No Sanity Required
No Sanity Required is a weekly podcast hosted by Brody Holloway and Snowbird Outfitters. Each week, we engage culture and personal stories with a Gospel-driven perspective. Our mission is to equip the Church to pierce the darkness with the light of Christ by sharing the vision, ideas, and passions God has used to carry us through 26 years of student ministry. Find more content at swoutfitters.com.
No Sanity Required
Interview with 16 Year Old Ultra Cyclist, Myca Mustin | No Sanity Stories
In today’s episode, Brody sits down with 16-year-old Myca Mustin, who just completed his sixth ultra cycling race. Myca is a trailblazer for his generation, both physically and spiritually, because pushes himself to accomplish extraordinary feats.
Brody challenges men, young and old, to push themselves to instill within themselves the same drive that Myca exemplifies.
1 Corinthians 16:13
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Hey, this week on no sanity required. Uh, we're going to be sitting down and talking with a pretty remarkable young man named Micah and, uh, this is going to be one of our no sanity story episodes and I love these stories and I love talking with folks and we always get good feedback from our interview style episodes. Uh, micah is is a spectacular young man in a number of ways and I will say that I've known him his whole life. His parents I knew them before they were married. They both served at SWO in the early, early days of SWO and I consider them to be very personal friends. They live on the same road as us.
Speaker 1:Matter of fact, yesterday I saw Little and Juju, my youngest daughter, and Malachi, my middle son, walking up the road. They've been down to the Mustins because they've got too much corn in their garden and they can harvest it, so Little was carrying a couple bags of corn. My kids were headed to the porch to shuck corn. Hopefully you've done that before. If not, you've missed out, if you have never sat on the porch and shucked corn or snapped beans. But anyway, they're good friends on the porch and shucked corn or snapped beans.
Speaker 1:But anyway, they're good friends, they're neighbors and I'm excited for you to hear about a spectacular adventure that Micah Muston just went on. I think if you have lost hope or confidence in this younger generation of folks right now, micah is a young man that's going to restore a lot of that and you're going to see there's always strong, good people of godly character and fortitude in every generation and Micah represents the best in his generation. So I hope that this is something that is going to be a great encouragement to you and that you enjoy this episode. Welcome to no Sanity Required.
Speaker 2:Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters. A podcast about the Bible, culture and stories from around the globe.
Speaker 1:Micah Mustin is, I believe, a sophomore. Actually, now I think he's going into his junior year at Andrews High School here in Andrews, north Carolina. His dad, matt, is the youth pastor at Red Oak Church and is a former employee, worked full-time at SWO in our maintenance and construction division and then he, as a young man, was on our summer staff for a couple summers. Micah is the oldest of three kids. He's got one sister who is the same age as my daughter Juliet. They're both freshmen at Andrews High School. That is Maddie, who is the same age as my daughter Juliet. They're both freshmen at Andrews High School. That is Maddie. And then Micah's youngest sister is Sadie and she's in, I believe, the eighth grade. She's at Andrews Middle School. I love this family. Micah's mom, shanna, is someone that we've known since she was at. We little coached her when she was in high school. That's how far back that goes. That would have been in the 90s here in andrews, and so, um, just love the family. I'm thankful for him.
Speaker 1:Micah's dad, matt, is an endurance. He's into ultra endurance, adventure races, uh, mountain bike races. He does really long mountain bike rides and he got micah into that at a young age and micah recently did a monster mountain bike ride and, due to some unforeseen circumstances, he ended up riding the whole thing solo. His dad had to check out because of an injury and Micah ran the I think it's a 360-something mile race. Matt had to leave the race 77 miles in, and so Micah ran 300 miles by himself.
Speaker 1:In these races the contestants or competitors will often ride through the night because it's kind of a 24-hour type race. They started Saturday morning and ended Monday morning, and it was a wild, wild story. And so I was sitting with Micah the other night, the day after the race had ended. We were sitting at a volleyball game at Andrews High School and I was asking him how it went and I had been wanting to interview him about it, but I didn't want to make him nervous, and so I waited until the race was over and asked him if he'd be willing to sit down for the NSR podcast, and he said he'd love to, and one of the reasons is just, it's an awesome story.
Speaker 1:But another reason is our listeners know y'all know that we're passionate about challenging young men and grown men husbands, dads, young men to just be the men that God's called us to be, and part of that is to be men of courage, to do hard things. The verse at the end of 1 Corinthians 16,. 1 Corinthians 16, 13,. It says to be strong and act like men, to have courage and to let everything we do be done in love. Micah is a strong young man, both in character and in his faith, but also just physically. He's just tough. It's nice to see a young dude that's just physically tough and gritty and hard. I love it, I appreciate it. I'm excited to sit down with him and just talk through his recent experience on this adventure race and to bring you along for the ride. So I hope you enjoy this conversation with my friend Micah Muston. I think what I'd like to do is start off by just talking about what do you call this kind of racing that you do?
