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WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT MY KOKOPELLI RECORD | HANNAH OTTO

with Hannah Otto

38:28·14 October 2024

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HANNAH OTTO

Hannah Otto is one of the leading lights in US ultra-endurance and marathon MTB racing — multi-time national marathon MTB champion and holder of the Kokopelli Trail FKT she set in 2024 (130 miles in 13 hours, 49 minutes). She races a mixed calendar of marathon MTB, ultra-distance gravel including Unbound 200, and select FKT projects. For Roadman listeners, her perspective on training for events that mix steep, technical terrain with 8+ hours of pacing is one of the cleanest in the sport.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Hannah Otto set the women's FKT on the 137-mile Kokopelli Trail (~16,000ft climbing, Moab to Loma) in under 13 hours 7 minutes — taking about 1h14 off the previous mark.
Pacing tool that worked: 5–10 mile split times from the previous FKT taped onto the top tube. Turned a 13-hour effort into a series of short competitive intervals — beats power-targeting on technical terrain.
First attempt failed by 15 minutes — she was ahead at the 125-mile mark, came unravelled in the last 12 miles. Cause: hypothermia and dehydration after only 2.5L of fluid in 13+ hours.
Conservative bike setup matters more than optimisation on self-supported efforts. Rear tyre insert, easier bailout gearing — minimal weight penalty, massive insurance against catastrophic mechanicals.
"I don't own this trail, I'm just borrowing it." The framing that built psychological durability for the second attempt — every FKT is temporary, the point is what the chase teaches you.

TOPICS

Hannah Otto shares the untold story behind her Kokopelli Trail FKT record—from the devastating first attempt where hypothermia and dehydration forced her to miss the time by just 15 minutes, to the successful second push that netted her an hour-and-14-minute buffer. You'll discover the specific bike setup, fueling strategy, and mental resilience needed to dominate 137 miles of unforgiving terrain at 5am with nothing but your own navigation and determination.

Key Takeaways

Use close-interval time splits (every 5-10 miles) as a pacing tool for ultra-long efforts on variable terrain where power output is too erratic to measure reliably
Conservative bike setup matters more than speed optimization on self-supported efforts—a rear tire insert and slightly easier gearing bailout gear are worth the minimal weight penalty to avoid catastrophic mechanicals
Dehydration compounds non-linearly: small fluid deficits in hour one don't matter, but by hour two and beyond the performance penalty accelerates exponentially and damages your ability to process food and thermoregulate
Failed attempts aren't wasted—they create invaluable benchmarks that reprogram your sense of what's possible and build trust between your mind and body for the next effort
On mountain bike FKTs, carrying multiple flat repair options (mini pump, CO2 cartridges, spare tubes, tire plugs) is worth the weight because a single flat at mile 30 becomes a 100+ mile liability

Expert Quotes

"I was still ahead of it for 125 miles, came into the final single track which is 12 miles to go dead set with the time and I came unraveled in those last 12 miles and I missed it by just 15 minutes."

"I don't own this trail, I don't own this time—I'm just borrowing it. Someone else is going to go out and beat it and that's okay. The point for me is one to draw awareness to the trail and two a personal challenge to see how hard I can push."

"Every time I would encounter something that felt overwhelming or too challenging I would think of that day on the bike which is by far the hardest thing I have ever done and I would think: compared to that first attempt, this is nothing."

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

Each tagged with the strength of evidence behind it.

STUDY
Hannah Otto set the Kokopelli Trail women's FKT at under 13 hours 7 minutes for the 137-mile route from Moab, Utah to Loma, Colorado, with approximately 16,000 feet of total climbing.
Source: FKT registry record, summarised on the Roadman Cycling podcast
ANECDOTE
Otto's preparation included a two-day bikepacking reconnaissance in July 2023 plus a failed first attempt cut short by hypothermia and dehydration — she had consumed only ~2.5L of fluid across the 13+ hours of riding on that attempt.
Source: Hannah Otto, Roadman Cycling podcast
EXPERT
Otto's specific pacing tool was taping 5-to-10-mile split times from the previous FKT onto her top tube, allowing constant ahead/behind feedback rather than relying on steady power targeting on technical terrain.
Source: Hannah Otto, Roadman Cycling podcast
ANECDOTE
Otto's first attempt held the record pace for the first 125 miles before unravelling in the final 12 miles of single-track, missing the previous FKT by approximately 15 minutes — a direct illustration of how dehydration compounds non-linearly across long efforts.
Source: Hannah Otto, Roadman Cycling podcast

