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Halfway Anywhere

The Tour Divide: What, Where, Why, and How?

By Mac Leave a Comment

The Tour Divide is an annual 2,700-mile (4,300 km) self-supported bikepacking race following the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR). Most of the route follows dirt and gravel roads with a few sections of pavement or singletrack sprinkled in for good measure (along with the occasional hike-a-bike section).

Cursory internet sleuthing tells me that the current iteration of the Tour Divide began in 2008. However, the first individual time trial of the route was in 2005, and people have been riding the GDMBR since as early as 1997 when the Adventure Cycling Association first mapped it.

Speaking of websites, the current Tour Divide website hasn’t been updated since 2014 and leaves much to be desired. Or perhaps the state of the website is instead part of the Tour Divide’s charm? Mystique? Neato-ness?

You may already have more questions than answers if you’ve encountered this with zero knowledge of the Tour Divide or the GDMBR. Fear not; they will be addressed. Also, know that I will likely have many of the same questions. I intend to answer said questions by participating in (and hopefully completing) this year’s Tour Divide.

That said, I’ve been doing my research (and investing heavily in bikepacking gear).

Pinterest - The Tour Divide

What Is the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route?

The northern terminus of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) is in Jasper (it was in Banff – the start of the Tour Divide – until 2018), a resort town in Alberta, Canada. It then heads south for over 3,000 mi / 4,800 km to its southern terminus at the US-Mexico Border at Antelope Wells, New Mexico. It can be ridden in either direction, but it’s traditionally ridden southbound.

Along with the Arizona Trail and the Colorado Trail, it comprises the most significant leg of bikepacking’s Triple Crown; similar to the thru-hiking Triple Crown comprised of the Pacific Crest Trail , Continental Divide Trail , and Appalachian Trail .

The route is almost entirely along dirt and gravel roads and is, for the most part, not a technical ride (i.e., you don’t need to be an expert-level mountain biker to navigate the GDMBR). Yes, there are a few short sections of singletrack, but overall, this route is suited for gravel or mountain bikes (but certainly not road bikes).

The GDMBR is approximately 3,000 mi / 4,800 km long and has over 133,000 ft / 40,500 m of climbing and an equal amount of descent. It passes through seven states/provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Despite beginning in Canada (as in riders must pass immigration at a border crossing), the route does not enter Mexico; it ends (or begins) at the US-Mexico Border.

Tour Divide Route Overview Map

The Difference Between the Tour Divide and the GDMBR

You may be asking yourself, as I have, what’s the difference between the Tour Divide and the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route? The answer? Nothing. Kind of.

The Tour Divide is the name of the annual self-supported race of the GDMBR . Put another way, the Tour Divide follows the GDMBR. However, it begins in Banff instead of Jasper; Banff was the northern terminus of the GDMBR until 2018, when it was moved to Jasper. At least, that’s all you need to know if you’re not racing and/or riding the Tour Divide. What’s self-supported? It means that racers are only afforded resources available to everyone else participating.

For example, staying at a hotel? Perfectly fine. Staying at a friend’s house? Not okay.

When you drill down to the details, there are a few sections where the Tour Divide diverges from the GDMBR. But for all intents and purposes, they’re the same; again, unless you’re concerned about racing the Tour Dviide, then there are a few spots you need to take note of.

Every year, people bikepack all or part of the GDMBR on their own (in both directions). These people can take as much or as little time as they like – many presumably even enjoy their experience. Meanwhile, others decide to race the Tour Divide beginning on the second Friday of June at the northern terminus in Banff, Alberta (in Canada). The latter group’s enjoyment often falls more heavily into the Type II (or even Type III) fun category.

Patagonia Baggies AZT Mac Sign

The GDMBR Versus the Continental Divide Trail

When I first hiked the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), I met one person in Island Park, Idaho, who was riding the Divide; I had no idea what they were doing, what the Tour Divide was, or what the GDMBR was. The cyclist was stoked to see me and my CDT hiking buddy, but we thought ourselves cooler than him because what could be cooler than hiking the CDT?

How things have changed. I apologize for not greeting you with the enthusiasm you deserved, anonymous 2017 Tour Divide racer.

Despite the CDT following a lot of dirt and gravel roads – that would be suitable for bikepacking – there’s actually very little overlap between the two routes. Yes, there will be opportunities for northbound CDT thru-hikers to see Tour Divide riders, but many will pass like ships in the night.

The Tour Divide starts too early for southbound CDT hikers to catch any riders, but they could still encounter northbound GDMBR riders during their thru-hikes. Remember, play nice if/when you see each other out there. We’re all out there doing awesome things in nature. There’s no need to perpetuate a bikepacker-backpacker divide (on the Divide).

CDT Lima Montana Buildings

How to Participate in the Tour Divide

The community that has made the Tour Divide what it is today doesn’t exist as an official organization or entity. Instead, it’s willed into being by the yearly riding crop’s cohesion, carrying on traditions from and iterating upon actions of previous years’ cyclists.

There’s no sign-up form, no entry fee, no website (at least not a website updated in the last decade), and no organized event at the starting line in Banff (or at the finish line at Antelope Wells, New Mexico).

Most of the organization appears to come from Facebook groups (typically some of the most toxic online cesspools, but in rare cases, useful information corners). Every year, participants who provide tracking information (using a device such as a Garmin inReach Mini 2 ) to trackleaders can be watched online as they move down the course.

You show up in Banff, start riding south on the second Friday in June, tell anyone who asks that you’re riding the Tour Divide, and BOOM! you’re officially racing the Tour Divide. I’ve heard that in recent years that the community attempts to organize waves of riders (based on estimated finishing time) to ease impacts and congestion on/along the start of the race. Don’t want the local government to come in and try to shut down the unofficial race, after all.

Maybe one day, the magic of this unofficial, unorganized, organized, official bikepacking race will wane as permits, regulations, and rules are imposed with increasing popularity and awareness of the event. Maybe someone will write a best-selling book about the Tour Divide and blow it up like a certain unnamed book did to a certain unnamed trail in the Western United States.

Apparently, you’re supposed to send in a letter of intent to a random email address that I suspect is maintained by the crew at Bikepacking.com , but the letters of intent used to be posted to the Tour Divide website (which seems like it was a fun tradition that’s now sadly gone as of 2010).

For now, you only need to get on your bike and ride.

A guy in a yellow helmet riding a pink bicycle up a hill

The Tour Divide is the unofficial orrifical self-supported race of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, with a few changes to the route. Simple enough, right?

It’s an incredible test of physical and mental endurance, with many riders forgoing sleep to put in more hours on the bike (how many hours I sleep every night is something I’m interested in seeing).

According to DotWatcher , since the Tour Divide’s conception in 2008, only 716 riders have completed the race (this number is likely not 100% accurate, but it’s about as good as we can do). Hopefully, after this year’s race, I will be able to count myself among the fewer than 1,000 total finishers.

For now, it’s time to go and ride my bike .

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  • Touring & Bikepacking Bikes

The Fastest Bikes of the Tour Divide Ultra Race (4,400KM Non-Stop)

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Table of Contents

Frame material, drivetrains, gear ratios, the most popular tour divide bike, update: the top-10 tour divide bikes for 2022.

The Tour Divide is an annual off-road ride traversing the length of the Rocky Mountains, from Canada all the way to the Mexican border. The course is over 4,418km long (2745mi), and along the way, riders will gain over 60,000 metres in elevation (200,000ft).

The clock begins at the grand depart and doesn’t stop until riders cross the finish line. And by the way, the ride is strictly self-supported. The fastest riders will complete the course in around two weeks, covering approximately 280 kilometres per day (174mi).

It’s safe to say that the Tour Divide is an extreme test of both the body and mind.

It’s also very interesting from a gear optimisation perspective, as a few small differences in bike setup will allow riders to make their lives a bit easier. In this video, we will be analysing 121 different bike setups from this year’s Tour Divide to find out what makes the best possible setup.

The statistics I will be drawing upon have been wonderfully collected by BIKEPACKING.com in the form of two articles ( HERE and HERE ), where riders from all around the world discuss their bike, bag and gear highlights.

As these articles separate bikes based on whether they use a drop bar or flat bar, this seems like a great place for us to start.

tour divide course

A bit over half of the riders interviewed this year are using drop bar bikes (55%).

When people think ‘drop bars’, they think ‘speed’. But speed alone is not how most will pick a handlebar for the Tour Divide. This is a very long event, so comfort is the likely reason that riders choose one handlebar design over another. Contrary to popular belief, the widespread use of the different bar types demonstrates that many bar designs can be ergonomic and comfortable – it’s really just a case of personal preference.

But comfort aside, there is likely an aerodynamic advantage to using drop bars.

When it comes to the aerodynamics of cycling, you ideally want to make your body shape more aerodynamic (Cd), your frontal area smaller (A) – or both. By using drop bars, your hands and elbows do not sit as wide, allowing you to reduce your frontal area and optimise your body shape.

A bit of napkin maths suggests that drop bars could save two or three hours over the full Tour Divide course (75kg/165lb rider, 15kg/33lb bike, 140 watts power output).

You can learn more about the aerodynamics of touring and bikepacking HERE .

tour divide course

While we’re still on the topic of handlebars, one of the best possible ways to improve both your speed and comfort is to fit aero bars to your bike. Most Tour Divide riders seem to agree, as 77% of them are using aero bars this year.

This is partly because you can make your body shape more aerodynamic with an aero bar, allowing you to ride faster with the same effort. But arguably, it’s the additional comfort that’s the most appealing feature.

Consider this, Tour Divide riders at the pointy end of the race spend upwards of 20 hours per day riding their bikes. This results in a lot of localised body fatigue. Aero bars offer your body a break by providing a different riding position that reduces strain on your arms, wrists, hands and bum, and will allow you to stretch out your back and use different muscles.

If you want to go further down this rabbit hole, I have a detailed article about aero bars HERE .

tour divide course

The saddle you choose is going to be the difference between completing the Tour Divide and having to scratch.

It’s hard to make saddle recommendations to a broad audience – you really have to try them first. But there are some trends here.

Brooks is the most popular saddle brand for the Tour Divide with 20% of riders using one, so they must be doing something right. Ergon saddles have really taken off recently and now more than 17% of riders have one fitted. And WTB has consistently been a popular brand, featuring on 15% of the bikes.

You can learn more about saddle comfort for touring HERE .

tour divide course

Only 13% of riders are using a suspension seatpost (including the carbon leaf-sprung Ergon CF3).