Speaker 4:Is it like endurance racing, yes, sir. So this race is called an ultra endurance race, and there's tons of them out there, um, and they're usually just bike races that are self-supported, and they're usually like 100 miles or longer.
Speaker 1:So self-supported, meaning you're, you don't have anybody, it's you and your bike and whatever you can carry on you yep, and it's at least 100 miles long.
Speaker 4:Usually, yeah and uh, you can. If you carry money, you can stop by gas stations and purchase things, but you're not allowed to like, call people and be like, hey, bring me something here, okay, um, leave me something there.
Speaker 1:You know um, and there is trail magic, which is where people can show up randomly, um, like you're, but you're not allowed to know um, and so, like me, as a as one of your pastors and a friend to your mom and dad for a long time family friend I could just like I know micah's out there doing this race, so I could go out there and kind of intersect where you're coming through and just give you something that's unexpected, like a candy bar or something like that.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, and that's called trail magic. That's called trail magic. Okay, yep, did you get any trail magic on the ride?
Speaker 4:I did not get any trail magic this time. No, but we did last year.
Speaker 1:Okay, so how many of these races have you done?
Speaker 4:I've done the Colorado Trail once. I've done— how long is that? One 530 miles. So you've done a 530-mile ride. I've done the TNGA three times. That's Tennessee North.
Speaker 1:Georgia. Is that what that stands for?
Speaker 4:It starts from Trans-North Georgia Adventure.
Speaker 1:Trans-North Georgia Okay.
Speaker 4:And it goes from the South Carolina line to the Alabama line, across North Georgia, all the way across Georgia.
Speaker 1:Okay, and what's that mileage come out to 360. So you've done a 500 plus in Colorado. Yep, this one's 360. Yep, but you've done this one more than once.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I've done the TNGA three times, so how old are you now 16.
Speaker 1:How old were you, were you 14, the first time you did it?
Speaker 4:Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. But now, when you were 14 and did it, your dad was with you. Yep, y'all did it together. Okay, what else?
Speaker 4:I've also done the Rockstar Challenge. It's 270 miles in Virginia.
Speaker 1:And I've done the Huckleberry, which is the one that my dad puts on here in andrews. That's local, that's that's in and out. Of this valley goes up to huckleberry knob. Sir, coming around like hooper's bald.
Speaker 4:No, does it come through?
Speaker 1:does it come over?
Speaker 4:beaver creek comes down you go up to the towers and then you come down tatham gap, okay, you hit beaver creek for just a second, okay. And then, okay, what's the mileage on that one? That one is 250,. The Huckleberry is.
Speaker 1:Do you do any? Is any of the Huckleberry over up in the Nantahala side?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so you start Tuney Gap. Yeah, so you start in Andrews and you go straight up Junaluska and then you go on Big Choga and then over Tuney Gap and into Hayesville and then back over Waiya. Oh, okay, okay. And do you cut through rainbow springs?
Speaker 1:uh, no, you never go through rainbow springs. You go to hayesville. How do you go back to why?
Speaker 4:so you go out and you get on the highway and then you go up to albert mountain and then you ride the highway. You're really close to rainbow springs, but you never actually go on the road.
Speaker 1:Okay, um but yeah, 250. So you've done, did you?
Speaker 4:and you rode that one yes, sir, one your dad put on so how many total have you rode?
Speaker 1:is that five?
Speaker 4:I think that is.
Speaker 1:I think it's six, six what was that colorado ride like?
Speaker 4:oh, that was crazy, that was, that was insane, because that was the first one I'd ever done, and so I didn't know what to expect.
Speaker 1:But y'all, even when you were little, y'all go out on hiking trips. That's a big thing with your family is going out west. Oh yeah, my dad loves it and you're familiar with some of that just the terrain but you'd never been on a bike for a long ride like that, so man that's beautiful country out there. Oh yeah, I'm going out there to elk hunt here, just right around the corner, and I just love those mountains.
Speaker 4:I love these mountains, yeah, but it's different out there it is, especially when you get up above the trees. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's right. You get so high that the trees don't grow. It's like scree, fields and rock. Even in the middle of summer it'll be cold up there at night on the colorado trail.
Speaker 4:We did it, uh, at the end of july, and there were still places where we could stop and get snow and we'd put it in our camelback so it would make our water cold.
Speaker 1:Wow, in july yep, what was that elevation? How high up did y'all ride to?
