM. So, 1:02:34.960 --> 1:02:36.400 I mean it says little things like that. And at 1:02:36.400 --> 1:02:39.040 the end of the day, we're accuracy shooters, not precision shooters. 1:02:39.040 --> 1:02:42.960 So I'm sure like precision would basically be like how 1:02:43.000 --> 1:02:45.240 close to the center can you get? So like precision 1:02:45.240 --> 1:02:48.320 shooters UM in the Olympics, they'd be looking to get 1:02:48.320 --> 1:02:50.480 tens every single time. For me, it's like I just 1:02:50.520 --> 1:02:52.720 gotta hit that prone dark down. That's about it. And 1:02:52.960 --> 1:02:55.160 we we also have the race aspect where it's like 1:02:55.200 --> 1:02:56.720 you want to do it pretty quick, Like I don't 1:02:56.720 --> 1:02:58.800 want to be sitting there trying to shoot tens every 1:02:58.800 --> 1:03:00.960 single time. I just to like make sure I'm hitting 1:03:00.960 --> 1:03:03.360 prone targets or standing targets. And how big is a 1:03:03.400 --> 1:03:06.600 standing targeting targets? About four and a half inches in diameter? 1:03:07.800 --> 1:03:11.800 So at what range? Still fifty same thing if you 1:03:12.000 --> 1:03:13.440 when you go squirrel hunt and do you do you 1:03:13.480 --> 1:03:14.720 bring this? Do you got do you to use a 1:03:14.760 --> 1:03:17.000 different thing? Um? I have, But it's like it's a 1:03:17.000 --> 1:03:18.680 little different because I mean this is just so dialed 1:03:18.680 --> 1:03:21.520 in at fifty meters. UM. I mean I've shot a 1:03:21.560 --> 1:03:24.919 grouse with my rifle before, UM, just like I was out. 1:03:24.960 --> 1:03:28.800 But I mean it's just like so specific for for byathlon, 1:03:28.920 --> 1:03:31.960 it's like, man, yeah that if that whatever is at 1:03:32.080 --> 1:03:35.720 fifty meters, sweet, I'll get it. But like it's but 1:03:35.760 --> 1:03:37.560 you don't know where it's at at forty you know, 1:03:37.600 --> 1:03:39.360 I haven't really done a whole lot of um, a 1:03:39.360 --> 1:03:43.439 whole lot of shooting at other distances. But also because 1:03:43.480 --> 1:03:47.160 it's a standard velocity, amm oh, it's going to have 1:03:47.360 --> 1:03:49.320 a little bit of an arc on it. So it's 1:03:49.320 --> 1:03:52.760 still all your magazines. So I mean so for during uh, 1:03:52.880 --> 1:03:54.400 during races, you got it. So if it's a two 1:03:54.520 --> 1:03:58.360 or four shooting race, you gotta reload each time. So 1:03:58.640 --> 1:04:01.840 each magazine holds five hounds, and um, you get up 1:04:01.880 --> 1:04:05.680 to five five shootings. So that that's the prone sling. 1:04:06.160 --> 1:04:10.240 So that prone slang uh goes into my cuff which 1:04:10.240 --> 1:04:12.800 is on my arm, which the guys were doing yesterday. 1:04:12.840 --> 1:04:15.520 They were looking pretty good with the with the cuff on. Yeah, 1:04:15.560 --> 1:04:17.720 it's pretty slick. It's like just basically an arm band 1:04:17.720 --> 1:04:20.120 on your bicep, and when you get into prone, you 1:04:20.160 --> 1:04:22.600 take that little hook and lock it in, and you 1:04:22.680 --> 1:04:25.760 lock it in you can just basically just go all 1:04:25.840 --> 1:04:28.960 skeletal and relax that front hand and it's you know, 1:04:29.080 --> 1:04:31.200 like a nice platform. Do you guys all use the 1:04:31.240 --> 1:04:34.520 same gun smith? Um, pretty much everybody used the same 1:04:34.520 --> 1:04:38.160 action and barrel, so the on shoots Fortner and then 1:04:38.320 --> 1:04:40.320 but there are like other guys that are like renowned 1:04:40.360 --> 1:04:43.680 for ranching on these biathlon guns. Partner just as like 1:04:43.760 --> 1:04:47.200 small little basically a farm in Germany. Um, if you 1:04:47.240 --> 1:04:50.320 go there, it's just like this rinky dink shop. But um, 1:04:50.360 --> 1:04:53.840 they basically manufacture and work on all the the rifles. 1:04:53.840 --> 1:04:55.760 There's there's a few other guys that do, but they're 1:04:55.760 --> 1:04:57.840 pretty much all based in Europe, like not a lot 1:04:57.880 --> 1:05:01.640 of guys in in the US. But um, yeah, is 1:05:01.680 --> 1:05:03.560 your community under a lot of pressure to get rid 1:05:03.600 --> 1:05:08.320 of lead? Not not yet, it's coming for um, yeah, 1:05:08.360 --> 1:05:10.240 for sure. It's something we've thought about where we're like 1:05:11.400 --> 1:05:16.040 because there are the Paralympians sometimes use laser rifles, but 1:05:16.120 --> 1:05:20.120 like laser laser rifles would kind of ruin the essence 1:05:20.120 --> 1:05:22.080 of blathlon. I think that's something that a lot of 1:05:22.120 --> 1:05:25.600 people people recognize. But I mean, the big thing that 1:05:25.760 --> 1:05:29.200 affected us this last year was the banning of floor carbons, 1:05:29.400 --> 1:05:31.680 and so we can't wax with foil carbons anymore. So 1:05:31.680 --> 1:05:34.320 the waxing industry has kind of been making a big change. 1:05:34.360 --> 1:05:36.320 But yeah, I think lead might be that that next 1:05:36.360 --> 1:05:38.120 one and just trying to find something that can still 1:05:38.120 --> 1:05:43.160 be still be accurate and work well in blathlon. I 1:05:43.160 --> 1:05:47.320 gotta buy athlon question for you. Yeah, Um, in order 1:05:47.360 --> 1:05:51.720 to meddle, so we talked about, hasn't findled it yet? 1:05:53.960 --> 1:05:57.680 You should put it on with those straps. We might 1:05:57.760 --> 1:06:01.480 have to build another sling. I'm gonna fall in love 1:06:01.520 --> 1:06:03.080 with that. I wish we had more time because I 1:06:03.080 --> 1:06:05.360 want to shoot that thing for sure. That looks I 1:06:05.400 --> 1:06:09.040 think I question ahead. Uh So, I'm just curious in 1:06:09.120 --> 1:06:11.840 terms of meddling, because I'll be honest with you, I 1:06:11.920 --> 1:06:14.160 watched your event every four years, similar to how you 1:06:14.160 --> 1:06:17.520 probably watched my event every four years. Uh. If in 1:06:17.640 --> 1:06:20.680 terms of being able to be on the podium in biathlon, 1:06:22.120 --> 1:06:26.040 do you have to shoot perfect? That really depends. Um, 1:06:26.040 --> 1:06:29.280 that's a good question you I would say to be successful, 1:06:30.200 --> 1:06:37.160 and I would say I'll take that one. I'll feel 1:06:37.200 --> 1:06:39.240 that one. Let me answer this way. If I would 1:06:39.240 --> 1:06:41.600 want to me all as like this year, yes, I 1:06:41.600 --> 1:06:44.600 would have had to shoot perfect. Um. Other people maybe not, 1:06:44.680 --> 1:06:47.440 because they're really good on skis, you generally have to 1:06:47.440 --> 1:06:51.680 shoot or better. The chances of someone winning a race 1:06:52.320 --> 1:06:56.640 having shot under happens maybe when there's really crazy wind 1:06:56.640 --> 1:06:59.160 conditions and everybody's missing and then just kind of turns 1:06:59.640 --> 1:07:02.240 um in like sometimes the fast gears can kind of 1:07:02.280 --> 1:07:06.440 ski ski off the penalties. But um, yeah, generally it's 1:07:06.480 --> 1:07:11.760 about I would say, yeah, uh, walk through how you 1:07:11.920 --> 1:07:16.440 how your sport came onto your radar being not from 1:07:16.440 --> 1:07:22.200 a country that yeah, a country that doesn't delve. Yeah. 1:07:22.000 --> 1:07:24.560 Uh so, I mean, like I had said a little 1:07:24.560 --> 1:07:27.320 bit earlier, I actually grew up wrestling in Wisconsin. I 1:07:27.360 --> 1:07:32.800 had no idea what was what Bathlon even was growing up. Um, really, 1:07:32.840 --> 1:07:35.600 like you wouldn't have known, No, I mean I maybe 1:07:35.600 --> 1:07:36.960 would have seen a picture of me like yeah, that's 1:07:36.960 --> 1:07:39.480 something that's like in the Olympics. But um, but yeah, 1:07:39.560 --> 1:07:42.800 I had not done done. I had not skied or 1:07:42.800 --> 1:07:44.840 anything like that. Um. In high school is when I 1:07:44.840 --> 1:07:47.720 started getting into cross country skiing and then went to college, 1:07:47.800 --> 1:07:49.760 and it was at it was in college where my 1:07:49.760 --> 1:07:51.440 my coach used to be a bathlete himself, and he 1:07:51.520 --> 1:07:54.440 knew like the opportunities and how big Bathlon was and 1:07:54.680 --> 1:07:56.520 my talents and He's the one who kind of started 1:07:56.520 --> 1:07:59.840 putting Bathlon in my head. What I was reading about you, 1:08:00.560 --> 1:08:04.600 um about this deal like with the weight cutting and 1:08:04.640 --> 1:08:08.840 wrestling that that got dangerous. It's funny because I've talked 1:08:08.880 --> 1:08:10.760 about on the show. I've talked about like buddies of 1:08:10.760 --> 1:08:13.640 mine in high school doing the you know, run around 1:08:13.640 --> 1:08:17.120 with garbage bags on and spitting into mountain dew bottles 1:08:17.120 --> 1:08:19.120 all day and sucking on marbles or whatever the hell 1:08:19.160 --> 1:08:21.719 they're doing all the time to try to like work 1:08:21.720 --> 1:08:23.960 it up. You went down that. You went down that 1:08:24.040 --> 1:08:26.200 rabbit hole pretty good. Um. In some ways, Yeah, it 1:08:26.240 --> 1:08:27.720 was kind of weird because like when I was in 1:08:27.760 --> 1:08:30.320 middle school, I was always like super against it, um, 1:08:30.720 --> 1:08:34.320 like the cutting weight culture. But it was mostly because 1:08:34.360 --> 1:08:35.840 I didn't really have a reason to at that time. 1:08:35.880 --> 1:08:38.280 I didn't have a specific uh weight classes I was 1:08:38.280 --> 1:08:40.800 trying to make. I was just like wrestling other guys 1:08:40.840 --> 1:08:42.640 around my same weight, and most of the time my 1:08:42.720 --> 1:08:44.840 dad was in in the rooms trying to put me 1:08:44.880 --> 1:08:46.920 in heavier weight classes anyways, just to like get me 1:08:47.000 --> 1:08:50.960 to so some like heavier guys. Um. But in middle school, 1:08:50.960 --> 1:08:53.160 I mean I never really felt like much of an athlete. 