The Boston Marathon moves its goal post, the most scenic bike paths, ultra-risks, deals & steals, and more…

👋 Good morning and happy Friday! Welcome to the Front Pack newsletter, your source for all things endurance. Click here for the web edition.

Let’s make it a great Friday, yall. We had a fruitful week over here in Front Pack land, including a few early stage investor meetings, discussions on the path forward and all the amazing things we want to incorporate into the platform, and of course, the weekly Front Pack Show. I absolutely love sitting down and speaking with interesting people who have different perspectives on life. They just open your mind to things you never really knew about before. This world is so big, yet so small. One of my meetings found me googling this individual I was speaking with and come to find out, we knew some of the same people and worked at the same firm years back. Crazy.

In bananaland. Did you see this app that launched called SocialAI. It’s an app with no.real.people. You instead post something and it is ALL AI users responding to you. Are we really going down this path of self affirmation?

Hope you had a great and safe week. Crush the weekend, recharge and remember, you are not an AI !

Stay moving…✌🏼 – Scott

Why Front Pack

• Exclusive content.

  • Growth through education, expert content, and more.

• A Community of Athletes.

  • Real people, no egos or pretentious vibes. Grow along with others across the globe.

  • Push each other, and chronicle your journey from impossible to possible!

• Network Personally and Professionally.

  • Meet new athletes near you or professionally. Current members are in marketing, founders and entrepreneurs, in tech, sales, therapists, retired, physical therapists, coaches, and more.

• The Front Pack Show. A weekly livestream with experts, athletes, coaches, and more.

  • Hot and relevant topics, easily digestible, open Q&A with members

    • This week: We got the real real from Brian McMahon, a Human Performance Expert on all things science, performance, and Ketones. Are they for endurance athletes or not, why have they gotten so popular, and more.

    • Next week: Joel Blades, former Marine Special Operations Officer breaks down what the 4th discipline; mental toughness. How do you “get tough” mentally; how is toughness measured; his story, and some key learnings from his mental toughness business as he transitions to working with CEO’s and the c-suite.

Headlines

Races and results you may or may not have been paying attention to…

🚴 Deja Vu: It was Sofia Gomez Villafañe and Keegan Swenson getting back into the win column as they both took 1P at the Chequamegon MTB Festival in Wisconsin. Over the past 3 years, neither Villafañe or Swenson have lost the mountain bike races in the series. Read more…

🏃 Deja Vu x 2: In the running world, Courtney Dauwalter racked up yet another win (yawn) in 2024. This time, it was at the SwissPeaks70, an event that features seven races. Something for everyone! Dauwalter hit the 70k option and won the women’s race by 1 hour and 11 minutes. Read more…

🏃 F*ck Off Ford: That’s what top ultra runner Damian Hall wanted to get off his chest following the iconic Tor des Geants in Italy. Hall, an author and journalist and has become widely known for his vocal activism about ultrarunning and its relationship with the environment stood under the finish arch and unfurled a banner which read, ‘STOP OILY MONEY IN SPORT’ while also wearing a t-shirt that said, ‘Fuck off Ford’. Read more…

🚴 Cycling around the 🌎: American Lael Wilcox has broken the world record for the fastest woman to cycle around the world, traversing 21 countries and 18,125 miles in three and a half months or 108 days, 12 hours and 12 minutes. Wilcox beat the previous best time of 124 days and 11 hours set by Scottish cyclist Jenny Graham in 2018. The 38-year-old Alaskan who is an experienced ultra-endurance cyclist commented, “I had so much fun — felt like I could’ve just kept riding forever.” Read more…

🏊🚴🏃 The World’s Hardest Triathlon?: A bold claim indeed but less than 60 people have ever completed the Enduroman Arch 2. Starting with an 87 mile run from the Marble Arch in London to Dover, a 21-mile cross-channel swim, and an 181-mile cycle to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the race has a new record holder. A 40-year old dad just completed it in 67 hours, two hours faster than anyone before him. Read more…

Meanwhile

🚴 Mavic wheels under $1K: Yes, please! Mavic this week introduced their first sub $1K carbon wheelset, the Cosmic S Carbon 42. Based on price and weight, these stack up against competitors like Roval, Bontrager, Hunt, and Zipp. Read more…

🚴 The Tour Divide but blind…: If the 2,700 ride wasn’t hard enough, trying doing it legally blind like Chris Smith of Medfield, MA. The border-to-border ride was possible because of a work sabbatical and his son being away at camp. Some mere mortals may binge a Netflix special but not Chris. He transversed 50 mountain passes, dealt with 5 flat tires and didn’t have brakes for 70 miles. So why did he do it? He wanted to prove to himself and his son that he could. Read more…

🚴 …Speaking of: If you’re thinking about doing the border-to-border, fully self supported ride, you’re going to want the right set up. Lucky for us, Bryan Rogala spent 45 days this summer relying on nothing but his gear. Check out what he recommends for the 2,700 mile adventure. Read more…

🚴 The Most Scenic Bike Paths: Looking for gateways to some of the most breathtaking landscapes around the world, from the US, to Japan, and beyond; take a look at this list which includes the Banff Legacy Trail, and Frances Loire a Velo. Read more…

🏃 Boston Just Got Harder: …and that is ok. If you were hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon, it just got 5 minutes harder. After not changing the qualifying times since 2019, it was the BAA who announced new qualifying times starting with the 2026 race, That was after it had received 36,406 applications for the 2025 Boston Marathon, an increase of more than 3,000 time qualifiers compared to the 33,058 who hit the standard for the 2024 race. More than 11,000 qualified participants were turned away for 2024, and that number will only grow for 2025, with more than 14,000 athletes set to receive rejection letters. Read more…

🏃 BEWARE: The Risks of Ultrarunning: We here love to highlight the amazing feats athletes make but rarely focus on the downsides. Take a peek into some bad experiences – from getting lost to rock slides, and dehydration. Read more…

Deals & Steals

50% off – $40 $80 – Rapha Explore Bar Bag: For all your cycling adventures, save big on this bar bag which can also be converted to a wearable bag with an adjustable shoulder strap.

$129 – Padded Bike Frame Protection Kit – 7 piece: I felt vastly under prepared when shipping my bike this summer. I wrapped a lot of towels and washcloths around every part of my bike frame. Don’t do that and instead get yourself something easier to protect your investment.

16% off – $167 $199 – Garmin Edge® 130 Plus: The most basic of Garmin’s bike computers, its a great little buy if you need a spare or are just getting started. What it lacks in a big colorful screen, it more than makes up in performance, easily connecting to routes, maps and sensors like the high priced computers.

13% off – $349 $399 – GoPro HERO12 Black: Even if GoPro launched the all new camera, the HERO12 is irreplaceable in terms of its capabilities. Get it today for $50 off.

30% off – $56 $80 – TYR 45L Swim Bag: It’s what I have and bring with me everywhere. I even dump all my stuff out of it and because of its size will use it as a carry on bag for flights. So many pockets. It is clutch and on sale!

Rewatchables

Content for long training days inside or just everyday life.

Running 100 miles after cancer. “Life is short, you never know what will happen tomorrow.”: A must watch because it is a reminder to us all that you can push things off or challenge yourself. Life is short!!

2024 Life Time Chequamegon MTB Festival Recap: Stop #4 of the Life Time Grand Prix race series hit Wisconsin this past weekend. Check out the highlights below.

The Realities of Running UTMB – What They Don’t Tell You: My absolute favorite UTMB recap really had it all and was so from the heart. But also just some funny and hilarious things in here too. Like people just farting in your face while climbing mountains. Hoping to have Sion on The Front Pack Show in October.