Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 066 - “We Must Endure” Speedland

Episode Date: April 4, 2024

Speedland & Cam came out with new running shoes, and Speedland came to the studio to talk about it! Join us for a discussion with shoe gurus, Kevin Fallon and Dave Dombrow, on their quest to create the world’s best performing running shoes.  Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com Follow Speedland: https://www.instagram.com/runspeedland  https://www.runspeedland.com/  Thank you to our sponsors: MUD\WTR: https://mudwtr.com/cam use code Cam for 15% off  Hoyt: http://bit.ly/3Zdamyv  Ketone IQ: https://hvmn.com/CAM use code CAM for 20% Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% your first order MTN OPS Supplements: https://mtnops.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off and Free Shipping Montana Knife Company: https://www.montanaknifecompany.com/  Timestamps: 0:00:00 Intro: GS-SFD Running Shoe (Cam Hanes Limited Edition) 0:10:32 Speedland’s Growth 0:13:09 What the GS Stands For 0:13:50 What’s Coming Up for Speedland 0:18:38 BOA Feature 0:23:54 Ad Break 0:25:51 Upcoming Road Shoes 0:31:00 Shoes of the Year 0:33:15 Upcoming Events & Expos 0:40:52 Women’s Basketball: Caitlin Clark & Paige Bueckers 0:47:01 What’s Coming Up for Cam 0:50:07 Outro

Every step I take, I move my truth. Every time they tell me stop I use. Every comment hate that makes my feel, gather up my energy and boom. I hear them talking, saying the way that I move it's so reckless. That is a part of my mind I've been blessed with. Giving my blood so I am relentless. This is a keep hammering collective, and I'm here with Speedland again. So we had a debate the other day on who James was saying he was the first repeat guest.

Then I got corrected. And I actually done two with Chandler, one here, one in Nashville. But now, aside from all that, and aside from him trying to horn his way into my show, you guys are the official first repeat guest in the studio. Wow. We're honored. That's really cool. We didn't know until yesterday.

Yeah. I know. Yeah. We're just threw it out there. Yeah. Thank you. These guys were bringing me down our new shoe coming out. And I said, well, let's do a podcast and give everybody the update on what's going on with Speedland.

So here we are. Great. All right. One thing that I get every day pretty much, I think we need to explain the business model of Speedland. And once the shoes are gone in that model or commission is what you guys call them. So my commission, what was it, PGH, right? Iska. Yeah.

Once those are gone, they're gone. They're gone. There's no reprints. There's no second runs. They're gone. So have you guys had to deal with people wondering about that? Every day. Every day.

Yeah, we understand that that's a little frustrating for people when you don't understand that. You go to buy your size. You're excited to get it. And then it's gone. And our answer is we're not making those again. That's part of the deal. We don't believe in making excess stuff where we're having to recycle things. And we are small enough.

We don't have outlet stores to get rid of extra products. So we really want to make a limited run and have it disappear and get into consumers' hands. And so if you miss it, you miss it. You miss it. The only model that we will bring back every so often is the PDX. Okay. That's kind of our, that's our evergreen, our brand color. And that'll kind of come out every so often.

But other than that, everything else is a limited run. But one thing to clarify, because a lot of people, I think, worry then, okay, well, if I love that, product, how do I get it again then? Because I'm going to, you know, people in their running and running, and running, want to run. The platforms stay the same. So if we have the PGA, your model, and it's on the GS platform, the next time we come out with another GS model, it's still on the same platform.

So it's still going to run very similar. Feel the same. Yes. Feel the same. So you're essentially still able to get the same fit and feel. Right. I understand. Which is important as a runner.

Yeah, I know. Once you find something that. works it's really hard to get away from it people get emotional about that they like oh it's just going away I love this shoe and so we do like to clarify that the cam commission might not be available but the GS platform is yeah so this this new one the GS SFFD stands for Springfield will run very similar and fit very similar to the PGH so anybody who had the PGAH model it's obviously different color has different some different touches about it

but you can experience a very similar feeling. Yeah, well, I think it looks good. And I think, you know, you're coloring, we've been unique in it, especially with like with mine, with the blood and that caused a lot of talk, I guess. But so these are pretty safe. Most people out there are pretty moderate type people, pretty safe, they don't, the blood on the shoe,

maybe they didn't really like, what's this about? This is like, this should be an easy, easy, very palatable for people, right? Yeah, I mean, it still has your special touches. I mean, it has obviously your logo. It also has the We Must Endur Graphic. Yeah. So it definitely has your touches on there.

Yeah, I love it. I love it. The black, white, red is definitely. Oh, so sick. Very commercial. So sick. People will love that one. And it's freaking light.

I mean, this feels, I'm, you know, I'm always like ounces matter type thing. Maybe it carries over from hunting the mountains, like everything, it's on your back. like it adds up. So when I pick up a shoe, that's like the first things I'm doing is like, ooh, that feels good. But yeah, it's light. So probably around 10 ounces.

Yeah, right around 10 ounces. And it's that balance of making it light but still making it super durable. Is that typical? That's really important. What are trails shoes? Are they usually heavier than 10 ounces, do you think? No, that's probably the bulk of product.