Speaker 4:the highest point is, I think, 13,000, two feet. You rode a bike to 13,000 feet, yep that's wild man most, most of the colorado trails above 10,000 it's right around in that area is it?
Speaker 1:does it go, uh, through the sangro de cristo? What mountains like where. Where does it go through the state?
Speaker 4:um, it goes from denver to durango, okay, and so it goes, like through buena vista, right through the middle of the state.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, because I've I've mountain biked in and around durango, but it was like day rides, you know, just take a bike and go out for three hours and back to camp and go do it again. Uh, and then I've rode up. There's a place called silverton.
Speaker 4:Y'all been there oh yeah, it goes through silverton.
Speaker 1:that's what I thinking, that's what I was going to ask you. Yeah, so I've been up and around in there and rode some.
Speaker 1:And then I've been up to a place called Telluride. I've heard of it. So when you came through Silverton, from Silverton to Durango, you came, I think, right under Telluride. Man, that's so challenge, especially young guys. Did you come to the Wednesday night talk that I did this summer? Yes, sir, so that's a pretty aggressive challenge.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, but but a guy, a young man like you, is sitting there just kind of going. Yes, I agree with this. This is the way a young man ought to live his life. Cause you're doing these things? Yes, sir, you're, you're taking responsibility. You were, you know, I've known you since you were an infant. I've watched you grow up and so, even at a young age, you've taken responsibility. Your parents have raised you to work and it's very evident One thing that I would say to people that, like, we have a lot of parents that listen to this podcast and I want them to know that it's good to push your kids to do hard things. Wouldn't you agree with that? Oh yeah, but you've always been supported. It's not like go do something hard and I'm not going to support you.
Speaker 4:Your folks are out there with you. Yeah, my dad was always like, because when I was little I wasn't good at mountain biking and I never thought I'd ever do anything like this. It was always so hard, but at the end of the day it was always like I'm so glad that I just went and, you know, did that ride. And it was only 20 miles, but it was still super hard. Yeah, but it got me a long ways. Now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because at the end of the day, two things I think. One, at the end of the day, you felt accomplished, yep, you had done something hard, and God has made us to do hard things and then to feel his like, his pleasure in that and then. But the other thing is it created a fabric or like a fiber in you as a young man, that's, that's, in the big picture, made you a stronger, tougher, better young man, you know which is going to make you a stronger, tougher man as you're entering into that transitional period of life where you're going from boy to man.
Speaker 1:Now You're more man than boy, you know, and so I'm really grateful for parents that will push their kids. And a lot of kids don't get pushed. Yes, sir, A lot of kids don't get pushed. And you know my son Tucker, you know how hard he was pushed, oh yeah, you know my son Tucker, and you know how hard he was pushed, oh yeah. And we have also a special relationship because your mom is my daughter Juliet's volleyball coach.
Speaker 1:She's the head volleyball coach at Andrews High School. She's also the track coach and she taught Tucker how to long jump. That's so cool, isn't that cool? And he was in the 10th grade and he had never run track and I was the same as your dad and I are very similar in how we push our boys and I said Tuck, you need to do something new this year. He played football and basketball for years and I was like you need to push yourself, stretch yourself, and I think track would be good for developing some of your speed and stuff. So he goes out. Your mom says. Your mom, whose name is Shanna Shanna says Tuck, I think you'd be really good at long jump. And he was like you. He was willing to try anything. So he jumped right in there and did it. She coached him as a first-year track athlete sophomore in high school, 16 years old age that you are now. She coached him. He won a state championship and set a district regional record. He's the smoky mountain conference record holder all time. That is so awesome. Jumped 23 feet, golly. So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Your mom is invested in my family, especially tucker and laylee, but then also your mom, um and dad are very close with my oldest daughter, kilby, and her husband greg. Your dad did their wedding and so a lot of ties, so all right. So what I want to do? I and dad are very close with my oldest daughter, kilby, and her husband Greg. Your dad did their wedding and so a lot of ties, so all right. So what I want to do? I want to talk about this race that you've just done. So you've just done the TNGA, yes sir.
Speaker 1:Trans North Georgia Adventure Race, and where does it start?
Speaker 4:So it starts. On the South Carolina line there's a bridge and I forgot the name of the river, that the bridge is over, but it starts on the South Carolina line.
Speaker 1:Is it the Chattooga?
Speaker 4:Actually, yeah, I think it is. I think so Because it's out at War Woman. Yep, you go out at War Woman.
Speaker 1:People can look this up, people that are interested in topography and the mountains I like dropping these words and names because they can go look it up and kind of but that people could actually look up the route of this race, can't they? In their website, yeah, we'll be sure and link that in the episode, because if they go to that website, can they?
