2025 Tour Divide: Racing (Day 2) - Koko Claims, British Columbia 🇨🇦 to Butts Cabin, British Columbia 🇨🇦

I survived day 1, but now I am faced with the first major challenge of the race: the Koko Claims hike-a-bike section. 😨 I also pass through the town of Fernie, BC, 🌯 as I make my way toward Butts Cabin for the night. 🛖

Check out the Day 2 YouTube Video 📼 📺

The notorious "Koko Claims" hike-a-bike section ⛰️🥾

I consider Koko Claims to be one of the "special challenges" on the Tour Divide route. In my opinion, this obstacle is included solely to test your physical and mental fortitude.

I made the right call ✅ 😄

It was a tough decision, but I had made the right call by choosing to sleep through the night before attempting to scale Koko Claims. I woke up early, before sunrise, to start packing up camp. It was very cold, and my tent was wet from the prior night's storm. I did my best to dry everything off before packing up. I knew that I would eventually need to find a warm, sunny spot to dry out my tent.

The morning ascent started at 5:16 AM with more hike-a-bike. I could have ridden some of this section, but it was just as fast to push my bike. I turned on my Insta360 X3 360° camera to start recording my morning when I noticed the screen was glitching and sometimes wouldn't turn on at all. I could only see that the blue "ON" light was working, and it would switch to the red "RECORDING" light when I pressed the record button. All I could do was hope that the camera was actually still recording, but I wouldn't know for sure until many days later. 🤞

It didn't take long before I reached the first, extremely steep, boulder field section. 😮

The first of several steep boulder fields! 🪨 😨

I knew that the steep boulder fields were going to be tough, but I thought that I had done adequate training to prepare myself for this moment. I had practiced on numerous steep hike-a-bike sections in the Wasatch Mountains and the West Desert in Utah. Some of these training sessions were so steep that I was forced to strip the bags from my bike before ascending. 😓

However, even after all that training, I still didn't feel prepared for the ascent ahead. The difficulty of Koko Claims stemmed from three key components: 1) the consistent steepness, 2) the loose boulders, and 3) the overall distance to the summit. I had trained on the steeper obstacles and obstacles with looser footing (e.g., sand), but I had never trained in an environment that had these components over multiple, consecutive miles!

It's almost impossible to capture the true steepness of Koko Claims with an action camera or a phone camera. You really have to see it for yourself to truly appreciate just how steep it really is.

Looking back, I made a few rookie mistakes... I should have stripped more weight from my bike before attempting this ascent. Specifically, I should have drunk/dumped some of the excess water and also eaten/discarded some of the extra food that I was carrying. Dropping a few pounds would have helped tremendously. I should have also transferred some of the weight to my body by donning my Semsty Racing Vest. This would have better distributed weight between my person and my bike, thus making the bike easier to push.

However, at this early point of the race, I didn't yet have the confidence to travel across this rugged, remote terrain without an extra day or two worth of food and water.

Brief periods of relief 🚲 ☺️

Eventually, I completed the first boulder field section and was greeted with a lower-angle, rideable doubletrack section. 😌 I felt so good to be back on the bike again and not pushing. However, that feeling was short-lived...

At this point, I thought that I had made it past the most difficult part of Koko Claims. Little did I know, this was just the first of several, increasingly steep and long boulder field sections to come. I should have known better, but I think the optimism got the best of me. 🤦‍♂️

I did everything that I could to refuel during these lower-angle sections. I ate energy bars, drank lots of water, and focused on my breathing to try to bring my heart rate back down.

More and more pushing 😓 🆙

As I continued the ascent, I was challenged with increasingly steeper and longer boulder field sections. I managed to catch a couple of racers that were ascending slower than I was. However, I was also passed by other racers that had started from below where I had camped! The only thing I could do was focus on my own pace and try to remain at a consistent speed that didn't require numerous break periods.

Going into this climb, one thing that I didn't realize was just how much strain this would put on my upper body. I had done some limited weightlifting for my chest and arms before the start of the Tour Divide, but my legs were, by far, my primary focus. I actually found that my relatively weak upper-body strength was becoming the limiting factor for my pace. I was often taking breaks to give my arms a rest, rather than my legs, back, heart, or lungs.