1:08:53.160 --> 1:08:55.439 Growing up, UM, I was really good at the sports 1:08:55.520 --> 1:08:59.200 that were big in my hometown football, baseball, basketball, and 1:08:59.240 --> 1:09:01.719 so in eighth grade, actually saw an opportunity for myself 1:09:01.760 --> 1:09:04.639 to like maybe be distinguished against amongst my peers by 1:09:04.640 --> 1:09:07.439 getting my name on a weightlifting board. And so that's 1:09:07.479 --> 1:09:11.000 when I had like my first reason to really um 1:09:11.000 --> 1:09:13.120 cut weight. And so I did and got my name 1:09:13.160 --> 1:09:14.760 on the board and stuff. But then I thought, oh, 1:09:14.800 --> 1:09:17.280 maybe I'll be be careful and like I can keep 1:09:17.320 --> 1:09:19.639 my weight down for the upcoming season. I can try 1:09:19.640 --> 1:09:22.400 and uh be prepared for the fall. I don't want 1:09:22.439 --> 1:09:24.040 to like getin extra weight and stuff like that. And 1:09:24.040 --> 1:09:26.719 it just kind of turned into this uh being disorder. 1:09:26.800 --> 1:09:28.679 Yeah that I was just thought I was being healthy 1:09:28.680 --> 1:09:30.400 to try and make right decisions. But you know, I 1:09:30.400 --> 1:09:31.720 was a young kid. I didn't know what I was doing, 1:09:31.760 --> 1:09:35.200 and eventually I just kind of developed this addiction UM 1:09:35.360 --> 1:09:38.760 and struggled with that for for a while heading into 1:09:38.760 --> 1:09:44.600 my freshman based around competing UM. I mean at the 1:09:44.600 --> 1:09:47.200 beginning maybe, but not really towards the end. UM. At 1:09:47.240 --> 1:09:49.080 that point it just became like I thought I was 1:09:49.120 --> 1:09:52.680 like being healthy, but really I was just like I 1:09:52.760 --> 1:09:55.400 was being super unhealthy. Um. I took a lot of 1:09:55.439 --> 1:09:58.000 things and that I learned from like health class and 1:09:58.160 --> 1:10:00.479 you know media that was telling me. Um. But I 1:10:00.520 --> 1:10:03.160 was like thirteen fourteen at the time, I couldn't really know. 1:10:03.479 --> 1:10:06.400 I didn't really know much of the difference. Um. Now, 1:10:06.439 --> 1:10:08.880 when you look at now that you're you know that 1:10:08.920 --> 1:10:11.920 you train at such a high level and obviously have 1:10:12.040 --> 1:10:16.080 access to legitimate professionals, do you look back and be 1:10:16.120 --> 1:10:18.320 like what in the world? Oh yeah, for sure, Like 1:10:18.360 --> 1:10:20.320 I look back, I'm like, man, why was I doing that? 1:10:20.360 --> 1:10:22.320 And like it's really hard to think about because like 1:10:22.360 --> 1:10:25.080 at that time, you're, um, you're not thinking straight. I mean, 1:10:25.080 --> 1:10:28.160 like with most addictions, you're just really struggling through something. 1:10:28.320 --> 1:10:30.400 It was a new teens. Yeah, when I was like 1:10:30.600 --> 1:10:33.200 uh so, I mean it was between my eighth grade 1:10:33.240 --> 1:10:35.559 and freshman year of high school. Um, and I mean 1:10:35.560 --> 1:10:38.880 I struggled with it for um about a year year 1:10:38.880 --> 1:10:42.160 and a half and so um yeah, during that time, 1:10:42.160 --> 1:10:44.200 it was it was it was definitely difficult time because, 1:10:44.640 --> 1:10:48.040 um my my dad really struggled to understand it. Um. 1:10:48.080 --> 1:10:49.479 I mean he was just like, why is my kids 1:10:49.520 --> 1:10:52.360 so much different than like every other guy? Um, just 1:10:52.439 --> 1:10:54.800 not eating food and stuff, and my dad ended up 1:10:54.920 --> 1:10:57.400 dying in a car accident that that winter that I 1:10:57.439 --> 1:10:59.519 was struggling with it as well. On what age were 1:10:59.520 --> 1:11:03.880 you then? I was fourteen at that time, so um 1:11:04.000 --> 1:11:06.360 and then so how so all of a sudden, like 1:11:06.400 --> 1:11:08.880 someone just called me on the phone or whatever there, Um, 1:11:08.920 --> 1:11:11.840 I was actually at school and my brother and I 1:11:11.840 --> 1:11:13.920 got called down to the uh to the office and 1:11:13.920 --> 1:11:15.439 we're just like, oh, what's going on? Like why is 1:11:15.479 --> 1:11:18.479 my brother here? And then um, they ended up taking 1:11:18.560 --> 1:11:19.920 us over to the middle school because that's where my 1:11:20.000 --> 1:11:22.360 sister was and my mom told us and I didn't 1:11:22.360 --> 1:11:23.960 tell you why you're going to the middle school? No, 1:11:24.040 --> 1:11:27.240 not not at first, and they just like my mom 1:11:27.400 --> 1:11:29.360 wanted us to wanted to tell us at school because 1:11:29.360 --> 1:11:31.920 she's like I don't want them to associate that sort 1:11:31.960 --> 1:11:36.280 of news like in our house. But how what did 1:11:36.320 --> 1:11:38.120 they Why did they tell you're going to the middle school? 1:11:38.800 --> 1:11:41.360 They didn't. They were just like your mom's over there, 1:11:41.400 --> 1:11:42.880 and you know, at that point, we're just like, what's 1:11:42.880 --> 1:11:45.559 going on? This is kind of weird, And UM, I 1:11:45.600 --> 1:11:48.240 don't think that they it was mean, Yeah, it's a 1:11:48.240 --> 1:11:51.160 hard situation. You know, you don't want to tell your kids, like, hey, 1:11:51.200 --> 1:11:53.120 you gotta go over to the middle school because your 1:11:53.120 --> 1:11:56.240 mom has some hard news for you. It's like, um, 1:11:56.280 --> 1:11:58.120 but yeah it was. It was a tough time, but um, 1:11:58.160 --> 1:12:02.160 thankfully I that uh that summer, I still was like struggling, 1:12:02.160 --> 1:12:05.719 and um finally went to treatment at Rogers Memore Hospital 1:12:05.720 --> 1:12:09.439 in Wisconsin and um got my got my life back there. 1:12:09.479 --> 1:12:12.519 And UM when I when I first went in, I 1:12:12.520 --> 1:12:14.439 like never thought I was going to compete again as 1:12:14.479 --> 1:12:17.040 an athlete one because I thought high school sports was 1:12:17.120 --> 1:12:19.799 kind of like the end all be all of sports. 1:12:19.880 --> 1:12:21.840 You know, only if you were like really good would 1:12:21.880 --> 1:12:24.960 you go to college and profession For both people, it's 1:12:25.000 --> 1:12:29.160 the like exactly, And like my relationship with high school 1:12:29.160 --> 1:12:31.160 sports at that point was like not good. I was 1:12:31.200 --> 1:12:33.640 just miserable. I wasn't really good. I was, um just 1:12:33.680 --> 1:12:35.680 doing it for the wrong reasons. Um. And it was 1:12:35.720 --> 1:12:38.679 after that that I actually got introduced to cross country 1:12:38.720 --> 1:12:40.800 skiing and just was like on the weekends going out 1:12:40.800 --> 1:12:43.719 and to be honest, like getting out of a gym 1:12:43.800 --> 1:12:45.759 full of yelling parents and being out in the woods 1:12:45.840 --> 1:12:48.400 by myself was was a great change. And just like 1:12:48.720 --> 1:12:51.559 I got really passionate about the sport, and people like, hey, 1:12:51.560 --> 1:12:53.280 pretty good, you should try some races. And by the 1:12:53.320 --> 1:12:54.600 time I was a senior in high school, I was 1:12:54.640 --> 1:12:58.080 like racing, um, traveling around the Midwest. Uh, qualified for 1:12:58.240 --> 1:13:00.400 junior nationals and then I was like, I'm gonna go 1:13:00.439 --> 1:13:02.280 to college and give this thing a go. But no 1:13:02.400 --> 1:13:05.200 guns yet. No, that wasn't until about my junior year 1:13:05.200 --> 1:13:09.400 of college. Um, someone's like, hey you should I mean 1:13:10.360 --> 1:13:12.280 with you yeah, And so I graduate high school in 1:13:12.320 --> 1:13:14.679 two thousand and ten, and that's when the Vancouver Olympics 1:13:14.720 --> 1:13:17.400 were going on, and so I like I saw some blathlon. 1:13:17.439 --> 1:13:19.040 I was like, man, that looks like super cool, but like, 1:13:19.080 --> 1:13:20.720 I don't even know where to start to get into 1:13:20.760 --> 1:13:23.120 that because it's like I didn't even know where the 1:13:23.120 --> 1:13:25.439 nearest like blathlon range was. I didn't know anything about 1:13:25.439 --> 1:13:28.720 the sport. Did you go up to like Hayward, Um? 1:13:28.840 --> 1:13:30.720 So I yeah, I actually lived in Hayward for a 1:13:30.760 --> 1:13:33.719 couple of years. Um when I first started blathlon. Um, 1:13:33.760 --> 1:13:35.920 I had some friends who who had a cabin and like, 1:13:35.960 --> 1:13:38.000 I was just broke at that time, living on my car, 1:13:38.120 --> 1:13:40.080 and so for like two three years of my black 1:13:40.200 --> 1:13:41.800 line career, I didn't pay any rent, but was just 1:13:41.840 --> 1:13:44.920 like living in where I could and I was kind 1:13:44.920 --> 1:13:46.920 of doing some rocky train at one point, just like 1:13:47.200 --> 1:13:50.200 living in this cabin and Hayward and um, well you 1:13:50.200 --> 1:13:52.160 mean like when he has to fight the Russian guy. Yeah, 1:13:52.280 --> 1:13:53.920 kind of where I'm just like I had like my 1:13:53.960 --> 1:13:57.519 own blathlon target that I bought from and yeah, in 1:13:57.560 --> 1:13:59.519 some ways, I set up my my target on the 1:13:59.560 --> 1:14:01.040 side of the ode and that was just like roller 1:14:01.040 --> 1:14:03.200 skiing and shooting off the road and it was a 1:14:03.200 --> 1:14:07.719 good time. I love Hayward. It's it's a great spot roll. Yeah, 1:14:07.800 --> 1:14:13.559 that's basically just skiing on roads. But it's it's like 1:14:13.760 --> 1:14:16.360 skis are they're a little longer than rollerblades and the 1:14:16.520 --> 1:14:18.800 wheels are a lot slower too. Um because if I 1:14:18.840 --> 1:14:20.960 saw a guy coming down the road with roller blades 1:14:20.960 --> 1:14:22.519 in the gun, I get a way different idea in 1:14:22.560 --> 1:14:26.560 my head. Yeah, the skis with the gun they perfectly 1:14:26.640 --> 1:14:29.760 make those wheels slow so that there's more friction and 1:14:29.760 --> 1:14:32.320 more because if you think about how fast cross country 1:14:32.320 --> 1:14:33.840 skiing is, like you don't want to be out there 1:14:33.880 --> 1:14:37.639 just like going. I mean, inline blades are fast, so 1:14:37.720 --> 1:14:40.640 are our wheels are a lot softer? Rubber um and 1:14:40.720 --> 1:14:42.680 we use the same same boots that we use on 1:14:42.760 --> 1:14:45.960 skis um in the winter and stuff. And then yeah, 1:14:45.960 --> 1:14:49.519 so it's it's to simulate skiing. Oh you know, speaking 1:14:49.520 --> 1:14:51.120 of the wrestling, you know you might want to fight 1:14:51.160 --> 1:14:55.040 his chester here. Yeah, he wrestled. I don't want to fight. Yeah, 1:14:56.960 --> 1:15:00.920 that's kind of behind me now. Uh, it