Speaker 4:see like a line that yeah, you can go to track leaders and see the whole thing and you can. I think you can go back and replay the race and actually see everybody going along okay I was tracking you yeah it was so cool.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So starts at war woman on the chateau river, which is just inside south carolina south carolina and georgia line, and then where do you go from there?
Speaker 4:so, from there you get on some gravel roads and you go over a couple of gaps and then you get to dillard and, uh, you roll through dillard and you, I think, you go over one more mountain and then you come into the talula river area and you ride up by that for a while and then you come over another mountain and get into the moccasin creek moccasin creek, yep, and you go over that and then you come down to the highway there that leads you to Helen, yeah, and then you go over Trey Mountain, which is the highest point, okay and drop off into Helen.
Speaker 1:Do you?
Speaker 4:ride right through Helen. Yep, so where that gas station is, and I think it's the Chattahoochee Cheese Factory, yep, that's where it goes right through there, so it's good for people to see at.
Speaker 1:At the beginning, at the top of the story, you were saying that along the way you could stop at a gas station. But it's not a road ride, it's a mountain ride that naturally, is going to cross roads and sometimes you'll hit a little corner of a town or something well, it's just.
Speaker 4:It's a mix of kind of the last, like half of it has a lot of penhody trail on it, which is single track, but the first half is mainly gravel roads and pavement. Okay okay.
Speaker 1:And I love riding single track. So is it better like single track is so fun to go out and ride an hour or two, but on a long ride like this, would you rather be on a wider road, or does it matter?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean it's definitely going to be easier on your body. Okay, Because a lot of times the single track is super rough, yeah, and so just over a long time it's tiring, and speaking of that your dad started out with you yeah, so he made it all the way right before Trey Mountain there at the highway.
Speaker 1:And that's why I wanted to have you on after the race. Anyway, I was going to do it anyway, but this, just to me, intensifies the story because your dad's an accomplished uh, what, um, what, what's it called again Ultra, endurance, ultra, and your dad's an accomplished ultra endurance bike rider. But one of the things that'll happen a lot of times is unforeseeable problems will force somebody out of the race and he went out earlier than he's ever gone out because he had some medical, some physical conditions. It was had to do.
Speaker 1:Y'all had weather, you had rain, you had major issues.
Speaker 4:So right after, uh, or as you were going over the wildcat, which is like after Moccasin Creek, it fell a flood on us Like it was lightning poor and it was. It was wild, Okay.
Speaker 1:So so then he has to leave the race. I think you said 77 miles in and it's what's the total mileage? 360. So you're riding almost 300 miles solo as a 16 year old dude. Yes, sir. So from that point it's on. Like you said, it's unsupported.
Speaker 4:So you then navigate and bike over right at 300 miles, just a tick under it by yourself most of the way by myself occasionally you might ride with a friend yeah, there's 85 other people out there, so you're going to bump into people, but for the most part it's by yourself.
Speaker 1:And what are you carrying on your bike? What's with you? At any given time, you might have some extra food or something, but what's always with you on that bike?
Speaker 4:Always with me a rain jacket, a bivy, uh, which is not like a tent, it's just like a trash bag kind of thing that you put over yourself to sleep dry yep, um bike repair stuff, tubes, plugs, pump, um electrolytes always have those um an extra pair of socks, and then, as far as other things, really just food, just food yeah.
Speaker 1:Lots of water. Yep, you have to jump off the bike. I would imagine a good bit, yeah, and push it. It's so rough, or you're on a steep spot that it's so you could really form blisters even on your feet.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, you got to have that drop that extra pair of socks, and that's happened to me before the first tnj. It rained a lot and my feet got these big white patches on them. Pretty bad and super uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah like you tough that toughed you up oh man, that sounds miserable. So your dad. He says basically I'm sure there was a build-up where you knew he was struggling with some, some physical pain. And then finally he says I gotta, I gotta, drop out. Yeah, was there a conversation between y'all? What did that look like, where you decided to go on?
Speaker 4:yeah, so I stopped right there before, right as you roll off of moccasin creek or wildcat into to where the highway is. I stopped there and waited on him, um, for like 10 minutes and he rolled up and he was like you know, I gotta go. And uh, I was like, okay, well, you know, I guess I'm gonna go on. And so he was like, yeah, go for it. And I'd kind of expected that, because we had talked about a little bit before, like if you know, he got tired and I was still feeling good, you know, I'd go on. And uh, so I was, I was kind of expecting to ride by myself a little bit, um, but still it was kind of like it was kind of the first time I'd ever, you know, solo, yeah, ridden so it was.
Speaker 1:So what time of day was that when he had to drop out?
