About the race
The Tour Divide is an ultra-distance mountain bike challenge that follows the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route along the Continental Divide, from Banff in Alberta, Canada, to Antelope Wells in New Mexico, USA. The organiser describes it as an expedition-style bike race that is solo and self-supported, with the aim of covering the route as fast as possible.
The route
The route is run as one stage of 2,745 miles, or 4,418 km, according to the organiser. It crosses mountain passes and windswept valleys, running from the Canadian Rockies down to the badlands of the Mexican plateau. The organiser has a route description page and a page on the challenge itself, plus a rider library and a tour guide for people getting ready.
History
The organiser's site carries results and start lists from the early 2010s and an archive of race updates, and says the Great Continental Divide Mountain Bike Race ran as a grand departure in June 2014. The site does not give a founding date.
Grand Depart and the ITT-Divide
Time-trial season on the route opens each year with Grand Departs, around the second weekend of June, from both ends of the route. These solstice common starts let riders face the route under similar weather and the longest daylight. Anyone who cannot make a Grand Depart can attempt an individual time trial, called the ITT-Divide, at another time of the season.
Entry and rules
There is no entry fee and no formal registration. The site publishes start lists and riders' letters of intent. There is no prize for finishing. Every rider gets a toll-free phone number with voicemail for reporting from the field, and the messages are published on the race updates blog. Riders who carry SPOT satellite messengers can be followed on a live tracker. The organiser links to a rules page.
Where to watch
With no formal event, there are no set spectator points. Followers use the start list, the tracker and the voicemail updates, while the two Grand Depart locations, Banff and Antelope Wells, are where the route begins.
Weather
The route runs through mountains from Canada to New Mexico in early summer, so conditions can range widely over its length and from day to day. This is general background, not a forecast.
SourcesTour Divide home · About Tour Divide