Big Sky Spectaculaire

09/03/2026

Blake punched his ticket today! He rolled into Bozeman at 0800. Congratulations. This brings the 2026 edition to an end. A great amount of appreciation goes out to Chris and Blake for giving their best shot. Sometimes it doesn't always go as planned but it's the effort that is notable. And thank you to all who followed the event here and on the Follow My Challenge platform.

09/01/2026

Is today the day we see Blake in Bozeman? Yesterday he stopped for the night near Newlan Reservoir after summiting Kings Hill, for an 81 mile effort. That left him 138 miles to reach the finish. This morning he broke camp at 4 AM and started riding to White Sulphur Springs in the Smith River valley. He's been rolling quite well and as of this posting is navigating his way through the wildland section. We've secured permission from several landowners to access their property in lieu of riding Hwy 89. It may seem challenging but if one actually trusts their navigation system the route is quite straightforward as it follows and old road to the top of the divide. From there, dropping into the Shields Valley is on a 2-track and then gravel. Blake will have 2 more gravel segments, one coming into Wilsall and the other between Wilsall and Clyde Park. He's stuck with the ride and shown determination and patience. No doubt he's beginning to smell the barn and wants to be done. Go Blake!!

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08/31/2026

Okay, where were we? On Day 4 we saw Chris scratching in Geyser due to overheating and exhaustion from the previous 2 days of riding in the upper 90's termperatures with essentially no shade. He's better now and has actually been out on the bike. Blake left Lincoln and arrived in Augusta later that morning. The weather was rather unsettled and he wound up waiting for cells to pass before making a move for Fairfield where he played the waiting game again. Although there was a severe thunderstorm alert for the evening Blake assessed the situation on headed out for Dutton or 100 miles on the day. The latter prevailed when he rolled out the tent and bag on the side of the road in a patch of fallow wheat field. Day 5 is where things got a bit discombobulated for Blake when he stopped in Fort Benton, after 81 miles, to tend to personal matters. He's been nursing a couple chafing spots so this gave him a little time for some creative doctoring and rest. Late on Day 6 he left Fort Benton and at the time we weren't sure whether he would ride to Loma and stay in a cabin, pitch the tent further up the road or ride to the Virgelle Ferry where he'd have to wait until 0900 (Sunday hours) to cross the Missouri. He did stop in Loma for a slice of pie at Ma's Cafe (that's a 1 hour time bonus) and then continued on to the river bank. Blake put in a gallant effort on Day 7 where after reaching the far bank of the Missouri he began the southern push towards Bozeman. Before he could reach Geraldine he had to face some muddy conditions (not the soul sucking kind) and evil cross- and headwinds. The kind where you put out a great deal of power with not much in return as they were in excess of 20 mph. He rested in Geraldine and then headed out for Geyser to contend with more wind. The MDT weather station at Geyser was recording 28 mph with gusts to 42. Sure hope that's not what he experienced. Again, Blake made the decision to forgo reaching Geyser and pulled up 8 miles short to spend the night. That was a 60 mile day battling the elements. In all the previous Spectaculaires we've never seen the winds blow like that. Looking forward, Blake broke camp at 0500 this morning, has cleared Geyser and is on his way to Monarch where he will have pavement to climb Kings Hill. It's 181 miles and a little less than 10,000 feet of climbing to the finish from Monarch. Prior to things going sideways in the prairie Blake was riding at a 50-50 efficiency (time on, time off the bike). That's a pretty normal ratio for most who undertake ultra events. A 60-40 split is admirable while the top tier riders will go 70-30 or better. If Blake can return to his earlier form putting in 100+ miles per day, have solid time in the saddle and the weather cooperates, he could be done tomorrow. He's ridden exceptionally well to this point given everything that's been thrown at him. Watch his dot and cheer him on to Bozeman.

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08/30/2026

Blake is on the move this evening. We'll catch up with his goings on tomorrow with a proper recap. He will have to wait until 0900 to take the ferry across the Missouri River as the operating hours are shorter on Sundays.

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08/29/2026

Blake pulled up short, in Fort Benton, of his goal yesterday so he could deal with some personal matters. We don't know whether things will get sorted today to a point where he'll feel comfortable moving forward. When he does, he will have a short ride north to the Virgelle Ferry and then begin the southbound push to Bozeman. Along the way he's got the towns of Geraldine, Geyser (Cabin Creek Bar), Monach and Neihart ahead of him for refueling options before he tops out on Kings Hill, the highest point along the route. Best wishes to Blake and hope to see his dot moving soon.

