Aubri Drake on Beast Coast FKTs, Breaking Binaries and Boundaries, and Transferring Thru-Hiking Skills to Ultrarunning -#206

Fresh off their Presidential Picnic FKT, highly accomplished hiker, backpacker, and ultra runner Aubri Drake joins the FKT podcast today. While Aubri, who uses they/them pronouns, says they’re not the fastest athlete, they’re certainly one of the toughest. Aubri has 20 FKTs to their name—none over easy terrain.

Hailing from the east coast, Aubri gravitates towards grueling routes in the Whites and various mountain ranges in New York. As part of their ongoing New Hampshire 48 Grid project, they recently set the non-binary FKT on the Presidential Picnic—in which one completes the Presi Traverse and then bikes back to the start—on a cloudy, snowy day in April.

The Grid requires you to hike all 48 4,000-foot plus peaks in the Whites, every month of the year. Their progress with that project along with completing projects like hiking the Northeast 110 4,000 footers in both winter and summer means Aubri is chock full of problem-solving strategies—many of which they share today.

Tune in to learn about what inspires Aubri to tackle certain routes in certain styles. Aubri, who identifies as queer and non-binary, also shares wisdom about the power of representation and putting yourself out there.

“I try not to let perfect be the enemy of good sometimes,” Aubri says on the podcast. “I've been inspired by Women Who FKT and the projects that they've been putting together to support and encourage women and non-binary people to get out there and go after FKTs just to get something on the board. And that's often what I'm doing. I know I can complete it. It's just a matter of how much time is it going to take me.”

Follow along with Aubri’s adventures on Instagram and their incredible blog Transcending Mountains. And check out their two dozen FKTs on fastestknowntime.com.

If you’re looking for a new shoe in which to test yourself on the trails, check out the MTL Skyfire 2, the ultra-lightweight, award-winning trail shoe from our friends at Merrell Test Lab. Thank you so much, Merrell, for supporting the show and fastestknowntime.com! See what all the buzz is about at www.merrell.com.