It only took me 10 years, but I finally returned to Canada for the start of this year’s Tour Divide. Given some of the information being circulated in the US media about Canada being a bad neighbor of the United States, I found it imperative to share some goodwill with my northern neighbors and friends. It couldn’t have been a more pleasant reminder of just how nice our closest allies are.

On the first morning of the Tour Divide, I had a pleasant conversation with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, and we both were not happy with tariffs or antagonistic messaging coming from Washington, but we could easily agree that it was just politics and we were still friends. That same day, while making my way around the G7 conference, I stopped for gas and was invited to ride for some shuttle laps at Moose Mountain by a complete stranger. I really wanted to go, but I had a race to photograph.

While waiting for a lead racer to cross the Elk River into Fernie that evening, another complete but very friendly stranger walked up to see what I was photographing, and we must have had a 20+ minute conversation about everything from bikes to history and, of course, politics. It was incredibly refreshing to hear him acknowledge how sometimes good people just make bad decisions, and I couldn’t agree more. When we think at a base level that most people are good people, it becomes a lot easier to listen and empathize with them, to be friendly, and to work toward a common good.

Alright, already, the race. My race began on a Wednesday morning when I started driving to Banff from my home in Boulder, Colorado, and it was a long two-day drive that gave me plenty of time to think about the Tour Divide. I arrived in Banff roughly 12 hours before the start of the event and stopped for a few photos of the mile 0 start point and the majestic Fairmont Springs Banff hotel, which looks much better from the front than from the bike path that goes around the back at the start of the Tour Divide.

The start roll-out wasn’t on my shot list, so I spent the night in a campground in the Spray Valley where I’d be closer to the photos I really wanted to take. Of course, my plan A was a bust, and I scrambled to my plan B location and totally blew getting a shot of the lead racer in doing so—classic starting a 2,700-mile race on the back foot. However, I was stoked about these photos of Jacob Hora and Quinda Verheul.

I shot through a good bit of the field and ended up with far more photos than most folks would want to scroll through, but they’ll make for good content later. With the G7 conference happening, I had to backtrack up the route and divert around and toward Calgary to get down to Fernie, where I could rejoin the race. It was longer than expected, and my mountain biking plans in Fernie had to wait for another day. Still on the backfoot, Robin Gemperle beat me to Fernie, and it would be the next day in Montana on the descent into Whitefish before I could finally get a photo of him. In a mind-blowing effort, Robin covered 310 miles in the first 24 hours of the Tour Divide—that wasn’t expected! I crossed back into the USA at Roosville that first night, parked my truck at 11:45 p.m., and slept in a quiet campground just off route.

After finally getting some shots of Robin, I stuck to my plan and continued to Red Meadow Lakes, which is just as pretty as it is significant for being the second major pass of the route in Montana. On my very first trip past Whitefish in the 2011 Tour Divide, this entire section of the route was snowed in and required quite the hike-a-bike effort from the racers. It’s also where I first met Mike Hall. At Red Meadow Lakes, I photographed then-second-place rider Mikko Kainu before heading further down the route on Red Meadow Rd.

I’ve photographed this creek before but never had the luck or patience to catch a racer here. This would be the year I waited for a racer, and it only took two hours before Jimmy Ashby rolled by in fourth place. On another note, there’s not much for views on these roads as the trees are tall, and the undergrowth is just as dense as the grizzly population.

It was quite hazy in the Flathead Valley but still pretty. This view of the Flathead River and Glacier National Park was taken off-route just south of Red Meadow Rd.

I made a quick stop in Columbia Falls to restock on provisions before heading further south, where I’d catch Karen Pocock, the then-fifth-place woman, with the Swan Mountains behind her. It’s worth mentioning just how nice the weather was so far compared to previous years, and I doubt any of the veteran racers would say otherwise.

Literally within sight of the route is Holland Lake, which is located in the lower section of the Swan Valley. It was a must-stop for me as this lake is just as stunning as refreshing for taking a quick dip in to get cleaned up and invigorated from too many days on the road without a shower. If you don’t stop and go swimming in this lake on a warm sunny day, what are you even doing with your life?

After getting cleaned up, I headed down to Morrell Creek Rd for sunset photos and to catch up with Ana Jager, who was in third place. Since the weather was so nice and I had a cell signal, I made the call to spend the night just up the road and shoot late into the night.

Sleeping in a spot where I have a signal makes life much easier to know when and where I can expect racers on the route. I was up before sunrise on the next day and patiently waited for Alexandera Houchin to cross my path. I think she might have been enjoying the beautiful morning sunrise as much as I was when she rode by.

Quinda wasn’t far behind Alexandera at this point, but just far enough for me to move up the route and grab some photos that looked different.

My next move would be even further down the route, and I finally got to catch up with TD legend Kathy at the Blackfoot Angler in Ovando. Although, I totally spaced getting a photo of her!

Hard decisions were made on whether to make a big run for the leaders or hang back. I decided to finally take the time to see Huckleberry Pass and enjoy the day. Every year, I try to learn new parts of the route I’ve never seen as it’s really the only way to do it. The plan was to catch racers at Stemple Pass, but little did I know the route had been updated to no longer include Stemple Pass. It only took an hour or so to realize I’d just squandered more precious time on the Divide. With another busted plan, my options were few, and a power drive ensued to catch the lead woman, Nathalie Baillon, as she rolled into Butte.