Speaker 4:that was almost dark it was like probably 7, 30, so at this point.
Speaker 1:You're gonna ride into the mountains in the dark. You know you're gonna because you're gonna pedal most of the night, right? Yeah, yeah, I rode to helen and then slept for three hours and then rode until daylight the next day got to helen in the middle of the night and just stretched out in your bivvy and took a little nap. So was there a point once he left you? Because from there did he just ride down the road. He got on the main highway.
Speaker 4:He actually rode like a mile up the highway opposite of Helen to a little gas station and my mom came and picked him up. Okay, and then?
Speaker 1:he went home because he texted me, because I was following y'all, and he texted several of us and said hey, I'm out, here's what happened and, um unforeseen, he's disappointed. But he was um encouraged that you're going to go on. And I asked him right then. I said are you going to be able to to do anything to support Micah? He said no, he's on his own. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I got excited for you, like this is a hard thing to do. Was there a point when you got into the mountain, like after he left you? Was there a point riding as it was getting dark and you're kind of? Was there a point where you're like, not like a panic or a freak out, but where you're like not like a panic or a freak out, but where you're just like, oh my gosh, I'm literally by myself.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, all the way up Trey Mountain I was thinking that I was like what in the world am I doing? This is crazy.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's so cool, Because people Micah I don't know if you know this, but I mean I'm sure you know this because you go to school with kids that they don't stretch themselves. People don't do hard things, they don't get uncomfortable, they don't stretch themselves, they don't get out of the most people live in a climate-controlled environment and when it's hot the air condition's on, when it's cold, the heater's on. You know, there is something natural about doing something hard like this, not unnatural. I think our modern society would say it's not, it's just crazy, this is not normal. But I believe that we were built by God for this kind of hard adventure. You know to push and stretch ourselves. And so you feel there's this guy. His name was Eric Little or Eric Liddell Liddell maybe he was an Olympic, because you're also a cross-country runner, yes, sir. So he was a distance runner, I think, mid-distance, I think especially. It was actually maybe the mile or something like that and he was an Olympian and he ran for Great Britain. He ran for England and he wouldn't run on.
Speaker 1:Sunday and he ran for Great Britain, he ran for England and he wouldn't run on Sunday, he wouldn't compete on Sundays. He was a real strong believer and he had this conviction just a personal conviction. I don't hold that conviction. I'd be fine racing on Sunday. You know what I mean. But some people. For him it was a real strong conviction and he was getting pressured to do it and anyway, it's just this cool story have you ever heard? Of him.
Speaker 1:It's just really cool story where he's potentially going to not get to compete in the Olympics, even though he's the best runner in England at the time. And there's a quote where somebody asked him. They said somebody says why do you, why do you run? He said when I run, I feel the pleasure of God. It's this idea that God created us with certain gifts and strengths and abilities and when we maximize that, you feel like fulfillment from the Lord. And I would imagine, as you're going up that mountain and it's dawning on you oh my goodness, what am I doing? It just intensifies the sense of accomplishment once it's over.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, I was just thinking about, you know, if I was going to make it, how awesome it was going to be when I got there, because I knew my dad was going to be at the finish waiting on me, and just you know.
Speaker 1:Man, so you get over. What time did you pull into Helen?
Speaker 4:Right around 10 o'clock I think. That night, yep and I stopped at the gas station and got me some food and drinks and then I think I started. I went to bed at like 10, 20 or something and slept until one. Did you fall right asleep? No, I slept on concrete and it was right by the highway, so it took me a minute.
Speaker 1:Yeah, little nap, yeah so then at one had you set an alarm, or it's like okay, I'm up. Yeah, I set an alarm on my watch, okay, so so it goes off at one time to go. Yep, 1 am one o'clock in the morning at this point you've ridden what 90 miles, right at 97 96. So you're? You're almost 100 miles in. Take a little nap, yep one in the morning. Get up, start pedaling and Mm-hmm. So that's when you rode through town.
Speaker 4:See, you don't actually go through the town of Helen, okay, you just hit that corner, you just hit that corner and then you take a right and then you go up Richard Russell Highway.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm not familiar with that road. So you come into the corner, the edge of hell, and then you go up this highway. For how far?
Speaker 4:I want to say it's six or seven miles, okay, and then it drops down into just like a little development area and it's a gravel road. And then you go up by Vogel State Park, yep, yep, and then you go up Wolf Pin Gap, mm-hmm, and then get on Duncan Ridge and ride down into cooper's creek so by the time the end is in sight.