takes a 1:15:01.080 --> 1:15:03.920 it takes a lot to piss me off. So what 1:15:04.040 --> 1:15:08.280 age was it that you first, like, uh like actually 1:15:08.360 --> 1:15:11.360 did a buyath lot event. I mean that it doesn't 1:15:11.360 --> 1:15:12.800 need to be the high level, but you went to 1:15:12.800 --> 1:15:15.559 an event and competed. So my first bath On race 1:15:15.640 --> 1:15:20.120 was actually over in Minnesota and Elk River, and there 1:15:20.200 --> 1:15:22.040 was this guy gave me this like old Bathlon rifle 1:15:22.120 --> 1:15:24.240 day before it like basically this is how you are 1:15:24.439 --> 1:15:26.840 position before, yeah, day before, and he's like, all right, 1:15:26.880 --> 1:15:28.760 go out and send it. And then that's what I did. 1:15:28.760 --> 1:15:34.320 And that was when I was probably looked through this hole. 1:15:34.720 --> 1:15:37.559 Yes you put that on that little thing, and shoot, 1:15:37.600 --> 1:15:42.799 did you do well that first? Um? I can't even remember. Honestly, 1:15:42.920 --> 1:15:45.800 I know I didn't hit a lot of targets, but uh, 1:15:45.920 --> 1:15:47.360 I don't think I ever dirty. So that was like 1:15:47.400 --> 1:15:50.280 a success for me at that point. The dirty dirty 1:15:50.280 --> 1:15:52.400 in is when you miss all five targets. And so 1:15:52.400 --> 1:15:54.280 when you when you hit all five targets, that's when 1:15:54.320 --> 1:15:57.360 it's that we would call that a clean So dirty 1:15:57.479 --> 1:16:01.000 is not good in high in are you you're holding 1:16:01.040 --> 1:16:06.480 off target? It depends depends how what your strategy is. So, uh, 1:16:06.600 --> 1:16:08.599 if you adjust your sites, we call that like clicking, 1:16:08.640 --> 1:16:11.160 so you'll do that. Yeah, So it's like the there's 1:16:11.160 --> 1:16:15.000 wind flags on the range and so um, depending upon 1:16:16.000 --> 1:16:18.280 what the wind flags are doing, you might click. Do 1:16:18.320 --> 1:16:19.840 you guys use the m A or do you use 1:16:20.080 --> 1:16:23.400 or Emerald? Like what system do you use? Uh? Just 1:16:23.439 --> 1:16:25.280 looking at the wind flags and you don't know what 1:16:25.280 --> 1:16:29.080 I'm saying, Like when you click, I think, yeah, it's 1:16:29.160 --> 1:16:31.040 just like I mean, so all I know is like 1:16:31.040 --> 1:16:33.600 on my rifle the site when I So if I 1:16:33.640 --> 1:16:36.400 come in and the wind flags are like straight out, 1:16:36.720 --> 1:16:38.360 I may have to go four clicks, which is about 1:16:38.439 --> 1:16:41.920 four bullet holes um of adjustment. So if I'm shooting 1:16:42.000 --> 1:16:45.400 center and I take four clicks, I'm like on the 1:16:45.520 --> 1:16:47.640 edge or just outside of the prone ring. So it 1:16:47.960 --> 1:16:50.640 can't be make a difference, similar to making adjustments on 1:16:50.640 --> 1:16:53.759 your archery set up. Yeah, yeah, you're not thinking. Yeah, 1:16:53.800 --> 1:16:56.200 you're just I mean you have the little lines on 1:16:56.240 --> 1:16:58.000 your site that you're like, okay, I've moved it that far. 1:16:58.560 --> 1:17:02.680 Each click is a certain amount. Yeah. Uh and that 1:17:02.720 --> 1:17:04.919 was what age again when you first did your first 1:17:05.760 --> 1:17:07.599 But at what a what age were you a headed 1:17:07.600 --> 1:17:09.200 for the Olympics? Like I'm trying to figure out, like 1:17:09.200 --> 1:17:13.800 how many years? Yeah, is when I graduated college and 1:17:13.800 --> 1:17:18.759 went full time blathlon um and unfortunately, like just missed 1:17:18.760 --> 1:17:21.519 out in pyong Chang Olympic trials. I got sick and 1:17:21.800 --> 1:17:24.559 was like the first alternate, so um didn't go there. 1:17:24.560 --> 1:17:28.240 But I would say those three years were pretty tough. 1:17:28.320 --> 1:17:31.000 But um, the biggest thing with that is like the 1:17:31.040 --> 1:17:33.240 skiing aspect of the sport, like you have to be 1:17:33.280 --> 1:17:36.040 a fast gear and thankfully, um, like through college I 1:17:36.080 --> 1:17:38.920 really worked on all my skiing development and stuff, and 1:17:38.960 --> 1:17:40.840 so at that point it was really just about learning 1:17:40.840 --> 1:17:45.360 how to shoot um, which to learn how to shoot 1:17:45.479 --> 1:17:48.000 a blathlon rifle well probably takes about one and a 1:17:48.040 --> 1:17:52.280 half years to two years of like failing pretty miserably 1:17:52.320 --> 1:17:53.920 at times, and then you're like, oh, I think I 1:17:53.960 --> 1:17:55.559 got this, and then the next day, it's like, man, 1:17:55.600 --> 1:17:57.360 I can't hit anything, and so there's a lot of 1:17:57.439 --> 1:17:59.000 ups and downs. But it's just it takes a lot 1:17:59.040 --> 1:18:01.280 of persistence and you have to be willing to to 1:18:01.520 --> 1:18:04.280 not do well for a little while if you right 1:18:04.320 --> 1:18:09.639 now went in, Like what event in the Olympics most 1:18:09.720 --> 1:18:13.920 closely mirrors the actual skiing part of what you do 1:18:14.640 --> 1:18:17.400 in terms of equipment and course and all that. A 1:18:17.400 --> 1:18:20.200 cross country skiing is like basically the same. So the 1:18:20.200 --> 1:18:23.240 skis aren't any difference. I mean, like, yeah, but athletes 1:18:23.320 --> 1:18:25.720 are about as close to a cross country skiers you 1:18:25.760 --> 1:18:27.560 can probably get like any other sport. I don't know 1:18:27.560 --> 1:18:29.559 if you guys had if your gear was more tweaked out, 1:18:29.680 --> 1:18:31.559 for certain, So how would you do? Would you just 1:18:31.600 --> 1:18:36.559 get smoked in a cross country skiing event? Um, depends 1:18:36.640 --> 1:18:39.920 your definition of smoked, like what you can hold your own? Yeah, 1:18:39.960 --> 1:18:43.479 for sure. I mean talking about like how competitive bathon 1:18:43.600 --> 1:18:45.280 is in the Olympics. There was actually a few guys 1:18:45.320 --> 1:18:48.000 from some nations, um, including one guy from Latvia that 1:18:48.040 --> 1:18:51.799 I know. Um, he actually went to cross country skiing 1:18:51.880 --> 1:18:54.080 because he it was easier for him to qualify for 1:18:54.120 --> 1:18:56.479 the Olympics. Across country skiing than bath So you guys 1:18:56.479 --> 1:18:58.720 are high test skiers. Yeah for sure. Well I'm trying 1:18:58.760 --> 1:19:00.880 to sort out the like the and the things and 1:19:00.920 --> 1:19:03.720 the ski and things, but the skiing is it's top 1:19:03.800 --> 1:19:07.679 not skiers, Yeah for sure. Is there any crossover? Is there? 1:19:07.800 --> 1:19:10.160 Are there any athletes to do both? Yeah? I mean 1:19:10.360 --> 1:19:13.040 you definitely can have the Olympics, like at the Olympics, 1:19:13.080 --> 1:19:16.559 not anymore because it's just like really specialized. Bathron does 1:19:16.640 --> 1:19:18.760 have a little bit different type of skiing. So like 1:19:18.800 --> 1:19:22.519 our longest race is gonna be twenty k, which is 1:19:22.560 --> 1:19:25.479 like thirteen miles or something like that, Whereas when you 1:19:25.560 --> 1:19:27.880 have if you're a cross country skier, your longest race 1:19:27.920 --> 1:19:29.920 gonna be fift k, so you're gonna change train a 1:19:29.920 --> 1:19:32.240 little bit different. But we also have like seven eight 1:19:32.280 --> 1:19:35.519 pound rifle on our back, so um, and we're doing loops, 1:19:35.640 --> 1:19:38.439 so there are a little bit of differences. Um. But 1:19:38.520 --> 1:19:41.400 like it isn't unheard of for for us to like 1:19:41.439 --> 1:19:43.760 jump into a cross country ski race at times, um, 1:19:43.840 --> 1:19:46.000 like in the off season and stuff like that. So 1:19:46.439 --> 1:19:52.120 how if if it's the twenty k race, how long 1:19:52.160 --> 1:19:54.280 would it take you if someone just said, like, uh, 1:19:54.479 --> 1:19:59.040 put your gun on your back and just go ski though, uh, 1:19:59.240 --> 1:20:03.000 depenning ponds, snow conditions, I'd say round forty five minutes 1:20:03.880 --> 1:20:07.559 and then and then on average in that twenty k event, 1:20:07.680 --> 1:20:10.080 how many shots I know it's between one and five 1:20:10.120 --> 1:20:12.360 for every target, depending on how let's say, like perfect 1:20:12.360 --> 1:20:17.679 conditions you're shooting great, how many shots you gonna touch off? Um? Ideally, 1:20:18.520 --> 1:20:21.040 so in a twenty k race, you're gonna have four shootings, 1:20:21.160 --> 1:20:24.120 so you're gonna have twenty shots. Um. The best I've 1:20:24.160 --> 1:20:29.599 gotten his nineteen so nineteen twenty. And I understand you hit, 1:20:29.680 --> 1:20:32.040 you hit one target, you hit, you hit targets of 1:20:32.080 --> 1:20:42.519 one bullet, no leased one shooting steel, but you didn't 1:20:42.560 --> 1:20:49.240 keeping to hit it. Noo. There's five targets. There's you 1:20:49.280 --> 1:20:52.519 have five shots and you shoot each one one time. 1:20:53.320 --> 1:20:56.559 So I'll explain it. So you had five shots, you 1:20:56.640 --> 1:20:59.759 had five chances to hit it. You should just break 1:20:59.800 --> 1:21:03.559 it down from start. Yeah. So so so with the range, 1:21:03.880 --> 1:21:06.280 So the range is set up with the targets are 1:21:06.280 --> 1:21:10.080 a fifty meters and each point, which would be like 1:21:10.200 --> 1:21:13.840 each shooting lane has five targets, and so every time 1:21:13.880 --> 1:21:17.000 you come in, you're taking five shots at those targets. 1:21:17.200 --> 1:21:19.600 If you hit the target, it goes from black and 1:21:19.680 --> 1:21:22.280 turns to white, so you know you hit it, and 1:21:22.320 --> 1:21:24.519 if you miss it, it just stays black. So you 1:21:24.520 --> 1:21:27.200 could get up there and with all five your shots 1:21:27.520 --> 1:21:30.639 on one target. Yep. But okay, I see, and that's 1:21:30.680 --> 1:21:33.200 what we call dirty. So it's like the way you're 1:21:33.240 --> 1:21:36.919 you're dumping when you stop, you're dumping five rounds, yep, exactly. 