Au Sable River

So I did a few bass tournaments with him as a child and my dad, My father remarried a lady from Grayling, Michigan.

So we got to go to Grayling and I fished the Au Sable River as a kid.

And it's just fooling a trout on a fly in the middle of a river is the most, it's peaceful, frustrating, awesome.

It's everything all wrapped into one.

I really hope it doesn't look like this all the way.

It just looked like the Au Sable River.

Yeah, it was

pretty shallow.

In this episode, I sit down with Chris Isendorf, legendary ultramarathon paddler and first ever overall solo champion of the Texas Water Safari in 2026.

We cover so much in this episode from seeking out hard things in life, learning from failure, paddling technique, the Au Sable River Marathon, Chris's training evolution, finding the perfect solo boat for the safari, intentional mental training, the importance of training camps, the story behind him racing solo in the 2026 Texas Water Safari, and the pursuit of perfection.

And if you're enjoying the show, please share it, follow it, or visit dabblinginpedalism.com to find archives, what's coming soon, a book club tab with guest curated reading recommendations, and ways to support the show through merch, memberships, and more.

Of note, we did this episode in two takes because we had so much to talk about, and that's how it's going to be delivered to you in two episodes.

I paddle a lot of pro boats.

Do you know what a pro boat is? 3x27 C2.

So those are the boats that we race in the Triple Crown, like the Au Sable, the Clinton, and La Classique.

Several other races up north as well.

There's a famous quote attributed to Margaret Mead about that as well.

So we were founded by a group of about a dozen anglers on the banks of the Au Sable River in Michigan.

You know, the

holy waters, we call it.