Local enters 2,700-mile race to benefit ski museum

It will be a physical and mental endeavor unlike any other Tim Hinderman has faced in a lifetime of athletics.

Next month the Whitefish resident will participate in the Tour Divide mountain bike race to raise money for the planned Ski Heritage Center and Museum of Skiing in Whitefish. The self-supported race goes from New Mexico to Banff, Alberta. That’s 2,745 miles, all off road.

Hinderman plans to ride 100 miles a day and finish the race in about a month.

Last summer he rode a portion of the route that passes through Whitefish, putting in five 100-mile days — the longest he’s ever been on a bike.

“I was deciding if I really want to do this,” Hinderman said.

“The big unknown for me is what I’ll feel like after 10 days or so. The dropout rate is 50 percent. Will there be a fork in the road where I have to decide if I keep going?”

Riders begin the annual race June 13 either in Antelope Wells, N.M., like Hinderman, or Banff. The route follows the Continental Divide and is considered the world’s longest off-pavement cycling race.

The route crosses the Continental Divide 30 times, features over 200,000 total vertical feet of climbing and reaches its highest point of 11,900 feet atop Indiana Pass in southern Colorado. In Montana the route goes right through the Flathead Valley and Whitefish before heading toward Upper Whitefish Lake, over Red Meadow Pass to the North Fork Road and then back over Trail Creek Divide to Eureka and Roosville.

The race requires no entry fee or formal registration, and there is no prize for finishing.

Hinderman got into mountain biking about 15 years ago. While he has never taken on such a physical challenge, he believes a lifetime of fitness will serve him well.

“I first learned conditioning from alpine racing,” he said. “Martin Hale was my coach and I learned from him to be fit. It became a habit and luckily I never got out of it.”

He’s looking forward to the solitude provided on the route that demands long stretches of riding between towns.

“I’ll be in the middle of somewhere 100 miles from the nearest person,” Hinderman said. “That’s kind of the fun thing about it.”

He’ll carry about 12 pounds of gear, but his bike could be loaded down with up to 8 quarts of water along some of the desert portions of the route. Riders find their own shelter each night or bivouac trailside.

While the top riders will finish in about 14 days, Hinderman says his pace will allow him to enjoy the scenery.

“Other riders have told me to stop and smell the roses along the way or else you’ll regret it,” he said.

As executive director of the Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation, Hinderman is participating in the Tour Divide race as a fundraiser for the proposed Ski Heritage Center Museum of Skiing in Whitefish.

Both of these are exciting breakthrough projects that are in the final stages of planning, and just need a funding boost to set them in motion,” Hinderman said. “I'm hoping that per-mile pledges for my ride will provide that boost.”

Hinderman’s goal is $25,000. So far he has received pledges totaling $8,600. A pledge of a penny per mile will raise $27 while a dollar per mile will raise $2,700.

Pledges can be sent to tim.hinderman@fvsef.org and can be designated for the Ski Heritage Center, Team Training Center or just to FVSEF as a whole.