1:21:37.560 --> 1:21:39.599 And so so say I come in and I hit 1:21:39.880 --> 1:21:43.120 four of those five shots, that one shot that I missed, 1:21:43.160 --> 1:21:46.439 I get penalized. And so in the twenty k race, 1:21:46.560 --> 1:21:49.360 which is the individual, you get one minute added onto 1:21:49.360 --> 1:21:53.160 your time. So say I finished the race in forty 1:21:53.240 --> 1:21:56.720 four minutes, I'm gonna there's one minute added on, so 1:21:56.800 --> 1:22:01.360 my race time is then forty five minutes. So so say, 1:22:02.120 --> 1:22:04.599 and then with a twenty k race, there's two prone 1:22:04.600 --> 1:22:08.639 shootings and two standing shootings, so you have twenty shots 1:22:08.680 --> 1:22:11.559 total and five shots at each shooting. Man, I really 1:22:11.600 --> 1:22:13.479 feel like you should commit yourself to try to do 1:22:13.520 --> 1:22:15.400 one more Olympics. Man, that's what I was gonna say. This. 1:22:15.520 --> 1:22:18.040 This story has got so much grit. Yeah, because then 1:22:18.040 --> 1:22:19.920 when they make a movie about it, like you'd be 1:22:19.960 --> 1:22:22.120 like one of the Jamaican dudes won the or didn't 1:22:22.120 --> 1:22:25.439 win a cool runnings. Yeah, they didn't win the Olympics. 1:22:25.479 --> 1:22:28.120 They just went to it. Maybe be more like a 1:22:28.160 --> 1:22:34.160 miracle one. Yeah, but yeah, because you could beat the 1:22:34.200 --> 1:22:36.960 Russians yea, and everybody doesn't like them again. Yeah, if 1:22:36.960 --> 1:22:40.080 they're still in the Olympics, we'll see. So, uh, I 1:22:40.120 --> 1:22:42.400 think you should go one more time. Like I said, 1:22:42.640 --> 1:22:45.479 it's not entirely up to what you decide the right, 1:22:45.520 --> 1:22:48.360 like you gotta like earn your spot again. Oh for sure. 1:22:48.360 --> 1:22:50.120 I mean it's like I mean, that's the reason why 1:22:50.200 --> 1:22:52.240 I'm giving it some serious thought right now, because if 1:22:52.280 --> 1:22:54.320 I'm going another four years, I'm all in. I gotta 1:22:55.080 --> 1:22:57.800 be prepared and like, uh, I mean, these things don't 1:22:57.800 --> 1:23:00.840 happen overnight, and so you gotta gotta be committed to 1:23:01.680 --> 1:23:04.960 that long term vision. And like, so you're here in deciding. 1:23:05.040 --> 1:23:06.720 It's not like do I want to go to the 1:23:06.760 --> 1:23:09.439 Olympics again, it's do I want to spend the next 1:23:10.240 --> 1:23:14.599 four years entirely committed to this one thing? Yeah. So 1:23:14.680 --> 1:23:18.240 like for me, um, since like April thirty of last year, 1:23:18.360 --> 1:23:21.519 I've been home for like less than thirty days because 1:23:21.520 --> 1:23:23.519 I'm on the road all the time training and racing. 1:23:23.800 --> 1:23:27.400 So like, yep, your kids. Now, I've long been married 1:23:28.040 --> 1:23:29.759 about three and a half years. Now, what a story 1:23:29.760 --> 1:23:31.559 with that? How did you meet her? I met her 1:23:31.600 --> 1:23:33.679 at the bike shop that I worked at in Duluth, 1:23:33.720 --> 1:23:36.040 Minnesota during college, and she was working there before she 1:23:36.040 --> 1:23:39.719 went to med school, and meet just hit it off. Yeah, 1:23:39.960 --> 1:23:44.720 that's good. But like I left November ten of this 1:23:44.840 --> 1:23:47.599 last year, and I was in Europe until I went 1:23:47.600 --> 1:23:51.240 to Beijing, so through Christmas, and then I came home 1:23:51.320 --> 1:23:53.640 for one week and then after that week, I've been 1:23:53.680 --> 1:23:57.519 now back on the road since um for about four 1:23:57.560 --> 1:23:59.559 or five weeks. And so I mean, just all in all, 1:23:59.600 --> 1:24:01.879 it's a lot of time on the road. Any endorsement 1:24:01.920 --> 1:24:05.760 deals in your world, yep, yeah for sure. So I 1:24:05.920 --> 1:24:09.320 worked with Rainbody Fuel Errands out of Wisconsin, J. J. 1:24:09.400 --> 1:24:14.120 Keller Foundation and Rogers Moore Hospitals. Yeah. So you don't 1:24:14.120 --> 1:24:16.240 have you don't need to have a day job. This 1:24:16.320 --> 1:24:18.080 is my day job. If I had another day job, 1:24:18.120 --> 1:24:20.200 I would You can't make it work with Blathlon. It's 1:24:20.240 --> 1:24:22.920 just I mean, it's it's full time training. Because as 1:24:22.960 --> 1:24:24.360 we said, you have to be at a super high 1:24:24.400 --> 1:24:27.800 level ski ski wise, and in order to do that, 1:24:27.840 --> 1:24:31.759 you have to train on skis probably seven or fifty 1:24:31.760 --> 1:24:34.880 hours to a year, and then you have to add 1:24:34.880 --> 1:24:37.840 in the shooting component. But then I mean in order 1:24:37.840 --> 1:24:40.080 to train well, you have to also recover well. And 1:24:40.080 --> 1:24:42.320 so I mean if I'm like at a job trying 1:24:42.360 --> 1:24:43.880 to figure it out, also, I'm just down the road 1:24:43.880 --> 1:24:45.840 all the time, and I mean, this is this is 1:24:45.880 --> 1:24:48.400 my job. But people in curling they have to have 1:24:48.479 --> 1:24:54.280 day jobs. Yeah, yeah, that's a different thing. Yeah, and 1:24:54.320 --> 1:24:57.080 I could. Yeah, but that's what makes blathlon so difficult 1:24:57.360 --> 1:24:59.519 is it's like such a demanding sport and the level 1:24:59.560 --> 1:25:02.240 of the sport has only gotten higher. I mean, the 1:25:02.680 --> 1:25:04.880 field itself is just getting closer and closer, and then 1:25:05.280 --> 1:25:08.639 uh like the ski ski times are just getting faster 1:25:08.720 --> 1:25:11.040 and faster. Um. And part of that really came from 1:25:11.040 --> 1:25:14.120 ole ear Bjorne Dollin out of Norway. He just took 1:25:14.160 --> 1:25:15.559 it to a whole another level. And I think we 1:25:15.560 --> 1:25:17.040 see this with a lot of sports, where like one 1:25:17.040 --> 1:25:19.920 guy takes things super super seriously, and when he does that, 1:25:19.960 --> 1:25:23.160 everyone else is like, man, I have to also just 1:25:23.240 --> 1:25:25.000 like commit my life to this. If I want to 1:25:25.040 --> 1:25:27.960 have any sort of success um, And I mean it's 1:25:27.960 --> 1:25:30.439 probably the same with hunting. In the hunting world, you know, 1:25:30.560 --> 1:25:32.880 one guy is like super dialed in and everyone else 1:25:32.960 --> 1:25:35.680 is like, man if I want to like compete on 1:25:35.760 --> 1:25:38.720 in some ways, like on that, like you gotta you 1:25:38.800 --> 1:25:50.680 gotta be dialed in? David? Uh? Do you go by 1:25:50.800 --> 1:25:59.320 David Weisser? Wise? It happens a lot to the point 1:25:59.360 --> 1:26:01.519 where I've just given up on correcting it. I'm like, 1:26:01.560 --> 1:26:03.040 if you want to call me wise, call me wise. 1:26:03.080 --> 1:26:05.559 Did you guys bump into each other the Olympics? No, 1:26:05.880 --> 1:26:09.000 not this time around. No, but you're in Jean Jaco, right, Yeah, 1:26:09.080 --> 1:26:10.640 so we were in the same village, but there's a 1:26:10.640 --> 1:26:13.759 lot of people there. Did you know each other before today? 1:26:14.160 --> 1:26:16.559 Now we just met. Oh so you might have bumped 1:26:16.560 --> 1:26:18.640 into each other not knowing it. Yeah, we might have 1:26:18.640 --> 1:26:20.280 walked past each other in the village and not even 1:26:20.280 --> 1:26:25.880 know possible. Huh uh? Do you do you are you? 1:26:25.960 --> 1:26:27.800 Do you like hang out with other disciplines? Are you 1:26:27.840 --> 1:26:29.800 like so into the moment that you just focus on 1:26:29.800 --> 1:26:31.679 what you're doing? Oh? No, That's one of my favorite 1:26:31.680 --> 1:26:34.160 parts about the Olympics is going and hanging out with 1:26:34.200 --> 1:26:38.040 people who do other crazy things, So there's like a 1:26:38.080 --> 1:26:41.280 social component to be in there totally. I mean you 1:26:41.320 --> 1:26:43.559 try to find the balance for sure, because I've seen 1:26:43.600 --> 1:26:46.040 some folks go over to the Olympics and fall a 1:26:46.040 --> 1:26:49.519 little too heavily into the social component, seriously, and then 1:26:49.520 --> 1:26:51.240 they get to their event and they're like, oh crap, 1:26:51.280 --> 1:26:53.760 I haven't actually prepared for this at all, really like 1:26:53.840 --> 1:27:01.679 oh hung over. And it depends what sport you're in. Now, 1:27:01.960 --> 1:27:05.280 you grew up in the outdoors, Yeah, did you feel that, 1:27:05.320 --> 1:27:08.160 you know what I'm talking about, the tension right, the 1:27:08.200 --> 1:27:11.640 tension that I'm having to my family between between traditional 1:27:12.760 --> 1:27:16.040 hook and bullet activities in in ski? Did you feel 1:27:16.040 --> 1:27:18.120 that there was a compromise you had to make a 1:27:18.160 --> 1:27:20.280 little bit? Yeah, I would say, did your old man 1:27:20.280 --> 1:27:23.240 fall on this whole thing? Well? I think for the 1:27:23.280 --> 1:27:26.639 most part they complimented each other because tell me more 1:27:26.880 --> 1:27:31.880 being well, I guess the best, simplest, shortest way I 1:27:31.880 --> 1:27:35.120 can describe it to you is that really good strong 1:27:35.200 --> 1:27:39.360 skiers can carry a really heavy pack. So if you're 1:27:39.360 --> 1:27:42.000 trying to rig your your children up to be good 1:27:42.160 --> 1:27:45.920 packout buddies, keep them on the skiing program because the 1:27:46.280 --> 1:27:48.040 training that I did, they wouldn't be able to go 1:27:48.080 --> 1:27:54.160 help well. They would in the archery season because I 1:27:54.200 --> 1:27:55.920 heard when you get real serious, you start spending a 1:27:55.920 --> 1:27:59.240 half of your year in New Zealand. Yeah, did you 1:27:59.240 --> 1:28:01.719 ever do that? I did one that in one season, 1:28:02.040 --> 1:28:05.000 and I just realized. I mean, for me, it's all 1:28:05.040 --> 1:28:10.519 about balance. And part of why skiing complimented why hunting 1:28:10.560 --> 1:28:13.360 complimented skiing so well, is that I could kind of 1:28:13.360 --> 1:28:15.439 put the skis on the shelf for a while and 1:28:15.479 --> 1:28:19.639 really focus on something else. I was passionate, and then 1:28:19.680 --> 1:28:22.639 I would hang the bow up on the wall and 1:28:22.640 --> 1:28:26.080 and really be passionate about skiing again. But I wasn't 1:28:26.120 --> 1:28:28.439 all one thing all the time, because I think, you know, 1:28:28.479 --> 1:28:31.040 talking about how I over pressured myself as a young athlete, 1:28:31.040 --> 1:28:32.760 that was a huge part of it. Was like I 1:28:32.800 --> 1:28:36.200 was