After extensively testing suspension seatposts, I think that many riders could improve their TD experience with one of these. Short travel posts are 100 or maybe 200 grams heavier (3-6oz) than a rigid post. That’s it.

You can read my detailed suspension seatpost article HERE and carbon flex seatpost article HERE .

tour divide course

If you are racing the clock, your tyres are probably the most important component you can optimise over a 4,400km ride.

Some tyres that I’m seeing fitted to TD bikes have been tested on smooth surfaces to roll with 20-watts extra resistance over other tyre sets. A bit of napkin maths suggests that slow tyres could add more than 20 hours of pedalling to a TD run!

But that said, it’s hard to come up with an accurate time figure due to the mix of road surfaces, varying rider weights, tyre pressures and more.

The most popular tyre is the Vittoria Mezcal and you will find it on more than 1/3 of all bikes.

The Mezcal has become the go-to tyre for the TD as it does an incredible job of balancing rolling resistance, puncture resistance, durability and grip. When you move to faster-rolling options like the Schwalbe Thunder Burt, you end up with significantly less grip and a touch less puncture resistance too – which might not keep your mind at ease.

Essentially, there’s a trade-off on all tyres, and it seems that the Mezcal is where most people end up.

tour divide course

The second most popular tyre is the Maxxis Ikon. These are tested to be slower rolling but are known for their reliability – I know ultra racers who have been using them for years and have literally never had a puncture.

I’m not sure why the Continental Race King Protection tyres (7% of bikes) are less popular than in years past. These tyres are what the late Mike Hall used to set the current 13-day, 22-hour course record. They’ve been tested to be ultra-fast rolling, they’re protective of punctures, and some riders have even raced the TD twice on the same set (8,800km).

If you know why these tyres are less preferred nowadays – let me know.

tour divide course

In terms of wheel diameter, there are three common sizes on bikes tackling the TD: 26-inch, 27.5-inch and 29-inch.

As the largest diameter wheel offers the smallest ‘angle of attack’ over bumps and depressions in the road, it can maintain the highest speed. 88% of riders are now picking the big 29″ wheels, and it drops off to just 7% of riders using the smaller 27.5″ wheels.

The average tyre width that’s used is 2.2″/55mm. This is likely the sweet spot where riders have the lowest rolling resistance and the most ride comfort on the long dirt roads.

tour divide course

Almost half of all TD riders (49%) opted for a carbon fibre bike frame. This is the obvious choice for an event with over 60,000 vertical metres (200,000ft) climbing, as a kilogram can make a measurable difference here.

A Salsa Cutthroat carbon frame weighs a touch under 1.5 kilograms (3.3lb). In comparison, a similarly tough titanium frame is often about 2.2kg/4.9lb, and steel is closer to 3.0kg/6.6lb.

Again, the napkin comes out and I’ve calculated an extra kilogram for the average rider to be about 1.5 hours over 4,400km. That’s not huge, but it could be the difference between first and second place.

tour divide course

1X drivetrains now make up 82% of all bike setups using derailleurs. This should be unsurprising, as the Tour Divide is an off-road route that demands wide tyres and low gear ratios, and almost all bikes that accommodate these features now come with 1X drivetrains.

You’ll notice that there aren’t too many gearbox drivetrains at the Tour Divide this year (4%). But this event has previously been won on a Rohloff 14-speed bike (Ollie Whalley, 2012) – so these drivetrains can be a good idea.

That said, gearbox drivetrains are heavier and less efficient than derailleurs so I suspect that’s why they aren’t popular.

Again, my napkin is out, and I’d estimate the Rohloff would add 3-4 hours in good conditions as a result of its lower drive efficiency, plus you could add another hour or two due to the heavier weight. And the Pinion gearbox could add a total of 10 hours when we factor everything in.

tour divide course

If you want to get up the steep hills without going into the red, you’ll want appropriately low gear ratios on your bike. Tour Divide riders seem to know this well, as the average low climbing gear across all bikes is just 20 gear inches. This is about right for the course.

Achieving less than 20 gear inches is easy on flat bar bikes, but harder on drop bar bikes as there is limited compatibility between drop bar shifters and mountain bike derailleurs. I’m really impressed with the drivetrain workarounds on the drop bar bikes – about a quarter have been ‘hacked’ in some way to achieve 20 gear inches or less.

The most popular hack is the Wolftooth RoadLink . This extends the effective length of your derailleur, allowing you to accommodate a bigger cassette with lower gear ratios. Another nice hack is the fitment of the Ratio Technology upgrade kit that mates 11-speed SRAM road shifters to 12-speed mountain bike derailleurs.

If you have deep pockets, the SRAM AXS wireless road shifters pair with the wireless AXS mountain bike derailleurs to fit 10 to 52-tooth cassettes. It seems that few drop bars riders are on a small budget as one-in-three bikes are using this setup!

tour divide course

Almost all riders are using clip-in pedals (86%).

Most of the performance advantages of clip-in pedals are found under acceleration , so there likely isn’t a big disadvantage to those who choose flats. I’d guess that clip-in pedals are simply what most people are used to when they ride their road or mountain bikes, and as a result, it’s just their preference.

Hydraulic disc brakes are also preferred by the majority of riders (82%). They are very reliable these days and often require less grip strength to pull your bike to a stop. This is particularly important when your hands are fatigued after a couple of weeks of riding!

tour divide course

Only 30% of all TD bikes are using suspension forks.

Suspension will undoubtedly reduce rider fatigue on the rougher sections of the route. And given that you can lock out most suspension, the biggest disadvantage is simply that it adds weight to your bike – most suspension forks are approximately 1.5kg heavier than carbon forks.

My napkin says that’s a bit over two hours of ride time for the average rider. So, what do you think? Is it worth it?

tour divide course

Incredibly, Salsa made up a whopping 39% of all Tour Divide bikes this year. In fact, there were 8X more Salsas than the second-most popular bike brand (Niner).

Salsa Cycles are the biggest adventure bike brand in the world right now, and the Cutthroat model, in particular, was designed specifically to excel at the Tour Divide. This model represents 52% of all drop bar bikes here, and it’s not hard to see why – when I take a look at my Bikepacking Bike Buyer’s Guide , the Cutthroat is the only carbon drop bar bike that can fit wide tyres.

And if you’ve ever wondered where the name Cutthroat comes from, the Cutthroat trout is the state fish for all US states that the Tour Divide passes through. You’re welcome.

tour divide course

Through this analysis, I think the seatpost and tyres are the only areas where Tour Divide riders could squeeze out a bit more performance and comfort. But overall, these rigs are really well dialled in. Just lining up for this event requires a lot of research, so I’m not surprised that almost all bikes are perfectly ready for the course.

To finish up, here’s what the average Tour Divide bike is:

It’s a rigid carbon bike fitted with 29″ wheels and running Vittoria Mezcal tyres in the 2.2″ width. The bike has drop bars, clip-in pedals, hydraulic brakes, aero bars and a 1X drivetrain. The saddle is most likely made by Brooks.

There is a high chance that a SRAM wireless drivetrain is fitted, which allows for the pairing of drop bar shifters and a mountain bike drivetrain to give an appropriately low 20 gear inch climbing gear.

Sofiane Sehili Bike Setup

There is now a 2022 Tour Divide winner – Sofiane Sehili! He rode a carbon Vitus Rapide to Antelope Wells in 14 days, 16 hours and 36 minutes.

Here are the bike statistics from the top-10 finishers this year: Handlebar Type – 70% flat bar, 30% drop bar Aero Bars – 100% aero bars fitted Saddles – 20% Brooks, 20% Ergon, rest is mixed Seatposts – 70% rigid, 30% suspension (including Ergon leaf-sprung posts) Tyre Model – 60% Vittoria Mezcal, 20% Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge, 10% Maxxis Rekon, 10% Schwalbe G-One Tyre Width  – 2.19″ wide average Wheel Size – 100% 29-inch wheels Frame Material – 50% carbon, 40% titanium, 10% steel Drivetrains – 80% 1X drivetrains, 10% 2X drivetrains, 10% singlespeed Low Climbing Gear – 19.9 gear inches average Pedals – 100% clip-in Brakes – 90% hydraulic, 10% mechanical Suspension – 80% rigid, 20% suspension Bike Brands – 20% Salsa, 20% Chiru, rest is mixed

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A 2,700-Mile Cycling Race Is Now Even More Extreme

The Tour Divide, a bikepacking race from the Canadian Rockies to the U.S. border with Mexico, has always been a test of fortitude. But extreme weather is making it much more dangerous.

Geof Blance riding the Tour Divide near Steamboat Springs, Colo. Credit... Daniel Brenner for The New York Times

Supported by

By Sabra Boyd

Sabra Boyd traveled from Banff, Alberta, to Antelope Wells, N.M., to follow the Tour Divide cyclists.

  • July 4, 2022

Kevin Latta pushed his bike forward, following the Bull River down a ridge in the Canadian Rockies. The tire tracks from riders ahead of him had disappeared.

He searched for a shallow place to cross. But after just one step, the swollen river swept Latta and his bike downstream. Gripping the bike in one hand, he swam one-armed, dragging his gear through the churning current. He reached for a tree branch and hoped it would hold.

Two days before, about 200 cyclists had gathered in Banff, Alberta, to start the Tour Divide, an ultra-endurance event in bikepacking — backpacking by bike — that extends all the way to the U.S. border with Mexico. Some riders are professional athletes, others simply recreational cyclists with an interest in the extreme. There is no entry fee and no prize — only the glory of surviving one of the most grueling solo competitions in the world.

“It’s like the Wild West,” said Matthew Lee, a cyclist and organizer of the race — or “disorganizer,” as he calls himself.

The route twists through almost 2,700 miles of the Continental Divide’s alpine peaks, woodlands, picturesque towns and deserts. Most riders see bikepacking alone through the Rockies as a personal challenge, a transcendent test of their fortitude rather than a competition against others. But in recent years, extreme weather has become one of their most dangerous adversaries as they race against flash floods, landslides, driving winds and wildfires.

photo

Bryce Meyer for The New York Times

Riders gathered in Banff, Alberta, to set off on the grueling course.

They ranged from professional cyclists to amateur enthusiasts who wanted to take on the challenge.

The first leg of the journey is through trails in the forest approaching the Canadian-U.S. border.

It can take anywhere from two weeks to two months to finish the race.

This year’s Tour Divide was supposed to mark a return to normal. The race was canceled in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic and shortened in 2021 because of pandemic-related border closures. But nothing about the race this year has been normal.