KEY QUOTES

“I had on my top tube every 5 to 10 miles I had what her split was and so I could tell whether I was ahead or behind at really close intervals because across a distance like that it's all too easy to become distracted to kind of become laxidasical um and all of a sudden you've lost 10 minutes.”
Hannah Otto — FKT holder, Kokopelli Trail

“In that first attempt I ended up doing about 13 hours well 13 plus hours of riding um on just over 2 and 1 half liters.”
Hannah Otto — FKT holder, Kokopelli Trail

“I was ahead of that previous time all the way the I was ahead of it for 125 miles I came into the final single track which is 12 miles to go dead set with the time and I came unraveled in those last 12 miles and I missed it by just 15 minutes.”
Hannah Otto — FKT holder, Kokopelli Trail

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT3 SECTIONS

Behind the Kokopelli FKT Film

Today's guest is the amazing Hannah uto Hannah recently broke the fastest known time on the world famous Coco Pelle Trail this is a look behind the scenes at that effort what equipment did she use and why did she choose that equipment what training did she do the fueling and what you didn't see in that amazing cocoa Pelle movie it's Hanah Auto h uh welcome back to the ran podcast yeah thanks for having me so you've been busy breaking records since we chatted last been trying yeah and it feels like um almost since since we chatted last because it's been a a full yearlong project for this one seriously uh congratulations on how many views to YouTube I checked it this morning and it's released eight days ago I'll link it up in the description for anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about uh it's this amazing mini documentary what it's 287,000 views or something when I checked it and that's 8 days since publishing so it's pretty viral thank you yeah we are so happy and I'm so grateful um you know it it's funny because this project you know it started out as just you know another record that I'm trying to beat and because of all the things that I'm sure we'll get into it ended up being a very personal project so it's it's very humbling that people are actually watching and it feels like a little piece of me in the video for sure so maybe start out for anyone who doesn't know what the Coco Pell Trail is and give us the background to what it is and why B attempt in this yeah the cocoa Pell Trail is a very famous Trail it's a trail that many people have attempted both men and women to set the fastest known time on so it's a pretty welln route that goes from Moab Utah to LMA Colorado it's 100 37 Mi of mountain bike terrain and it has 16,000 ft of climbing and it's very much a mountain biker route um it has a little bit of everything from chunky descents chunky climbs with these Ledges you have to lift your bike over hi a bike sections um wall like walls rolling planes sand you name it so it's a very diverse route um and the previous women's fastest known time was 13 hours and 7 minutes oh that's a big day on the ticket cuz I know it I first became aware of it didn't two of The Lads had a go I think lacklin and Pete ster both had to go with the male record I couldn't tell you which one of them has it but I know both them had YouTube videos on it as well yes yeah Pete has it um currently so Kurt ref Steiner Lin Morton Pete STNA have all owned that um male fkt at one point point or another and then for the women it's gone Rebecca Rush Kate Bole and now me woohoo so what was your preparation like leading into it in terms of like did you Recon the course did you know it was ahead of you yeah this is so this was by far the longest uh duration of route that I've ever attempted I mean I've ridden more miles on a road or something like that but 13-hour long effort is by far the longest I've ever done um before I did this my longest was around 7 hours so this was a big jump for me and I had to treat it accordingly um you're also fully unsupported for this type of effort which meant I needed to Route it on my own and a lot of it is very remote um there's not necessarily signs out there so I did pre-ride it we did a big Rec on session um in last July so that's why I can say it's been a full year long project in July of 2023 we went out we reconed the trail we bike packed it in 2 days in order to see what we were getting into and it was eye openening I mean I knew it was going to be hard but it I became very aware during that bike packing trip that it was going to be even harder than I thought and and so that bike packing mission was not only to see the train not only to physically learn the turns of the route but it also allowed me to begin to mentally prepare more properly and other more objective things like I needed to know where I would stop to filter water um and what all I would need to carry across that long of an effort is the GPX file pretty agreed upon cuz I know I've played around with ftk here fkt here in Oreland and there's just a few different sections in it that you could literally go 10 met past the single Trail section and there's a gravel Pat and you're like depending if you take the gravel Pat or the single Trail like there's a 25 to 30 minute difference coming out the far end of those two sections so it's it's not agreed upon route do you have like a lock down GPX file that is the official route yeah so there's a g yes exactly there's a GPX file um I think like I just took it off of straa from the previous holder I used Kate GPX file um and just followed that for the route but you know when you submit for the record you have to submit both the Strava segment that holds the record and also the GPX file so it's pretty well agreed upon and how did you think about pacing it did you just approach it like it's a 13-hour time trial and try and have kind of a linear distribution that would be the most ideal way to Pace it um it's a tricky one though because since it is mountain biking there's a lot of variety across the train and so holding one power output across some of this really rugged undulating terrain is quite difficult there's sections where your power profile is just so erratic and these massive spikes that you need to like hop up on these you know 6in Ledges over and over and over and then of course you know dropping back down them you're not pedaling so to try and actually get a consistent power output across that is near impossible so it makes pacing really tricky um so we when we attempted this or when we laid this out we looked at it in segments and the two main segments that you really could pace is the you start out out of the gate with about a 6,000 ft climb it's about 3 hours brutal at like 5 a.m.