waking up every single morning and just dedicating my 1:28:36.439 --> 1:28:39.760 entire day to being the greatest skier I could possibly be, 1:28:40.320 --> 1:28:43.000 and to the point where I became too focused and 1:28:43.040 --> 1:28:46.479 I was over pressuring myself. And so having those alternate 1:28:46.520 --> 1:28:49.080 passions has always been really good for me competitively. I 1:28:49.080 --> 1:28:50.559 don't know if it's good for everybody there. There are 1:28:50.600 --> 1:28:53.200 certainly some athletes that I know who live their sport 1:28:53.760 --> 1:28:56.479 every day, day in, day out, and they do it well. 1:28:56.680 --> 1:28:59.120 But for me, having those balancing passions was always good. 1:28:59.200 --> 1:29:02.479 So it's even and like, um, like you view it 1:29:02.520 --> 1:29:06.880 as strategy. Oh absolutely, like actually been not just like, hey, 1:29:06.920 --> 1:29:08.639 I it would be better if I just did this 1:29:08.680 --> 1:29:11.479 one thing, but I can't. You're like, it's it's good 1:29:11.520 --> 1:29:14.120 to have a split. It's great to have a split 1:29:14.200 --> 1:29:18.400 because I mean think about for me, I think about 1:29:18.439 --> 1:29:21.160 all the mistakes that I've made in bow hunting and 1:29:21.200 --> 1:29:25.960 how much that's translated to making mistakes at skiing. Because 1:29:26.000 --> 1:29:29.080 if you if you really beat yourself up about missing 1:29:29.080 --> 1:29:33.000 a stock bow hunting, you're gonna be miserable because you know, 1:29:33.040 --> 1:29:35.080 five minutes later you're gonna make another mistake and learn 1:29:35.120 --> 1:29:37.320 another lesson. Five minutes later, gonna make another mistake and 1:29:37.479 --> 1:29:41.080 learn another lesson. And like life is like that, we're 1:29:41.120 --> 1:29:43.680 constantly it's trial and error. You're constantly trying to do 1:29:43.760 --> 1:29:45.920 new things, you're trying to do something innovative, and you're 1:29:45.960 --> 1:29:50.680 not always going to succeed. So the bow hunting crossover 1:29:50.800 --> 1:29:55.840 has been very mentally like just beneficial for me, and 1:29:56.520 --> 1:29:58.960 I mean just in my soul too. I need that 1:29:59.000 --> 1:30:01.559 time in the wilderness. I'm I'm naturally an introvert, like 1:30:01.760 --> 1:30:03.880 I really like to read a lot, I like to 1:30:03.960 --> 1:30:06.200 just be I like to be alone quite a bit. 1:30:06.720 --> 1:30:11.320 And so I mean there's two to three weeks in 1:30:11.360 --> 1:30:13.640 the fall where I just turned my phone off and 1:30:13.680 --> 1:30:15.840 go off with my bow on my backpack and hike 1:30:15.840 --> 1:30:20.280 into the wilderness and and just completely detached. And that 1:30:20.400 --> 1:30:23.960 sets me up well for traveling all around all around 1:30:24.000 --> 1:30:27.040 the world, competing every other weekend all this other stuff, 1:30:27.040 --> 1:30:32.000 because I can get to like a spiritual medium. Is 1:30:32.000 --> 1:30:33.799 it like a little is there like a little ritual 1:30:33.800 --> 1:30:35.960 when you like go and hang up your your bow 1:30:36.040 --> 1:30:38.040 and pick up your skis is it like today is 1:30:38.080 --> 1:30:42.800 the day? Yeah? I always kind of laugh because I 1:30:42.800 --> 1:30:45.400 I know for a fact, I always have these high goals. 1:30:45.439 --> 1:30:47.760 I'm gonna shoot my bow in the off season more 1:30:47.800 --> 1:30:50.200 than I did last year. But pretty much every time, 1:30:50.200 --> 1:30:53.040 it's like it's like mid to late November, I hang 1:30:53.080 --> 1:30:54.639 the bow up on the rack and I'm like, that's 1:30:54.640 --> 1:30:57.920 probably the last time I don't touch that thing until spring. Yeah. 1:30:58.240 --> 1:31:01.719 Then you just started on it. Yeah Yeah, what uh? 1:31:02.120 --> 1:31:04.800 Walk through how you like sort of your you know, 1:31:04.880 --> 1:31:07.800 at at whatever point, like how you progress up to 1:31:07.800 --> 1:31:11.880 the point where you're in the Olympics. Yeah. Well, like 1:31:11.920 --> 1:31:13.759 I said, it's a it's a young sport. I started 1:31:13.760 --> 1:31:17.880 competing really young. I transitioned over from alpine racing. My 1:31:17.960 --> 1:31:21.120 dad was he raised in college and um wanted me 1:31:21.160 --> 1:31:23.400 to be a racer. My older sisters, who are twins 1:31:23.400 --> 1:31:25.880 four years older than me. You did what your dad 1:31:25.880 --> 1:31:28.280 said you should do at the beginning. Yeah, it's good. 1:31:28.360 --> 1:31:32.000 And then but I always wanted to jump even when 1:31:32.040 --> 1:31:34.920 I was even when I was like neck deep in racing, 1:31:35.040 --> 1:31:37.880 I would skip race practice and go ski the train park. 1:31:38.000 --> 1:31:40.040 So I think that everybody kind of knew at an 1:31:40.040 --> 1:31:42.280 early age this kid's gonna transition to free skiing at 1:31:42.320 --> 1:31:45.479 some point. Um. So I switched over and competed in 1:31:45.560 --> 1:31:49.240 moguls and aerials and all the traditional uh freestyle events 1:31:49.280 --> 1:31:51.880 early on, But that was when terrain park skiing, so 1:31:52.400 --> 1:31:55.360 half pipe, slope style and big air we're kind of 1:31:56.160 --> 1:31:59.400 coming into the scene because you know, most people don't 1:31:59.400 --> 1:32:01.679 even know even to this day, a lot of people 1:32:01.680 --> 1:32:03.720 don't even know that we have skiing half pipe in 1:32:03.720 --> 1:32:05.920 the Olympics and I'm like, dude, we've done it three 1:32:05.960 --> 1:32:10.240 times now. But um, it started with snowboarding. Snowboarders created 1:32:10.280 --> 1:32:12.800 the train parks, like they took things from skateboarding and 1:32:12.760 --> 1:32:15.800 they're like, oh, half pipe would be cool snow and 1:32:15.880 --> 1:32:18.760 so when I was eleven, twelve, thirteen, that's when free 1:32:18.800 --> 1:32:21.719 skiing was becoming big and growing up, I was always 1:32:21.720 --> 1:32:23.760 wanted to be a snowboarder because those are the guys 1:32:23.760 --> 1:32:26.599 I saw it doing flips and spins because they were yeah, 1:32:26.640 --> 1:32:27.960 they were the rebels. I wanted to be a rebel. 1:32:28.040 --> 1:32:33.200 I always was, so uh yeah. I just at the 1:32:33.200 --> 1:32:35.360 point where I probably would have transitioned to snowboarding was 1:32:35.360 --> 1:32:36.880 when free skiing was getting cool and I was like, 1:32:36.920 --> 1:32:38.559 I already know how to ski. I'm just gonna do this, 1:32:39.960 --> 1:32:45.000 and started traveling and just chipping away at it. I 1:32:45.000 --> 1:32:48.160 went to my first Junior Olympics when which was would 1:32:48.160 --> 1:32:51.920 be Junior Nationals the College Junior Olympics back then Junior 1:32:51.960 --> 1:32:55.519 Nationals when I was thirteen and won an event that 1:32:55.600 --> 1:32:59.760 I just was surprised I even won, and um kind 1:32:59.760 --> 1:33:02.559 of just chipped away at it from there. Like I said, 1:33:02.560 --> 1:33:04.479 in the early years, I was really bad at competing, 1:33:04.640 --> 1:33:07.439 but I would always get one or two wins per 1:33:07.680 --> 1:33:10.080 season to kind of keep me in it. I never 1:33:10.120 --> 1:33:12.000 had like a full season of failure. I always won 1:33:12.040 --> 1:33:14.200 the last couple events of the year because I finally 1:33:14.240 --> 1:33:16.599 just found my zone or found the swing of things. 1:33:17.000 --> 1:33:22.679 It wasn't actually until uh twenty eleven. Uh So in eleven, 1:33:22.720 --> 1:33:26.240 I got married, had a little girl, and all of 1:33:26.320 --> 1:33:28.760 a sudden my world changed, and it was that it 1:33:28.880 --> 1:33:33.439 was actually that detached, super young. Yeah, my daughter was 1:33:33.479 --> 1:33:39.880 one of one. Yeah wild times so but how so, 1:33:39.920 --> 1:33:45.120 how did your daughter know she's ten? Okay, yeah, I 1:33:43.680 --> 1:33:48.800 had Seriously, it feels that way sometimes when she's getting 1:33:48.840 --> 1:33:54.519 salty with me. But I just so, what was cool 1:33:54.600 --> 1:33:57.840 about parenthood for me is everybody thought my career was over. 1:33:57.920 --> 1:34:01.599 They're like, oh, Dave went different route. He got married young, 1:34:01.680 --> 1:34:05.080 he had kids young. It depends on who you're talking to. 1:34:07.320 --> 1:34:10.280 Phenomenal look with Dave's okay, that's good. Yeah, Dave's good 1:34:10.320 --> 1:34:13.840 for me. Whenever people get uh whatever, one of my 1:34:13.880 --> 1:34:15.880 buddies is going to have a kid, I always say, dude, 1:34:16.120 --> 1:34:22.800 name him Dave. I really appreciate that. The odds are 1:34:22.840 --> 1:34:27.559 they're gonna be all right, all right. I went from 1:34:27.600 --> 1:34:30.280 over focusing, over pressuring myself, wanted to be the greatest 1:34:30.280 --> 1:34:33.720 skier of all time and never performing well in competitions, 1:34:33.760 --> 1:34:36.800 to this whole new aspect of life where I kind 1:34:36.800 --> 1:34:39.960 of realized, this whole game I play on a pair 1:34:39.960 --> 1:34:42.160 of skeys doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter as much 1:34:42.200 --> 1:34:45.400 as I thought it did. And what really matters mean 1:34:45.520 --> 1:34:49.080 matters like in a in a sort of global existential way, 1:34:49.400 --> 1:34:51.760 like like in a in a an eternal way, you know, 1:34:51.840 --> 1:34:55.519 like what really matters. And I've realized what really matters 1:34:55.560 --> 1:34:57.519 is how I treat my wife, how I love my 1:34:58.240 --> 1:35:01.479 daughter and now son, And all of a sudden, the 1:35:01.520 --> 1:35:03.960 pressure was off for skiing, and I started seeing it 1:35:04.000 --> 1:35:08.040 as an opportunity rather than a necessity. Before my daughter 1:35:08.080 --> 1:35:10.880 was born, skiing was something I had to be good 1:35:10.920 --> 1:35:13.320 at because that was what my identity was. I wanted 1:35:13.360 --> 1:35:17.320 to identify as a great skier. And then when I 1:35:17.520 --> 1:35:21.759 just decided to identify as Dave, the human whose husband 1:35:21.760 --> 1:35:27.280 and father, skiing became like something I did more nonchalant, nonchalantly, 1:35:27.880 --> 1:35:30.519 and uh, that's when my string of