When it began on June 10, the cyclists knew that trouble might await them toward the finish: Wildfires were raging across hundreds of thousands of acres in New Mexico, the final state on the route. The fires were fueled by one of New Mexico’s driest spring seasons on record and by warmer temperatures linked to human-caused climate change. One of the fires, the state’s largest ever, was a prescribed burn that blazed out of control .

Near the start line on the morning of their departure, riders lamented that they would have to divert around some of the New Mexican scenery they had anticipated, like Gila National Forest. “It is what it is,” conceded Sofiane Sehili, an ultra-endurance racer from Paris.

Sara McDermott, who had arrived from Big Sky, Mont., said she had learned to plan for wildfires because of their inevitability on the course. “It feels claustrophobic,” she said. “I get a sore throat right away and a headache.” She and the other riders carried buff masks to cover their faces for riding through smoky conditions. Most planned to abandon the race if the smoke became too thick in Colorado or New Mexico.

A chorus of cheers erupted when the riders set off, startling magpies, crows and squirrels in the nearby forest. Bear bells jingled down the hill. Shoes snapped into pedals and bikes whizzed by.

The morning sky was blue and brisk. Only the nearby Bow River, muddy and swift with spring snowmelt, foreshadowed the dangers to come.

Airlifted out

Before the riders made it out of Canada, rain and snowstorms intercepted their path. The conditions complicated Latta’s encounter with the Bull River.

When Latta pulled himself out, he realized that his broken GPS device had sent him 10 miles bushwhacking in the wrong direction. “It didn’t occur to me that I was off the route,” he said. “I just thought this was the continuing sadism of the 2022 Tour Divide.”

Inching back up the ridge, “I was literally moving my bike 10 feet at a time,” Latta said. “And I would say, ‘OK, I’m going to go to that rock, then rest.’” When he spotted a tree that wasn’t covered in snow, he leaned his bike against its trunk and fell asleep, exhausted.

The storm was part of a particularly wet June in Fernie, British Columbia, which had more than five inches of rain, 20 percent above the average, according to Armel Castellan, a meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada. Record-breaking rains last winter and the subsequent erosion also made rivers more prone to flooding, Castellan said.

Once he reached a road, Latta caught a ride to Fernie from a forest service truck. The Tour Divide has few rules, but because Latta accepted the assistance, he voluntarily disqualified himself. Yet he was still determined to finish what he had started and ride the rest of the route to Mexico.

The 15 cyclists airlifted out were not so lucky. “They tried to push their bikes for six or seven hours through wet snow,” said Simon Piney, the head of search and rescue in Fernie. “Bike riders aren’t well equipped to get through those types of conditions.” Eleven cyclists were treated for hypothermia and four for trauma, he said.

“From a rescue perspective, this stretched our resources considerably because of the flooding in the valley,” Piney said, adding, “We’re happy that nobody died.”

photo

Lido Vizzutti for The New York Times

The tormenting rain and cold weather made for difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions for the riders navigating through Montana.

A.J. DeLauder, from Aurora, W.Va., commiserated with other Tour Divide riders after reaching a hotel in Bigfork, Mont.

“This rain is biblical,” DeLauder said. Earlier in the day, DeLauder had taken shelter in a baseball field dugout to escape the rain and change out of wet gloves.

DeLauder had feared hypothermia, but managed to get to the hotel in Bigfork to warm up.

Paul Anson, a cyclist from Britain, was one of the airlifted riders, though his circumstances were unique: His bear spray canister exploded, causing him to swerve and hit a rock. “Seven broken ribs are a tough price to pay,” Anson said.

The conditions farther along the course were no better. The same weekend, destructive flooding and mudslides caused by record rain and melting snow forced the closure of Yellowstone National Park , which the Tour Divide route skirts as it meanders through Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. And the threat of wildfires still loomed farther south.

Increasing dangers

The Tour Divide has had a free-for-all nature since the Adventure Cycling Association first mapped the route in the 1990s. “The spirit of the event has always been anti-establishment,” said Lee, the race organizer. This approach has fostered a tight-knit community among the cyclists.

“I love that it belongs to us,” said Alexandera Houchin, who holds the women’s record on a single-speed bike : 18 days 20 hours 26 minutes. “The ultra-endurance community is like my family.”

“It’s become ceremony for me,” added Houchin, who is an Anishinaabe citizen of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. “And I think that’s something a lot of my Indigenous brothers and sisters can relate to. I just want more Native people riding.”

The fastest riders finish the Tour Divide in just over two weeks. For others, the grueling trek can take two months. To save time, many sleep four to six hours a night in a sleeping bag shell called a bivouac sack.

Riders have always faced dangers on the Tour Divide, including bears, blisters, dehydration and smoke inhalation. A cyclist was killed in a collision with a truck during the race in 2010. Last July, a violent grizzly bear attack occurred in a Montana town where many bikepackers camp.

The effects of climate change have only increased the danger.

During last year’s race, flames lined the horizon as Sarah Swallow , a Tour Divide competitor, headed toward the Yampa River. It was the third day of Colorado’s Muddy Slide Fire , and smoke shrouded the sun in a pulsing fluorescent shade of orange. Swallow pushed up one last hill, needing to reach the river before local officials closed the crossing. Her only other option was to detour onto a long, busy highway, and that was time she couldn’t afford to lose.

The smoke billowed as Swallow made it across a dam. The road closed behind her. Helicopters flew in search of more water as residents evacuated .

“In the time that it took me to ride past the fire, the winds picked up and I watched it go from a really small thing of smoke to 50 times bigger,” Swallow recalled. “The smoke plume followed me. When I was camping that night, it rained ash.” She is not competing in the Tour Divide this year, partly, she said, because of the extended fire season.

Leighton White, a firefighter in Steamboat Springs, Colo., fought the blaze that Swallow raced against. He is also a former Tour Divide rider. “Around 2009, you could see the exponential growth of dead trees” along the route, he said, noting how shorter winters and longer dry seasons have led to the explosion of bark beetle populations whose nests weaken lodgepole pines , turning entire mountainsides brown and killing young saplings.

photo

Oak Creek Fire and Rescue

The Muddy Slide Fire affected the race in 2021.

The burn scar from the fire is adjacent to the route this year, near Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Sofiane Sehili of France, the leading cyclist of the race, crossed a river south of Steamboat Springs.

“In 2019 I was caught in the biggest June snowstorm in the history of Colorado,” he said. “I feel like anything can happen. So yes, definitely climate change. You can see it on this race.”

Tom Davis, left, a local resident, wanted to see Sehili on the course. They talked as they crossed paths.

Fire has dashed many dreams on the Tour Divide in recent years. Lael Wilcox, who in 2015 set the Tour Divide women’s record of 15 days 10 hours 59 minutes, attempted an individual time trial last August to try to beat Mike Hall’s record of 13 days 22 hours 51 minutes. (Hall, who set the record in 2016, was fatally struck by a car in an Australian race the next year.)

But as Wilcox began her attempt, smoke from nearby wildfires permeated the air almost from the start. “It was just awful,” Wilcox said. “I mean, you’re in this beautiful place and you can’t even see the mountains because it’s a layer of white.” Four days in, Wilcox was forced to leave the course. Her lungs were shutting down from the smoke.

The planet’s warming climate has extended the wildfire season in the American West, increasing the risk from larger, more frequent blazes. “We are no longer waiting for climate change to happen,” said Kira Minehart, a doctoral student at Oregon State University’s College of Forestry, who rode a section of the Tour Divide two years ago. “It is right here and now.”

As snowpack declines in many places, Minehart said, the consequences can be dire for Tour Divide riders, who prefer to filter water along the way instead of carrying gallons of water that can slow them down. It can also be catastrophic for the landscape, since snowpack can help mitigate wildfires.

Jalen Bazile, a founder of the Black Foxes , a collective of Black cyclists, emphasized the importance of training and preparation to avoid making panicked decisions in unfamiliar environments. Riding the Tour Divide in 2017, Bazile had to reroute 300 miles to avoid a Montana wildfire. Bikepacking, he said, “forces us to really take inventory of who we are and what we’re capable of.”

A triumphant finish

Sehili, the racer from Paris, crossed from Colorado into New Mexico in first place, just as the Southwest’s monsoon season arrived to help extinguish the raging fires. The winds that cyclists had been riding against for nearly two weeks — winds that had whipped up flames across the desert — now brought torrential rain. The risk of heavy rainfall and more dangerous flooding after wildfires has been exacerbated by global warming , a recent study found.

Thunder silenced the cicadas, and the humid air was filled with the spicy-citrus scent of the creosote bush. Soon, Sehili and his bike were covered in what he called “New Mexico death mud.”

Andy Leveto, a rider from Bellingham, Wash., welcomed the rain — “my first shower in a week.” But his goal of riding through the Polvadera Mesa, which he had heard was a “beautiful, gorgeous, kind of rough and unrelenting section,” was spoiled by a detour put in place because of the wildfires. Leveto would finish the race fifth.

photo

Ramsay de Give for The New York Times

Tyler Gatlin and Patrick McKellips crossed the Abiquiu Dam in New Mexico.

Gatlin was about halfway through New Mexico on Saturday.

McKellips took a break to talk to a biker who was starting the Tour Divide route northbound.

McKellips and Gatlin bought drinks and snacks at a grocery store. Cyclists venture into the towns on the route to resupply and rest when they need to.

Carl Gable made his way down a stretch of New Mexico road.

Sehili came close to breaking Hall’s course record, crossing the finish line in Antelope Wells, N.M., at 11:36 p.m. on June 24, after more than 14 days on his bike. He was greeted by a group of fans and friends. Somehow, after thousands of miles, he found the strength to lift his bike above his head for a photo.

To break the record someday, Sehili said he would need to pick a different date for an independent time trial because June has become too unpredictable with its fires, floods and winds. “In 2019 I was caught in the biggest June snowstorm in the history of Colorado,” he said. “I feel like anything can happen. So yes, definitely climate change. You can see it on this race.”

After taking some selfies, Sehili and the group gathered at Jeffery Sharp’s bike ranch. At the property’s entrance, a bicycle shrine adorned with artwork, raw turquoise stones, sun-weathered bike shoes and a placard engraved with “Mexico” greets visitors.

Everyone went to the main room, where a laptop tracked the other racers. Two chiropterologists researching local bats baked pizza while a ranch hand named Jimbo made sure everyone had drinks. Sehili sat for an interview with the “ Bikes or Death ” podcast while he held an ice pack on his leg.