Pacing Strategy and Split Tracking

Or something at 500 a.m. and it's very it's also very tricky that that's right out of the gate because you're carrying everything so you're pretty weigh down as well at that start cuz you haven't eaten any of your food you haven't drank any water um it's just it's you know it's the heaviest you're going to be all day when you start that climb um and that's about 3 hours so I could set a pace for that and then at around mile 80 there is a 30 to 40 Mile Stretch that's pretty darn flat and so I could have a very set wattage and pace for that as well and everything in between I couldn't really use power as a metric and instead what I did was I used the previous fkt times so I had on my top tube every 5 to 10 miles I had what Hur split was and so I could tell whether I was ahead or behind at really close intervals because across a distance like that it's all too easy to become distracted to kind of become laxidasical um and all of a sudden you've lost 10 minutes and so I had them at such close intervals to keep my mind so that it wasn't really a 13-hour race it was these F mile increments in every single one I was trying to gain you know a minute or it's like an old school virtual partner on the Garment kind of I'm a little bit of a mountain bike Fred I know mountain biking so second nature to you and anyone really in the lifetime Grand Prix has been forced to learn about mountain biking but talk to me about bike setup as somebody who doesn't know much about mountain bike and what are the considerations to go into choosing the type of bike torch ice chain choice if that's a consideration for drive train efficiency and stuff like that Today's Show sponsor is lmnt I've spoken with most of the world's top coaches and nutritionists on the podcast and they all agree to getting the right balance of electrolytes it's key to Performance hydration is not just about drinking water it's about maintaining the right balance of electrolytes and that's where elemente comes in because 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to claim your free sample pack today I'm going to put that link in the description down below yeah for an effort like this everything is a fine balance because as I said it's self-supported so everything you carry in you carry out you can't receive any help out there if you have any issues um and if you do have an issue you're potentially going to be battling that all day like if you get a flat at Mile 30 you're going to be nursing that flat for the next 100 plus miles and so you really want to mitigate all issues and run a conservative setup but you don't want to give up too much speed because it that also adds up over time and so it's this perfect Balancing Act and so I ran the pivot Mack 4 SL which is a full suspension bike um and I but I ran it in what they call World Cup mode so I had 100 mm in the fork um suspension and 95 in the rear so a small suspension setting that keeps it light keeps it Nimble um but still one is it it I think you need it it is pretty chunky out there but it also gives my body reprieve I don't get too beat up because I am getting that cushion my back's not getting beat up my forearms my hands um and then with tires I'm running a very fast rolling tread I ran the Kenda Rush sect uh 2.4 which is a very fast rolling tread but I ran them at a little bit higher pressure than I normally would to try and mitigate the chances of having a flat I also ran an insert in the rear um again just to really give myself the best possible chance of having no issues out there why in terms why only need the rear yeah because the rear is where the most most of your weight is and so the insert helps it so that you're not hitting Rim you're not bottoming out that tire and potentially causing a flat that way um and since most of your weight is on the rear of the bike that's the the one that you're most likely to have that happen with so that's why I ran it in the rear is there much of a rolling resistance penalty to having an insert um not too much but it is a little bit extra weight yeah and I I guess it's a rotating weight as well so it's probably the worst place to carry a weight I mean it's pretty it is pretty minimal but cyclists we're all kind of weight weenies so yeah getting into the nitty-gritty for sure um and then for the chain you know I think that this is a route that you could run potentially a 34 chain ring on um but again in a effort to be conservative I ran a 32 chain ring just to give myself the chance of having that easier bailout gear especially as you get tired towards the end um I felt like it was less important to try and maybe optimize my chain line perfectly and more important to make sure that I could maintain a fast consistent Cadence from start to finish is there a case with carrying equipments that there's a certain mechanical is it's just you're not going to get the fkt so you travel a little bit lighter it's not like on bike packing where if you break something you still need to find your way out of there you have film crew support crew so if you have a major mechanical you're most likely not going to get the record if you have to stop for 20 to 25 minutes to fix something so you just abandon and go a different day does that affect your equipment choice that you're bringing with you in terms of supplies yes and no a lot of it is very remote so most of it I would still have to get myself out of um like the film crew most of where they're filming is like via drone or like a long lens across a canyon where I would still have to sort of evacuate myself out to the main road um but you're right in that if you have a major mechanical I'm not going to try and finish I'm just going to try and get out um and so you know there was I had some questions like oh are you prepared to turn your bike into a single speed or something like that you know I if if that is happening you're right you're probably not going to get the fkt so those aren't the things that I'm focused on I'm more focused on you know I did I I carried a lot around um the chance of having a flat because I felt like that was something that if it happens you can still survive it but you could end up nursing it all day so I had a mini pump three co2's two tubes and multiple Tire plugs nice and you didn't drink very much water from what I see in the first for the effort anyway what's going down with that was it just uh the day and kind of overcome by you know being focused on the effort or did you have stomach issues um so I so I had to try it twice I had to do I had to go for this attempt two times um and in the first attempt this is a spoiler alert for the video for anyone who hasn't seen it but in the first attempt there a huge storm rolled in so as you mentioned I'm a part of the Grand Prix I'm a racer first and so being that this is an effort that is the longest thing I've ever done I wanted to do it at the end of my season because I didn't know how my body would recover from it and so we decided to do it in the end of October which given the fact that the record was originally set in November it seemed realistic but the weather changes it's different every year and so we originally plan Planned for October 30th but a huge storm was coming in and so last minute we changed it to October 29th and at first glance it seemed like it was all going to work out it was about 35° in Moab at 5 a.m.