One other unforeseen issue with this climb was the effect of the cold temperatures on my hands and fingers. Due to the steepness, I was required to keep my fingers on the brake levers anytime that I wasn't actively progressing forward. The brake levers, being metal, were extremely cold at this early morning hour. Also, due to the steepness, my hands were often above my head, so blood was not circulating to them as much as it typically does. This combination was causing my fingers to freeze, and I would have to stop, place my hands under my jacket, and allow them to warm up prior to continuing to push.

The summit and gnarly descent ☀️ 📉

Eventually, I finally reached the Koko Claims summit! 🥳 At the top, I saw a couple of other racers who were just starting to pack up their campsites. There was also a small, but really nice, cabin where a few other racers had spent the night. I can only imagine how cold it was camping up on the summit!

One of the racers that I passed just happened to be Jonno, from Australia. Jonno was riding the entire Tour Divide race route, but he had not signed up for the official race, so he was not on the TrackLeaders tracking map.

After a brief rest at the summit, I began the long, technical, gnarly descent down the backside of Koko Claims. I had watched a lot of YouTube videos about Koko Claims, but very few ever showed what the descent was like. To my surprise, it was way steeper and more technical to ride than I had ever expected.

Out of an abundance of caution, I chose to walk down multiple sections of the descent. The main issue was the combination of steep, loose, chunky doubletrack and the sheer weight of my fully loaded bike. When I tried to ride down some of these sections, I was unable to maintain traction, and my brakes were unable to bring my bike to a complete stop. I decided that it was much safer to walk and not risk serious injury on this second day of a nearly month-long journey.

After 3+ hours of pushing my bike up Koko Claims and over an hour descending back down, I had finally completed the first major hurdle of the 2025 Tour Divide race! 🙌

Starting the long traverse towards Fernie, BC 🏪 🇨🇦

The sun finally started to rise, and the temperatures started to warm, as I traversed across the mountain roads toward Fernie, BC. Fernie is the first town that racers pass through after leaving Banff, AB. After experiencing this route for myself, it's hard to believe that the elite racers can reach, and often surpass, Fernie on the first day! 🤯

I felt as if I was being rewarded with spectacular 360° mountain views after all of my effort to cross Koko Claims. As I traversed along, I realized an incredible thing... I was reaching the end of my first map section! This meant that I had traveled approximately 120 miles (193 kilometers) so far. Only 22 more map sections to go! 🤣

The gravel roads toward Fernie were absolutely stunning. Along with the mountain views, I was also treated to milky, turquoise blue rivers that paralleled the route. It's experiences like this that make all of the struggles worthwhile. I was in awe that entire time through this section.

Eventually, I reached the last mountain pass before the descent into Fernie. This was an unnamed pass on the Tour Divide Elevation Profile infographic but that didn't mean that it wasn't challenging. I was able to pedal up much of it, but I did have to resort to hike-a-bike for some of the steeper sections.

The final descent towards Fernie was wild! Unfortunately, I didn't get much video or many pictures due to my Insta360 X3 360° camera acting up and not wanting to stop to take photos with my phone. The gravel road was very steep, with loose sections and deep ruts that seemed to come out of nowhere. Needless to say, it kept me on my toes for the entirety of the descent.

Made it to Fernie, BC 🥳 🌯

After a brief pedal along a two-lane highway, I finally made it to the town of Fernie, BC!!! I was so stoked to have reached this point.

I first entered what appeared to be the older, historic main street section of Fernie. There were a few nice restaurants, but they all appeared busy. I wanted to make this first major resupply stop as short as possible, so I continued to the more modern side of Fernie.

I found a barBurrito, a fast-food restaurant, where I ordered two MASSIVE burritos with two drinks. 🌯 I annihilated the first burrito and both drinks. I packed away the second burrito for my dinner later that evening. After eating, I focused on performing some much-needed maintenance on my bike. I cleaned the chain and the rest of the drivetrain components to ensure that they were all operating smoothly. I also torque-checked all of the bikepacking rack bolts to verify that nothing was coming loose.