Speaker 1:So you started on saturday morning. What time y'all start pedaling? 8 am, you start at eight o'clock. Your dad's done just almost 12 hours later. So then then by Sunday morning you've made a whole lot of headway from when where he left you Then did you pedal all day Sunday, or was it? Did you stop and rest again and take another nap?
Speaker 4:So when I got to Cooper's Creek, it was like seven, 30 and I ate some food, I had a hamburger and some stuff and uh, they had some cots there, uh, for the riders, and so I took an hour nap on one of those cots and then I rode all the way through the day until we got to mulberry gap, which was like nine o'clock and mulberry gap is where there's. That's where everybody's at yeah, that's kind of like the little hub, like they shuttle people to the end or from the end.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's kind of like the social central circle of it all. Yeah, so then rode through the night.
Speaker 4:Then Sunday night, Well once we got to Mulberry Gap I slept. I bought a cot there and slept for like seven or eight hours.
Speaker 1:Okay, got a good sleep.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I got a good sleep because it's 148 miles from there to the finish and I was going to try and do the whole thing, and so yeah.
Speaker 1:You needed to rest. So what time did you get back on the bike? 5.30.
Speaker 4:Monday morning, yep and then what time did you finish? 2.30 that night, the next, so it would have been like Tuesday, tuesday morning.
Speaker 1:yep, so your dad and mom waiting there, or just your dad?
Speaker 3:just my dad, your mom, I guess had the girls at home, so your dad's waiting when you came through the finish line.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. Oh man. So what was the hardest thing of that? 148 miles? What were there? One or two things that stand out as like difficult moments?
Speaker 4:one very difficult thing was before it got dark. There I knew I wasn't going to make it to the high or to the road before dark and there was a lot of single track that I had to do. That I didn't really remember much about and I was really worried. You know, it was it's on a ridge and so it kind of it goes on and off of some gravel to single track and back, and so I was really worried about that. But once I got down to the highway, you get on rail trails okay, and uh, they were really really grown up.
Speaker 4:So there was like weeds like knee high and there was stuff like slapping you in your face and pedaling through that, yeah, and I mean you couldn't really see anything. And it's a slope like downhill and so you're going pretty fast Not super fast but you're just hitting things down in the grass like logs and stuff. It was wild and I was so tired I was falling asleep on the bike. Wow, yeah, when I got to Coosa right after that, I had to get me some energy drinks because I was literally doing everything I could to keep my eyes open.
Speaker 1:At Coosa you have to be about at the end because that's a state-line town.
Speaker 4:It's like 30 miles from there to the end.
Speaker 1:I guess when you get to Coosa do you turn north and come up the state?
Speaker 4:line. I think you go south. If I'm not mistaken, when do you end the Silver Comet Trail? Is that?
Speaker 1:near Rock Mart you go through Cave Springs before you get there, cave Springs, okay.
Speaker 4:And then you do a little bit more single track and then get on some gravel and pavement roads and then get on the Silver Comet for like a mile. So when you get to Cusa you go south. Okay, I think so. Okay, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1:So, coming into Cusa, do you go through the town of Rome? No no-transcript. That's when you're on the rail trail.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's like probably 10 miles, 15 miles, okay.
Speaker 1:I deer hunt about 35 minutes north and west of Coosa.
Speaker 4:I saw a bunch of deer. Yeah, I was going to ask you next. Yep, I saw a bunch, they would skip across the trail in front of me and stuff. Man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is challenging. I can see where that would have been the hardest part of that. Was it hard? Because, like, was there a point where you're afraid I'm gonna miss?
Speaker 4:you said the single track is coming into the main road and there's kind of that point right before the, that's right before the rails to trails yeah, yeah, so you're on a ridge and it's gravel road kind of on the top, and then the penhody trail is just kind of like going back and forth a little bit, and I didn't. I didn't remember much about it from the previous times and so I was kind of worried, but it ended up being okay worried that you might get on a wrong yeah, lead and go.
Speaker 1:I was just at that point. You're so tired you don't want to ride 10 miles in the wrong direction.
Speaker 4:But I had a GPS with me, so I knew I was following the route, but still.
Speaker 1:You wouldn't have gotten too far off.
Speaker 4:No.
Speaker 1:But again, you don't want to waste any energy at that point. So you get there at 2.30 in the morning and then what did y'all do? Did you drive home and you crashed, or did y'all camp right there?
Speaker 4:After that, uh just threw the bike on the top and packed up all my stuff and went straight to huddle house, because it's 24 hours. What'd you get? What'd you eat? Uh, I don't even remember I think I got it was like a meat lovers omelet or something, or a, just a big omelet lots of calories.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I bet that's the best meal. Oh, it was good. What'd you drink? Did you get like orange? Orange juice. Yeah, yep, oh man oh, that's so cool. Well, you're a special young man. There's not a lot of dudes doing stuff like this. And is there? Have you had time to? I'm sure you. So you got home after huddle house, did y'all drive on back to andrews we?