Frozen Bottles on Attempt One

When I started and I began to climb up the mountain and halfway up it became I became aware that the storm had rolled in at higher elevations and so halfway up that climb I hit snow um I was riding at some points in two to three inches of snow and you're not dressed for snow as well is the thing you're dressed for record very much not so yes yes I was wearing arm warmers leg warmers and a wind jacket and that was it and um temperatures began to drop maybe you could help me with the Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion but it was 35 in Moab and then began to drop significantly where at the top it was the actual temperature was 17° and there was a 20 to 25 mph wind and so the real feel or the wind chill was in single digits um so everything I had froze so all of my water in that first attempt completely froze over and it didn't reaw for 4 and 1 half hours and my wa my only water stop on the day was about 5 and 1/2 hours in and so by the time it froze at 4 and 1/2 hours I didn't have enough time in that 1 hour period to drink all of the fluids that I had brought and so when I came up on that water stop that also meant I wasn't able to refill it because I only had you know I only had my pack in my bottle and if it was full it was full and so that meant that since I couldn't refill it I didn't have the chance to really get more and so in that first attempt I ended up doing about 13 hours well 13 plus hours of riding um on just over 2 and 1 half liters and you talked about you had the time splits on your top tube so you're looking at the time splits the temperature is you know it's Subzero for anyone in Celsius it's pretty Baltic out there you're not drinking are you still splitting well for the first half of that effort we are so excited to announce that we are partnering with whoop whoop are changing the game when it comes to wearable technology and health monitoring whoop is a wearable health and fitness coach that provides you with feedback and actionable insights into your sleep your recovery your training your stress and your overall health Sarah and I have been using whoop for years and we love the insights it provides into our body's inner workings it really gives us a look under the hood and you're going to see mat vandero Richard caras and other Elite level cyclist wearing whoop but it isn't just for those superstars all the data is personalized to your unique physiology and fitness levels if you're interested in taking control of your health and your Fitness so that you can excel in all aspects of your life you have to go and check out whoop go to the URL now which is join. whoop.com roadman I'm going to pop that in the description below and you're going to get a free month access to whoop membership on me I promise you won't regret it I was and that's what a lot of people have asked like why why even keep going you know I didn't know it was going to be that bad and so it would have been pretty easy to get to the top of that climb and be like oh this is not the record setting day just like you said if something goes that wrong you're not going to said it go back and try again um but I was still ahead I wasn't at the time that I wanted to be um you know I had a pretty aggressive goal of my times but I was still ahead of of the previous fkt and so I still had this hope and this belief that I could get it and I was ahead of that previous time all the way the I was ahead of it for 125 miles I came into the final single track which is 12 miles to go dead set with the time and as we just talked about not having been able to drink having gone through I was hypothermic my hands completely froze where I didn't have feeling in my fingers I didn't have dexterity it was very difficult to eat um because of those finger issues and I came unraveled in those last 12 miles and I missed it by just 15 minutes and that's the thing with dehydration it's like a delayed fuse on it like if you don't drink and it's a cautionary tail for anyone listen to the podcast if you don't drink you know in the first hour okay it doesn't really matter you're not going to notice a dip in performance 70 minutes into the RO it's ror2 it's R3 it's RoR four it starts compound and it gets worse and worse and worse the more dehydrated you yeah and it also it impacts you know even more than just dehydration it also impacts the way your body is able to process food it impacts you know in these circumstances obviously I was very cold regardless but not having fluids in you makes you even colder fluids can help your body be able to warm it up um so you know when I finished I was I was significantly hypothermic um I was extremely dehydrated and in these circumstances with when you're that cold and that hypothermic your body will also shunt blood away from your digestive system to try and keep your other vital organs warm for survival