Last Best Ride to be held by Missoula-based cycling company

The Last Best Ride of 2024 won’t be the last, but it was the last time the gravel cycling race will be held by a nonprofit.  

“This event means so much to our community – it’s transformed things, from people riding gravel, to more women on bikes, to even volunteers who think it's cool to engage with people from all over the nation,” said Whitefish resident Jess Cerra, who founded the event in 2021.  

The Last Best Ride has since grown in popularity, hosting about 600 riders in 2024.  

The race offers two courses starting and ending in downtown Whitefish, a 48.5-mile route with 4,185 feet of vertical climbing, and a 91-mile route with 8,189 vertical feet of climbing. 

Scenery aside, the event is also popular because of an inclusive, fun and supportive atmosphere, with opportunities for riders to connect through happy hours and shake out rides as well as raising funds for a scholarship award.  

Now, the event is set to return for its fifth year under the hands of Shaun Radley of Missoula-based MTCX Skis, Bikes and Events.  

Radley has been cycling in Montana for two decades, and MTCX is a crew dedicated to hosting events year-round such as Missoula XC and other biking, cyclocross and Nordic ski races.  

“MTCX is a professional organization with a team that knows how to organize events. They deserve to have a stake in an event like The Last Best Ride. It’s only going to get better,” Cerra said.  

Radley and the MTCX crew have volunteered at previous years of The Last Best Ride, hosting an aid station at Whitefish Mountain Resort’s Base Lodge this year. 

“It was the most popular and best run event that I’ve seen in Montana in 20 years,” Radley said.  

Radley said he’s always been good friends with race co-director and co-owner of Great Northern Cycle and Ski, Stella Hobbs, who will also continue to be involved in the event.   

“And I just told Stella, ‘You guys have a really good thing going. If you ever need help, let me know. It’s the same thing I’ve offered to other rides across Montana,” Radley said.  

According to Radley, event directors rarely put on events for more than three years. 

“There’s a shelf life to them. They’re so much work,” he said. 

That’s something Cerra can attest to. 

“It got to an overwhelming point. My mental health was not in a good place, which is sad because it’s such a beautiful thing,” said Cerra, who was well-supported by her full-time employers during the event, but was still juggling too much. 

The decision to take a step back wasn’t taken lightly for her.  

“I couldn’t get to a point where I could let go of it. But as the distance from the 2024 event grew, and the more I read the collective energy in the community, I thought ‘I’m not doing the right thing here,’” Cerra said. 

Both Cerra and Radley see the situation as a win-win, especially because the alternative was putting the event on hold for 2025. The other hypothetical option – which Cerra wasn’t up for – would have been selling the event to a bigger, out-of-state company. 

So when Cerra jumped on the phone with Radley just a few weeks ago to talk details, it was a relief for things to come together. 

“The first thing Shaun [Radley] said to me is ‘what you’ve done for inclusivity is revolutionary in Montana, and I want to be a part of that.’ 

“And I was like OK, you are the right person because you get it. You can’t have these negotiations – you either believe it or you don’t,” Cerra said.  

Cerra said finding balance between accessibility and sustainability when pricing the event was challenging.  

Racers shouldn’t expect the event to jump in numbers, despite always selling out.   

“The limiting factor when it all breaks down is how much the Forest Service permit and land managers – who do a tremendous job – deem suitable for the landscape,” Radley said.  

The 2025 race is set for Sunday, July 27. Registration opened Nov. 22 with 500 initial spots and is nearly full. 

As for Cerra, she hopes to be able to take a step back while still staying involved by helping with the scholarship program, leading shake-out rides and taking on the course herself on race day.