success started. I 1:35:30.560 --> 1:35:34.120 just started cruising. I was enjoying it. You know, I 1:35:34.160 --> 1:35:38.400 got a friend of ours Mo. He expressed something similar 1:35:38.560 --> 1:35:41.760 to me that once his once he had his, all 1:35:41.760 --> 1:35:44.479 he ever did is work right, and then once he 1:35:44.520 --> 1:35:47.920 had he got married and had a kid, he felt 1:35:47.960 --> 1:35:51.360 more like um, like when he went to work, he 1:35:51.400 --> 1:35:55.120 stepped into a role and it just changed changed for him. 1:35:55.160 --> 1:35:57.519 I got better, But he said, he started thinking of 1:35:57.560 --> 1:36:00.639 like putting on the hat, like put in your top 1:36:00.640 --> 1:36:03.240 hat and grabbing your briefcase and like going and doing 1:36:03.320 --> 1:36:05.960 that thing. And then at a point in the day 1:36:06.000 --> 1:36:10.000 you stopped doing that thing, and it gave him like 1:36:10.080 --> 1:36:13.240 clarity into what it was like, into what his job was. 1:36:13.960 --> 1:36:17.439 It wasn't just that that was Mo, right, It was like, 1:36:17.560 --> 1:36:20.680 well there's Mo, but he does this thing, yeah, you know, 1:36:20.760 --> 1:36:22.479 and and it was helpful to him. I think for 1:36:22.520 --> 1:36:26.320 me it comes down to quality over quantity, because uh, 1:36:26.720 --> 1:36:31.559 before NAILI, my daughter was born, Um, it was all 1:36:32.000 --> 1:36:35.599 qual quantity of skiing, like quantity in the gym, quantity 1:36:35.680 --> 1:36:38.360 just thinking about skiing all the time, and there wasn't 1:36:38.400 --> 1:36:40.640 a whole lot of quality there. I wasn't as I 1:36:40.720 --> 1:36:43.920 wasn't as focused training for skiing as I had to be. 1:36:44.280 --> 1:36:46.200 When I had to wear the two different hats. I 1:36:46.240 --> 1:36:48.960 would come home from training at the gym or whatever, 1:36:49.240 --> 1:36:51.240 and I would take the skier hat off and put 1:36:51.320 --> 1:36:54.160 on the husband and father hat. And actually being able 1:36:54.200 --> 1:36:56.320 to focus on those two different things was really good 1:36:56.360 --> 1:36:59.400 for me, because, Yeah, my quality went way up even 1:36:59.400 --> 1:37:05.960 though the quantity went down. Do you uh what about uh? 1:37:06.080 --> 1:37:08.559 If you like, if you're introvert, you like things to 1:37:08.600 --> 1:37:10.920 be quiet and like to be by yourself, but you 1:37:11.000 --> 1:37:13.400 gotta have also like an obligation to be out there 1:37:14.360 --> 1:37:16.120 right in the public eye, Like you can't just be 1:37:16.160 --> 1:37:17.640 that no one ever hears a peep out of you, 1:37:17.680 --> 1:37:19.040 and then all of a sudden you turn up at 1:37:19.080 --> 1:37:22.519 the Olympics. Right, you need to be like a yeah, 1:37:23.240 --> 1:37:27.040 especially like a personality, right, especially around the Olympics, because 1:37:27.240 --> 1:37:29.160 if you're in a niche sport like Paul and I 1:37:29.200 --> 1:37:31.360 are we we you don't get a lot of attention 1:37:31.400 --> 1:37:34.320 except in Olympic years. So it's kind of daunting how 1:37:34.400 --> 1:37:37.160 much attention you do get in those years because you're like, Wow, 1:37:37.400 --> 1:37:40.439 I have twelve interviews scheduled this week. Last year I 1:37:40.479 --> 1:37:43.680 had zero. And because they want you to market, they 1:37:43.720 --> 1:37:46.320 want you to market the competition. Yeah, they want you 1:37:46.320 --> 1:37:49.639 to market the Olympics, and you want to market your sponsors. 1:37:49.640 --> 1:37:51.400 Your sponsors want you to market them, you want to 1:37:51.400 --> 1:37:54.559 market yourself. There's so much that goes on. It's it's 1:37:54.600 --> 1:37:56.679 a very focused time of doing a lot of media 1:37:56.680 --> 1:37:59.840 and stuff like that. And actually that's where my like 1:38:00.479 --> 1:38:03.960 deep addiction with hunting kind of came into the picture. 1:38:04.080 --> 1:38:08.559 Was after I won gold in I was stressed out 1:38:08.600 --> 1:38:11.479 and overwhelmed by all the attention the introvert and me 1:38:11.600 --> 1:38:14.280 was just like, dude, you gotta stop. In what form 1:38:14.320 --> 1:38:18.160 did the attention come? Interviews going to like going to 1:38:18.320 --> 1:38:21.360 weird stuff like doing a lot of interviews, like I 1:38:21.400 --> 1:38:24.559 got to go on Ellen, the Ellen Degenerous show, like 1:38:24.640 --> 1:38:28.880 things that are totally outside of a professional Yeah, did 1:38:28.880 --> 1:38:32.320 you guys get into that? Now? We didn't. They very 1:38:32.560 --> 1:38:35.439 very staunch, like, hey, I got a question for you. 1:38:36.000 --> 1:38:39.439 I would have loved to have had the time. Those 1:38:39.560 --> 1:38:43.080 those shows are produced down to the second. It's crazy. 1:38:43.280 --> 1:38:46.760 So yeah, I was just overwhelmed, Like I went to 1:38:46.840 --> 1:38:49.519 Oscar parties, like they treat you for a couple of weeks, 1:38:49.600 --> 1:38:50.960 especially when you win gold, they treat you for a 1:38:51.000 --> 1:38:54.520 couple of weeks, like an A list celebrity, the Hollywood 1:38:55.120 --> 1:38:59.160 or the media or the people of the United States 1:38:59.160 --> 1:39:01.760 from you. And so you got a manager comes in 1:39:01.960 --> 1:39:06.880 and they like, are you fielding the inquiries? Hopefully your 1:39:06.920 --> 1:39:09.120 agent or somebody else's because if you were feeling all 1:39:09.120 --> 1:39:11.519 the inquiries, that would just drive you into the ground. 1:39:11.640 --> 1:39:13.439 So you're like, no, no, no, yeah, I'll do that. 1:39:15.280 --> 1:39:19.080 And there's and I guess, especially because I was young, 1:39:19.120 --> 1:39:20.400 I was like, well, I'm gonna do it all. I'm 1:39:20.439 --> 1:39:23.920 gonna do everything because my I know, my windows is 1:39:23.960 --> 1:39:26.840 tight here, so I have to do all these things. 1:39:26.880 --> 1:39:29.080 They all seem like great opportunities. And I just wore 1:39:29.160 --> 1:39:31.200 myself out. What do your wife think about all that? 1:39:32.080 --> 1:39:34.559 She you don't have to ask her, but I think 1:39:34.600 --> 1:39:36.599 she was pretty worn out too. She didn't like all that. 1:39:37.320 --> 1:39:39.880 I mean, she she was riding the wave along with me. 1:39:39.960 --> 1:39:41.639 She went to the Oscar parties with me. She went 1:39:41.680 --> 1:39:44.640 to do this stuff Oscar parties. Yeah, it was, it 1:39:44.720 --> 1:39:46.760 was wild. It was a wild time. I said note 1:39:46.760 --> 1:39:50.400 to all those things the second time because I I 1:39:50.439 --> 1:39:52.559 felt like I just played, just played my last interview. 1:39:54.240 --> 1:40:01.479 When you come back, you remember hell, I mean, yeah, 1:40:01.600 --> 1:40:04.280 I guess, but I totally simplized with him where it's 1:40:04.280 --> 1:40:06.840 like people come out of the woodwork and they're like, man, 1:40:07.439 --> 1:40:09.840 you haven't cared about me for like the last two years. 1:40:10.040 --> 1:40:12.040 They come up, they care about you for about three 1:40:12.120 --> 1:40:14.240 or four weeks around the Olympics, and then they just 1:40:14.240 --> 1:40:16.280 like drop off faces and they do a good They 1:40:16.320 --> 1:40:18.760 do a really good job speaking to my old young 1:40:18.840 --> 1:40:21.599 self after I won Golden They do a really good 1:40:21.640 --> 1:40:24.960 job of making you feel like they actually care about you. 1:40:25.280 --> 1:40:27.400 And so it's really hard to say no to a 1:40:27.479 --> 1:40:29.080 lot of things because you're like, oh, no, this person 1:40:29.120 --> 1:40:31.400 really cares. They did their research, they know all about 1:40:31.479 --> 1:40:34.360 my back story. And the reality is, yeah, you kind 1:40:34.360 --> 1:40:37.439 of have to go in knowing this person doesn't really 1:40:37.439 --> 1:40:38.920 care about me. They only care about what they can 1:40:38.920 --> 1:40:42.760 get from me in this moment. So anyways, back to 1:40:42.880 --> 1:40:45.160 my long winded story telling, we care about you, guys. 1:40:45.280 --> 1:40:47.360 We appreciate that. Yeah, you know what I want you 1:40:47.400 --> 1:40:50.360 to come. We need to do the math and find 1:40:50.360 --> 1:40:52.559 out what day is the most far away from the 1:40:52.560 --> 1:40:58.040 Olympics and you guys come back that day. Okay, So 1:40:58.040 --> 1:41:03.000 back to the bow hunting thing. Uh Remy saw who's 1:41:03.000 --> 1:41:05.800 a lifelong friends saw that I you guys are both 1:41:05.800 --> 1:41:09.600 from the same state, and uh, he saw that I 1:41:09.640 --> 1:41:12.120 was stressed out and he's like, here's a bow. Just 1:41:12.120 --> 1:41:13.920 just I think this will be good for you. And 1:41:13.960 --> 1:41:18.160 like the meditative aspect of shooting I really fell in 1:41:18.200 --> 1:41:19.840 love with because I was just a recreational hunter. I 1:41:19.840 --> 1:41:22.920 would hunt, especially living in Nevada. Basically I would just 1:41:23.000 --> 1:41:25.559 hunt when I drew tags on the rifle side of things. 1:41:26.080 --> 1:41:28.000 And then I got I just fell in love with 1:41:28.000 --> 1:41:30.320 the sport of archery and it was it was really 1:41:30.479 --> 1:41:33.880 grounding for me during that crazy time. And then I 1:41:33.960 --> 1:41:35.680 was like, oh, well, now I could shoot, I might 1:41:35.680 --> 1:41:39.639 as well hunt. And the seasons fit better, everything fits better. 1:41:39.880 --> 1:41:43.519 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, because archery season in Nevada arts 1:41:43.720 --> 1:41:48.759 eight August first, like nine degrees. It's so it fits perfectly. 1:41:48.800 --> 1:41:52.280 So that's why you know, skiing doesn't really detract from hunting, 1:41:52.280 --> 1:41:54.400 and hunting doesn't really detract from skiing for me. There 1:41:54.400 --> 1:41:56.559 are certain tags that I can't put in for yet 1:41:56.600 --> 1:42:00.120 because I'm still competing, but they definitely compliment. Yeah, the 1:42:00.160 --> 1:42:03.519 mule deer ruts out. Yeah, I've never shot a running 1:42:03.560 --> 1:42:06.479 running butt with my belt. Maybe you'll have to get 1:42:06.479 --> 1:42:07.519 it in you got to get it in wh it 1:42:07.520 --> 1:42:10.280 get is good? Yeah? Uh so you put in for 1:42:10.320 --> 1:42:13.720 tags the over the place. Now, yeah, each year I 1:42:13.720 --> 1:42:16.240 put in for a new state along with all the 1:42:16.240 --> 1:42:19.040 other ones. I'm sure you guys have have experienced that progression. 