“I think this might hurt,” said Mallory Davies, one of the bat researchers, who had a first aid kit and helped Sehili bandage an injury. “I don’t think so,” Sehili said. “I’m a bikepacker.”

Sehili laughed when asked whether the heavy rain was good luck for the race because the storms helped put out some wildfires. He said that in the hierarchy of bad conditions, the worst is riding into 45-mile-per-hour winds.

In recent years, racing the Tour Divide has been as unpredictable as a wildfire in New Mexico or destructive floods in Yellowstone. Some of the bikepackers still on the route may yet encounter new fires or other hazards.

Ultimately, the Tour Divide is like most ultra-endurance races: If you make it to the end, you’ve won.

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Lachlan Morton sets scorching pace over Tour Divide route

EF Education-EasyPost says Australian rider finished with a time of 12 days, 12 hours and 21 minutes

Lachlan Morton (EF Education-EasyPost) riding the route of the Tour Divide

On August 29 Lachlan Morton set out to take on the Tour Divide route – from Banff in Canada's Rocky Mountains to Antelope Wells in New Mexico – to see just how quickly he could do it even while including a self-imposed minimum of 12 hours rest every 48 hours. The answer, it turns out, is pretty darn quick. EF Education-EasyPost said that Morton had covered 2,670 miles in 12 days, 12 hours and 21 minutes. The acknowledged fastest known time set by a self-supported rider has long been 13 days 22 hours and 51 minutes, a mark set by ultra-endurance behemoth Mike Hall in 2016 over a course which has altered somewhat since. It was a longer distance according to Hall's tracking data of the time, which shows a distance of 2712.8 miles.

Still, Morton was fully aware when setting out that his time is unlikely to be considered a replacement self-supported record, as not only has the course of the annual self-supported race altered over time, the presence of a film crew has also been a contentious issue in the past given its impact on a key mental element in the self-supported race, being truly alone. Morton was confronted by a wide range of challenges throughout the 12-and-a-half days, with plenty of wet and cold weather, peanut butter mud, fire diversions , saddle sores, trench foot and a dead derailleur on day 11, which led to some bush mechanics.

Lachlan Morton chases Tour Divide record time but with self-imposed sleep quota Fires, wolves and dodgy coffee for start of Lachlan Morton’s Tour Divide Transcontinental: Racing 4,000km from Belgium to Greece in less than nine days

“I kicked it as hard as I could and then it started working again,” said Morton in an update from the trail, though then it stopped again. First option exhausted, Morton then resorted to shifting via a spoke shoved into the derailleur.

Morton's effort has also delivered more than just an impressive time, perhaps shedding just a little more light on a key, but complex, issue in ultra-endurance racing – whether it is possible to deliver a fast pace without sacrificing too much sleep.

"I am really interested to see with this approach, how fast you can really go and if it would be competitive with people who have really pushed that sleep element,” said Morton before setting out. 

While not directly equating to sleep time, the data on Morton's tracking dot put his stopped time at 30 per cent of his total, which equates to a little over seven hours a day, and was higher than the percentage of stopped time shown in the tracking data of both Hall in 2016 – at around 24 per cent - and 2023 Tour Divide winner Ulrich Bartholmoes – at over 23 per cent.

Through the ride, Morton has raised funds for Adventure for All , with the total so far at over $20,000.

12d 12h 21m. 2,670 miles (4,296 KM) ridden. 192,000 Feet (58,521 meters) climbed. Two countries visited. Five states and 1 province crossed. Four storms weathered. Unknown amounts of candy bars and gallons of milk consumed. pic.twitter.com/N91gHv0BVq September 11, 2023

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Simone Giuliani

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg . Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.

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‘Tour Divide’ Champ’s Secrets To Conquer A Mountain Range

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[leadin] Unassuming cyclist Josh Kato crushed last year’s Great Tour Divide, a self-supported race that crosses the United States north to south over the Rocky Mountains.[/leadin]

Finish-2

Imagine your longest day in the saddle. Let’s go with 100 miles….that’s a typical long distance endurance ride. Now double it. Then, repeat…for 14 days, 11 hours, and 37 minutes straight. And for good measure, do it over the most rugged mountain range in America and entirely off-pavement.

That’s precisely what the 40-year-old Washington nurse and endurance cyclist did at last year’s Great Tour Divide (GTD). His time not only won the 2,745-mile event, but it set the course record.

We caught up with Kato to discuss the highs and lows of endurance cycling, and his secret training weapons, including patience, a fat bike, and donuts!

tour divide

GearJunkie: Two years ago, your GTD didn’t go as planned. Can you tell us more about that?

Josh Kato:  2014 was supposed to be the year I was going to accomplish a dream of competing in the Tour Divide. I was riding much stronger than I had anticipated and on day three of the race, in Montana (around mile 300), I ended up crashing in the mud and snow. It was a bit of a worst-case scenario type of wreck. I landed wrong, fractured my fibula, tore my hamstring, and gashed the back of my leg which subsequently got infected. I rode until around mile 1,100 before I called it quits.

That hurt. Dropping out of something I had poured so much time, money, and energy into. It was as if I had let myself down. I was rather depressed. I figured I wouldn’t ever be able to get time off of work again to give it another go.

Along The Divide

So that’s 800 miles with a broken leg! How did you push through that sort of pain? Did you underestimate the injury?

Ha! I said I was a nurse. Never said I was a good one.

Yeah, after my wreck, I realized fairly quickly that something was very wrong with my leg, but denial is a powerful tool. I truly never thought I’d be able to get the time off from work to do the race again so I was committed to pushing on as long as I could turn the pedals. When it got to the point that it was no longer physically possible, I called it on the race.

I’m 40 and my body has been around the block a few times. It’s pretty commonplace to have aches and pains that don’t go away very quickly. In my head, I was pretty sure what I’d done, but also realized I probably wouldn’t incur any permanent disability from it. Of course, had I completely torn my hamstring rather than just a partial tear that would have taken a huge amount of recovery time. It got to the point that I had to lift my leg to the pedal by pulling with my hand a length of strap wrapped around my foot, like a lasso.

On the GTD, everyone hurts. Some things can be overcome and some things can’t. Perhaps being in healthcare, it’s easy to minimize suffering. Acute pain isn’t a permanent ailment. It’s just something that needs to be worked through.

So last year–you decided to give it another go! You must have felt you had unfinished business.

When I found out I was going to get the vacation time from work, I trained like a madman. I wanted to finish what I had started and made every effort to make sure I could.

I never trained with the goal of winning. I trained to finish. I’m not a very competitive guy. Except with myself. I guess I was able to achieve a level of conditioning that allowed me to compete with the amazing field of competitors we had last year.

“I think one of the most important things I did was train with a heavier bike than I used in the Divide.”

What kind of mileage are you churning through to train for the GTD? 

In my lead up to the Divide in 2015, I rode about 3,000 miles with an unusual amount of climbing — round 450,000 feet. We have a lot of hills in Washington. Almost all of my riding was on very poor gravel roads, trails, and abandoned logging roads. Very Divide-like terrain.

I think one of the most important things I did was train with a heavier bike than I used in the divide. I purposely go out and try to find the most challenging rides I can do. For a race like the Divide, a rider has to get used to going slow uphill with a heavy bike. It’s a mental thing.

Of course, we had a very mild winter last year in Washington so I was able to churn out some good rides early in the season. This year is making me get a bit more creative with training. Fat bikes are a great invention for training. This amount of training and having a job means I have to sacrifice a fair bit of other items in life. When I’m not at work, I’m riding, running, or prepping in some way for the Divide. It’s a huge time commitment.

The Road

You work as a nurse – does shift work lend itself to training and pulling in long days in the saddle?

I work the night shift. So yes, I guess it helps to know what keeps your mind going at 3am .

I think one thing that nursing lends itself to more than anything is seeing the struggles of other people. The body can overcome some pretty astonishing things. Some people have an amazing amount of will to keep going when the odds are stacked against them. It’s a good reminder to hear people tell me that they just wished they could be well enough to be outside roaming through the hills. People remind me every day to not take health for granted.

Obviously, you love to ride – do you cross-train to keep it fresh? 

Fatbiking

The best rides are the ones that are not about the ride at all. I only wish that fly-fishing was a better workout. That’s my main passion. Nothing like standing in a river with a bit of graphite. Sadly, it doesn’t work the cardio system too well.

You rode in the Smoke’n Fire 400 last year. Do you use these ‘middle distance’ bikepacking rides as training rides? How many do you take on each year?

The Smoke’n Fire is a super fun event! Excellent scenery and awesome trail sections. My first bikepacking race was the 2014 Tour Divide. My second was the 2015 Divide. My third was the Smoke’n Fire 400. I finished the Divide in June. The SNF 400 was in September. I barely rode after the Divide. I had to go fishing! I used the SNF 400 as a test for myself to see how I’d do “off the couch”. I was very happy with my result.

It was also interesting doing the full sleep deprivation thing. In the Tour Divide, I slept every night. It’s a long race. These shorter races seem to be much more about sleep deprivation. On some of the last climbs in the SNF 400 I was hallucinating pretty well. I remember seeing Jay Petervary (who wasn’t in the race) sitting alongside the road petting a capybara. Also, when I rode into Boise at the end of that race I heard someone shout my name. I thought that might be a hallucination as well.

You weren’t hallucinating. I was following the leader board and cheering finishers at the end of the race–I gave a shout out to you.

Funny! Good to know now I wasn’t that bad off. I guess I’m not cut out for the full sleep deprivation thing. I’d enjoy doing more races but the work schedule interferes quite a bit.

“You gotta find a way to keep going. Donuts help a lot.”

Pulling in mile after mile … I’m sure it can be incredibly emotional, but on both sides. You must hit both extreme highs and lows. How do you monitor your emotional state?

The Tour Divide is so long that yes, you go through every single emotion possible, as well as some that you didn’t realize were in you. Riding mostly alone, pushing yourself to unfamiliar physical limits, that’s the easy part. The emotional aspect is the hard part. You gotta find a way to keep going. Donuts help a lot. In reality, I always try to remind myself that no matter how bad I feel, how down in the dumps my mind is, that things will get better at some point. All bleeding stops, eventually. Ultra-racing is very much like that.

So you’re 40. That’s venturing into middle age. But you’re at the top of the game. Jay P. is even older. Does endurance riding get better with age?

