The World's Biggest Cycling Ultras

No outside help

You can only take water from natural sources or public taps, you can't buy anything in shops, and no pre-placed caches are allowed. Free, no-booking shelters and campsites are fine. The strictest level: none of the events on our list is run this way.

What's available to everyone

You can use anything that is equally available to everyone along the way: shops, wells, hotels, bike shops, even a parcel posted ahead. Help meant only for you (a support crew, a friend's bed, a pre-arranged meet-up) is out. Most bikepacking events work this way, but note that individual events have their own special rules.

With organised support

Any amount of help is allowed as long as you move under your own power: a crew, aid stations, organiser-provided sleeping places. RAAM (support vehicle), The Munga (race villages) and Paris–Brest–Paris (controls with food and help) are like this.

Tour Divide

Banff (Canada) → Antelope Wells (USA–Mexico border), 4,418 km along the Rocky Mountains, mostly on dirt roads. It starts together in June (Grand Depart), but you can also ride it individually; the solo version is known as the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR).

FKT: 11 days 8 hours 27 minutes, Victor Bosoni (@victorbozo). Women: 14 days 10 hours 2 minutes, Meaghan Hackinen (@meaghanhackinen).

Transcontinental Race

A race across Europe with mandatory control points; everyone plans their own route. The start and finish change every year, and the distance is roughly 4,000–4,700 km. Founded by Mike Hall.

FKT: none, because the route is different every year.

Silk Road Mountain Race

Kyrgyzstan, August. ~2,000 km and ~35,000 m of climbing over the passes of the Tian Shan, stretches longer than 100 km without resupply, and mandatory sleeping gear rated to −15 °C. The flagship of the series.

Atlas Mountain Race

Morocco, March. ~1,350 km and ~25,000 m of climbing through the Atlas and Anti-Atlas mountains, finishing in Essaouira on the Atlantic coast.

Hellenic Mountain Race

Greece, May. ~900 km and ~28,000 m of climbing, from the mountains near Thessaloniki to Nafpaktos. Per kilometre, this is the most climbing in the series.

Taurus Mountain Race

Türkiye, October. ~1,440 km in the Taurus Mountains, starting from Antalya. It was held for the first time in 2026.

Highland Trail 550

Scotland, starting and finishing in Tyndrum, ~885 km (550 miles) on mountain tracks. Rainy, cold and wet: only good clothing and the bothies (open shelters) protect you from the conditions.

It's a free event and only 60 riders are selected each year. You can apply on a single day, with an application that states your bikepacking experience.

FKT: 3 days 5 hours 27 minutes, Alex McCormack.

Badlands

Granada, Andalusia. ~800 km and ~16,000 m of climbing on gravel, through Europe's only deserts and over Pico Veleta (3,396 m), the highest pass in Europe.

A strange mix: somewhere between a long gravel event and a short ultra. Long for gravel, short for a true ultra. Either way, it belongs on the bucket list.

FKT: no official course record is kept, because the route changes every year.

Tuscany Trail

Tuscany, starting from Campiglia Marittima. ~460 km and ~5,900 m of climbing on gravel roads. The biggest bikepacking event in the world, with thousands of starters. It isn't a race: you ride at your own pace, and there's a shorter ~160 km Newbie route for your first multi-day ride.

FKT: none, because it isn't a race.

Hope 1000

Across Switzerland, from Romanshorn to Montreux. 1,000 km and more than 30,000 m of climbing on MTB terrain.

FKT: 3 days 16 hours 56 minutes, Marin de Saint-Exupéry, 2021.

Holyland Challenge

Israel, from Mount Hermon to Eilat on the Red Sea. ~1,400 km, ~20,000 m of climbing. It is not being held because of the war.

FKT: Hanoch Redlich, 2014 (6:10:06 according to bikepacking.com).

Arizona Trail Race

From the Mexican border to the Utah border, 800 miles (~1,290 km) of desert singletrack. There's also a 300-mile version. You cross the Grand Canyon with the bike on your back.

FKT (AZT 800): 8 days 23 hours 27 minutes, Austin Killips, 2024.

Colorado Trail Race

Between Durango and Denver, ~870 km on the Colorado Trail, mostly above 3,000 m. The Triple Crown event that visits the highest peaks.

FKT: 3 days 19 hours 50 minutes, Neil Beltchenko, 2016 (solo effort).

The Munga

South Africa, from Bloemfontein to Wellington across the Karoo desert, ~1,100 km. Five race villages (food, sleep and repair points) and a 5-day time limit.

Record: 47 hours 37 minutes, Drikus Coetzee, 2023.

Paris–Brest–Paris

1,219 km out and back between Rambouillet and Brest, with a 90-hour time limit, every four years. It was first held in 1891 as a race organised by Le Petit Journal, won by Charles Terront in 71 hours 22 minutes. From 1931 amateurs rode separately in randonneur format, and the professional race ended in 1951.

Since then it's officially not a race: there's no winner, only a first finisher. More than 6,000 riders started in 2023, and the next edition is in August 2027.

Fastest time: 41 hours 46 minutes, Nick DeHaan, 2023.

Race Across America

RAAM is ~4,800 km, from the west coast of America to the east. The only event on our list with a support vehicle: the rider's own crew follows, feeds and wakes them. The organisers are pausing it for 2027.

Record: 7 days 15 hours 56 minutes, Christoph Strasser, 2014.

NorthCape 4000

Rovereto (Italy) → Nordkapp, ~4,000 km across Europe with control points. The route changes slightly every year.

FKT: none, because the route changes.

Pan Celtic Race

On the roads of the Celtic nations. The start and finish change: in 2027 it starts and ends in Conwy (Wales), with a full distance of ~2,400 km, plus ~1,600 and ~740 km versions.

FKT: none, because the route changes.