1:42:19.320 --> 1:42:21.439 So you call it hunting fool and be like, listen, man, 1:42:21.479 --> 1:42:24.720 I can only hunt in August, September, early October. Yeah, 1:42:24.760 --> 1:42:28.880 where can I go? And what do they? Yeah? Where 1:42:28.880 --> 1:42:31.320 do you live now? Still in in Reno, just outside 1:42:31.320 --> 1:42:33.280 Reno and Verde. How far from where you grew up? 1:42:34.360 --> 1:42:41.360 Twenty minutes? Huh m? Your folks still there? Are they 1:42:41.400 --> 1:42:49.599 all proud of you? National National state? David? There's yeah, 1:42:50.160 --> 1:42:53.320 the community, the Reno Tahoe community is very proud of 1:42:53.360 --> 1:42:57.519 me after I won. Uh. The governor at the time 1:42:57.840 --> 1:43:02.120 declared David Wise Day. Soy February just remember that it's 1:43:02.280 --> 1:43:05.000 David Wisday. Do something cool? Is it hard for you 1:43:05.040 --> 1:43:09.400 to go out around town? No? No, it's I mean, yeah, 1:43:09.400 --> 1:43:12.120 there are people come up for autographs and photos, but 1:43:12.200 --> 1:43:15.519 it's not like that doesn't hurt my feelings? Did you 1:43:15.600 --> 1:43:20.519 like because you have the mask on? I mean, let 1:43:20.600 --> 1:43:23.280 me be honest. The level of fame that we're talking 1:43:23.320 --> 1:43:25.960 about for me versus the level of fame for somebody 1:43:26.080 --> 1:43:33.800 very famous is in your town? Yeah, well in my 1:43:33.920 --> 1:43:36.599 Even in my town, it's like it's like once a week. 1:43:36.720 --> 1:43:39.000 It's not like every single meal I go out for 1:43:39.840 --> 1:43:41.360 And we kind of live off in the woods, like 1:43:41.400 --> 1:43:43.120 we eat. We eat at home most of the time, 1:43:43.320 --> 1:43:45.880 mostly cooking wild games, so it's we don't we don't 1:43:45.880 --> 1:43:47.599 eat out very much. So maybe every time I go 1:43:47.680 --> 1:43:49.720 and eat out, somebody comes up to me. You do 1:43:49.760 --> 1:43:52.560 all your best work with the helmet and goggles. Yeah, exactly. 1:43:53.320 --> 1:43:58.559 It's not like I'm recognizable. I have. The funniest experience 1:43:58.560 --> 1:44:01.320 that I have is usually when getting my oil changed 1:44:01.680 --> 1:44:04.160 or you know, at the sandwich shop. People will just 1:44:04.240 --> 1:44:07.040 stare at me with that like where do I know 1:44:07.120 --> 1:44:11.080 you know? They don't even know that, they're like, I 1:44:11.160 --> 1:44:13.160 know you and they'll say that though they're like did 1:44:13.200 --> 1:44:15.320 we grow up together? Did we go to school together 1:44:15.360 --> 1:44:18.559 in elementary school? Where do I know you from? And 1:44:18.680 --> 1:44:20.960 that's just kind of funny for me. Uh, do you 1:44:21.000 --> 1:44:23.800 cook in your house? Yeah? Did your wife cook? She 1:44:23.840 --> 1:44:26.800 cooks mostly she does. Yeah, there's kind of a running 1:44:26.920 --> 1:44:32.080 she'll cook with wild game. She she will, She'll tolerate hunting. 1:44:32.800 --> 1:44:35.120 She like I put her in for tags, for rifle tags. 1:44:35.120 --> 1:44:37.160 I'm like, all right, baby, drew this tag, let's go. 1:44:37.880 --> 1:44:40.439 But but it's not her passion. But she loves cooking. 1:44:40.479 --> 1:44:42.479 She's a great cook, and she prefers that you guys 1:44:42.479 --> 1:44:44.519 eat game meat. Oh. Absolutely, when you went over to 1:44:44.560 --> 1:44:46.519 the Olympics, did you did you bring some game meat? 1:44:47.160 --> 1:44:49.880 I thought about it. I mean, I do it everywhere else, 1:44:50.080 --> 1:44:51.679 but I was like, I probably don't want to get 1:44:51.720 --> 1:44:54.240 caught with wild game meat. And there's this whole thing 1:44:54.240 --> 1:44:59.000 with moving animals across the board exactly. So no. But 1:44:59.360 --> 1:45:02.639 the funny thing is when we travel in this amongst 1:45:02.640 --> 1:45:05.360 my peers and skiing, I'm kind of the cook because 1:45:05.360 --> 1:45:08.240 I'm the oldest guy. I have kids, And so if 1:45:08.280 --> 1:45:10.400 we're all staying in one like if there's four or 1:45:10.400 --> 1:45:12.960 five guys staying in one condo, I'll cook the meals 1:45:13.000 --> 1:45:14.920 and I usually bring wild game and they're all excited 1:45:14.920 --> 1:45:19.559 about it. And so I have this like reputation amongst 1:45:19.600 --> 1:45:22.200 my peers and coaches and support staff that I'm this 1:45:22.320 --> 1:45:25.559 amazing cook. So every time anyway of them talks to 1:45:25.600 --> 1:45:27.400 my wife, they're like, wow, it must be so great 1:45:27.479 --> 1:45:32.040 having Dave around to cook all the meals. And she's like, yeah, 1:45:32.080 --> 1:45:34.240 that'd be nice if you ever actually cooked, because I 1:45:34.280 --> 1:45:37.519 don't cook when I'm home. But my daughter, my daughter 1:45:37.640 --> 1:45:40.880 stayed over at Yanni's house. I'm still pissed at her 1:45:40.880 --> 1:45:44.479 about this. My daughter stays over yet, she's nine years old, 1:45:44.520 --> 1:45:46.679 stays over at Yannie's house and tells him, Oh yeah, 1:45:46.720 --> 1:45:50.760 my dad, he has a cook breakfast at all. I 1:45:50.840 --> 1:45:55.040 told him that he just looks at his phone, which 1:45:55.080 --> 1:45:59.080 is her bold faced. I think she got caught up 1:45:59.360 --> 1:46:01.800 and just like, guy, do you go to someone else's place, 1:46:01.920 --> 1:46:04.280 they could cook the exact same thing you cook all 1:46:04.280 --> 1:46:06.719 the time. Because someone else cooked it, it's gonna taste 1:46:07.600 --> 1:46:10.320 be different, you know. And she got caught up in that. 1:46:10.560 --> 1:46:13.840 I happen to make some like lemon ricotta pancakes. My 1:46:13.960 --> 1:46:17.880 kids are like, and Rosie's like, oh my gosh, the 1:46:17.880 --> 1:46:21.040 best pancakes ever. My dad never makes pancakes, you know. 1:46:23.400 --> 1:46:25.680 And uh, I forgot what else there was whatever we 1:46:25.680 --> 1:46:27.760 had for dinner. She was a real big fan of two. 1:46:27.800 --> 1:46:33.160 Oh yeah, Yanni made us a wild turkey. And she 1:46:33.240 --> 1:46:37.000 gets to telling Joannie, I've never had this before. I'm like, 1:46:37.479 --> 1:46:40.240 I'm like a staple. Yeah, I'm like, I think most 1:46:40.280 --> 1:46:48.320 of American things that your dad invented. This DIY so funny. Man. So, uh, 1:46:48.640 --> 1:46:50.240 when you at what point you gotta decide if you're 1:46:50.240 --> 1:46:52.960 gonna go to the Olympics again? You know, I don't 1:46:52.960 --> 1:46:55.280 mean go would try to go you already you already 1:46:55.280 --> 1:46:59.040 got invited. No, I didn't already get invited. You could 1:46:59.040 --> 1:47:02.479 like go to ship make it. Oh absolutely, yeah, I 1:47:02.479 --> 1:47:06.840 mean at least for I mean, I was thinking about 1:47:06.880 --> 1:47:10.439 hanging it up after the last Olympics and just kind 1:47:10.439 --> 1:47:12.320 of moving you Like, what's his name? You are like 1:47:12.400 --> 1:47:16.920 Tom braid him and Han every year? Well, no, I wasn't. Never. 1:47:19.640 --> 1:47:21.479 I'm an introvert. So all this is going on in 1:47:21.520 --> 1:47:23.880 my head. I wasn't saying it out loud, like thinking, 1:47:24.120 --> 1:47:27.479 but but I was considering. I just had kind of 1:47:27.520 --> 1:47:29.040 lost my love for the sport. I had a couple 1:47:29.080 --> 1:47:31.840 of seasons agrow where I was injured a lot of 1:47:31.840 --> 1:47:34.080 the time, and it was just it just got to 1:47:34.120 --> 1:47:35.479 the point where I was like, man, do I really 1:47:35.520 --> 1:47:39.920 love this anymore? So I got out of that place 1:47:39.960 --> 1:47:44.639 and decided to do another one here and now I'm 1:47:44.680 --> 1:47:47.160 kind of like, man, I'm pretty motivated. I think I 1:47:47.160 --> 1:47:49.200 want to do one more. Have you touched pair of 1:47:49.200 --> 1:47:52.320 skei since you got off the off the podium there? Yeah. 1:47:52.439 --> 1:47:55.360 I I bruised my heel pretty good this year and 1:47:55.360 --> 1:47:58.080 it was just causing me great pain while I was skiing. 1:47:58.439 --> 1:47:59.880 So it's hard to be motivated to go out and 1:48:00.040 --> 1:48:02.519 creationally ski when you're dealing with injury like that. But 1:48:02.760 --> 1:48:05.200 I skied last weekend. It was fine, So I'll probably 1:48:05.200 --> 1:48:08.559 be back out cruising now. If you decide when you 1:48:08.600 --> 1:48:11.120 need to decide by and when you need to start 1:48:11.200 --> 1:48:14.120 acting on that decision, oh, it all comes down to 1:48:14.160 --> 1:48:18.000 your talent level, uh or in some in some ways, um, 1:48:18.040 --> 1:48:20.320 because I know for a fact that I'm not talented 1:48:20.439 --> 1:48:22.559 enough to not stay in it for the next four 1:48:22.640 --> 1:48:25.599 years and try to make it for four years from 1:48:25.600 --> 1:48:27.680 now or three and three quarters of years from now. 1:48:27.720 --> 1:48:30.880 So if I'm gonna go for another Olympics, I kind 1:48:30.880 --> 1:48:33.160 of got to stay in it, stay competitive, be training, 1:48:33.320 --> 1:48:35.560 be doing all the same stuff that I've been doing 1:48:36.240 --> 1:48:41.400 right now starting now. Yeah, with that ski And it's 1:48:41.439 --> 1:48:44.280 just so crazy how progressive it is though, and how 1:48:44.320 --> 1:48:46.880 you have to stay on top of it and just 1:48:47.000 --> 1:48:50.720 watch some guy probably on Instagram do something crazy and 1:48:50.800 --> 1:48:54.240 be like, I don't know, it's just it's just so progressive. 