purposes survival mechanism and so when I finished I I quickly discovered that all of that had happened and I was just throwing up at the Finish um you know I couldn't keep anything down and that's one reason that the recovery from that first attempt it was really hard it took me a couple weeks to come back from that initial attempt just because my body went through so so much out there would we call the first attempt a failure or is the second attempt not possible without the learnings from the first attempt great question because I think that I mean this is what I want the film to be originally the film was just going to be you know an opportunity to share an amazing ride an opportunity to share this landscape to share something I love but now it's become so much more because of that initial attempt and you know um it's interesting because yeah it is a failure I I failed I objectively failed but my opinion of that word has completely changed in this process I don't view the word failure anymore with this negative connotation when I first finished I said it negatively I failed it was a disappointment um But as time has gone on I've realized what that failure gave me and it's actually such a positive thing because it made me so much stronger and I I didn't really realize it until several weeks later when I started to put everything in the context of that ride and I started noticing that my mind would compare everything to that ride and nothing seemed quite as hard after that attempt and so every time I would go for training every time even in life I would encounter something that felt overwhelming or too challenging I would think of that day on the bike which is by far the hardest thing I have ever done and I would think compared to that first attempt this is nothing and it gave me this superpower to all of a sudden realize just how far and how deep I could go because until I went there I had no idea but you noticed that that benchmarking is super powerful I've had podcast guests talking about this where they've gone undergone these horrific experiences and now you can Benchmark future experiences against this but we'll also all have that experience of seing somebody absolutely freaking out and you're like chill it's not that bad like you know they scratched their car and this rich kid scratches their car and they're absolutely freaking out but they've had such a privileged life that that's actually the worst thing that's ever happened to them in the entire life and you know I see this with new Racers all the time and friends that are coming into the club they'll slide out in a Cris on a you know a cat for crit and they'll have a small bit of Road rush and you know they'll be treating it like they've been in a car herck because it's the worst accident they've ever had in their entire lives where you know how many times have you slid out or for your entire life probably hundreds and you know you've nured that road rush so you just go ah it's a road Rush it's not that bad in comparison to my previous experiences so I think those Benchmark experiences in life are really really important it's everything and that's something you know I I find that The Human Experience is to compare um for better for worse we are constantly comparing our experiences to other experiences even you know oh well I can win this race because I've won other races or I can finish this because I've done something similar or on the mountain bike I can do this this drop because I've done a drop that was almost This Tall right like we always gauge our ability based on things that we've previously done and there's a cool tradition in Japanese culture someone will correct me in the comments below but I think it's called m or masagi where once a year they encourage people to take on a epic adventure and I think the the qualification for it is it should be something that's as likely that you'll finish as you won't finish so a toss it a CO if you'll finish this or something and basically the idea is to broaden your horizons and stretch what you think is possible each year I love that that's fantastic because I think that that is I think in society you know like you said is the a failure I think we live a life that is so afraid of failure that sometimes we never actually see how far we can go because we stop ourselves before we have the chance to fail and if we always cut it short we never see if we can overcome and so that's also another reason I'm really thankful I didn't stop in that attempt because yeah at the end I missed the time and so whether I had quit or whether I had finished it was the same outcome in terms of the fact that I didn't get the record but by finishing and by pushing myself that far all of a sudden I uncovered oh all of those times before that I thought that I quote unquote went as hard as I could I wasn't even close I had so much more inside of me and I could see