This week we sat down with Liz Derstine and talked about her new short film Ridgeline. The short film is about Liz's PCT thru hike is now available to watch at mountainhardwear.com/ridgeline.html (you can also find it on Mountain Hardwear's YouTube channel @MountainHardwear).To describe Liz in a few sentences is impossible. Her achievements are many. She is an elite ultra athlete who has set many FKT's; fastest known times. Liz is a professional pianist, composer, and trail athlete for Mountain Hardwear. She's set Fastest Known Times on the Appalachian Trail northbound, Vermont’s Long Trail, the Pinhoti Trail in Georgia and Alabama, Kungsleden in Sweden, the Swiss Via Alpina, and more. In 2025 she thru-hiked the 2,655 mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, self-supported, in 69 days, 13 hours, 53 minutes–this made her the third fastest woman in history and eighth-fastest person in the self-supported style to complete the PCT.

This series is Sponsored by Mtn View Auto group. Serving southeast Tn and North Ga for 45 years. Mtn View Auto group has been supporting the great outdoors for all 45 years.

Sponsored by: Mountain View Auto Dealers

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This week Clint and Dawson sat down with Nick "Chezwick" Gagnon. Nick set the new record for the male self-supported Fastest Known Time (FKT) for the Triple Crown of Thru-Hiking (Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trails), completing the ~7,000+ mile journey in 231 days, 7 hours, and 33 minutes. He finished on December 19, 2025 on Springer mountain. This record covers all three major US trails. Nick is a hiking machine and he shares his journey with us and what it takes to be successful. We talk about food, gear, animals, luck and his near miss as he was swept downstream on the PCT.

This series is Sponsored by Mtn View Auto group. Serving southeast Tn and North Ga for 45 years. Mtn View Auto group has been supporting the great outdoors for all 45 years.

Thanks for listening! Find all our episodes at dayfirepodcast.com

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This week Clint and Dawson sat down with Travis Jolly. Travis is a very humble, smart and dang fast cyclist that excels with the road turns to dirt or trails. He works at Bike Zoo bike shop in Knoxville, TN. He is 30 years old and was born and raised in Houston, Texas. Growing up as a child and throughout his teenage years he was primarily a track and cross country runner. After putting college on hold is when he started his cycling life primarily as a fixed gear cyclist. Travis is a bike mechanic, and not long after moving to Knoxville in November of 2019. He wanted to live somewhere new and expand his life as a cyclist in a place with mountains. Travis dabbles with every category of cycling every once in a while. But he has found that his heart and legs enjoy soaking up the beauty of the forests and mountains that surround his newfound home on a single speed mountain bike. A few results of many, USA cycling Marathon Mountain Biking World Championships 2nd place Single Speed. 3rd at 2025 Cohutta Cat BUT he rode his bike there (Mulberry Gap) from Knoxville adding 180 miles and 20k of climbing in a day. Won TNGA in 2024 on a single speed to mention a few.

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This week Clint and Dawson sat down with Lee Davis and talked about the new Sequatchie 24 cycling event that will be in Dunlap Tn on June 13th and 14th. Lee is a Signal Mountain Tennessee resident who has a passion for endurance cycling. Lee has competed many times in the Natchez 444 and last year the Psycho 48. The event will be managed and directed by cycling guru Shannon Burke. Shannon has mapped out all of Bike TN https://bike.tnvacation.com routes around the state of Tennessee and will be releasing early this year 40 new gravel routes around the state of Tennessee. The Sequatchie 24 will have three distances this year. A 75 mile route, a 150 mile route and a 24 hour division. URL for website with more info: https://www.cyclesequatchie.com/ultra

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This week Clint and Dawson sat down with Matt Schweiker. Matt has shared his adventures with us many times. This week we wanted to talk about a 7 month trip Matt took through South America in 2015. The Countries he covered were; Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and a small part of Chile. This might have been the trip that got Matt racing and adventuring on the bike world wide. Matt Schweiker is an adventure bike packer and ultra endurance racer. He’s completed the Bikepacking Triple Crown: Tour Divide, Arizona Trail 800 and Colorado Trail. He’s raced internationally completing the Silk Road Mountain Race, Trans Balkan and Hellenic Mountain Race. His travels on bike have taken him to over 25 countries. He lives in Chattanooga TN and currently serves as the race director for the Cohutta Cat Bikepacking event.

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This week we sat down with Ali Whittier. This is the second time Ali has joined us to talk about adventure and bike racing. Ali lives in the same community as we do which is Chattanooga Tn and because of that I hear a lot about her. Ali appears to me to be something like the sun; a source of energy and power for so many people both on and off the bike. I know her by reputation and we could all only wish for such positive affirmation.

A little about her; "Ali Whittier is a dedicated professional and endurance athlete who brings energy, curiosity, and resilience to everything she does. She balances a demanding career with a deep passion for cycling and outdoor adventure. Ali is known for her commitment to personal growth and her willingness to push herself in both sport and life. When she’s not on the bike, she’s exploring the outdoors, building strength, or diving into new challenges. She’s motivated by connection, storytelling, and finding meaning in the process of showing up every day."

Here is one of the lessons; "showing up every day".

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This week we sat down with Brittney Whorton. Brittney is a bright light in the world whose story should motivate everyone. She is a powerful, smart and funny woman who has met challenges head on and chosen to see the world in the most beautiful way.

Brittney writes; "So when you see me push myself physically, know that I won the mental battle years ago, my body is just trying to catch up and soak in every single moment! Pushing myself to greater heights. Dumber things. BIGGER THINGS! Pushing myself to be something that defies every dang odd that was laid out for me by some pretty brilliant medical professionals. Because my amazing team of docs were always terrified of what riding a bike could do to me as my back and hip had been properly destroyed!!! But, I knew I didn’t have a choice but to ride.Turns out, they saved my insides and were able to stop the growth of a pretty nasty chronic disease. But riding a bike saved my life!!! And I’m going to live every moment incredibly grateful for the achievements mom and I made with my health; but if you see fear, it is fear that I stop short of my goals and don’t find my true physical limit. There is no mental limit, that battle was fought and won years ago. A physical limit looms out there, maybe, I don’t really know, but I want to do everything I can to try and find where the physical wins over this mind.

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We have started a new series on the Dayfire podcast with Arch Trimble IV and this is Episode 6 of 6 . In this episode we continue to talk about Tennessee Parks and where you can go to view, hike and enjoy Fall leaf colors. We also cover beautiful drives that you can enjoy the Fall colors from your vehicle. We go down a few rabbit holes and discuss economic development in rural Tn and solve a few world problems along the way; haha.

Currently, Arch is President of Arch About TN which specializes in business consulting and tourism and economic development. He is a graduate of Leadership Tennessee NXT, a former Insurance Executive and in a previous life, a Congressional Staffer and maintains a deep well of connections in the field of government. Fun fact; he is also a certified yoga instructor.

Arch Trimble IV is a lifelong Tennessee resident who spends his time traveling Tennessee to meet people of all backgrounds and learn about the greatest state in America. He has been to every county and all of Tennessee's state parks.

Powered by: Arch About TN - https://www.archabouttn.com/

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