Yeah, I would say there's a range all the way from, yeah, nine-ish all the way up to, well, 12s. Yeah. But yeah, I think that like Kevin said, there's a balance between,

we call it sometimes right weight versus lightweight. Yeah. Because you got to have that balance of enough support. You got to have the right traction, right, the right grip. Yeah. You can cut back a lot of places,

but it's not necessarily going to, you want it to be light, but it needs to perform in all areas. You're compromising something if you make it too light. Right. Sometimes that's a deliberate choice and it's the right thing to do for a, you know,

ultra product like this, the durability has to be there. You've got to be reliable. Yeah. And so that dictates certain choices that we made. We could have taken some rubber. The rubber is the heaviest part. Yeah.

You could take rubber away, but then you start to sacrifice traction or durability. And I think we've had really good feedback on traction and durability. And we don't, we're not quite ready to take the steps of compromising those things. Yeah, these, I'm coming up on the last,

Well, I did an ultra last year and it's this Saturday again. So I'm doing it. But I just remember last year, me and Taylor were doing it and it was so muddy. People were slipping and sliding everywhere, but we were, we were good because these lugs are just so perfect for muddy trails. And, yeah, I mean, one thing I have heard a lot is how durable they are in regard to the tread. This guy I saw in Piscay the other day, I think he'd had, he's over 400 miles on his pair.

And so people are always, it is, oh, I was going to mention too, once they sell out, they're gone type thing, because I have heard people, you know, they're not cheap. Good shoes are, you know, high in running shoes are 250, 275, too. That's just kind of what high end running shoes are at. But for some people, they're like, oh, I got to save up. Okay, now I got enough money for these shoes. Oh, they're gone because they're sold out. And so that's what I feel bad about. But what I like is that when you're putting 400 or 600 miles on a pair of shoes,

most shoes you've replaced out a couple times since then. So when you look at like the value, the value is there because they're lasting longer. Yes, it's an investment. But I have shoes that were, you know, $250 that in 100 miles there, they've already compromised. So it's like, yeah, it is a lot, but when they last, it's not that bad. Right. That's how I look at it. That's right.

And I think, you know, some people have kind of given us some jabs that, oh, this is super elitist or, you know, that we're not inclusive because it's so expensive. And that's certainly not the intention. Our intention was to make the best product. Right. We see it kind of the other way to your point that if it's, if trail running, running in general is important enough to you, spending a little bit extra. to get a quality product is an investment and it's money well spent so yeah you know we're not we're not out here trying to gouge people we're using the best materials that we can find and we're putting it together in the best way we know how and hopefully that people appreciate that once they try it yeah i i don't know

it's uh do people who drive regular cars complain about the price of mercedes you know i mean it's just like right hey if it's the best it costs more right or a Lamborghini it's just like yeah there's there's other options but I don't know if you want the best she comes yeah it's it's you got to be willing to pay something yeah you know if you look at it versus a fashion shoe where people are spending yeah a lot more than that for something that's you know going to be worn a few times for one season it's you know no comparison and I would say because the the fit and the feel is fairly unique on this product that we actually see a lot Ultra owners. And this is people who are running, you know, almost every day or putting in miles.

They buy multiple pairs. Yeah. Yeah. Because they come back to us and they say, well, there's nothing else that quite feels like this. Right. I need multiple pairs in my rotation. Yeah. I do. I saw somebody the other day posted. I think all all the models were sitting there. Yeah. So yeah, they're flying the flag for sure. That's really rewarding to see and get that feedback that, you know, because you see it. When people find that shoe, like you said, earlier they'll buy four or five pairs because they know it'll change and it won't be the same we're not in that zone of changing quickly but people then do acquire multiple pairs and it's yeah it uh gives us kind of that feedback then they were on the right track we're on something right here i'm like

i'm more i got to have clean shoes for going to like church go so these are like church shoes right here and then the running shoes that are muddy yeah so i need to have like two different ones i'm for formal occasions. My clean pair and my running pair. Yeah. So I got to have at least two of every, every model. Yeah. So one for just kicking it.

But yeah, it's been exciting to see what Speedland has been doing. And like this new, we got these new shirts coming out with that commission there. And these are origin shirts. So that's cool. Very cool. Yeah. We like, we love that group. We, you know, got introduced to them through, through the circle.

and I mean, Pete and the team there are amazing what they're doing and to be connected to them for this shirt is also a privilege. Well, in general, how's Speedland, how's been the process? So tell me how long have you guys been going? Like, I don't think we ever talked about this last time. I mean, how far down the road are we now and how's it looking? We started in June of 21, right, as far as product on the market. selling product.

Yeah. And it was a year in front of that that we started the development roughly May of 20. So, you know, we're four plus years into, or four years into this adventure overall, three years of being in the market. And it's been, it's a challenge running a small business. Yeah. That's a challenge. But it's also been, you know, I think some of the most exciting times of our lives,

if I speak for a day of just being able to do it, how we want to do it, and with the people we choose to do it with is pretty special. And the growth has been steady and kind of the healthy growth, we call it. You know, we're not dumping money on this and getting a huge spike. We're really leveraging our athletes and organic growth. Instagram is our main means of communication. And we try to do it more grassroots style. Yeah.

