Mike Hall of Yorkshire, England, has officially set a new record for the Tour Divide, with a time of 13 days, 22 hours, and 51 minutes. He broke the previous record by a whopping 12 hours and 46 minutes!
For those who are unfamiliar, the Tour Divide route travels from Banff, Alberta, all the way to the Mexican border with New Mexico. The entire route is 2,745 miles long, and according to Pivot Cycles, contains 200,000 vertical feet of climbing. “Route trackers showing Mike’s average distance per day as 194.1 miles and total moving time as 10:14:36, with stops for rest and refueling making up the additional time,” according to Pivot Cycles, Hall’s frame sponsor.
Pivot had the chance to catch up with Mike Hall at the finish line:
We caught up with Mike soon after he finished and he said spent the duration of the event relatively unaware of what was going on with other competitors in the race, as he chose to take no mobile phone and ignore the spot tracking on other riders, and focusing on his own riding. In typical Mike Hall fashion, he lead the race from the front almost from the beginning. Speaking to Mike briefly after the finish, he said, “I’ve not been connected [to the world], am feeling a bit strange not knowing what is going on.” “It’s been good to have a clear run at the course. I have given it my best effort and am satisfied this is the best time I could have done.”
A big congratulations to Mike Hall on this historic achievement!
While it’s hard to fathom breaking the course record by over half a day, with the record having been shattered last year as well, I can’t help but wonder what the future has in store for the Tour Divide. Will sub-14 days be the new gold standard, with the truly top-level racers going much faster than that? Or will Mike Hall’s record hold for years to come?
As we watch world class ultra-endurance bikepackers like Mike Hall, Neil Beltchenko, Josh Kato, Jay Petervary, Rebecca Rusch, and more continue to push the boundaries of what’s physically possible on a mountain bike, the only thing I know for certain is that we probably can’t even comprehend the extraordinary feats of endurance that the future holds!