JoshsShadow

JK: Yup, 40. I’ll hit 41 before this years Divide. Guys like Jay P. and Jefe Branham are very inspirational to me. They keep going and going. I’d like to say I’ve solved the mystery of the 40ish racer and ultra-endurance but I haven’t got “the” answer. One of the only things that I can determine is that we keep realizing our gig might be up at any time. So we gotta get done with a few things as fast as we can. I know that I can ride much longer than I could when I was younger. Perhaps it’s an impatience thing with youth. Perhaps we’ve just learned through life experience to endure more. Or maybe we are just more determined to show up the youngsters. I do know I focus on the journey far more than the speed. Oh, I wanna go fast, but the journey means a lot more to me now than it did when I was younger.

You’re quite a photographer. (All photos in this post are taken by Josh Kato). How do you balance pushing so hard, so long, yet taking time to smell the proverbial roses?

The main difference between my touring speed and racing speed are the number of photos I take during a ride. Landscape photography is a hobby of mine and I do love getting a shot of a fleeting moment in a beautiful place. My wife can attest that my camera is rarely out of hand during a tour. Nonetheless, even when racing the best of the best ultra-guys I’m not going to pass up a landscape that creates an emotional response in me.

What kind of camera do you take with you on the bike?

During races, I carry a small point and shoot that takes decent images. During the Divide, I carried a Canon S110. It does great while shooting on the go. While touring I use either a Sony RX100 or Fuji XE-1.

Any advice on how to keep the camera readily available while riding?

I almost always ride with a hydration pack. The packs with a small pocket on the shoulder strap are very nice to be able to tuck a small camera into. I then use a carabiner to clip the lanyard to my sternum strap so I can drop the camera should I need to brake quickly. Of course this only works well if it’s dry outside. I have yet to try a waterproof camera that has the image quality I want. When it rains, Ziploc bags are my friend.

Divide

So what’s your ride schedule look like this year?

I don’t have a huge agenda other than having another go at the Tour Divide. The race just kind of sticks in your head. Amazingly, I got the time off of work to go again, so I’m not going to pass it up. Not sure I’ll be able to train as much as last year but I’m certain I’m still going to have a blast. Other than the Divide, we’ll just have to see. I do know I need to get some more fly fishing trips in this year.

Thanks Josh and good luck this year!

This year’s GTD will roll out of Banff, Alberta on June 10th. The website hosts some good background information, but for the latest check out the  Tour Divide on Facebook . To follow Josh and all the cyclists in real time, head on over to the Tour Divide’s leaderboard at  Trackleaders.com .

Steve Graepel

Steve Graepel is a Contributing Editor and Gear Tester at GearJunkie. He has been writing about trail running, camping, skiing, and general dirtbagging for 10+ years. When not testing gear with GearJunkie, he is a Senior Medical Illustrator on the Neurosurgery Team at Mayo Clinic. Based in Boise, Idaho, Graepel is an avid trail runner, camper, angler, cyclist, skier, and loves to introduce his children to the Idaho outdoors.

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7 STEP PLANNING GUIDE TO BIKEPACKING THE TOUR DIVIDE (GDMBR)

EASY TO FOLLOW STEPS TO GET YOU ON THE TOUR DIVIDE.

bikepacking, pre-trip considerations

For more information on the Tour Divide visit our TD Resource page . »

After completing the bikepacking triple crown,  I decided to make this Tour Divide Planning Guide (GDMBR).  The triple crown taught me a lot and I want to share that knowledge with others.  The process of planning a trip of this kind can be time consuming and stressful.

I can’t empathize how important planning is and how greatly it can effect the outcome of your race/tour. The more work you do before hand and information you have available to you during the race, the better off you’ll be. Bottom line, DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

I’ve taken everything I learned on and off the Tour Divide ( CTR and AZT ), and put it into this 7 Step Planning Guide to racing/touring the Tour Divide (GDMBR).  Hopefully anyone planning a race/tour of the route can get almost all the information they need from this post,  accompanying posts , and external links provided below.

I might have done most of the leg work for you, but that shouldn’t stop you from doing your own deeper research to better your chances and improve the outcome of your trip even further.  I am human and might have missed something. If I did let me know and I’ll add it or make a correction. Thanks!

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STEP 1: RACE OR TOUR

RACING PROS:

  • Racing in the company of others (There’s no guarantee others will be racing near you).
  • Chance to test yourself in one of the worlds longest MTB races.
  • Bond with fellow racers in a shared experience.

TOURING PROS:

  • No limitation of start time, route, or direction.
  • Ability to stop without fear of the clock.
  • Physically and mentally less demanding (depending on pace).

RACING CONS:

  • No choice of start time or direction.
  • No flexibility of your route.
  • Very demanding, both mentally and physical.

TOURING CONS:

  • Smaller chance of meeting fellow cyclists.
  • Slightly higher risk (Less people and support if you get injured or have a bike issues).

Race or Tour?  GDMBR, Tour Divide, or Tour Divide Max?  You have many options.  Make sure which ever you choose, it’s your choice.  For most of us this is a once in a lifetime event.

STEP 2: PICK A DATE

The race always starts on the second Friday in June.

  • 2nd Friday of June (Banff, AB – YMCA)

If racing is not your thing and you want more flexibility, then touring is for you.  The weather window for the Tour Divide (GDMBR) is from June to Mid-October.  Snow can be found or occur at anytime on the route.  Consequently be prepared for anything, no matter when you choose to go.

Tour Divide - Wyoming - tour divide guide

STEP 3: WHICH DIRECTION TO GO?

NORTH TO SOUTH (Canada to Mexico):

  • Starting with others (safety, chance to share knowledge)
  • Flatter finish = easier
  • ACA maps are written in north/south direction
  • Harder start.
  • Weather can be unpredictable.

SOUTH TO NORTH (Mexico to Canada)

  • Physically easier start.
  • More convenient finish (getting to airport).
  • Harder to get to start.
  • Less riders.
  • Harsher environment (heat)

Some times Mother Nature has a say in which diction you’ll go.  Checkout the snowpack levels at the Snotel website to find out.

Tour Divide Rider Survey

The Project conducts an ongoing rider survey to help new riders try to figure out what gear to use on the Tour Divide. Undertaking a ride/adventure like can be very intimidating and the planning can be overwhelming. It’s our hope this survey will help new riders with their planning and execution of their Tour Divide ride, as well as help ensure riders are more properly prepared for their adventure.

If you haven’t taken the Tour Divide Rider Survey yet and would like to you can at the links below.

***Please pay attention to the examples for the questions where you have to type in your answer. If answers are not entered EXACTLY like the example I have to go in and correct them and it also throws off the results. Thanks in advance!

Tour Divide Rider Survey Example

Covers: bikes, suspension, tires & wheels, drivetrain, and Components.

Covers: navigation planning, camping, logistic/travel, clothes, and more.

STEP 4: SETTING UP A RESUPPLY / ITINERARY SCHEDULE

The first 3 steps are fairly easy to check off your list.  Steps 4-7 take more thought and work. Put some time into them and don’t simply pass over them.  As mentioned earlier, this is where you do your homework.

A well put together resupply and itinerary are key items, that can effect both the success and ease of your race/tour of the Divide.  Chances are you won’t follow your itinerary once on the route but it still serves as a reminder of what your goal was/is. On the other hand you’ll reference your resupply list multiple times a day.  This is where you want to put the most detail into.

Checkout my post, Tour Divide Resupply Planner , where I give you everything you need to plan your own resupply/itinerary.

Sunset on the Tour Divide - tour divide guide

STEP 5: GEAR

Gear is another key item you need to really research before you hit the trail.  Depending on your pace you’ll be spending anywhere from two weeks or more on the Divide.  During that time you’ll run into every type of weather you can image.  Combine the weather with countless hours in the saddle and you’re going to want to have the right gear, gear that is reliable, tested and offers comfort.

I put a  whole page together that covers the gear I used during my Tour Divide, (and on the Colorado Trail and Arizona Trail).  Most recently I made another post with what gear I would use if I did the TD again. I show pros/cons, tips, things that didn’t work and did, and what  I would do differently next time.

Bikepacking Gear List / Photo - Tour Divide Planning Guide - Arizona Trail Planning Guide - tour divide guide

STEP 6: TRAINING

Everyone does some sort of training when doing a race/tour of this length.  You have to consider both physical and mental training, when you considering doing the TD.  Like the old adage says, “It’s 90% mental and 10% physical”.

We all train differently, so I won’t pretend to tell you how you should.  Rather, I’ll give you some tips and tell you some of the things that made the TD hard for me.

  • Practice riding back to back long days.
  • Having a strong core will help keep your back happy with the long hours in the saddle.
  • Ride at night, you will do plenty of it on the Divide.
  • I found it mentally hard to ride into the night after already being on the bike for 16+ hours.  Train your brain.
  • Consider your diet and try to learn how much you need to eat for day after day of riding.

STEP 7: Do a Shakedown Ride

Testing your set up is key.  Don’t think you can just slap your gear in your bags, check their tightness and go.  Get out there and ride your bike loaded.  Learn how it handles, listen for what rattles, see what rubs, and most of all, what doesn’t work.

An untested set up will result in unneeded stress during your race/tour.  Take the time to eliminate this by doing a Shakedown Ride .  It will also get you used to a loaded bike.

Consider the following when testing your set up:

  • No one is perfect, as a result no one nails their set up the first time.  Try different ways and see which is the best.
  • Is your load balanced?
  • If you have a question whether something is going to work or not, address it before you go.
  • Test your GPS and electronics thoroughly.
  • Bottles mounted on forks and down tubes fall off and rub.  Make sure you ensure they won’t so you don’t lose water carrying capacity.

Tour Divide Planning Aids

Being that I’m also a Triple Crown thru-hiker I’m used to quality planning tools. After finishing the Bikepacking Triple Crown I realized bikepacking didn’t have quality planning tools available. The Project’s Planning Aids and Resources are our answer to this.

After 100’s of hours of research, 1000’s of keystrokes, more emails and phone calls than I can recall the One of Seven Project’s Tour Divide Planning Aids are done. They’re the ultimate planning resources for the Tour Divide. They contain everything you need to plan and execute your ride/ride of the Tour Divide and most of the GDMBR. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in these then it’s probably in our Tour Divide Resources .

Craig, I wanted to let you know that your bikepacking guides are incredibly well done and useful.

Small Bundles:

Big bundles:.

Tour Divide Small Bundle, planning aid, guide, bikepacking

One package including our two most popular planning aids:

Tour Divide Big Bundle, planning aid, guide, bikepacking

One package with all our planning aids:

  • Mileage Chart
  • Elevation Gain Chart

Available in both SOBO and NOBO versions and US Standard and Metric units.