Speaker 4:took a couple breaks and he was kind of tired, so we slept on the side of the road. Yeah, um, we got back at like eight in the morning and then I think you went straight to bed probably yeah and I saw you at the high school volleyball game monday evening.
Speaker 1:Yep, your eyes were puffy, I could tell you've been sleeping hard. I've been sleeping so hard that's when I asked you if you'd be willing to come on here. I didn't want to ask you till it was all over. I didn't want you to be nervous or anything and um. So that was a long, hard day of sleeping. I bet are you, were you sore?
Speaker 4:yeah, I was actually really sore, which is kind of kind of odd because, I don't know, usually I'm not really sore as far as, like, my muscles go, it's usually just really really tired, and so I was. I was pretty sore, sore yeah, is there.
Speaker 1:Last thing is, uh, that I wanted to ask you is there like a big lesson or takeaway from all this, something that it's taught you?
Speaker 4:um, anything that comes to mind um, really just like just getting out there and doing what you don't think you can do, but you want to do yes um, because the whole time, when my dad left, I was like I don't know if I can do this. Yeah, you know, but god saw me through it. Yes, I love it.
Speaker 1:I was hoping that's what you'd say and because that would go right into the second. The other question I have for you is what would you say to others and I think it's probably the same thing do, do, yeah, do something you think you can't do. Try something hard. And it doesn't have to. You have to go out people.
Speaker 1:It's not for everybody to go ride a three or four hundred mile mountain bike race, but whatever might be hard for somebody that they've wanted to do and haven't quite had the courage to do it, yeah, um, one of the things that I admire so much in in a man or a young man is courage. You know, and a lot of times when we think of courage, we think of courage as something that you know a policeman has, or a soldier. You, you know somebody that's in a combat situation, but courage is important for every part of your life. You know courage to take a stand for the Lord, courage to do what's right when others are doing what's wrong, courage to live with conviction. You know where you live with principle, and I think doing something like this grows and builds that courageous fiber in you, yes, sir, and just makes you so much more self-confident and it's pretty awesome. So what's the next one?
Speaker 4:The huckleberry. My dad's got it. When is that September.
Speaker 1:October 19th, I think.
Speaker 4:Beautiful time of year here. Oh yeah, he moved it back. It was september last year, okay, but he moved it back, so the leaves will be yes, you know, changing because there's a part.
Speaker 1:Is there part of that where you get on the skyway?
Speaker 4:uh the chair hala sky.
Speaker 1:Yeah, chair the skyway yep, yeah, and that's that time of year I always love to drive through there. For those folks that don't know what that is, if you've ever been on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we have a short parkway here called the Cherahala Skyway, which goes from Graham County, north Carolina, near Robbinsville, to Teleco Plains, tennessee. A lot of people in Tennessee think they've got big mountains, but we're the mountain people. They've got a few mountains and some hills, but North. Carolina's, where the big eastern mountains are, and that'll be a fun ride.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, okay, I got. I got one last question. This is a bonus question, okay? You don't know what I'm about to ask you, and so just answer honestly how much video games do you play?
Speaker 4:Never probably I don't.
Speaker 1:I mean, I have no video consoles or anything Okay. Do you feel like you're missing anything? No, no, this is way better. Oh yeah, I just wanted to ask. I didn't know for sure. I figured that was the thing. And so many guys in your generation don't you think A lot of dudes your age, that's what they do? Oh yeah, I mean, it's like major time consumer for 16, 17-year-old guys. Yes, sir, and no regrets. Oh no, that was the bonus question. You did good Thank you Awesome man.
Speaker 1:Thanks for coming on. Yes, sir. Thank you.
Speaker 1:I really appreciate it. Yeah, cool, that's it, man. Well, we'll call it a day, call it an episode. I just enjoyed that so much. I loved sitting down and talking with him Micah, what an amazing young man isn't he.
Speaker 1:And I couldn't help but ask that last question. I'd actually in full disclosure, I had forgotten to ask it, it wasn't in my original notes to ask him that, but then when, when I we had stopped the interview and then I was like oh, oh, oh, put your headset back on. I want to ask you one question. And I and I didn't give him a heads up what it was going to be I just said I just want you to answer, answer this. And I asked him about video games. And I know that that there's not 100% harm in in playing video games. I just I think we've become so obsessed with it as a society, our young people, our young dudes, and one of the things that the kind of a nugget, a big thought that I wanted to share with you as a parting thought, a closing thought.