1:48:54.280 --> 1:48:58.000 It seems like, yeah, just with the tricks, you know, 1:48:58.240 --> 1:49:00.920 or do you not feel like that, you know what 1:49:00.920 --> 1:49:04.639 I'm saying. Yeah. Part of my early success was because 1:49:04.640 --> 1:49:06.680 I was was that guy. I was the pioneer. I 1:49:06.760 --> 1:49:09.120 was the one who was like just looking at the 1:49:09.160 --> 1:49:12.320 sport and picking off things that nobody else was doing 1:49:12.360 --> 1:49:14.680 and saying, I'm gonna do this. And that's why I 1:49:14.720 --> 1:49:17.280 was able to win so many contests in a row 1:49:17.600 --> 1:49:20.559 is because I was just like I had this on paper, 1:49:20.560 --> 1:49:22.120 I had on a demandage at the start of the day, 1:49:22.200 --> 1:49:23.960 so all I had to do is land it in 1:49:24.080 --> 1:49:27.360 order to win. And so now I'm not in that 1:49:27.400 --> 1:49:30.320 position anymore. I'm I'm kind of like looking at the 1:49:30.360 --> 1:49:36.519 younger guys and watching I'm just all washed up. But like, 1:49:36.600 --> 1:49:40.120 what's a trick? Like, what's what's the one of the 1:49:40.160 --> 1:49:45.120 best halfpipe tricks? So right now, all the tricks with 1:49:45.200 --> 1:49:48.240 you are are counted in degrees of rotation, So three 1:49:48.640 --> 1:49:53.800 sixty degrees is one spin. And uh. In the last Olympics, 1:49:54.240 --> 1:49:57.880 I won because I did double corks, which means you're 1:49:57.880 --> 1:50:01.080 flipping twice and spinning in four are different directions. So 1:50:01.120 --> 1:50:03.639 I took off backwards to the right, did a double cork, 1:50:03.880 --> 1:50:05.960 took off backwards to the left and did a double cork. 1:50:06.640 --> 1:50:10.320 And those were ten eighties and twelve sixties. This time 1:50:10.360 --> 1:50:13.759 around at the Olympics it was all fourties and sixteen twelve. 1:50:13.920 --> 1:50:17.840 So it's like really like, yeah, people are now like 1:50:17.920 --> 1:50:22.120 spinning stopping themselves right in some stuff and like landing 1:50:22.160 --> 1:50:26.000 the opposite. Yeah, you call that a pretzel when you 1:50:26.080 --> 1:50:29.040 when you spin one direction and then almost hold it 1:50:29.080 --> 1:50:31.040 and bring it back the other directions. So that's in. 1:50:31.240 --> 1:50:33.360 That's not in half five yet, but but it may. 1:50:33.479 --> 1:50:35.960 We may get to that point. But Paul's all kinds 1:50:35.960 --> 1:50:40.160 of Paul is gonna be like shooting over his back 1:50:40.200 --> 1:50:47.599 and ship, you know, I mean pretzel shooting. Uh, that's yeah. 1:50:47.760 --> 1:50:49.400 I hadn't really thought of that part of it. It's 1:50:49.400 --> 1:50:51.800 like it's not like this like thing that's always existed 1:50:52.600 --> 1:50:56.240 and you just do it faster, right, And that's what 1:50:56.479 --> 1:50:58.880 That's what it's like. In most of the traditional freestyle 1:50:59.240 --> 1:51:03.000 events like aerials and moguls, for the most part, they're 1:51:03.000 --> 1:51:05.080 doing the same tricks and just trying to do them better. 1:51:05.320 --> 1:51:07.679 But my sport is all about innovating and doing something 1:51:07.720 --> 1:51:13.439 new that nobody else is doing and differentiating ourselves that way. Well, 1:51:13.520 --> 1:51:17.160 man will be watching. I appreciate it. I'll be rooting 1:51:17.200 --> 1:51:19.200 for you. Thanks you Now. I feel invested. I always 1:51:19.200 --> 1:51:21.280 get interested. I can't get interested in sports. I know 1:51:21.360 --> 1:51:24.800 someone that does it. Yeah, both of you, guys, I 1:51:24.840 --> 1:51:30.240 feel like we're invested. Well, you guys gotta send me 1:51:30.280 --> 1:51:32.960 a text when you decide or not. Paul, How does 1:51:32.960 --> 1:51:37.200 the average Joe American UH get to watch like your 1:51:37.240 --> 1:51:39.840 next big race or just biathon in general because there's 1:51:39.880 --> 1:51:43.760 a streaming service or website that you recommend. Yeah, Um, 1:51:43.880 --> 1:51:46.680 I think the easiest way is Peacock. Peacock generally has 1:51:46.720 --> 1:51:49.679 all of the races live. If you have a VPN, 1:51:49.760 --> 1:51:52.680 you can watch it on your euro Sport or if 1:51:52.680 --> 1:51:54.720 you go to Bathlon World dot com they have live 1:51:54.720 --> 1:51:59.000 broadcasting on there as well. Um. NBC Sports at times 1:51:59.560 --> 1:52:02.839 does have it, um, but Peacock is generally the easiest, 1:52:02.960 --> 1:52:05.920 or Eurovision as well, and that's the same for my sport. 1:52:05.960 --> 1:52:09.559 To Peacock is a really good way. I think everybody 1:52:09.600 --> 1:52:12.680 has peacock now because of the Olympics. Once the next 1:52:12.720 --> 1:52:16.320 big showdown our first World Cup this next season. So 1:52:16.360 --> 1:52:19.560 we just wrapped up. Um. I was in Norway a 1:52:19.600 --> 1:52:21.920 week ago and that was our last World Cup of 1:52:21.920 --> 1:52:24.120 the season and our next World Cup for to kick 1:52:24.120 --> 1:52:29.080 off the three season will be in Sweden on November. 1:52:30.240 --> 1:52:32.960 You've got a long break right now. I have. I 1:52:33.000 --> 1:52:34.519 have about a month break and then I gotta get 1:52:34.560 --> 1:52:37.920 back to training. You guys call it a shootout showdown? 1:52:37.960 --> 1:52:42.600 What do you call it? World Cup? Okay, yeah, I 1:52:42.640 --> 1:52:45.080 was gonna say, I think like a biathlon shootout or 1:52:45.120 --> 1:52:49.439 showdown even like yeah, yeah, But in general, is the 1:52:49.680 --> 1:52:54.840 like worldwide biathlne um trending up boards, like more people 1:52:54.880 --> 1:52:57.519 getting involved in Yeah, for sure, it's a it's a 1:52:57.600 --> 1:53:01.360 huge market. Um. I mean they signed some the IBU, 1:53:01.439 --> 1:53:03.519 which is the International Bathlon Union, they signed some like 1:53:03.720 --> 1:53:07.519 pretty hefty uh TV deals and they're broadcasting has all 1:53:07.600 --> 1:53:12.360 been um with with Eurovision and euro Sport, which makes 1:53:12.400 --> 1:53:16.560 it a lot more accessible for people to watch worldwide. 1:53:16.640 --> 1:53:18.360 And as a result of that, it's been a growing, 1:53:18.520 --> 1:53:21.719 a growing sport. What's the trend in the US, um 1:53:21.760 --> 1:53:25.360 that I don't know, statistically, it's definitely growing, probably not 1:53:25.439 --> 1:53:30.240 as much as other other countries like um, but the 1:53:30.280 --> 1:53:34.040 IBU is definitely trying to target those, uh different markets 1:53:34.040 --> 1:53:36.400 that aren't quite as big yet, like including Finland, which 1:53:36.439 --> 1:53:41.280 is more historically across country nation. But yeah, they're definitely growing. 1:53:41.400 --> 1:53:44.120 It seems as if just in Bozeman here I hear 1:53:44.160 --> 1:53:47.920 more chat about the sport because that place up there's 1:53:47.920 --> 1:53:50.479 that place up the road that does all the cross 1:53:50.800 --> 1:53:52.680 got like cross cut, they got all the you go 1:53:52.720 --> 1:53:55.759 down and people shooting away. Yeah, so cross Cut Mountain 1:53:55.800 --> 1:53:58.000 Sports here in town. They just put in a brand 1:53:58.000 --> 1:54:01.439 new thirty point range which is like a regulation size 1:54:01.520 --> 1:54:06.639 range to hold international competitions in there. Currently starting a 1:54:06.680 --> 1:54:10.080 fundraising campaign to build a full training center and lodging 1:54:10.120 --> 1:54:13.800 everything else like that, which is super exciting. UM. So 1:54:13.840 --> 1:54:16.000 it's gonna be a really sweet facility once once they 1:54:16.000 --> 1:54:19.040 get that put in and so yeah, it's fear in Bozeman, 1:54:19.080 --> 1:54:22.559 shoul definitely definitely go check it out. Uh how do 1:54:22.600 --> 1:54:25.840 people find you? Are you active on social media? I am? 1:54:25.920 --> 1:54:29.200 I'm on Instagram, Paul Ti Schomer Um that's my main 1:54:29.720 --> 1:54:33.600 my main one. Otherwise c h O M M E 1:54:33.840 --> 1:54:36.120 er that's correct. And then I also have a website, 1:54:36.200 --> 1:54:39.360 Paul Schomer dot com. I don't I don't update it 1:54:39.400 --> 1:54:44.040 a whole lot, but they can drop your note. Yeah, 1:54:44.680 --> 1:54:46.600 I think I mispronounced your name when I was introducing 1:54:46.600 --> 1:54:50.600 you at the start show. Yeah, okay, what's what what's 1:54:50.600 --> 1:54:54.600 the best way for people to find you? David? Same thing? Instagram? Uh, 1:54:54.880 --> 1:54:59.200 my skiing page, just my personal skiing pages. Mr David Wise, 1:54:59.280 --> 1:55:01.720 m R David Eyes. And then if you're interested in 1:55:01.760 --> 1:55:03.880 the hunting aspect of things, I post that all on 1:55:04.240 --> 1:55:06.600 wise o t G, which is short for Wise off 1:55:06.600 --> 1:55:09.520 the Grid. And I'm on YouTube too. I vlogged here 1:55:09.520 --> 1:55:12.360 and there. I'm not super consistent about it, but I 1:55:12.360 --> 1:55:14.520 I do hunting an skiing stuff on the block. And 1:55:14.520 --> 1:55:16.520 how did they find that? That's at Mr David Wise 1:55:16.560 --> 1:55:20.080 as well? Mr David m R David Wise. Alright, well guys, 1:55:20.120 --> 1:55:22.600 thanks for coming on, man, thanks for having us. I'm 1:55:22.640 --> 1:55:26.480 pulling for your asses. Don't let me down. You thought 1:55:26.520 --> 1:55:29.520 you felt pressure before. I can't wait to look back 1:55:29.560 --> 1:55:32.200 on this and be like, you know, when Paul decided 1:55:32.280 --> 1:55:36.040 was when he's sitting there and meat eater Bozeman, But 1:55:36.920 --> 1:55:42.680 then he went on yeah, I think. I think. I mean, honestly, 1:55:42.720 --> 1:55:45.040 even if we did it without the skis, we should 1:55:45.120 --> 1:55:48.440 maybe try to do another little meat eater get together 1:55:48.600 --> 1:55:51.200 so you could just like shoot that rifle. It's a 1:55:51.200 --> 1:55:54.400 real joy. I'd like to shoot the rifle. Yeah, your kids, 1:55:55.400 --> 1:55:58.200 I want I'm bummed I missed out. I don't want 1:55:58.200 --> 1:55:59.520 to bring my kids because then what if they get 1:55:59.560 --> 1:56:03.800 into it? It sounds more weekends away. Did they get 1:56:03.800 --> 1:56:05.600 into it and it's a weekend thing. I mean it 1:56:05.600 --> 1:56:07.440 could be a weekday thing too. It's here Bozeman. You know, 1:56:07.480 --> 1:56:09.320 it's not like you gonna be traveling places. I guess 1:56:09.320 --> 1:56:11.920 you could do that or something. They got weekend programs, 1:56:12.080 --> 1:56:15.920 get programs and stuff, so you're super close. Tuesday's Wednesday's 1:56:16.880 --> 1:56:19.160 about it? All right, guys, thanks for coming off