I made a quick stop in Feely to grab some more opportunistic photos of Max Riese and Jimmy Ashby before proceeding further south to sleep for the night. That next morning, day five, I was committed to spending a bit of time photographing racers before and after Lima. First on the list was the retired World Tour pro road racer, Svein Tuft, who I caught up with in the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge research community.

I beelined it back into Lima to find Jens Van Roost at Ralph’s Exxon, which is the only refuel stop in Lima and for many, many miles of the route in southern Montana. You can get pretty much anything you need to survive in southern Montana at Ralph’s, and some stuff that is probably quite useless, too. It’s a rare gas station of the West in a rare part of the West.

Tell me you’re in Lima without telling me you’re in Lima.

I made another out-and-back to get some more photos of Jens on the bike before heading back up the route to catch the chasers.

Max Riese powering into Lima, Montana.

Best bike sticker of the TD so far was found on Max Riese’s bike!

The Lima section of the route is one that’s ripe with photo opportunities and also a personal favorite section. Lots of cell reception for Trackleaders updates, smooth highways to cut the course, and great wide-open Montana skies. It made for a good chance to get more photos of Nathalie after she found a replacement wheel and returned to the race.

I had some time to spare and decided on staying on-route and driving through Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge for sunset. It certainly wasn’t as fast as taking the highway to Pinedale, but it sure was much prettier.

The hours that followed were not so great, and it was a mega drive to Pinedale to rejoin the race leader, whose pace was making things incredibly challenging for me. The inglorious part of Tour Divide coverage are the mind-numbing hours behind the wheel playing catch up, compounded only by a late night where everything is closed and I’m driving until past midnight to reach my next destination. It’s part of the job, just like going fast is for Robin Gemperle.

I finally caught back up with Robin on the Lander Cut-Off Rd west of Pinedale, Wyoming. A forest fire was blazing to the west of Pinedale, and its smoke was pushed right onto the route. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem to bother Robin or Jens much, but the verdict is out on how it might have compounded the effects of the respiratory cold Svein had been battling since the start.

Svein on the way into Pinedale.

A wide shot of Jens crossing the Green River on the south side of Union Pass. I really wanted to get up to Union Pass, but the timing and my state of haggardness just didn’t support that decision. Instead, I settled on waiting near the Green River, which is one of the last few undammed rivers of the West.

My next move to close out day six of the Tour Divide was to head into the Great Divide Basin to enjoy the sunset and semi-clear skies that see very little light pollution. It had been too many years for me to experience the Basin, and I openly welcomed this opportunity to spend 24 hours in one of my top three favorite places of the Tour Divide. I could talk at length about the beauty and serenity of the Basin, but I think these photos from where I stayed just off-route say it much better.

Unfortunately for Jens (and Svein), there was mud in the Basin despite the near-perfect weather. I’ll say it again: Wamsutter is the armpit of the Tour Divide, and this photo of freshly “dust treated” roads just north of Wamsutter, wet and muddy from the oil and gas company applying mag chloride to them, is one of many reasons for my disdain of this section of the route. I spent $20 at the car wash getting this cement-like mud off my truck! Even if there are more highway miles on the old route through Ralwins, it’s an incredibly better and safer route than what’s raced today.

After catching up with Jens and Svein, they both arrived together at the Love’s in Wamsutter, I headed back into the Basin for another round of sunset photos in this unique doubletrack section where I caught Jochen Bohringer.

Max Riese dodges calves running wild. Of all the wildlife and animals to watch out for on the Divide, baby calves present by far the most unpredictable behavior and will run in any direction at random, which sometimes is right in front of you.

Sunset in the Basin is a thing to behold, and the pronghorn just amplified that sentiment.

After a most pleasing sunset in the Basin, it was time for another power drive session. I headed further south and rolled into Brush Mountain Lodge with my lights off just before midnight. I slept past sunrise that morning as Jens rolled out just before it, and the sleep was much needed. I spent the morning getting caught up with Kristen (no riders were there yet), had some of her famous blueberry pancakes, had my first shower in over a week, and proceeded to edit photos for the rest of the morning. Make no mistake: Brush Mountain Lodge is the best stop on the entire route, and I was extremely happy to include it this year.

Later in the morning, Svein arrived weary and ready to scratch, so much so that he asked me for a ride into Steamboat. Fortunately, some food, a shower, and rest seemingly changed his mind, and I headed out before he could have another chance to ask. Before I left, Jorchen and Max rolled in close together. Jorchen was in and out real quick, and Max took a more sensible stop with some food and rest before proceeding down the Divide. Their ride there included strong winds that took it out of everyone arriving that day. For those in the Basin who got that wind on their nose, well, I feel for them and couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been when combining the hot sun and high 90+ degree temperatures.

With the leaders in Colorado and now New Mexico, this is shaping up to be the fastest Tour Divide ever. Without question, it’s the best weather and fastest conditions I’ve ever seen at the Tour Divide, which is 13 of the 16 years it’s been held. Exciting, to say the least.

Forest fires seem to be threatening the route, so it remains to be seen just when Robin will finish. On that note, I’ll sign off with a photo of some of the less wild wildlife of Colorado near Sand Pass, which is now another historical remnant of the route.

Check out the 2025 Tour Divide Tracker page to follow along on the live tracking map, see our Rigs of the Tour Divide roundups, and stay tuned in for more event coverage. Find it here.

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