Before leaving town, I made a point to stop at the nearby Tim Hortons to get a sack of their donut holes. I knew that I couldn't leave Canada without at least trying something from the most quintessential Canadian breakfast chain. 🍩 I also swung by the GearHub bike shop to pick up some sugary snacks. Unfortunately, they were sold out of almost everything due to the faster racers that had already passed through. Thankfully, I was able to purchase a few of their remaining Honey Stinger Energy Waffles.

Leaving Fernie, BC and heading to Butts Cabin ⛰️ 🛖

Leaving the comforts of Fernie, BC, was tough, but I still had over 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) to go before reaching my goal: Butts Cabin. So, I headed out of town towards the two remaining mountain passes between me and my goal.

It was unseasonably hot in Fernie! 🥵 Another racer that I met, Holger Heinz Klanfer, from Germany, told me that it was 32°C (90°F) in town. I was not prepared for these hot temperatures this early in the race. I had fully expected the Canada section to be very cold and potentially rainy. Instead, it was very hot and surprisingly dry.

These climbs were tough due to several factors. First, it was very hot in the lower sections of the climbs. Thankfully, the heat dissipated as the elevation increased. Second, the climbs were tree-lined, which blocked any potential views. So, there really wasn't much to look at other than the steep road in front of me. Finally, I was climbing on a very full stomach. This was my first experience with eating this much food and then trying to get back into race pace. 🤢 Let's just say that it was quite a struggle and something that I would deal with for the entirety of the race.

I eventually caught up to another racer, Steve Mehne. He and I chatted for probably an hour as we made our way up the climbs. He was also targeting Butts Cabin, which was fantastic to hear, as this confirmed that Butts Cabin was probably in reach. Along the way, Steve told me a hilarious story about one of his friends. You'll have to watch the Day 2 video (linked at the top of this post) to hear that story. 🤣

Racing with Steve towards Butts Cabin 🚀 😄

After several hours of climbing, Steve and I were treated to an incredible, rolling descent towards Butts Cabin. This descent had everything! It was just steep enough that you didn't need to use your brakes, it had incredible views, and we were pushing each other to ensure that we made it to Butts Cabin before sunset. At points, we were cruising at over 30 mph (48 kph) on fully loaded bikes. It was so much fun!

Eventually, we spotted a cabin ahead of us. We both assumed this was Butts Cabin, so we pulled in. We saw several deer that were hanging out in the grass around the cabin. Unfortunately, this was not the right cabin, so we weren't there quite yet. We headed back out onto the road to make the rest of the journey toward Butts Cabin.

Made it to Butts Cabin before sunset! 🎉 🛖

As the sun was starting to set, we rounded one final corner, and there it was... Butts Cabin! ✅ Steve and I had made it with about an hour to spare before nightfall. There were a lot of other riders there when we arrived. I had assumed as much since this cabin is a well-known stop along the route.

The cabin itself was already full, so I found a spot to pitch my tent, close to the other racers who were also camping. I was able to store my food inside the cabin, which saved me the hassle of hanging my food bag from a tree to protect it from bears and other animals. I ate a quick meal, drank lots of water, and did some light stretching before preparing to sleep for the night. If I remember correctly, there was also a small outhouse building in the woods near the camping area.

Once again, I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. I slept like a rock after yet another hard day on the bike. I believe that Steve decided to push on through the night to another camping area further along the route. Steve finished the race a few days ahead of me, so I really didn't see him much after this point. Even so, I really enjoyed chatting and riding with him during our brief time together.

Day 2 ride stats 🧾 📈

My stats for the day:

• Distance: 102.74 miles (165.3 kilometers)
• Elevation Gain: 7,982 feet (2,433 meters)
• Moving Time: 10 hours, 3 minutes, and 21 seconds
• Calories Burned: 4,152 calories

Coming up next 🚵 ➡️

In the next post, I tackle "The Wall," and I cross back into the USA 🇺🇸. Be sure to subscribe to our blog so you don't miss out.

Have you ever taken on a massive, seemingly impossible challenge like "Koko Claims"? If so, what tips do you have for future attempts at challenges such as this? Let us know in the comments below. 👇 💬