that in the second attempt too is you know the first time when I'm towards the finish and I'm delirious and I'm you know obviously there was a lot more going on but I felt like my mind and my body were fighting each other because they didn't trust each other my mind was saying go and my body was holding back and because it was like I've never experienced this before why would I keep pushing stop stop like you know and the second time it's like oh yeah okay we've made it through this Sephora I'll allow you to keep going there becomes this trust because your body's been there before and it knows that you're going to you're going to take care of it you're going to get to to the Finish hey Ro man excuse the short Interruption I love riding the bike but on account of being so busy with the podcast at the moment I'm now what's called a time crunch Rider I never thought I'd see today but I have a tool I'm using what bike to keep myself sharp and on point with specific sessions to maximize that available training time I have a w bike at them right here in the recording studio beside me and when I have an hour in between interviews I jump on it's removed moving all the friction points for me just's no more 10 minute setup unfolding legs banging my knees off stuff getting my hands dirty usual connection issues it just works every single time the atom's perfect for virtual racing as well because it has crisp gear changes it has 1% accuracy and it has Max gradient capability of up to 25% if you're looking for an indoor trainer I honestly couldn't recommend this any higher I've been using a w bike since 2013 honestly it's the last indoor trainer that you're ever going to need if you head on over to W bike.com now and use code roadman 10 that's r o a me n TN and that's going to get you 10% off your W bike I also think with fkt the beauty of them is okay it's a fastest known time but I'm pretty sure pce will agree there's faster riters out there you know Pacha is going to go and take a narrow Off Pete's record the the goal of these events it's not to put down a record and say like you say bolt in the 100 meters that I'm the fastest man in history it's more to draw awareness to these beautiful places that we get to ride a bike and you know I can't help but watch your video that and then look at my calendar I go when can I get out there and try and ride this route it just looks amazing that makes me so happy yes and I I 100% agree you know having the fastest known time something I've been saying is I don't own this I don't own this Trail I don't own this time I'm just borrowing it someone else is going to go out and beat it someone else can go out and beat it and that's okay I'm not here trying to say I own this record I'm the fastest Poss you know it's the fastest anyone can go no like someone someone absolutely I'm sure has the ability to go out and beat that that's not the point the point for me as you said is one to draw awareness to the trail and two a personal challenge to see how hard I can push to see how deep I can take myself and so by setting a new time a new time to beat I hope that I've raised the bar yet again that someone else can now go and have that experience of seeing how far they can go and that's something I would encourage anyone can do that whether you are trying to get the fastest known time or whether you're trying to get your fastest known time your PR there's still something very beautiful about going out there and seeing how well you can do something and for many people on the cocoa pelli that challenge most people do that ride in a 3 to 5 day bike packing and that's fantastic like that might be your greatest Challenge and that is could also be a lot more enjoyable amazing yeah and I think that's that's the other side too is you know there's a big debate on whether film Crews should or shouldn't be allowed and these type of things and again that's fine know I'm not here to have my name in a record book that's not the ultimate goal but I'm so so grateful for that film crew because it's their work and their skill set that allows you know me to now be able to share this video with people and like you said get people out there get people excited because it's a very remote Trail and a lot of people will either never have the chance or maybe they don't have the ability to get out there and I still want people to be able to see these Landscapes and feel in awe of the world that we live in was there a moment in the second effort where you're like I've got this that is such a good question because no and I think people might be surprised because in the second effort I beat the time I got the fkt by an hour and 14 minutes and so I had a a pretty solid buffer in there but because of what I had experienced in that first effort it felt like like nothing was certain I feel like that first effort really jaded me it made me very aware of how quickly