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08/28/2026

Day 4 - Well, that wasn't on my Bingo card. Chris scratched this morning after riding from Geraldine to Geyser. Along the way he found he didn't have any power in the legs. The temperatures (high 90's) yesterday and the day before did him in as he struggled to stay hydrated. Calling it early yesterday to regroup in Geraldine was a smart move but the recovery wasn't there. We wish him well during his recovery and surely he'll back in the saddle in short order. Meanwhile, Blake, in true fashion, left Lincoln in the dark and arrived at the Hwy 435/200 junction in the daylight to make a safe passage through an area that has considerable grizzly activity. We don't recommend the riders do this at night. Although temperatures on the prairie were predicted to reach the 90's again, the day started with overcast skies and intermittent thundershowers. Blake waited out some to pass while in Augusta and again in Fairfield. He made a bold decision to head for Dutton in the evening and has made camp along the way. Tomorrow's weather forecast is more of the same and looks to be the end of that cycle with temperatures dropping into the 70's and 80's for the weekend. We're not sure whether Blake is off his rhythm as far as his sleep spots, however, he seems to be flexible and ready for anything. He shouldn't have a problem reaching Fort Benton tomorrow and will likely make his way to the northernmost point on the course before making the "turn" for home. We'll continue with these reports until he arrives safely back in Bozeman.

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08/27/2026

Day 3 - Let's look at some numbers. For the first 2 days we did a little crunching because the pace and daily mileage are incorrect on the tracking platform, through no fault of theirs. Those values are based on the original route, however, Chris and Blake rode the re-route which is 115 miles shorter. Therefore, Chris' pace is actually 13 mph and his daily average is 211 miles. Blakes's numbers are a little more impressive than one might think if you consider that even though he was stopping early on Days 1 and 2, he would begin riding at 0330 in the morning, tacking on an additional 3 hours. The Spectaculaire started at 0630 which is the break for each day's calculations. Blake has averaged 8.7 mph with a daily average of 111 miles. We can use this as a base going forward however Day 3 turned out to be a little out of the norm. Chris didn't make it to Fort Benton as we anticipated because temperatures were in the 90's and he got cooked. Unfortunately it was a barn burner today and Chris battled through trying to stay hydrated and moderate his output. In the end he decided to pull up short in Geraldine and take the opportunity to rehydrate and get properly fueled for a big push tomorrow. Blake made it to Lincoln which we predicted would be a bit of a stretch. The Dalton Mountain climb is no cakewalk and we know he likely pushed the bike for some of the steeper pitches. He was rewarded with a ripper of a downhill. This was all after a very scenic, relatively short, yet brutal pavement climb outside Drummond. Blake plans to leave at his usual time in the dark and climb over the Continental Divide at Rogers Pass just in time to hit the Hwy 435 gravel in the morning light. His goal is to ride to Dutton, well into the prairie. The weather is predicted to be hot again tomorrow so maybe he'll get there before the temperatures peak. Chris has a big task ahead of him if he still wants to make it a sub 4 day ride. It's 240 miles to Bozeman which seems doable at the pace he's averaged for the first 2 days. The kicker is that there's a good bit of climbing, totaling 15K feet, in that stretch. He's got some wiggle room but it will be a ride to watch. If he's successful, that will rival Heather Poskevich's 2020 dash to the Virgelle ferry from Lincoln with 5 minutes to spare. Good luck Chris, we're rooting for you.

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08/26/2026

Day 2 isn't quite in the books, at least for Chris, anyway. First, Blake put in another admirable day covering the rest of the re-route, arriving in Anaconda and then riding up and over to Philipsburg to spend the night. That's a 75 mile ride to get a feel for what's he's capable of doing on a daily basis. He'll have a little longer push to make it to Lincoln tomorrow or look for him to find a camp spot somewhere between there and Helmville. Okay, we find Chris between Dutton and Fort Benton with about 25 miles to go. He's facing a headwind as he rides through the wheat fields before the drop and climb through the Teton River drainage. The last approximately 8 miles will be on pavement including another descent and climb through the Teton River. His goal to reach Fort Benton will put him at nearly the 2/3 point on the course. He'll have one more sleep before his final push to make it a sub 4 day effort. This is the time to keep an eye on how he plays his cards to reach Bozeman before sunrise on Friday.

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08/25/2026

A quick Day 1 night cap - recap. Chris and Blake put in some great mileage. At this writing Chris is still in the saddle between Philipsburg and Drummond. His goal for the day is Drummond to keep him on pace to go sub-4 days for the route. He's got a nearly full moon to guide him through the darkness and has a number of choices to pull up and throw out the sleep gear. Blake looks to have stopped at the White Horse campground along the Boulder Rd. He's gone over the century mark for the day and will have the climb up Champion Pass for starters tomorrow. The grade is relatively gentle to warm up for the final kicker to the top. Then it's a nice downhill run into Deer Lodge. Look for him to get back onto the original Spectaculaire route in Anaconda late in the morning. FYI, the re-route cuts off 116 miles from the whole route so take that off any mileage after Anaconda to know how far Chris and Blake have ridden. Same with calculating their pace since the values on the FMC platform are impressively skewed. For Day 2 look for Chris to be well into prairie east of the Divide in Fort Benton and Blake could close the day near Drummond.

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08/24/2026

Tomorrow 2 adventurous riders will leave Bozeman to take on the Spectaculaire. Chris M has one under his belt and will be shooting to improve on a very fine performance last year. Blake S is relatively new to this type of riding and will be looking to find his groove at a higher level. He's done his homework and eager for the experience. You can follow their progress (live) on the Follow My Challenge platform.
https://www.followmychallenge.com/live/bigskyspectaculaire26/