Small Bundle – $40.00 + tax (CO only) *You save $10 when you bundle!

Big Bundle – $60.00 + tax (CO only) *You save $20 when you bundle!

Data Sheets and Town Lists

Data sheets:, town lists:.

Tour Divide SOBO Data Sheet Cover bikepacking guides planning aids

The NOBO Data Sheets are ONLY available as part of the Small or Big Bundles.

Tour Divide SOBO Town List Cover bikepacking guide planning aid

All versions of the Town Lists are ONLY available as part of the Small or Big Bundles.

  • Elevation / Pop of POI.
  • Mileage numbers.
  • Distance to next.
  • Elevation +/-.
  • Max & Min. elevation between POI.
  • Pavement sections.
  • Key water sources.
  • Shows bike shops.
  • Resupply options.
  • Important notes.
  • Elevation profile.
  • Finish Target Times.
  • Distance on/off trail.
  • Important notes about POI.
  • Cumulative distances to up coming POI.
  • Elevation Gain to reach up coming POI.
  • Finish Target Times added.

The SOBO Data Sheets are available in BOTH US Standard and Metric units.

Data Sheet – $25 + Tax (CO only)

Example of Data Sheet

Tour Divide SOBO Data Sheet Example bikepacking guides planning aids

Example of Town List

Tour Divide SOBO Town List Example bikepacking guides planning aids

DATA SHEET and TOWN LIST DIFFERENCES

The Data Sheet has the most info. It gives the distance, elevation +/-, average grade, maximum and minimum elevations, pavement sections, references ACA maps, bike shops, resupply options, and has key notes between two POI. Example: A and B, then B to C, and so on.

The Town List gives cumulative distances between POI. Example: A to B, A to C, A to D. The next section would be B to C, B to D, B to E, and so on. The Town List has distance, elevation +/-, resupply options, bike shops and key notes.

The Town List helps with not having to do the math to figure out how far away things are if they’re not the next POI.

Mileage Charts and Elevation Gain Charts

Mileage charts:, elevation gain charts:.

Tour Divide MILEAGE CHART Cover bikepacking guide planning aids

Quickly find the total mileage between any two POI along the route.

  • Works for both directions.

Tour Divide SOBO Elevation Gain Chart Cover - bikepacking guide planning aid

Quickly find the total elevation gain between any two POI along the route.

  • Easy to read format.

The Mileage and Elevation Gain Charts are ONLY available as part of the Big Bundle.

Tour Divide SOBO Mileage Chart EXAMPLE bikepacking guides planning aids

GDMBR / ACA ROUTE

GDMBR SOBO Data Sheet, planning aid, guide, bikepacking

GDMBR Data Sheets have all the same data categories as the Tour Divide planning aids, as seen in the examples above but are for the GDMBR from the ACA.

GDMBR SOBO Small Bundle, planning aid, guide, bikepacking

GDMBR Bundles have all the same data categories as the Tour Divide planning aids, as seen in the examples above but are for the GDMBR from the ACA.

Available in both SOBO and NOBO versions and in US Standard and Metric units.

Data Sheet – $25 + tax (CO only)

More Helpful TD Resources

Everything you need to plan a bikepacking trip on the Tour Divide.

MY PROVEN GEAR LISTS FROM THE TRIPLE CROWN

Tour divide.

US / Mexico Border Tour Divide Finish bikepacking lessons - press release

A detailed look at what I used on the Tour Divide, what worked and what didn’t.

“ IF I RODE… ” SERIES

Craig Fowler Tour Divide Bikepacking Triple Crown

In depth look at what I would bring for gear and why, if I rode the Tour Divide again.

Tour Divide SOBO Data Sheet Cover bikepacking guides planning aids

Gear Review - If I Rode The Tour Divide Again

bikepacking, pre-trip considerations

Tour Divide Planning Guide

Colorado Trail Transportation Guide

Tour Divide Transportation Guide

Chipotle Resupply - Tour Divide Resupply Guide

Tour Divide Resupply Guide

Tour Divide Rider Survey Results

Tour Divide Rider Survey Results

Checkout our bikepacking resource page for more planning help., checkout all our guides.

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  • Bikepacking Races

2024 Tour Divide

June 14 @ 8:00 am,  alberta, canada    2745mi (4,418km).

Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, GDMBR

Next Event Sat Dec 23, 2017

Hungarian Divide 2024

Next Event:

Hungarian Divide 2024

The 2024 Tour Divide takes place on Friday, June 14th at 8AM. Race the length of Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, from Banff to New Mexico, 2,745 miles of ultra-endurance bikepacking.

Date: June 14

Time: 8:00 am

Event Website

Tour Divide Grand Depart

Banff , Alberta Canada

The Tour Divide roughly follows the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) is the most recognized and important off-pavement cycling route in the United States, if not the world. The route crisscrosses the Continental Divide from north to south starting in Banff, Alberta, Canada and finishing at the US/Mexico border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico.

Time-trial season on the GDMBR begins annually with Grand Départ, occurring on the second Friday in June from both termini of the Route; the main Depart takes place in Bannf, Alberta. The Tour Divide see hundreds of riders each year, with the goal of these Solstice common starts is for athletes to challenge the Route in situ, under similar weather conditions and maximum daylight. If one cannot make a grand départ, there is a season-long ITT-Divide format to contend. Tour Divide requires no entry fee or formal registration. There are no prizes for finishing. Riders who carry SPOT GPS Messengers are tracked via the Live tracker.

For more on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, check out our guide, here . Also, find previous Tour Divide rig roundups here , and check out #tour-divide for many more articles and resources.

Registration: Send a letter of intent after winter solstice to [email protected] .

Event image by Matt & Brett, A View From Two Wheels. 

tour divide course

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The Grand Tour of MTB

Banff, ab ca - antelope wells, nm usa, expedition bike racing at it's finest, great divide mountain bike route, one stage: 2745mi / 4418km self-supported racing, great continental divide mountain bike race, 13th of june, 2014.

Decidedly not for sprinters, this battle royale braves mountain passes and windswept valleys of the Continental Divide from hinterlands of the Canadian Rockies to badlands of the Mexican Plateau.

MARIE-SOLEIL BLAIS

Tour Divide 2023 : The race, the gear, the whys and everything in between

  • May 13, 2023

tour divide course

It was just over 2 years ago the first time I ever heard of the Tour Divide. I didn’t even know what bikepacking was or that bikepacking racing was a thing.

By then, I had become a time trialist specialist on the road. I had become obsessed with mastering my mind, mastering the art of executing a perfect time trial. I love it so much. I know very well this feeling, my sight on the road ahead, my head tucked in, my lungs expanding to their max, my legs flowing over the pedals. That feeling when I get in the zone, when I’m able to fully surrender and let no amount of pain bother me. It’s pretty amazing. And quite freeing.

tour divide course

A few years ago when I was reading this passionating book “How Bad Do You Want It”, the author spoke of how references are limiters to the mind and the body. If you can remove the information that you know as your references, you could push your body much further. I decided to test the concept and did a 20-minutes blind test – no numbers, no references. Increasing my best 20-min power by 18% was a shocking, yet insightful experience. “You are stronger than you think.” Simply remove the thinking.

I was on the stationary bike trainer when a youtube video came up about the Tour Divide (the documentary was I Just Want to Ride featuring Lael Wilcox – record-holder of the fastest female time on the Tour Divide). A 4,300 km time trial. WOAH! Now everything I know as references are quite irrelevant. How the hell is this humanely possible? Then… What if I remove what I know as possible. What if this was just another example of the amazing things a body can do when you remove references. I was immediately filled with curiosity.

I couldn’t sleep that night. I had to find out: where is the limit of what I can do. Am I able to apply what I came to master in road cycling time trial to a 4,300km bikepacking time trial?

Covering a distance of 4,300km, the Tour Divide is one of the longest and arguably the hardest ultra-endurance bike race on the planet. From Banff (Alberta) in Canada, to Antelope Wells (NM) at the border of Mexico, the course takes the riders along breathtaking scenic landscapes of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (designed by the Adventure Cycling Association back in the 1990s), one of the most well-known off-road touring route that attracts bikepackers and bike tourists from all over the world.

tour divide course

The race has been going on for many years, starting on the 2nd Friday of June of each year, but only started to gain popularity lately with the rise of bikepacking and bikepacking events. The 2023 edition has currently over 250 participants registered to this day (one month before the start). 26 of them are female or non-binary, the highest non-male participation rate ever!

The Tour Divide is more than a cycling race, it is the definition of an endurance and resilience test. The race is self-supported, which means you are not allowed to receive any help. You can use public services such as hotels and restaurants, but you must carry everything you need (clothes, food, camp & sleep, tools). The route goes through many remote areas where a satellite device is the only way of communication. High-altitude mountain passes, changing weather, and wildlife encounters are all part of the race.

tour divide course

Getting ready – my journey to the start line

There is the physical journey, then it’s freacking scary! 2 years ago I had never camped before, never packed gear on a bike, never ridden in the dark or encountered a bear.

Before I could attempt this, I had a few classes to take on. So, 3 weeks after watching the youtube video about the Tour Divide, I departed for my first bikepacking trip. An improvised, but oh so life-changing, one-month bikepacking trip in Utah and Arizona hooked me up. From there, I would use bikepacking for training when I’m not racing.

Last year (2022), I was still racing as a pro road cyclist when a series of events occurred, one of them being the cancellation of BC Superweek, my beloved crit series in July. I was going to fly to western Canada (near Banff) for Road Nationals, but then I had an opening in my calendar. “What a great opportunity to check out the course of the Tour Divide!” I thought.

I flew with all the gear I had and set to ride as much as I can of the route after racing Nationals. I had a wonderful ride in the time trial at Nationals, I rode the absolute best I could. Another 2nd place, but I felt satisfied. I love when I leave it all on the course. I was not going to be National Champion but that’s how it is. I don’t have less joy riding my bike fullgas. It was time to swap bikes.

So, a week later on July 4th, 2022, I departed from Banff and headed south on my pretty beat-up Cannondale FSi mountain bike hardtail, to see if I was capable of riding the terrain, to overcome my fear of bears (oh, I did come face-to-face with a grizzly! But that’s for another storytelling time), to overcome my fear of riding in the dark and confronting the weather of the high-altitude mountain passes.