I mean, we get out to races, we get out to events, you know. obviously you work with guys like yourself and and yeah the growth doesn't spike as fast but it's a slow steady growth yeah which is you know maybe a more healthy way if you want to be around right yeah you get the big bang and then yeah then it's gone and then you can't keep up with demand or whatever and then yeah people are on to other things exactly that's we could mention some brands that we've seen that happen to and we we don't want to be in that position yeah I want to make sure the growth is authentic that we're selling to the right people to jump into fashion, for instance,

or getting into lifestyle, you might see some big numbers out of something like that for a little bit, but then when the trend goes somewhere else, all of a sudden you're left hurting or left with a bunch of products. So we're being careful to be really true to the consumers,

listening to our athletes, what they need, feedback. I mean, that's how the lines kind of formed. The athletes kind of tell us what they need or, you know, post-race or, you know, during training and then we kind of start to work on the product so that's how our future roadmap is is made yeah yeah we walked you through some of that before we started here and that's all just really genuinely driven by input from you and the rest of our elites what do you need what can we

do better and we're constantly refining even commission to commission the gs is the platform it's staying yeah constant but there's a lot of little things that we do what does gs stand for well that's a Good question. We started. We do. We do. Yeah, the first two letters of each model, we have the SL first. Now we have the GS.

Automotive nomenclatures were the name, first two letters, just to distinguish the models. I see. Where that came. And then the city or the place or whatever. And then the next three letters are the athletes kind of choice of location. Gotcha. So the Tam was Mount Tam for Dylan. Yeah.

OAK was the Oakland area. for Liam yeah and now we have the PGA for you with Piscca now SFT for Springfield love it yeah so what like what's coming up well we um well like you said we'll we'll do another midsummer we'll have another release of the um of the pdx yeah uh so everyone's familiar with that and then we're going to get in some pretty exciting here product here this is called the uh g l g lsvt and so this stands for Silverton and this is a partner with an athlete Avery Collins. He's based there. Yeah, he's a good runner. Great mountain runner. Yeah. Yeah. Hard Rock last year. I mean, he's done a number of things. Yeah. He's based there and so he wanted something, you know, there's kind of an all mountain

runner. And you can see here it's got kind of a high cuff. Yeah. Kind of almost a built-in gator keep stuff out, keep debris out, it's got an aggressive attraction, kind of harkening back to what we on the original SL yeah it's a little bit different so super excited about this model um kind of fits in between where maybe the original SL was and the gs this kind of goes hence the name g l goes right in between it so yeah super excited about that um and then how's uh is this different material here different than the gs yeah and what's like what's that's a single layer like rip stop mesh so uh super breathable lightweight very strong and you know again a little fits a little closer to the foot spacer mesh you know that we have yeah gs gives you a little you know more comfort factor it's a little

similar material to what we used on the original sL right um so and then you'll notice the boa location yeah top strap is is changed a little bit and that was um specific feedback from avery who wanted it up there instead of here instead of down there yeah that's right um he had a little bit of pressure from that bow receptacle down there i think taylor did my brother did too yeah and and so you in an interesting way um both avery and taylor were kind of uh instrumental in that change you know it's the location where it sits currently we did add foam in recent commissions behind that receptacles because there were a few people who had that issue i think if your perineal tendon is kind of more on the surface you're more susceptible to feeling things in that area and so for

somebody like avery super strong feet yeah you know he had that issue and we made that adjustment and it works really well and uh so it kind of gives a different a different look but yeah that same similar function yeah no i i mean i i have a head in the issues with the boa, but I know Taylor did. And yeah, I haven't, I've only heard, I haven't hardly heard any feedback on that. So no, it's rare. Like again, we, this location has been good. We did add the foam to, based on the feedback that we did get from a few people, including Taylor and Amy, to try to just get ahead of that curve as we scale up. This is a different location. You know, down the road, we'd love to give people the choice, you know, which way do you like it?

But for this one, we're building it that way. I like that. Yeah, this looks good. And then we'll come with a low as well, which, sorry, it's a little dirty, but testing sample. Testing sample. But this one's pretty exciting. It has one bow on it, and we've gone with a strap, a reverse strap in the back. So similar platform on the bottom, but kind of gives a low option as well. So pretty exciting.

This will be the GLPDX. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that looks good. you know in this kind of model we'll have the commission this is a commission based for based around avery and silverton pdxes tend to be those models that are probably going to stay in the product range yeah in some capacity so pdx here it's gator compatible too so if you don't like the built-in gator but right functionality it's got the loop in the front and belcro in the back but we know this type of

product with a cuff is a lot of people love it, but there's also people who are like, I just don't want to wear a high. I don't like that feeling. And so we felt like offering the low was a way to differentiate it, but also kind of do something a little bit different with that strap. Our intention there is to make the price point a little bit more accessible as well, but still give the dual zone fit, which we think is important for an ultra shoe. Yeah, having that adjustability is key. But for people who don't know, these boa, these cost money. Yeah, they do. I mean, they're cool. They're great technology. They are great, but yeah, they're not free. And so Boa has done a good job. You know, they've created something that people want and they'll pay for.

