What is the Tour Divide
Starting in Banff, Canada and finishing in Antelope Wells, New Mexico, each year on the second Friday of June the Tour Divide (TD) is an unsupported bikepacking race roughly covering 4,418km or 2,745 miles with 50,000 meters or 165,000 feet of elevation gain of unpaved mountainous terrain, providing riders with some of the most beautiful scenery North America has to offer. With no designated rest stops and a constant running clock, riders are left to their own devices and to follow a predetermined route via downloaded gpx file. Those looking to achieve the fastest times plan at around 3 to 4 hours of sleep per night.
Riders from around the world have attempted to conquer the race, with participants ranging from professional cyclists to amateur endurance enthusiasts. With no entry fees, no sponsorship, and no prizes, the TD is often referred to as a test of human spirit as much as it is a race. The route itself is unmarked and requires cyclists to navigate their way through mountain passes, forests, estuaries and rocky terrain.
The TD is one of the most iconic and demanding events on the ultra-distance cycling calendar and is hailed as one of the ultimate backcountry bikepacking cycling challenges. Click here to go to the tour divide website.
Tour Divide day 1-4 Banff (Canada)-Roosville (USA)
The following is taken from my Strava post:
This was the hardest riding (well hike-a-bike) I have had to do. Day 1 was nice enough with only Elk pass but day 2 was Koko claims and that was a b!tch, Sulphur mountain was reasonable. Day 3 was when the locking nut on my crank fell off somehow and its now lost in the forest somewhere and the crank arm repeatedly dropped off but still managed to keep riding after tightening the synch bolts multiple times but got to fix it properly. Day 4 was pretty much just hike a bike up “the wall” and Galton pass, with a lot of snow basically all the passes have here in Canada. My free hub stopped working though so have to get that repaired too as I can’t even pedal anymore. To top it all off, I fell off the bike coming down Galton pass which is close to the US border and eventually found out that I broke 6 ribs, a punctured lung and left knee is slightly hurt. Finding it extremely difficult to move but the ibuprofens are helping ever so slightly but will stay in the motel room in Eureka Montana a couple nights as the weather here has turned quite bad and there has been many rescues of riders from Fernie Canada to Roosville Montana and most riders are staying put in Eureka Montana. Had to scratch from this year’s TD.
Click here to view the YouTube video.
Getting to Denver Colorado with 6 broken ribs and my bike
After finally arriving at my friends place in Denver Colorado (big thanks to Karen) by train from Whitefish Montana, via Portland Oregon, Sacramento California and Salt Lake City Utah, I recovered for 2.5 weeks watching a lot of Netflix, going to a baseball game, museums, attending a 4th of July street parade and dork dancing and also seeing another friend Sommer, (we became friends after meeting in Nepal in 2017 when we hiked Mt Everest), I was back on track of my previously planned schedule. The train trip took 2 days as I decided to stop overnight in Portland as I hadn’t been to Oregon before. It was pretty difficult to do anything at all really and had to ask people to carry my bike in the cardboard bike box as I couldn’t lift anything. Walking, lifting, moving and sleeping were all very difficult but the paracetamols and the interesting conversations I had on the train helped.
Hiking in Utah
The last time I was in US before 2022 was 2019 and when chatting to other hikers within the national parks that I went to they were all saying that I had to go to Utah and hike there as it was spectacular. I was like what is so fascinating about deserts and rocks. It wasn’t until I got home and did some research I then thought I had to visit sometime soon. All I can say is that Utah is one hell of a special place to visit. Totally different than the other national parks that I had visited in the US to date. Not only many national parks but also national monuments and state parks.. Well worth going, just take a lot of water and not go during the summer as it can get extremely hot.
The following are from my Facebook posts:
What a fantastic national park this is in Utah. Hot, 38 degrees c, but worth it.
Have been planning on being here for the last 3 years and have finally made it. Definitely a pinch ya moment.
Photos taken from driving around the Monument valley area and also on route to Capitol Reef NP.
Some photos taken from the various hikes I did over the past couple of days in this NP. The campground was an oasis within the desert. Yesterday a big blister burst on my right foot and isn’t pleasant atm. Will have to take it easy over the next couple of days, as I will have a highlight hike coming up and don’t want to miss that.
If you want multiple photos of Bryce Canyon hoodoos (spires), well you have come to the right place. Truely breathing scenery.
With an imminent thunderstorm forming above Zion NP and all trails have been closed and I’m leaving this magnificent NP tomorrow morning, thought I would share the photos that I took whilst here. Though to cull as Zion is spectacular. Zion NP should be high on your must see US NP’s. One to remember + it has the US’s most dangerous hike here, Angle’s Landing trail and a very unique canyon hike, The Narrows trail, walking up & back the Virgin River.
With it being my last couple of days in Utah, I spent it up in the mountain region of Park City. Pretty stark contract to the sountern part of Utah. Tip: Best way to finish any day, especially 2 weeks of hiking, is hitting a hot spring.
Took a side trip to Nebraska, on the way back to Denver. When you think Nebraska you think wide open grass/farmlands, but they do have a few interesting natural formations but not really much else.
After 5.5 weeks of recovery and hiking, it was onto the next leg of my 6 month trip, bike touring for 3 months is Europe. Click here for the link to that post.