The course was absolutely mind-blowing!!! Every day, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the landscapes surrounding me. The “non-technical” terrain was very much challenging for my roadie skillset. I was very unprepared for the hike-a-bike and the rain, but it was so empowering to come out of these challenges stronger.

tour divide course

I completed the route in 28 days (about twice as long as the race-winning time), averaging over 10 hours of riding to cover 150km each day -it was the hardest thing I had ever done !!

This course recon was the first step to getting prepared to race. It also made obvious that I needed to improve my MTB skills, to strengthen my upper body for the hike”push”-a-bike, to fasten my camp-to-bike transition, a warmer and more reliable sleep system, and better overall gear and bike.

My 2023 Tour Divide Gear List

By now I have gathered enough bikepacking experience to know better what I want and need for my ideal setup. So I have reached out to my favorite companies and I’m very fortunate that they embarked on my dream race project with me! Here is the best bikepacking setup I could build for racing the Tour Divide :

  • Cannondale Scalpel HT, 100mm suspension fork
  • Sram X01 mechanical 34T x 10-52 Eagle cassette
  • SL4 Lucky Jack – Duke Racing Wheels (XC carbon wheels, 1200g a pair)
  • Son 28 dynamo hub
  • Ergo grips and aero bars
  • Maxxis Ardent Race and Ikon 2,2 tires

Packs: Backcountry Series by Apidura

  • Apidura 11L handlebar pack (clothes)
  • Apidura 2x 1.2L feed pouches, 1L top-tube feed bag, 1L rear top-tube pack for accessories
  • Apidura 4L frame pack with a hydration bladder (food & water)
  • Apidura 1.8L down-tube pack (tools and pharmacy)
  • Apidura 10L saddle pack (sleep system)
  • possibly a hip pack or hydration vest… TBD
  • 7mesh cargo bib (pad removed) paired with 7mesh Foundation Shorts
  • 7mesh Hollyburn light thermal pants
  • 7mesh Chico Anorak pull-over
  • 7mesh merino buff
  • 7mesh Skypilot Gore-tex rain jacket
  • MEC 800-down jacket
  • Mountain Hardwear 800-down pants
  • MEC rain pants cover
  • Showerpass waterproof gloves and socks (available at MEC)
  • Defeet merino gloves

Sleep System :

  • MEC Talon 0 degree C 800-down quilt
  • MEC Vectair Ultralight insulated air mat
  • Mountain Laurel Designs FKT bivy
  • Warmlite Gear Vapor barrier long-sleeve jersey
  • Warmlite Gear Vapor Barrier socks

Electronics :

  • Garmin 540 Solar for navigation (MEC)
  • Garmin inReach satellite tracking (MEC)
  • GoPro Mini 11 for self-documenting the race
  • iPhone and AirPods
  • Sinewave Cycle Beacon2 headlight (dynamo powered)
  • 1x 5,000 mpa power bank, 1x 10,000 mpa power bank, fast-charging wall charger, and cables
  • Black Diamond headlight (MEC)
  • Set of rear lights (MEC)

Tools, toiletry, and other items :

  • Sunscreen (lots of sunscreens)
  • Toothbrush, toothpaste
  • Laundry handwash soap
  • Eye mask, ear plugs
  • ibuprofen, allergy med
  • Caffeine, melatonin
  • BeFree water filter and water purifying tablets
  • Muc-Off Hydro chain lube with a rag
  • Hand pump, tire plugs and sealant
  • Multi-tools with chain breaker
  • Spare derailer hanger, spare brake pads, chain links
  • Patch repair kit
  • Protein powder, BCAAs, Greens powder

Thank you to my sponsors for gearing me up with the best. Find this gear online: MEC outdoor gear , 7mesh cycling apparel , Apidura bikepacking bags , Duke Racing Wheels , Warmlite Gear vapor barrier gear .

Live-Tracking – From June 9th, 2023

We will depart from Banff (AB) on June 9th, 2023. You can follow the race live via satellite tracking here .

Even though I will try to film as much as possible, I will not be posting a lot on social media during the race (because it’s a race!) and there isn’t much service between towns. If you do follow my progress, I will love to read your messages of encouragement!

You can find me on instagram at @msoleilblais74 and you can subscribe to my Youtube Channel to be notified when my Tour Divide film is up!

But why in the hell would someone want to race this?

I have long asked myself this question. What is my motivation, why do I want to race the Tour Divide and put all of the efforts behind such a big commitment? Multiple answers come to my mind.

First, it’s the curiosity, the need to push the limits and see how far I can go. I see this as a continuation of my fascination for the power of the mind and playing with the concept of removing references. To see what I could do if I go into something where I have no references at all. Can I carry my time trial state of mind over 4,300km ? How resilient am I?

Second, it’s the transformation. Endurance has never been something I particularly excel at naturally. I had a strong anaerobic profile as a pro cyclist but that is quite useless over a long distance. I think you never become ready for the biggest race of your life, just like you don’t do a marathon before your first marathon. You “become” someone who is capable of doing it, by doing it. I want to become the person at the finish line who was able to race that distance and push her limits to a new level. No matter what happens, I will come out of this test stronger and more resilient.

Lastly, I want to live the experience. The experience of racing my bike all day, all night. Riding as far as I can, every day, with nothing else on my mind than going further. I quite enjoy the solitude of riding long distances in remote areas, and I look forward to re-discovering the magnificent, yet challenging course that is the Tour Divide.

Stay tuned, peace out

Full heart, fullgas

Marie-Soleil Blais

Marie-Soleil Blais

Bike Racer & Adventurer

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tour divide course

Tour Divide 2022 Live Tracker

Follow on smart phones with BlueDot App!

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About the Tracker

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Please note that this is an automated translation and it will not be perfect. All articles have been written in English and if anything appears to not make sense, please double check in English.

tour divide course

How the Tour Divide was won

Rookies ruled the top three spots overall, but weather and other challenges stymied attempts at course records.

Ulrich Bartholmoes closes in on the finish in Antelope Wells after 14 days on the route. Photo © Patrick Farnsworth / Bikes or Death

Jeff Bartlett

A first-time Tour Divide participant narrowly missed setting the race’s course record last week, while the final spot on the women’s podium came down to an almost-sprint after more than 18 days of racing. Those were just two of the highlights from bikepacking’s signature event.

Measuring 2,685 miles/ 4,321 km long while crisscrossing the Continental Divide 30 times between Banff, Alberta, and Antelope Wells, New Mexico, the Tour Divide is notoriously hard. Preparing for the event can take years; however, chasing Tour Divide records isn’t just about preparation. 

“I stated it clearly beforehand,” said men’s winner Ulrich Bartholmoes, “that I came here to take the win and the record. But I was also realistic. I was well aware that 20% of this was in my control and 80% depended on external conditions or what the trail wanted to allow me to do.”

And when things kicked off in Banff, on June 9, 2023, conditions felt prime for a fast edition. The start list included notable course veterans and recordholders like Lael Wilcox and Alexandera Houchin alongside Tour Divide rookies Bartholmoes, Justinas Leveika, Jens Van Roost, and WorldTour pros turned gravel privateers Ted King and Alex Howes.

As the race crossed Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, it looked like new records were inevitable. Bartholmoes, Van Roost, and Leveika outpaced Mike Hall’s course record, set in 2016, significantly. But the traverse across the Great Divide Basin between Atlantic City and Wamsutter quickly upended any expectations. Wet conditions ground the three leaders to a standstill, peanut butter mud clogging their drivetrains and impeding progress. It took the trio nearly 24 hours to complete that 100-mile section and they fell hours behind Hall’s pace. Just 24 hours later, eventual fourth-place finisher Steven Le Hyaric would cross the same ground in just nine hours as it dried out.

The three race leaders played leapfrog throughout Colorado. While they rarely rode together, they watched each other closely while riding their own paces.

“It was surprising to me that we stuck together for such a long time,” said Bartholmoes. “I’ve never had this and it affected the race. At some points, it felt like a group ride.”

By Salida, Colorado, Van Roost had fallen behind the pace and he scratched before Del Norte with intolerable and soon-to-be unsafe nerve damage to his hands because he could barely grip his handlebars. He wasn’t alone; 69 riders have scratched, including King, who suffered rhabdomyolysis, Sarah Swallow, and John and Mira, the human-canine pair we highlighted in The Tour Divide is Bikepacking at its Best .

Bartholmoes and Leveika continued to battle for the win, but by Cuba, New Mexico, Bartholmoes put in a big push to temporarily catch Hall’s record dot on Trackleaders and held the lead through to the finish. His overall time, 14 days, 3 hours, 23 minutes, is the second-fastest Tour Divide time, trailing just 4.5 hours behind Hall. Leveika finished second, thirteen hours later and Joe Nation completed the men’s podium early the following day.

tour divide course

“I’m just happy with my time and my entire ride,” said Bartholmoes. “I never met Mike, but people that I talked to say he loved competition and I love competition. Just trying to chase his dot throughout this race makes me proud that I could keep up with him. That’s enough for me.”

The women’s podium race played out similarly. Wilcox started strongly, outpacing her 2015 dot before slowly falling off record pace. She cited both route conditions and physical setbacks, and the race clearly took its toll. Illness and dehydration forced her to visit a health clinic in Abiquiu, New Mexico, where she received an IV to replenish lost fluids. She continued and held on for her first official Tour Divide victory. Although she finished first in 2015, she was credited with the record rather than the win because of a course deviation. She set the current course record that same year, during an individual time trial.

tour divide course

Katya Rakhmatulina completed a strong ride to finish second. The closest battle proved to be for third place in the women’s field. Sasha Dowell and Hannah Simon left Silver City together with Gail Brown trailing by just a few miles. Simon and Dowell rode the final miles side by side and decided to finish together, tied for third, rather than sprint it out. Brown finished just 15 minutes later. Houchin finished later the same evening, lowering her own singlespeed record by two hours.

Although the race leaders have finished and traveled home, the Tour Divide isn’t over. More than 100 competitors continue their race and the broom wagons – set at 95 miles per day for men and 85 miles per day for women on Trackleaders – are still in Colorado, nearly 1,000 miles from the finish line. For the next week, official finishers will trickle into Antelope Wells. Their experiences will be unique, but they’ll share similarities. 

“It felt surreal,” said Nation, reflecting on his third-place finish. “Riding south from Hachita is so different from the rest of the route. It was just a slow, slightly uphill grind. It gave me lots of opportunities to think.”

For the past fifteen days, he shared a few moments with fellow competitors, like Chris Burkard and Ezra Ward-Packard, but estimates he rode solo 90% of the time. From surprise grizzly bear encounters to bike-stopping mud, the ride felt like a series of highs and lows. He’d forced himself to avoid getting caught up in the race and stuck to his plan to average 300 km and 4-5 hours sleep per day through the first week. By the second week, he started sacrificing sleep and shortening his resupply points. 

“I would try once a day to get a 1500-calorie meal in,” he said. “I was loving the American-style burgers and chips. The rest of the time, I was thinking about resupply, the bike, and logistics.”

On the final stretch of pavement, there was nothing left to worry about.

“All of that was suddenly gone,” he said, “ and I could just tap myself on the back. There were a few emotions, for sure, and the fence couldn’t come fast enough.”

Course Records (days:hours:minutes):

  • Men’s overall: Mike Hall (2016): 13:22:51
  • Men’s singlespeed: Chris Plesko (2016) 15:08:01
  • Women’s overall: Lael Wilcox (2015) 15:10:59
  • Women’s singlespeed: Alexandera Houchin (2023) 18:18:26

2023 Results:

Men’s Overall

  • Ulrich Bartholmoes 14:03:23
  • Justinas Leveika 14:16:57
  • Joe Nation 15:02:50

Women’s Overall

  • Lael Wilcox 16:20:00
  • Katya Rakhmatulina 17:08:48
  • (tie) Hannah Simon and Sacha Dowell 18:11:13

Men’s Singlespeed

  • Kyle Peterson 16:22:28
  • Jake Colantonio 17:22:58

Women’s Singlespeed

  • Alexandera Houchin: 18:18:26

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Moscow Metro Underground Small-Group Tour - With Reviews & Ratings

Moscow metro underground small-group tour.

  • See more images

Tour Information

Key Details

  • Mobile Voucher Accepted
  • Free Cancellation
  • Duration: 3 Hrs
  • Language: English
  • Departure Time : 10:00 AM
  • Departure Details : Karl Marks Monument on Revolution Square, metro stop: Square of Revolution
  • Return Details : Metro Smolenskaya
  • If you cancel at least 4 day(s) in advance of the scheduled departure, there is no cancellation fee.
  • If you cancel within 3 day(s) of the scheduled departure, there is a 100 percent cancellation fee.
  • Tours booked using discount coupon codes will be non refundable.

Go beneath the streets on this tour of the spectacular, mind-bending Moscow Metro! Be awed by architecture and spot the Propaganda , then hear soviet stories from a local in the know. Finish it all up above ground, looking up to Stalins skyscrapers, and get the inside scoop on whats gone on behind those walls.

Know More about this tour

We begin our Moscow tour beneath the city, exploring the underground palace of the Moscow Metro. From the Square of Revolution station, famous for its huge statues of soviet people (an armed soldier, a farmer with a rooster, a warrior, and more), we’ll move onto some of the most significant stations, where impressive mosaics, columns, and chandeliers will boggle your eyes! Moreover, these stations reveal a big part of soviet reality — the walls depict plenty of Propaganda , with party leaders looking down from images on the walls. Your local guide will share personal stories of his/her family from USSR times, giving you insight into Russia’s complicated past and present. Then we’re coming back up to street level, where we’ll take a break and refuel with some Russian fast food: traditional pancakes, called bliny. And then, stomachs satiated, we are ready to move forward! We’ll take the eco-friendly electric trolleybus, with a route along the Moscow Garden Ring. Used mainly by Russian babushkas(grannies) during the day, the trolleybus hits peak hours in the mornings and evenings, when many locals use it going to and from their days. Our first stop will be the Aviator’s House, one of Stalin’s Seven Sisters, followed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — and you’ll hear the legends of what has gone on inside the walls. Throughout your Moscow tour, you’ll learn curious facts from soviet history while seeing how Russia exists now, 25 years after the USSR.

Local English-speaking guide

Pancake snack and drink

Additional food and drinks

Tickets for public transport

Souvenirs and items of a personal nature

Tips and gratuities for the guide

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking

Dress standard: Please wear comfortable shoes for walking. For your Urban Adventure you will be in a small group of a maximum of 12 people

Traveler Reviews

This tour exceeded our expectations. Nikolai (Nick), our tour guide, was very knowledgeable, thorough, and has a great personality. He didn't take shortcuts and really covered everything that was on the agenda in great detail. We saw beautiful metro stations and learned the history behind them, including many of the murals and designs.

We did the tour with Anna her knowledge and understanding of the History surrounding the metro brought the tour alive. Well done Anna!

This tour was amazing!

Anna was a great tour guide. She gave us heaps of interesting information, was very friendly, and very kindly showed us how to get to our next tour.

Amazing beauty and history.

An excellent tour helped by an absolutely amazing guide. Anna gave a great insight into the history of the metro helped by additional material she had prepared.

great tour and guide - thanks again

great will do it again, Miriam ke was very good as a guide she has lived here all here life so knew every interesting detail.a good day

Moscow Metro Tour

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Description

Moscow metro private tours.

  • 2-hour tour $87:  10 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with hotel pick-up and drop-off
  • 3-hour tour $137:  20 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with Russian lunch in beautifully-decorated Metro Diner + hotel pick-up and drop off. 
  • Metro pass is included in the price of both tours.

Highlight of Metro Tour

  • Visit 10 must-see stations of Moscow metro on 2-hr tour and 20 Metro stations on 3-hr tour, including grand Komsomolskaya station with its distinctive Baroque décor, aristocratic Mayakovskaya station with Soviet mosaics, legendary Revolution Square station with 72 bronze sculptures and more!
  • Explore Museum of Moscow Metro and learn a ton of technical and historical facts;
  • Listen to the secrets about the Metro-2, a secret line supposedly used by the government and KGB;
  • Experience a selection of most striking features of Moscow Metro hidden from most tourists and even locals;
  • Discover the underground treasure of Russian Soviet past – from mosaics to bronzes, paintings, marble arches, stained glass and even paleontological elements;
  • Learn fun stories and myths about Coffee Ring, Zodiac signs of Moscow Metro and more;
  • Admire Soviet-era architecture of pre- and post- World War II perious;
  • Enjoy panoramic views of Sparrow Hills from Luzhniki Metro Bridge – MetroMost, the only station of Moscow Metro located over water and the highest station above ground level;
  • If lucky, catch a unique «Aquarelle Train» – a wheeled picture gallery, brightly painted with images of peony, chrysanthemums, daisies, sunflowers and each car unit is unique;
  • Become an expert at navigating the legendary Moscow Metro system;
  • Have fun time with a very friendly local;
  • + Atmospheric Metro lunch in Moscow’s the only Metro Diner (included in a 3-hr tour)

Hotel Pick-up

Metro stations:.

Komsomolskaya

Novoslobodskaya

Prospekt Mira

Belorusskaya

Mayakovskaya

Novokuznetskaya

Revolution Square

Sparrow Hills

+ for 3-hour tour

Victory Park

Slavic Boulevard

Vystavochnaya

Dostoevskaya

Elektrozavodskaya

Partizanskaya

Museum of Moscow Metro

  • Drop-off  at your hotel, Novodevichy Convent, Sparrow Hills or any place you wish
  • + Russian lunch  in Metro Diner with artistic metro-style interior for 3-hour tour

Fun facts from our Moscow Metro Tours:

From the very first days of its existence, the Moscow Metro was the object of civil defense, used as a bomb shelter, and designed as a defense for a possible attack on the Soviet Union.

At a depth of 50 to 120 meters lies the second, the coded system of Metro-2 of Moscow subway, which is equipped with everything you need, from food storage to the nuclear button.

According to some sources, the total length of Metro-2 reaches over 150 kilometers.

The Museum was opened on Sportivnaya metro station on November 6, 1967. It features the most interesting models of trains and stations.

Coffee Ring

The first scheme of Moscow Metro looked like a bunch of separate lines. Listen to a myth about Joseph Stalin and the main brown line of Moscow Metro.

Zodiac Metro

According to some astrologers, each of the 12 stops of the Moscow Ring Line corresponds to a particular sign of the zodiac and divides the city into astrological sector.

Astrologers believe that being in a particular zadiac sector of Moscow for a long time, you attract certain energy and events into your life.

Paleontological finds 

Red marble walls of some of the Metro stations hide in themselves petrified inhabitants of ancient seas. Try and find some!

  • Every day each car in  Moscow metro passes  more than 600 km, which is the distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
  • Moscow subway system is the  5th in the intensity  of use (after the subways of Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai).
  • The interval in the movement of trains in rush hour is  90 seconds .

What you get:

  • + A friend in Moscow.
  • + Private & customized Moscow tour.
  • + An exciting pastime, not just boring history lessons.
  • + An authentic experience of local life.
  • + Flexibility during the walking tour: changes can be made at any time to suit individual preferences.
  • + Amazing deals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the very best cafes & restaurants. Discounts on weekdays (Mon-Fri).
  • + A photo session amongst spectacular Moscow scenery that can be treasured for a lifetime.
  • + Good value for souvenirs, taxis, and hotels.
  • + Expert advice on what to do, where to go, and how to make the most of your time in Moscow.

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  17. Moscow Metro Underground Small-Group Tour

    Overview. Go beneath the streets on this tour of the spectacular, mind-bending Moscow Metro! Be awed by architecture and spot the Propaganda, then hear soviet stories from a local in the know.Finish it all up above ground, looking up to Stalins skyscrapers, and get the inside scoop on whats gone on behind those walls.

  18. Moscow Metro Daily Tour: Small Group

    Moscow has some of the most well-decorated metro stations in the world but visitors don't always know which are the best to see. This guided tour takes you to the city's most opulent stations, decorated in styles ranging from neoclassicism to art deco and featuring chandeliers and frescoes, and also provides a history of (and guidance on how to use) the Moscow metro system.

  19. Moscow Metro Tour with Friendly Local Guides

    Description Moscow Metro private tours. 2-hour tour $87: 10 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with hotel pick-up and drop-off 3-hour tour $137: 20 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with Russian lunch in beautifully-decorated Metro Diner + hotel pick-up and drop off. Metro pass is included in the price of both tours. Highlight of Metro Tour

  20. Moscow Metro Daily Tour: Small Group

    Moscow has some of the most well-decorated metro stations in the world but visitors don't always know which are the best to see. This guided tour takes you to the city's most opulent stations, decorated in styles ranging from neoclassicism to art deco and featuring chandeliers and frescoes, and also provides a history of (and guidance on how to use) the Moscow metro system.