things can go wrong and how things can go so so sideways and so that whole second attempt it felt like every minute that I gained on the time all I was doing was building a buffer it was like okay this is going to be so valuable when something goes wrong it's not if it's when and so every minute I was gaining I'm just like oh yeah like when something goes wrong I'm going to be okay I'm going to be able to fix this and it really wasn't until I was you know a mile out and it's like oh my gosh I could walk I could walk it in and I could still get it um so no I didn't I didn't believe it until I was about a mile out did you enjoy it I loved it yes absolutely is it dark is it like you know we've there different types of fun was it actually fun at the time or it's fun like looking back on the effort 12 or 13 hours is such a long time that you get to experience so many emotions that I would say both you know there are moments out there where you're all alone and you can look around and do a 360 and see nothing and nobody for miles and you're feeling strong and you're moving and it just feels like it's Flow State it just feels like everything is functioning perfectly and it's just you just feel the this Rush of like anything is possible I am crushing it I'm invincible and all of those feelings are so so fun um you know and the trail is fun like the descents are fun you're flowing you're vibing so there are a lot of moments where it is fun there's also moments that are you know borderline excruciating and what I found really interesting in both attempts was the need to overcome those moments um in the moment so being aware that that pain is temporary and I don't even mean temporary as in once I cross the finish line it'll go away I mean there are times hour two where you're like oh my gosh this hurts so bad you know you're starting on a three-hour climb hour two up the climb you're thinking this is so hard I'm so tired and then you start to extrapolate how am I going to maintain this for another 10 hours this feels impossible you know blah blah blah and you can really spiral if you let it or you can pause and know this moment will pass 10 minutes from now I might be feeling Invincible again and I found a lot of joy in being curious about that and and almost almost laughing at those emotions of oh that's interesting I'm feeling really in pain right now I wonder how quickly that to go away um and instead of dwelling in it just appreciating for what it is and then moving forward yeah it's a lot of head time it's almost like a schizophrenic range of emotions you go through like I went on a i' done a 300 kilm ride a couple of weeks ago and it was the same thing it was like 10 erors but there's errors in it where you're feeling absolutely amazing but anyone that's ridden that long a couple of times that's like an old trap when you're feeling super super well you're like okay I got to chill now I can't be too cocky because you know the darkness is coming but that too passes as well the darkness is never permanent and it it Cycles from amazing to terrible to somewhere in between yeah yeah and I think just you know I again I think all of that is experience because I think the first time someone experiences that it's like what how am I what you know it's like how am I feeling good and then feeling bad and it becomes so confusing versus if you felt that so many times you can be confident that oh okay this is going to go away um but I love that I love how you describe it because sometimes yeah it does feel like you're literally arguing with yourself in your head like just slow down it's too hard no I can do this I'm almost at the top like you're going back and forth um yeah it's pretty it's pretty funny out there if someone actually had like a microphone into your thoughts do you have any crazy records planned for the rest of the season or is it head down focus on Lifetime Grand Prix for the rest of the season um focus on Lifetime Grand Prix uh also the world championship for Marathon mountain biking um that's in September and we are hosting it here in the US this year so that's definitely a big focus and a big goal of mine but um we're already talking about uh the next fkt which is a secret but you can definitely keep an eye out for what we'll be doing next year again because this is something that I love and for all the reasons that we've just discussed about experience and all of those things it definitely makes me a better racer as well so I'm very thankful for these opportunities and I'm very thankful for your time today Hannah everybody go check out the video I'm going to link it in the description below thanks for chatting on thanks so much if you enjoyed this conversation please click up here there's another video I know that you're absolutely going to love click over here and subscribe to the channel so you don't miss any of our amazing upcoming guests

