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Banff Avenue in early morning light, with a bare rock mountain rising over the town
Gene Dizon / Unsplash

Tour Divide route map and race guide

A 2,745 mile mountain bike race from Banff to the Mexican border on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, free to enter and ridden without support.

2027 dates not announced yet, usually in June Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, New Mexico

The Tour Divide races the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, Adventure Cycling Association's off-pavement route along the Continental Divide. It starts in Banff and runs through Alberta, British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico to Antelope Wells, a border post on the Mexican line. The Grand Depart leaves Banff on a Friday morning in June, and the clock runs without a break until you reach the end.

Nobody marks the route and there are no checkpoints or officials, so you find your own way. The organizer's rules put mobile coverage at roughly 15% of the route. Download the map before you leave Banff: GPS shows where you are on it with no signal.

This is an unofficial guide: Goat Maps isn't affiliated with Tour Divide. Check the official site before you enter or race.

Tour Divide course map

Every course on the Goat Maps topo map, from start to finish. Each course has a map of its own further down.

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Save it in Goat Maps for a recce or race day. GPS shows where you are even without a signal.

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Tour Divide courses

CourseDistanceClimbingStartTime limit
Grand Depart: Banff to Antelope Wells2745 mi (4418 km)Fri, Jun 12, 7:00 AM

Start times are the 2026 edition's.

Tour Divide Grand Depart: Banff to Antelope Wells

One stage of 2,745 miles from the Canadian Rockies to the Mexican border.

Distance
2745 mi (4418 km)
Start
Fri, Jun 12, 7:00 AM

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You follow the official Tour Divide line, which is the Great Divide route with a few changes the organizer sets each year. South of Banff, a reroute after the 2016 floods sends you up Koko Claims, a steep hike-a-bike. You cross into the US at Roosville, Montana. In Colorado there's the Gold Dust Trail outside Breckenridge and the route's high point, Indiana Pass, at 11,910 feet. North of Silver City you ride the Continental Divide Trail. South of Silver City a long, lonely highway runs to Antelope Wells, and the race's final 134 miles are mostly flat, shadeless desert.

Services are often more than 100 miles apart, so plan food and water between towns. Expect a lot of climbing. The organizer's site says nearly 200,000 feet, and Bikepacking.com's file of the 2026 route comes to 158,051 feet over 2,681 miles. The only changes allowed are official wildfire detours, and fires close roads in some years: in 2025 a mandatory 140 mile detour around the Trout Fire in New Mexico cost that year's winner the record.

A gravel road through pine forest near Breckenridge, Colorado, with snowy peaks behind
Moriah Bender / Unsplash

How to enter

Entering costs nothing and there's nothing to win. Instead of registering, you write a letter of intent. The organizer takes them from the winter solstice, December 21, until the Grand Depart; send one through the contact form on tourdivide.org to be on the provisional start list. More than 250 riders said they'd start in 2026, and on the day the organizers split the 221 starters into waves 10 minutes apart.

You don't have to start with everyone. The rules let you ride the route as an individual time trial at any time, in either direction, and a northbound group leaves Antelope Wells on the same morning as the Banff start.

Self-support rules

You can use anything commercial along the way: stores, restaurants, motels, bike shops. It has to be open to every rider and not arranged ahead. Private resupply and private lodging are out, as are drafting and support crews. Locals can cheer you through their town, but family and friends can't travel out to meet you mid-race.

Before the start you may mail boxes to US Post Offices, care of general delivery. If your bike breaks beyond riding, you can get a ride to a repair, but you have to come back to the exact spot and the whole detour has to show on your GPS track. Riders' trackers show on a live map. With no checkpoints, riders police themselves, and the track is how the organizer checks that you stayed on the route.

Getting to Banff and home from the border

A dirt track across dry grassland and scattered trees in western New Mexico
Vasilis Karkalas / Unsplash

Fly into Calgary International. Banff is about 80 miles (125 km) west, by rental car, shuttle or your own bike.

Antelope Wells is a border fence in the Chihuahuan desert. The only people who live there work for US Customs and Border Protection. Book a shuttle to pick you up before you go, and fly home from El Paso or Tucson, each about 3 to 4 hours' drive away. Carry your passport too, since the route crosses into the US at Roosville.

Weather, snow and bears

A snowy peak and a full moon reflected in Vermilion Lakes outside Banff at dusk
Neil Rosenstech / Unsplash

June in Banff averages a high of 64°F (17.9°C) and a low of 40°F (4.4°C), with about 2.9 inches (73 mm) of rain. On the first day of the 2026 race it was raining and 39°F (4°C) on the Smith-Dorrien road south of Banff. The organizer warns that a big winter and a late spring can leave thigh-deep snow on passes over 10,000 feet in mid-June.

New Mexico runs the other way. In 2026 riders saw the mid-90s°F there, and one bike computer read 105°F (41°C). Storms and wildfire smoke came through late in the race. The route crosses grizzly and mountain lion country, and most riders carry bear spray.

Tour Divide GPS coordinates

Each place on the map is here in decimal degrees, latitude first. Paste them into any map app or add them as waypoints in Goat Maps.

  • Banff (start)

    4,593 ft (1,400 m)

    51.17508, -115.57208

  • Roosville border crossing

    48.99863, -115.05702

  • Breckenridge

    39.48291, -106.04655

  • Grants

    35.15412, -107.85910

  • Pie Town

    34.29964, -108.13254

  • Silver City

    32.77118, -108.27642

  • Antelope Wells (finish)

    4,665 ft (1,422 m)

    31.33486, -108.53029

Tour Divide FAQ

When is the Tour Divide 2027?

The 2027 date isn't announced yet. The organizer's rules put the Grand Depart on the second Friday in June. The 2026 race left Banff on Friday, June 12, at 7 a.m.

How much does it cost to enter the Tour Divide?

Nothing. There's no entry fee or formal registration. You send the organizer a letter of intent through tourdivide.org to get on the start list, and there are no prizes for finishing.

What is the Tour Divide record?

Victor Bosoni of France set it in 2026: 11 days, 8 hours and 27 minutes. The men's record before that was 13 days, 2 hours and 16 minutes, by Justinas Leveika in 2024. Meaghan Hackinen won the 2026 women's race in 14 days, 10 hours and 2 minutes, a women's record.

How long does the Tour Divide take?

The organizer puts the average at about three weeks. There's no cutoff and no rest day: the clock runs from the start in Banff until you reach Antelope Wells.

Can you have a support crew on the Tour Divide?

No. You ride solo and self-supported, and you can use only services open to every rider, like stores, motels and bike shops. Family and friends can't come out to meet you during the race.

Is there cell service on the Tour Divide?

Not much. The organizer's rules say mobile service covers about 15% of the route, at best, and warn against relying on a phone as your only way to reach anyone. Take the map offline before you start.

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Updated . An unofficial guide, from the organizer's published information. Coordinates from the organizer's course and OpenStreetMap contributors. Photos from Unsplash. Organize a race? We help with course files.