Are You Ready For The Unexpected? - Interview with Wilderness Survival Expert Kevin Estela

In this podcast I interview Kevin Estela, who is the author of 101 Skills You Need to Survive In The Woods and the Director of Training at Fieldcraft Survival. He is also a martial artist and combines lessons from that area with his extensive background in wilderness and survival skills to give a unique perspective on what it really takes to be ready for the unexpected.

You‌ ‌can‌ ‌stream‌ ‌or‌ ‌download‌ this episode ‌from‌ ‌the‌ ‌link‌ ‌below‌ ‌or‌ ‌you‌ ‌can‌ ‌find‌ ‌it‌ ‌on‌ ‌‌Itunes‌,‌‌ ‌Podbean‌,‌‌ ‌‌Spotify‌‌ ‌‌and‌ ‌all‌ ‌other‌ ‌major‌ ‌podcasting‌ ‌platforms.‌ ‌

You can find Kevin online at @estelawilded on Instagram or through the www.fieldcraftsurvival.com website.

In this interview we go over a lot of things that riders should think about when venturing into the wild. From skills and tools to the mindset you need, you’ll come away from this interview with a new perspective on what it really takes to be truly “ready”.

Here are some of the questions I asked him...

• What got you into the whole “preparedness/ survival” thing?
• Can you explain the “Ready Formula” that you shared in the workshop I did with you?
• Why should a mountain biker care about wilderness and survival skills?
• What do you see as some common scenarios someone who is spending time out on trails in the wild could face?
• What are some tools that people don’t think about carrying that could make a big difference if they needed to weather an unexpected situation?
• What kind of training do you think people should have to help them prepare for the unexpected on the trail?
• What type of EDC gear should someone think about carrying? Can you explain the “layers” of gear you would want to carry?
• You’ve probably heard a lot of tragic stories about situations that turned out far worse than they needed to be. Is there a common theme or skills that you would say is the missing element in the majority of these stories?

Expanding your skills into areas other than just riding are important for making sure that you can avoid bad situations and keep them from getting worse when you can’t. I hope you’ll learn some things from this interview that can help you today and get you interested in more training in some of these areas in the future.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson

“To practice your craft as a warrior takes a tremendous amount of devotion and you must understand the need for frustration while you are training. Few can understand this, to their discredit.” Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings