2025 Tour Divide: My Journey to the Starting Line

My journey to the 2025 Tour Divide starting line was long, arduous, and wrought with complications. Preparing for a 2,745-mile (4,418-kilometer) bikepacking race takes significant time, during which a million things can go wrong...

Taking a trip back to 2022 🏛️ 🏜️

I have always loved riding bicycles. Back when Lindsey and I lived in Indiana, I would ride my road bike all throughout the rolling county roads. Since moving to Utah, I have sold my road bike in favor of taking up mountain biking and gravel cycling. I much prefer the adventure and beauty of off-road riding over fighting traffic on busy roadways.

After taking up mountain biking, I slowly started to realize that I enjoyed distance and adventure riding more than pure downhill mountain biking. So, I started building on my endurance fitness by planning longer and longer routes into the backcountry around the Wasatch Front (e.g., Salt Lake City, UT) and Wasatch Back (e.g., Park City, UT) areas.

With all of this long-distance adventure riding, I came to realize that I had still never actually rode a full century ride (100 miles / 161 kilometers). So, when the opportunity came to participate in the Salty Lizard 100 gravel race, I jumped at it! On October 8th, 2022, I completed my first ever 100 mile (161 kilometer) gravel race in just over 8 hours of riding! Remember this date, it will be important later.

As exciting as this was, I was strangely not tired at the end of the race and felt like I could keep riding for several more hours. This feeling made me realize that I had the physical fitness, mental fortitude, and bike skills required to potentially ride ultra-endurance mountain bike/gravel races.

Finding the right ultra-endurance mountain bike race 🔎 🧑‍💻

I started watching a lot of ultra-endurance mountain biking events on YouTube. There are many such events world-wide, such as Badlands, The Mountain Races (Atlas, Silk Road, and Hellenic), GranGuanche Audax, etc. Closer to home, there are the triple-crown races of the USA: Colorado Trail Race, Arizona Trail Race, and Tour Divide.

I had initially wanted to race the Silk Road Mountain Race, which is held annually along a roughly 1,241 mile (2,000 kilometer) route in Kyrgyzstan. This route had everything that I was looking for in terms of physical challenges, self-sufficiency, grand nature, etc. However, the logistics and costs associated with reaching Kyrgyzstan seemed overly daunting for my first-ever ultra-endurance mountain bike race.

So, I turned my attention to the USA triple crown races. Immediately, the Tour Divide route started speaking to me. I went down a deep rabbit hole of watching every video I could find on YouTube; from the elite racers pushing the limits of human endurance to the causal riders slow-touring the adjacent Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR), enjoying the scenery. It didn't take long for me to decide that I wanted to race the Tour Divide route. The question was, could I actually complete the 2,745-mile (4,418-kilometer) route on my first-ever ultra-endurance mountain bike race?

Announcing my intent to race the 2024 Tour Divide 🚵‍♂️ 🏁

On October 3rd, 2023, roughly one year after completing my first-ever 100 mile (161 kilometer) gravel race, I formally announced my intent to race in the 2024 Tour Divide. No, that's not a typo, I did intend to race in the 2024 Tour Divide, not the 2025 edition. That meant that I had roughly seven and a half months to prepare for the June 14th, 2024 start date. Unfortunately, my body had other plans that would eventually delay my Tour Divide dreams.

Keith’s Midlife Crisis: Racing the 2024 Tour Divide (Announcement Part 1 of 2)

This post is the official announcement of Keith’s intention to compete in the 2024 Tour Divide bikepacking race.

Keith and LindseyKeith Huster

Looking back on this, it's crazy to think that in less than one year, I went from being unsure if I could complete a 100 mile (161 kilometer) gravel race to signing up for the longest official ultra-endurance mountain bike race in the world!

Over-training + improper bike fit = injury! 🤕 🩼

I was training... hard... every chance that I could get. During the summer, I rode my 2021 Intense Sniper T mountain bike as frequently as I could, by myself and with my friends. On any given week, I could be found climbing up steep forest service roads and/or descending technical downhill mountain bike trails. It wasn't uncommon for me to work at my desk all day (I am a software engineer) and then go out for a 5-6 hour endurance training ride in the evening.

During the winter months, I mainly trained on an indoor trainer in my "pain cave" during the week. I spent most weekend days skiing with Lindsey and our friends at Snowbird. I mainly skied moguls and steep, technical runs that worked to build my leg strength and endurance. I also hiked some of the side-country routes at Snowbird such as High Baldy and Gad II Boundary to gain even more physical fitness and high-altitude acclimation. After returning home from a full day of skiing, I would then head out on my bike to ride at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) of local paved bike trails.

Needless to say, all this training was very rough on my body and I was often not giving my body enough time to recover. This wear and tear, along with what turned out to be an improper bike fit (or lack thereof a professional bike fit), eventually caught up with me...

In the Spring of 2024, I started noticing some soreness in my knee after a full day of skiing and/or during hard indoor training sessions. Towards the end of Spring, I knew something was wrong as the pain became unbearable and I was no longer able to ski. My sports doctor, Dr. Chappell of In2It Medical, discovered that I had strained a ligament in my knee. Thankfully, it was just a strain, but the recovery plan included several months of intense physical therapy. This meant that I wouldn't be back to 100% in time for the 2024 Tour Divide. 😔

Addressing the issues and refocusing on the 2025 Tour Divide 🏋️‍♂️ 📐

After meeting with my physical therapist Cade Mortensen at American Fork Physical Therapy, he determined that the strained ligament in my knee was caused by two main factors: weak stabilizer muscles/tendons around my knees and an improper bike fit, which caused repetitive strain on the ligament.

To address the weak stabilizer muscles/tendons, I followed a rigorous training plan that included a lot of heavy, slow weightlifting (e.g., barbell back squats, deadlifts, etc.), single-leg weightlifting (e.g., Bulgarian split squats, weighted step ups, etc.), and static tendon rebuilding (e.g., wall sits, Spanish squats, etc.). My physical therapist also worked in off-axis drills to help further build the stabilizer muscles that can become weak due to cycling limiting your range of effort to a single plane of motion (i.e., pedal rotation).

To address the bike fit issue, I met with Chris Yeager at Peak State Fit. Chris used the amazing Retul Bike Fit System to analyze the issues with my current bike setup. He quickly discovered that my saddle was too high... I mean, way too high! That was causing over-extension of my knees which was a leading cause of the strained ligament. Chris helped me to dial in all aspects of my cycling position including saddle position, handlebar width, aero bar positioning, pedal q-factor, etc. It took my body about a month to become accustomed to the new positioning but I have been riding pain-free ever since!

Thanks to Cade and Chris' efforts, along with my own determination, I was able to fully recover and come back stronger than ever after just a few months. This meant that I was ready to start training for the 2025 Tour Divide! 🥳

A blessing in disguise... the disaster that was the 2024 Tour Divide 🌧️ 🥶

I initially thought that my year-long setback was a curse. However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The 2024 Tour Divide turned out to be a true sufferfest! A combination of late spring snow storms, heavy rains, and unseasonably cold temperatures led to a miserable first week of the race. Many of the racers dropped out shortly after reaching Montana due to extreme cold and unrelenting rain. Other, slower racers, were forced to drop out due to mountain pass closures in Canada caused by heavy snowstorms.

After seeing so many seasoned veterans drop out so early, I started to question if I would have been able to make it past that first week of the race. The reality is... probably not. I would have more than likely been caught up in at least one of the severe snowstorms and I am not sure if I would have been adequately equipped to survive in such brutal conditions. Best case, the conditions would have set me so far back that I probably wouldn't have completed the race within the allotted timeframe. Worst case, I would have had to drop out within the first 1/3 of the race, which would have been emotionally devastating to me.

Thankfully, the 2025 Tour Divide would turn out to have some of the best weather in recent race history. Aside for some minor rainstorms and one heavy snow day, the weather was beautiful, the trails were dry, and I was able to enjoy all that the Tour Divide had to offer.

Driving to Banff, Alberta, Canada 🛣️ 🇨🇦

Now that I was healthy again, it was time to start thinking about how to actually, physically get to the starting line...

The Tour Divide starts at the YWCA Banff Hotel, which is located on the outskirts of Banff, Alberta in Canada. Banff is roughly a 15 to 16 hour drive from our home in Orem, Utah. I briefly considered flying myself and my bike to Banff as this would be the quickest, most direct route. However, after discussing travel options with Lindsey, we decided to make this journey into a long road trip.

We have a friend, Randy, who lives in Helena, Montana. Helena just happens to be almost exactly in the middle of our route between Orem, Utah and Banff, Alberta. This was the perfect opportunity to visit with him. Also, by driving rather than flying, Lindsey could come along and have a mini-vacation in Banff while I prepared to embark on the race.

One downside of driving to Banff was that Lindsey would have to drive all the way back to Orem, Utah by herself. To solve this problem, Lindsey invited her Mom to fly into Bozeman, Montana so that they could have a road trip together on their way back to Utah. This road trip included amazing stops at Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park, among many others.

Wrapping up 🚵 ➡️

With physical ailments resolved, bike fit issues addressed, and travel arrangements in place, I was finally ready to start the 2025 Tour Divide race!

In the next post, I dive deep into the bikepacking gear that I used and the "race plan" that I attempted to follow. Be sure to subscribe to our blog so you don't miss out.

Have you ever raced the Tour Divide or any other ultra-endurance bikepacking event? Are you considering entering such an event? Let us know about your experiences in the comments below. 👇 💬