But yeah, it does make the, if you got two of them on every shoe, it's, you know, adding up. It doesn't. We felt like the strap was a good way to still have a, you know, a function. way to quickly change your racing feel too because that's the other thing that we got great feedback on is it doesn't seem like relacing your shoes that big of a deal until it's dark and wet and you're 80 miles into oh no that's that's the biggest advantage to the bow is is it is it so quick just to back i mean you back that off the two-way thing people don't realize as well because there you know there's other boa dials that cost a little bit less but you have to pop them. Yeah. And then restart your time. Right. To be able to just back off a couple of

Oh, that's huge. It's pretty huge if you're in this space. And the Velcro, you know, it's tested and proven. It works well. It just, and so we know it'll function well. Just saves a little bit of money. So, you know, for us, it'll be an experiment. If we find people don't like the strap, then we can always go back to the two bow. But we think it's a nice alternative. Yeah. For my old ass, what I don't like about, I mean, I like having the gator, but I hate when his shoe's hard to get on. You know what I mean?

Like trying to get my foot, like, especially in a race, you're not really doing that, but if I look at shoes and it's like, one is like this and one is like bad, I'm like, I want this. But when it's on, you're like, oh, this is awesome. Yeah. But when you're old. You're exactly right.

And that's, we know this from experience too. Yeah. There's for some people, that's just a reason not to buy. Other people that has a reason to buy. There's a crowd of people who just hate or for whatever reason how their foot or ankle is shaped, they're prone to getting stuff inside. So they either wear gators all the time. And gators are fine, but they're kind of a hassle too.

Yeah, they are. That's a different hassle. And so this is a good way to solve that problem. This is great. I mean, because if you, it does keep that debris. And when you're in the mounds, it doesn't take one little tiny pebble in there and you're just, it could ruin your whole day, right? So I get it.

I get it. And that's another advantage with the boa. If you do get something inside, it's a lot easier to two pops, take it off, shake that thing out, put it back on, tighten up in a way you go versus lacing where it just takes longer. So between the two, we think there's an interesting new platform here, and new use cases. So we're excited to bring this out. Probably September.

September-ish. Let's not commit, but, yeah, September October, somewhere around there. We're still testing, you know, to be. be honest with everybody. So we don't, you know, we don't put anything out until we feel confident that it's gone through the proper testing. Is this, is this a mountain range? Yeah, that's, that's out of Silverton. So that was Avery's specific request. Yeah. And, you know, he's, he's at the Grand Canyon next week, I think, with the latest prototype. Oh, yeah. That's the kind of testing that for us is just so. Oh, I know. We don't, we don't rush that. We, we, when we do a commission,

the athlete gets to test first. Yeah. And then our next step is we open up the sizes for the rest of our elite team. Let them test. Because one person is great. You need that guy, girl, to buy in. But, you know, everybody runs in different styles and different terrains. And it's important that we test those as well.

So after we test with our elites, then we go to commercialization. So we have a timetable, but we're, we have a timetable. but we're also committed to making sure that testing is thorough. Yeah, flexible. If it's not right, it's not coming out. If it's not right, we won't do it. Yeah.

I think, well, I don't think people, I know I didn't realize how cool the bow was and having that back off because when you said, when you said if it's not right, you gotta do like this, then get back to where it was, right? Yeah. Sometimes you think you want to loosen it up and then because it didn't have that option

just to back off a couple, you're like, you're right back to where you were, originally and you're like it's still too tight but with this it's just it's so easy if it's tight because your feet swell later in these ultra marathons you can just like two clicks yep just like that both them two clicks and you're good to go whereas yeah if you had to pop out and start back over it's it's really tough to to figure out where that was but that is the biggest i don't think people realize how cool that is yeah it's a subtle it's a really subtle thing but once you get used to it it's hard to go back i mean that we hear that i and i personally believe that

yeah once you go back to the old school you're like oh now i just take them off and put these on oh man everything to i know yeah and we've talked about yeah we've talked about the the road shoe and yeah doing doing different things and it's like you know because laces it would make it cheaper are laces lighter or these lighter laces are probably a little bit lighter um But again, it's right weight versus light. I know. It's like if you're getting better fit. I'm so addicted to the boa, but yeah, it's maybe one boa on the, so yeah.

So we do have a road shoe coming. Yeah. Yeah. So we do get asked about that all the time. So that's good to me you brought that up because we do have a road shoe come. And again, we as a company, don't want to put anything out unless we feel that it's better than what's out there. Okay. And so that makes it very difficult on us when people say, okay, put a roadshadow.

It's like, okay, well, we'll put a roadshap if we feel like we can make something that's better. Right. And so for us, we have guys and women like yourself that are out there training on the road. So we'd want to put out a running trainer for the road that's better than what we feel out there. Not necessarily a racer, but a training shoe for the road that's better than what's out there. We think we have something pretty special that we're working on. We have a pretty special foam that we think we're working on as well. So we think we can get to that place. And how much do you want to disclose on this?

Time table-wise, even. I'm not saying that I've seen it or weighed it, but if I had, it looks pretty good. Yeah, okay, good. Yeah. That's what I'm feeling. It's good. Yeah, pretty bullish on it for sure, that we have something that we can definitely push the industry a little bit.

Yeah, I think, again, the testing tells all, right? And I think for us looking at the racing space marathon, it's really crowded. Yeah. Frankly, the Nike product is outstanding. And that's not to say we don't think that maybe we could play in that someday, but right now it's really crowded. Nike's dominating. It has a big lead, I'd say.

People have caught up. There's a lot of other products that are. Excellent as well, but they're derivatives of the Nike formula. Yeah. And we're not going to just jump into that for the sake of saying we have a marathon racing show. Right. And like Dave said, our angle and reason for doing the trainer is a lot of times mountain athletes can't get to the trails. They need to run on the road.

And we'd like to give them a great product to do that. And everybody who's purchasing this shoe now, not everybody, but a lot of it. a lot of them are asking for it. Yeah. Saying can you bring, with this technology or similar fit and feel, bring a road shoe to, you know, to the market. Yeah. So it's, it's the kind of the athlete that we're serving right now is kind of speaking back to us, telling us. Well, I mean, I know that the Nike shoe is popular.

I mean, I ran in it and I, I mean, it tore up the back of my heel. This was so, yeah. This was like way, I mean, this is so. soft right here on these shoes, but it was kind of rough. And it's like my heels were bleeding. And it's like, I don't wear socks. That's probably part of it. But also is definitely like when they were loud when I was running.

It's like slapping. It's like so the technology might be good. I hated them. Right. I mean, I hated them. And I wanted to like them. They're freaking expensive. Right.

And I'm like, oh, if these are illegal to run marathons because they're so fast or whatever they were saying. And I was just like, I ran a couple times in them, and I personally, I didn't like them. So it's a, I get that they're popular, but I think that there's, you guys could make a better shoe. I mean, well, yeah, maybe maybe someday we'll get there. We're going to, we're going to go for the training portion first and we'll learn a lot. Yeah.

I think from that. And one of the things that's, you know, that we're working through and that we'll have to learn in testing is, you know, this removable plate idea. How does it translate to a road shoe? Yeah. We do know that for the racing shoe, they're really stiff plates in there. Like our carbon that we use and our current product is engineered and built purposely for mountain running, where you don't want it to be stiff in every direction. Right.

Because it's stiff in one direction. So the asymmetric product that we get from Carbatex is really unique. And we think great for the mountains, but it's not the right carbon for the road. And so there's that, the right carbon selection. And then the other part is taking it in and out for a road shoe that's never been done before. And so we have to make sure that when the plate's in, it's an awesome shoe. And then when the plate's out, it's still an awesome shoe. Because there's a use case for both.

For sure. I mean, you want to go a little faster, you put that plate faster training day. And then when you want to just do that plush long run, yeah, probably one. Yeah, probably want to take the plate out. So that could be interesting, too, to be the, you know, basically first shoe ever that has that. Yeah. Yeah, that too, kind of hitting two modes with a single product would be unique. And so we see the opportunity.

We believe we can do it. Our first prototype is giving us reason to believe and have optimism around it. But we, you know, we have quite a bit of testing to do to validate that. You know what irritated me is like I saw these, like, shoe awards or shoe of the year and like footwear news or something like that and i'm like there's been no like revolutionary shoe like speedland out there why the hell wasn't speedland mentioned any of that shit that's a good question i mean it it's a funny funny thing that way you know um there's pay to play that happens yeah industry right with reviews and things like that you said it not me

Well, I mean, I don't think anybody's naive enough to think that, you know, everything is totally objective, right? Right. If you spend a bunch of money in advertising, you're probably going to get good reviews and get words. We're not spending anything on advertising with anybody. When they see the word innovative, I'm like, I don't see anything as innovative as Speedland. And so how is it not mentioned, you know, that I was, I just wait.

I follow those pages. I have a shoe guy, you know, not like you guys, but I love cool shoes. And I'm like, man, why didn't Speedland and get love? Because you guys definitely deserved it. And it did. It's so, they were so different and people love them. You know, so it wasn't like they're so different than like just weird, different. Right.

And no, but they're effective. People love them. They last. They're new, innovative. So anyway, I was waiting for some big love out there and didn't see it. But I think the reality is, does that matter to people? No. I don't think people shop by like, oh, this won an award.

So therefore I'm going to, you know, it's not like there's an Oscars of shoes, you know, that actually influences people that do something. So I mean, you know, we have good relationships with most of the media. And we do our best to kind of get people product when they ask for it. And generally we get great feedback. But we don't chase that stuff. Yeah. We have other priorities.