Speaker 1:And then let's let this serve as the promo to our upcoming Be Strong Men's Conference, which is just around the corner. Go to swoutfitterscom forward, slash, be strong. I think we, I think We'll link it. We'll link the Be Strong link in the episode notes. I think we might have a little bit of space left, some overflow type space. Let us know if that's something you'd like to come and attend. We're going to be looking at the teaching and our Be Strong event this fall is Conversations with Christ.
Speaker 1:This fall is, uh, conversations with Christ, but anyway, um, one of the things that that I've I find to be interesting is men were built for battle. We were built for conflict. We were built for conflict resolution. We were made by God to do hard things, and women too. But but if I could just challenge the thought of what manhood right now it needs to be instilled in our young men, god made us to do hard things, to embrace and accept difficult challenges, and one of the reasons I think I'm so frustrated with the video game industry is God built us for battle. He built us for battle. He built us for conflict. He built us to fight against the enemies and to fight for the innocent and enemies of a healthy society and for the innocent in our society.
Speaker 1:And what video games have done is they've given boys a place to compete. Without work, you can go be an NCAA football player without ever having to go to practice or do two a days or fall camp, or you know you can. You can go just recreationally, do something that is hard and then go brag about how good you did. You know, I tell a story often about one of my boys, uh, malachi who liked to play an NBA basketball game a video game and he would play it. And there was a point where I said, hey, listen, we're not going to brag about making three pointers on a video game. You go out and you box out and you get 10 rebounds in a game because you're boxing somebody out for your school team a real basketball game. I will brag on you, I will celebrate you, we will rejoice in that, I'll make a big deal out of that. But you, I will celebrate you, we will rejoice in that, I'll make a big deal out of that. But don't walk up to me and say, hey, oh man, I just played this game. You should have seen it. I knocked it. I knocked down seven threes. I was, I was killing it. Like, no, you didn't, you didn't do that, you didn't do that. That's not real. And Malachi is great, he, he, he day that I'm recording this, we went and worked. We've got a job weed eating and mowing some folks' yard and property and he ran a weed eater for about three hours and it was awesome. He's a hard worker and an awesome young man.
Speaker 1:But the point I'm making I feel like boys are finding adventure and competition virtually through video games. Likewise, they're finding relationships virtually through social media and pornography. So they can interact with people on social media or they can consume pornography and have these sexual experiences. But none of this is real. It's virtual, but yet it is real. The effects of it are real, and so when you play a war game on a computer, you're not really going to war. There's no consequences to getting hurt or killed. When you play a football game or a basketball game don't get me wrong Y'all know my son Tucker is on the new NCAA football game. He's on it. You can go on there. If I was going to play it, that's who I would have him on my team, you know.
Speaker 1:But the point I'm making is we were built for real competition, for real combat, for real struggle and training and to do hard things and to fight and work, and too many young men are finding a false, fake world of that through video games and pornography and online communities. And likewise we could talk a little bit about the impact and effect that social media is having on girls, because that's where they're finding false identity and false community. And so I appreciated Micah's answer to that at the end. He's 16 years old and he's fighting real battles and training for real competition and dealing with real conflict, and just impressed by him and with him and proud to know him. So I hope that was challenging and I hope it's an encouraging conversation for you to listen to.
Speaker 1:I love these no sanity stories. So, with that turning to, yeah, we got our be strong men's conference coming up. If you're not able to be with us, all of the content from that will roll out the week following it, and so look for that, but I hope you'll be able to join us. And then also in October, we've got our marriage conferences coming up. Maybe you can join us for those. This past weekend we had Southside a group of churches from the Warner Robins area here Awesome weekend, always with them. And then our fall retreats are just around the corner. In the meantime, I've got some travel coming up. Maybe I'll see you on the road. I'm hoping to get some good hunting trips in this fall and maybe be able to tell some tall tales. That would be fun too.
Speaker 1:Thank y'all for listening to, no Sanity Required. It means so much that you would tune into this each week and pray that the Lord blesses you through it. Last thing I would ask you is, if you've never done it, to go down into the podcast and to leave a comment about the podcast and rate it. The more of those ratings that we get, the more it pushes it into people's feed and exposes it to other people and we don't make any money. It's not something that's making Snowbird money I don't get a dime for it but we want the content to go out and make a legitimate gospel impact on people's lives. So if you push it around, share it, comment on it, it tends to have a legitimate gospel impact on people's lives. So if you push it around, share it, comment on it, it tends to have a legitimate impact. So hope you do that for us. Appreciate it. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to no Sanity Required. Please take a moment to subscribe and leave a rating. It really helps. Visit us at SWOutfitterscom to see all of our programming and resources, and we'll see you next week on no Sanity Required.
