Golden Hours Adventures — Episode Show Notes Wilderness, Honey, and the Business of Racing This episode covers a lot of ground — literally. Justin takes us into the Alaskan backcountry for a non-motorized caribou hunt, then straight into honey harvest season, before sitting down with Robbie Pike to unpack the messy realities of race cancellations, deferrals, and what athletes actually deserve from race directors.
In This Episode - A non-motorized caribou hunt deep into remote Alaska
- The physical toll (and payoff) of a 13-mile pack-in hike
- Preserving meat in warm weather after a successful harvest
- The shift from hunting season straight into honey harvest
- Why local honey matters — for flavor and for allergies
- A candid conversation with Robbie Pike on race cancellations, refunds, and trust
- What good race-director communication looks like in practice
- The case for race insurance
- Deferrals, distance changes, and race-day flexibility
Segment One: Caribou Hunting in the Alaskan Backcountry Justin walks through a non-motorized hunt — no four-wheelers, just boots on the ground into an area known for minimal human traffic. The solitude was the point as much as the hunt itself.
"I could see miles and I didn't see a single person the entire time other than the group of people that I was with."
After a grueling 13-mile hike to camp, the trip became a full-circle moment for all the gym work leading up to it.
"Thinking back to all those times of just in the gym doing heavy squats... it's like, man, this is what we trained for."
The hunt ended in a successful harvest, with Justin walking through the real logistics of keeping meat preserved in warm weather — and reflecting on why this style of hunting feels more meaningful than a motorized approach.
"I really, really like hunts like that. It's a lot more fun than just riding a four-wheeler and pulling it up to the animal."
Segment Two: Honey Harvest Season Fresh off the mountain, Justin heads straight into beekeeping season, sharing what makes harvesting your own honey different from anything you'd grab off a store shelf.
"There's something special about the honey that you harvest versus the honey you go buy at the store."
He also touches on the case for sourcing honey locally — particularly the reputed benefits for seasonal allergy relief.
Segment Three: Race Cancellations, Deferrals, and Athlete Trust (feat. Robbie Pike) Robbie Pike joins Justin to dig into a topic that hits close to home for every endurance athlete: what happens when a race gets cancelled, and whether race directors are handling it fairly.
On the transparency problem. Robbie points to the A100 as a case where cancellation left runners with refunds that didn't come close to covering their loss — and the trust damage that follows.
"Those people that didn't get their money back this year, I guarantee you they're not signing up the next year to go run the race. They're probably done with that race."
A better way to handle it. On the flip side, Robbie shares a race director who proactively rolled his entry into the next year's race after he had to bow out.
"I got an email in July saying that I was signed up for next year already. I didn't have to do anything besides send him the email saying..."
The case for race insurance. Justin makes the practical argument for treating race insurance as a default, not an afterthought.
"I'd rather pay the twenty bucks and lose out on twenty bucks than lose out on five, six hundred bucks."
Deferrals and distance changes. The two get into the gray areas — dropping down a distance for health or training reasons, or even deciding race-morning to go longer than planned.
"If you're feeling good that morning and you're like, well, I might as well just do the fifty mile..."
Their conversation makes the case for race policies with more built-in flexibility, and for race directors who treat communication as part of the job, not an afterthought.
Final Thoughts From a silent Alaskan ridge line to the honey harvest to the fine print of race deferral policies, this episode is a reminder that the outdoor and endurance communities run on the same currency: trust, preparation, and respect — for the land, the animals, and each other.
Listen to the full episode for the complete conversation and all the personal anecdotes that didn't make it into these notes.
Happy adventuring.
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