Making good shoes. Yeah. I'm talking about it in small business. Yeah. small business talking to athletes yeah like that's what i mean that's what we're doing every day yeah no i mean i i love the grassroots way you guys go about it and it's just like it makes the athletes feel like their voices are heard their you know their needs are met and then you guys are at these events um like what what are the big events you guys plan on being at this year have a presence so we have one

coming up really soon gorge uh waterfalls that's that's uh this is the third year for that race coming back to the Pacific Northwest. And so that's kind of Dylan and daybreak. And we love working with both of those guys. And the race is kind of in our backyard. It's a beautiful course. Last year was real tough conditions with the weather. Hopefully a little better weather.

We lived a couple weeks later this year. But independent of that, that's an important one for us. And we see a lot of athletes at that and have a presence. Then we're sponsoring Kogadona. with Ara Vipa group, 2.50. So that's a fun one. We did that last year, and it was an amazing race. I mean, Mike McKnight's comeback, I think.

I know. One of the most underrated comebacks in the history of the sport. Oh, he was struggling. I mean, and we actually saw it up close because Don was doing that race as well. On course, I saw it. Mike passed them right at a point where he was starting his move. Yeah. So we were kind of, we saw him at the aid stations for a while and it was like, wow.

So anyway, the event is multi-days and it's a really unique event. That group puts on really good events. Yeah. And we love working with R-Aid. That's Jamil. Yeah, I like him. He's a great guy. And what they're doing with, I think, the live streaming and allowing people to participate,

even if you're not there, I think it's significant for the sport. You know, it's hard to follow 100-mile race. never mind a 250 mile multi-day, but they make it really exciting. And I think that has proven to be a great formula. So we're excited to be back there for that this year. When is that? Is that that that's in May? May.

Yeah. First weekend in May or first week. And then we have a big, big race in August. They called the Hood 100 that we're sponsoring. So that'll be the first time they've ever done that distance out at Hood. What's the course like? Do you guys know? Yeah, it's great. It runs, it starts at Meadows, but it runs through, you know, some epic and classic old trails on Mount Hoods, Rivers Ridge and Gumjuwack and the 44 trails. So it's, it's going to be a really great event. Pretty accessible as well, you know. So I think we're really excited to see. And Daybreak does a great job. So we're excited to partner with them again. And we're actually going to do an aid station for that one as well.

Are you? Yeah. Which one do you know? Where's it at? We do know. Robin Hood. Yeah. Robert Hood Campground.

So how far is that in to the race? That's a good question. I don't remember exactly what mile that is. I don't remember either. Yeah. But I did a scramble there one time, which is like, do you guys remember scrambles? Yeah. It's like hardly, you're not even on trails.

You just follow the flag, the ribbon. Yeah, yeah. And it's just pretty much all out, just balls out as fast as you can go without dying. Yeah. It was tough. It was tough. I think it started there right at, at, and is it Meadows, did you say? Yeah.

I think it starts where it started and went, kind of went up the hill a little ways, but yeah. Yeah, it was brutal. It was, but I love that country. Yeah, there's great terrain, great views, super scenic. Mm-hmm. So we're excited to be a part of that one, too. Yeah, I love following Dylan.

He's always, he's got such a presence in the ultra community. Oh, he's great. Such a great voice. Yeah. Yeah, he's doing good things. I'm glad you guys are connected with him or partnering with him. Or he seems like a stud. Yeah, he's a great.

He's a great guy. Never met him in person. But I did his podcast. Okay. He's all good. Well, yeah, I just love the ultra community. It's like so unique, so cool. So many badasses out there.

Yeah, we, that's one of the things that we love to and partially why we chose to focus on trail is it's just the people are genuine and and really fun people to be around so yeah start your own business right choose to be around cool people and and everyone's so accessible you know like you had Courtney on your pot as well and you know she's for how badass she is in her sport being the absolute goat she's out there sitting in the river at hard rock cheering on yeah and now helping and you know that that just says a lot yeah you know that she represents kind of the whole spirit and people you know they're going to help you out if you're struggling out there they're they're not going to just walk over you you know yeah what can I do to help you so it's just a

cool community we love being a part of it you know what we need to do at some point is because Courtney's down I think Solomon was having a training camp and then I saw cat was must have been with Is she, no, is she new balance or no, who is Brooks? She's Brooks. So they were, we need to have a speed land training camp. Hmm. Something cool like that. Wouldn't that be fun?

Yeah. Because I see that I see, like I was watching Courtney doing, you know, with their at, Solomon had their athletes there. And I'm like, fuck, that looks fun. I want to do that. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I mean, that's something that we should do, do more of.

And we've talked about that with some of our athletes and just how do we, how do we get that commute, sense of. with our elites and so that's something that we've actually got a great guy working with us now Clark Morgan who's helping out with our brand experience stuff is helped us a lot with the ambassador I think I follow him too he puts up a lot of yeah yeah he tags me in a lot of yeah he's he's awesome great guy great runner yeah and he's fast yeah he's quite fast as well so that's also helps helps us with the you know local ambassador community yeah beyond so uh definitely something we We'd love to put something out together.

Yeah, maybe at Hood or something. I know. Yeah. I know. Something I think it'd be, this looks fun. And plus, you get to hang out with badass people and you get cool content. Yeah. That's a win.

