Is this 2,465-mile suffer fest a freak show or a new breed of bike race?
On June 17, 2005, a small band of mountain bikers will set off from the Canadian border in Port Roosville, Montana, for the Great Divide Race—the longest and most difficult mountain bike race in the world. For 2,465 miles, they will pedal remote dirt roads and singletrack, repeatedly crisscrossing the Continental Divide through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico for an obscene 225,000 feet of total climbing, until they reach the sun-baked desert of the Mexican border.
Ultra-distance mountain biker Mike Curiak, 34, had been holding below-the-radar, 300- to 400-mile-long races in Colorado and Utah for several years before he dreamed up the Great Divide Race. Seven riders showed up for the inaugural 2004 race (four finished), in which Curiak averaged 154 miles a day to finish in an inconceivable 16 days, 57 minutes—decimating the seemingly unbreakable route record of 18 days set by John Stamstad in 1999.
What takes the race to truly stratospheric levels of masochism, though, is that it’s entirely self-supported. Riders carry all their gear. They bivy on the ground and inhale whatever they can find at dusty small-town stores along the way. Few would argue with Curiak’s statement that it’s “the hardest race I can imagine.” And with no prize money or support, it may be the world’s ultimate grassroots endurance test.
Multiday mountain bike races are an emerging trend—including the 400-mile, fully-supported TransAlp Challenge and the 372-mile TransRockies Challenge—but the Great Divide Race is so far ahead of the curve that it makes even the Tour de France, often called the toughest sporting event in the world, look like a leisurely trundle through vineyards.
While the Great Divide Race is only physically possible for a handful of the planet’s most freakishly fit riders, Curiak is quick to point out that, “a 500-mile race in the same spirit, now that’s something a lot of people are capable of doing, and that’s where the future is.”
Follow the progress of riders in the 2005 Great Divide Race at www.greatdividerace.com.
