The Tour Divide is a grueling test of endurance, as participants must mountain bike from Canada to Mexico in what is known as the longest off road mountain bike race in the world. The race measures at 2,712 miles, which starts from Banff, Canada and journeys through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and finally ended at the boarder of Mexico.
Konan Stephens is one of the many participants that faced this daunting task. Stephens is a pastor in Pickerington, OH at C3 Church and he loves to push the limits.
“I did it in 22 ½ days. The official time was 22 days 11 hours and 54 minutes. We climbed right around 200,000 feet of elevation, so the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest seven times from sea level to peak,” Stephens said.
Out of the 185 riders, only 70 finished the race. Of those who finished Stephens came in 30th place. Stephens, who is always looking for new ways to push his physical body to the limit, did this event after previously doing a 100-mile run.
“There would be days I would be climbing for hours and hours, then come screaming down the other side at over 30 mph down gravel roads,” Stephens said.
Stephens described the adventure and told of some of the trials he faced. From rain and mud so thick it’s like peanut butter to having hands that were numb and sustained nerve damage, Stephens experienced many trials. With all these cons there were still aspects on this trip that Stephens wouldn’t trade.
“You learn so much about yourself, and for me when I push myself to the brink of physical destruction, it’s like everything is stripped away and I’m able to connect with God on a real deep level. I came back completely shattered physically, but emotionally and spiritually, I came back incredibly full,” Stephens said.
“When you think you’ve come to the end of yourself you can always go farther. When my rope ended Christ’s rope kept going, and it’s in those moments where you say ‘I will never quit’ and you fight through,” Stephens said.
By doing this race Stephens raised $10,000 towards the Tyler’s Light Charity. This charity helps bring drug awareness. A family who lost their son, Tyler, to a heroine overdose started it. The charity is right in Stephens’ community and he was thrilled to be able to help them out.
Stephens says that this is not something that he will do again, but that the experience is one that he wouldn’t trade. Continuing his quest for testing his physical body Stephens has his eyes set on the Yukon River Quest. This adventure involves kayaking the Yukon River, and is the longest annual paddling race in the world. A full video of Stephens’ experience is on YouTube under Tour The Divide- All Footage. This will show the full experience that Stephens had on his trip from Canada to Mexico.