Yeah, it's a win. The difficulty is coordinating that many schedules. I know. So we probably need to start planning now for if we want to do it next year. And so, you know, I think picking a focus for that. Like, how many people could we get out for? the waterfall or how many people could we get out for a hood hundred next year yeah it could do the canyon yeah yeah the rim to rim to rim to rim that would that'd be a good one that would be a good one

your own yeah yeah i know taylor and my stepdad just did that uh this last weekend actually i didn't even hear if they made it but i'm i'm assuming they did they're both they're both tough but it's it's a freaking effort oh my gosh it's like 47 miles or something me and cordonie did it one time and i and i like 11 hours and I was looking at like the fastest FKT for that. It's like seven, eight hours. I think Walmsy had it or something. Crazy. It's unfathomable really. It is because most people it takes like maybe 19 hours. It's a grind. And then coming back up that south side after you've been to the north and you know, it's later in the afternoon. And it's from the river to the to the rim. Freaking legit. Yeah. But that would be so.

It's so picturesque. Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah. I didn't. That's a good thought. Yeah. Also, I texted Courtney, I think, yesterday because did you know that she went to the same high school as Caitlin Clark who plays for Iowa? Who's like their basketball.

It's like she set the all-time scoring record. Of course, we know. We watched it. Yeah. So, I mean, but they both went to Hopkins High School, the same high school. was it Caitlin or that other girl on Yukon, Emily? Oh, no, that's what is her name? Paige.

Page, thank you. Buchers or something like that. Did Paige go to the same? She went to Hopkins. No, the team she played for said Hopkins, but I don't think it was, was it there, too? Well, I don't know. I just know because I looked up, I looked up Paige. No, I just looked up.

Paige, because I had an amazing game yesterday as well. She did 28 points. I know. I never cared about women's basketball ever. I'm always just like kind of making fun of it. I'm like, is this college basketball? But these girls? Well, Paige, Paige, I'm a huge juju fan.

I don't know if you watch USC play yesterday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did. I mean, in Jujuwakins, I think she's like the next great, great player. But yeah, Paige had an amazing game. Well, I'm from Minnesota. I looked up Paige. And so she was born in Edina and then went out of Hopkins.

And so I didn't. did too i did kately went to doling catholic high school okay so yeah so yeah so we're we're talking about page hey look up hopkins high school and look up i thought she went there too maybe she got kicked out i think i think she got kicked out for drinking page we'll start a new and i know cordney is too so yeah page went to hopkins yeah page went to hopkins word but look up hopkins high school alumni. I think I just

looked the other day. He's sure of it. Yeah, we need to make sure. That would be wild if Caitlin also. If they all do it? They're there, yeah, they're producing some some players then if that's the case. But no, you know what I noticed because I watched both those games. It's like I did too. They were impressive. I was supposed to

do a photo shoot and all that. I'm like I'm not doing a photo shoot this afternoon. I said, I got basketball to watch watch two back to back women's games and I just couldn't wait. I'd been like looking forward to it for a week but uh it's fantastic to to see that happening in the women's game i mean yeah the excitement around it that viewership going up and the level is oh it's you know and then katelyn to have 41 have that

game and still i was even like i wanted her to get one more because she tied the record right and i'm like she you know when they have that heat check when you're like hit a few and then you just take some crazy ones just see how hot i and she came down and i want to her this is a big one heat check and it i think it's a little long but i'm like oh my god i want in the third quarter she'd hit three and that would have been four i think i was like wanted that so bad but yeah you were all fucked up on your stats oh why because page and courtney went to the same high school oh okay katelyn yeah did not okay yes she did you guys are wrong it would have it would have been a cool fact if it were a fact okay well whatever

page is still good. No, I mean, she's, oh, she's, she's, she's, she's, she played amazing. Yeah, she had some big, there was a three last night. Yeah. That three where it was tight. Yeah. And top of the key, where she just came and just hand in the face. I was like, that's a big time shot.

Yeah. And I was not, I was rooting for SC. So I was not. Juju had a three like that too. Yeah. Juju juju is, I mean, they just, they got off rhythm there in the fourth. And, you know, I don't know if it's, Gino is such a good coach. Yeah.

I mean, those. girls knew exactly what to do and just so fundamental. They didn't lose their cool. No. You know, even when it was tight, they stayed calm. Yeah. They got it done. It was impressive.

It was, yeah, I just, I've never cared. Like I said, but one thing I saw with Juju, I thought in a, in a timeout, the game wasn't over. Yeah. But it seemed like she was already getting emotional because I think she could tell this isn't gone. The game was, she's a freshman. Yeah.

The game was kind of getting away. Yeah. And yeah, you could see. I could see her like kind of doing it. And I felt, but she wants to win so bad. Yeah. So you love that competitive spirit. Yeah.

But yeah, it's a man. Well, the question with her is how long she'll stay in college. I know. Because she's clearly super talented. Oh, she's just stud. Yeah. Or if she stays at USC, that's another question. If she does stay in college, will she stay there?