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the fastest known time for the Kokopelli Trail?+

Hannah Otto set the current women's FKT on the Kokopelli Trail, completing the 137-mile route from Moab, Utah to Loma, Colorado in under 13 hours and 7 minutes. The trail includes approximately 16,000 feet of climbing across highly technical terrain.

How did Hannah Otto prepare for the Kokopelli Trail FKT?+

Hannah Otto spent roughly a year preparing for the record, including a two-day bikepacking reconnaissance ride in July 2023 to learn the route in detail. She also survived a failed first attempt that was cut short by hypothermia and dehydration, which informed her approach for the successful record-breaking effort.

What pacing strategy should you use for a long FKT attempt?+

Hannah Otto avoided targeting steady power output on the Kokopelli's unpredictable terrain and instead taped five-to-ten-mile split times from the previous FKT record directly onto her top tube. This broke a 13-hour effort into a series of short competitive intervals, keeping her focused and motivated throughout the ride.

How hard is the Kokopelli Trail for cycling?+

The Kokopelli Trail is 137 miles long with around 16,000 feet of climbing and significant technical singletrack sections, making it one of the more demanding bikepacking routes in the American Southwest. Even elite athletes like Hannah Otto required multiple attempts and extensive course reconnaissance before successfully setting a record on it.

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Key Takeaways

Use close-interval time splits (every 5-10 miles) as a pacing tool for ultra-long efforts on variable terrain where power output is too erratic to measure reliably

Conservative bike setup matters more than speed optimization on self-supported efforts—a rear tire insert and slightly easier gearing bailout gear are worth the minimal weight penalty to avoid catastrophic mechanicals

Dehydration compounds non-linearly: small fluid deficits in hour one don't matter, but by hour two and beyond the performance penalty accelerates exponentially and damages your ability to process food and thermoregulate

Failed attempts aren't wasted—they create invaluable benchmarks that reprogram your sense of what's possible and build trust between your mind and body for the next effort

On mountain bike FKTs, carrying multiple flat repair options (mini pump, CO2 cartridges, spare tubes, tire plugs) is worth the weight because a single flat at mile 30 becomes a 100+ mile liability

Expert Quotes

"I was still ahead of it for 125 miles, came into the final single track which is 12 miles to go dead set with the time and I came unraveled in those last 12 miles and I missed it by just 15 minutes."

"I don't own this trail, I don't own this time—I'm just borrowing it. Someone else is going to go out and beat it and that's okay. The point for me is one to draw awareness to the trail and two a personal challenge to see how hard I can push."

"Every time I would encounter something that felt overwhelming or too challenging I would think of that day on the bike which is by far the hardest thing I have ever done and I would think: compared to that first attempt, this is nothing."

KEY QUOTES

“I had on my top tube every 5 to 10 miles I had what her split was and so I could tell whether I was ahead or behind at really close intervals because across a distance like that it's all too easy to become distracted to kind of become laxidasical um and all of a sudden you've lost 10 minutes.”
Hannah Otto — FKT holder, Kokopelli Trail

“In that first attempt I ended up doing about 13 hours well 13 plus hours of riding um on just over 2 and 1 half liters.”
Hannah Otto — FKT holder, Kokopelli Trail

“I was ahead of that previous time all the way the I was ahead of it for 125 miles I came into the final single track which is 12 miles to go dead set with the time and I came unraveled in those last 12 miles and I missed it by just 15 minutes.”
Hannah Otto — FKT holder, Kokopelli Trail

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the fastest known time for the Kokopelli Trail?+

How did Hannah Otto prepare for the Kokopelli Trail FKT?+

What pacing strategy should you use for a long FKT attempt?+

How hard is the Kokopelli Trail for cycling?+

WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT MY KOKOPELLI RECORD | HANNAH OTTO

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

KEY QUOTES

Behind the Kokopelli FKT Film

Pacing Strategy and Split Tracking

Frozen Bottles on Attempt One

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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TWO AND A HALF LITRES IN THIRTEEN HOURS: HANNAH OTTO'S KOKOPELLI LESSON

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WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT MY KOKOPELLI RECORD | HANNAH OTTO

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

KEY QUOTES

Behind the Kokopelli FKT Film

Pacing Strategy and Split Tracking

Frozen Bottles on Attempt One

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WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT MY KOKOPELLI RECORD | HANNAH OTTO

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

KEY QUOTES

1.Behind the Kokopelli FKT Film

2.Pacing Strategy and Split Tracking

3.Frozen Bottles on Attempt One

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WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT MY KOKOPELLI RECORD | HANNAH OTTO

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

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3.Frozen Bottles on Attempt One

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Behind the Kokopelli FKT Film

Pacing Strategy and Split Tracking

Frozen Bottles on Attempt One

Behind the Kokopelli FKT Film

Pacing Strategy and Split Tracking

Frozen Bottles on Attempt One