Ep. #16: Bobby Johnson - Stories of the Destruction of the Human Body & Mind

In this episode, Chris Thomas sits down with Bobby Johnson out of Clearwater, Florida. While he certainly doesn’t admit to it, Bobby’s racing record is certainly legendary and he is highly regarded in the paddling community as one of the top paddlers on any given race day in ultramarathon paddling. Of note, we recorded this episode before the show with his 2025 Everglades Challenge teammate Brandon Grundy, but thought that the timing of the Everglades Challenge record was certainly notable enough to move that episode up to coincide more closely with the end of that race. We cover so much in this episode from why he keeps coming back year after year to do these grueling races, how ultramarathon paddling helps calm the mind in everyday life, UFOs, racing solo versus tandem, lessons learned from past failures, sleep deprivation strategies and hallucinations, the 2024 last paddler standing and AL650 races, the endless search for the limits of the human body and mind in ultramarathon paddling, and the importance of training in all conditions. We cover so much more in this episode, but I’ll let you hear it from Bobby himself in this 16th episode of the Dabbling In Paddleism Podcast… Bobby's book/documentary recommendations: -Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand: https://a.co/d/dmHTe4A -Race to Alaska (R2AK) Documentary: https://r2akthemovie.com/ -Eat & Run - Scott Jurek: https://a.co/d/9RExnx6 -North - Scott Jurek: https://a.co/d/aVyM7Eb