Yeah. Exciting stuff. I mean, the fact that we're talking about women's bad. basketball is awesome i i loved it and you know i do like i even like ls uke's coach that keel mulki she's freaking she's a legend herself so she put together a good squad and then they had their point guard came over from louisville whatever her name was that blonde girl oh then yeah yeah first something but yeah she was mashed up on katelyn at the beginning and at the beginning i'm like i don't know if she's quick enough to be because you got to be a hand

in her face. And she was undersized to be up there. Yeah, she was like, I think they said she was five, seven and Caitlin's six foot. That was a tough matchup for her. No. And she's like, it doesn't even take much of a gap. And Caitlin's just boom. Yeah.

But anyway. It's Haley Van Lith, by the way. Hayley Van Liff. Van Hurst. I got that. A lot of corrections going on. Yeah. Keith Van Horn.

Yeah. I think that's who it was. Keith Van Horn. Remember him with the high socks? Fantastic. Yeah. I think he was a Utah player, if I remember. He was.

Yeah. Deep in my knowledge for that one. I think he was. And he played in the NBA for a while, I believe. Yeah, no, he did. He did. He was lanky. Yeah, I know.

I know. I just remember the high socks. But, yeah, so we got a lot of stuff covered. We got the women's basketball. We got the running camp in the works. Yeah. You get that in the works. The speed land running camp.

Be a good one. Yeah. And then you got some lift run shoots event. Yeah. events coming up right we're so yeah Austin's coming up beginning of May and uh yeah lift run shoot 10 K down there and then of course the big event here yeah and Eugene and you guys will be there played a big part of that yeah it's people I mean it's so cool you know I mean I feel lucky as some old fucking redneck bow hunter to have a great opportunity with speed land and to see you guys

go from just starting four years ago to where you are now where you guys have cured planter fasciitis according to Byrd according to Bert so you've cured that next up probably curing cancer just from wearing speed lands so we're the trajectory is yeah going pretty good yeah it's great ride and we're grateful for all of those you know I think it's easy to look at those and say how much did they pay, Bert? Like, we didn't know that was coming. No. We had no idea.

And same with Rogan. Like, we were grateful. Those little shoutouts are, can't even tell you how much that means to a small plan. Goggins, Gagons gave a little love. Gagins giving a shout out. I mean, these are the kinds of people that you admire and respect.

Oh. You just don't have any idea that they're going to talk about your product. Pat McAfee took a shit on my shoes. That was so funny. Oh, my goodness. But you couldn't. There was kind of a weird dynamic going on in that one. It was like a positive.

It was kind of. It was a guy with those shoes on and like, AJ was, AJ was, he's, he's cool. He was like trying to be positive. Path's like the biggest asshole shoes you've ever seen. It's like,

whoa, whoa, whoa. But then he kind of said he loved them too at the same time. I don't know. There was something weird going on. But all I know is you can't, if you were going to pay ESPN, hey, could you talk about my shoe?

How much would that cost? You know, if you had to buy that advertisement? Right. So the fact. Because McFie's show is blowing up. The fact that they had showed a picture of it up there, that is incredible. It is. We're surprised and amazed and delighted by all of that.

It's one of those pinch yourself kind of moments. Yeah. No, that was cool for me. So Pat, thank you. But mostly thank AJ. And then it was who the other guy, the bald guy on there, he's one who ran the half marathon in him. Oh, yeah.

I can't remember who that was. But I told him he could come on the podcast. I mean, he seemed like a cool guy. But, yeah, I mean, that show, when can you in the middle of the day on ESPN drop the F bomb? And they do. Yeah. It's just they're like, well, yeah, nobody else can, but Pat can. You know, so he's kicking ass.

That's fun. I love it. I love it. Yeah, for those brief moments. Yeah, we'll go viral, I guess. But, well, thank you guys. this has been, just wanted to give an update to everybody on what speed lens. Do you have anything else we need to talk about or share?

I think we covered it all right. Yeah, yeah. This is good. This gives a good, we get a lot of questions. So this is at least on the product side, this is at least giving everybody kind of a, why to the lack of inventory. And in case we lost the very beginning, we'll just say, because at the very beginning we talked about how you guys, we had a power glitch.

I think I discussed that. But anyway, if we lost the beginning, once these are gone, once it runs gone, they're gone forever. But the platform remains very same or very similar. So if the color that you don't want is gone, you can get another color, hopefully, in your size. It's going to feel pretty much the same. So, yeah, your business model is, yeah, you do the run, the commission. And once those sell out, they're gone. They're gone.

Good luck. Better luck next time. So, guys, jump on it quick. But, uh, so if we lost the beginning, there's a recap of that part. And, uh, these should be, uh, going up for pre-sale, uh, May 1st. May 1st. And these are sick. And deliver mid-June.

These are sick, guys. Check this out. May 1st. We must endure. That's life. That's how you get through life, right? Got to endure. I think it's how you get to a race.

It's how you get through race. It's so appropriate for the ultra community. Yeah. Well, it's awesome. You guys love it. Thank you for all you do. And the partnership has been amazing. And let's keep making kick-ass stuff.

Sounds great. Thanks for having us. Thanks for coming down. All right. We'll catch you guys next time. Keep hammering. Thanks.