Big Sky Spectaculaire

03/29/2026

This year's flyer is heading out the door. Hitting select locations in the Midwest, West Coast and Southwest. We'll also be shipping to some other cities for saturation.

01/19/2026

Inquiry is now open. This year the start is on August 24. The route remains nearly the same although we've changed it after the Virgelle Ferry so you don't have a 22 mile straight road but rather a scenic section along the Chalk Buttes and some left's and right's before the 10 miles into Geraldine. Still only 915 total miles. We've got 30.5 hours of time bonuses, a few additions, that you can use to take off your finish time or offset penalties assessed. Begin the sign up process on the website and get the manual and other files to make your plans.

09/21/2025

Results of Spectaculaire 2025 have been calculated and published on the website. Your winner, no surprise, is Chris Mattola who knocked 2 hours off his finish time, with a few time bonuses, for a corrected time of 5d:00h:39m. So close to going sub 5 days which very few have done. Congratulations Chris. Connor Olson let his riding do the talking and had a solid 6 days flat time with no correction for time bonuses or penalties. Despite making a navigation error leaving Geyser, Toby collected enough time bonuses to cancel out his penalty for going off route and finished with a very respectable 7d:00h:23m corrected time. Martin had difficulties with his drive train and getting mired down in the mud on the way to Fort Benton. Most would have thrown in the towel but Martin spent a day in Fort Benton getting his bike running again well enough to ride back to Bozeman. Unfortunately he took a more direct route avoiding all the remaining gravel, the time penalties were hefty. Martin's corrected time came out to 8d:03h:11m. Outstanding riding by these four. We'd also like to acknowledge the efforts by the other riders who put in the training time and effort to come to Montana and ride. It's not always in the cards that everyone can finish however we greatly appreciate meeting you and hope that maybe you'll come back for a second go.

08/26/2025

Chris put in a stellar 1st day. He landed in Wise River at 2335 for a total of 235 miles. I more comprehensive summary of Day 1 is in the Big Sky Spectaculaire FB group.

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08/23/2025

It's almost "Go Time". The Spectaculaire will start this Monday (August 25) at 0630. This year we have a 8 riders some of who are seasoned at ultradistance bikepacking and some who are relatively new to the sport. The forecasted weather is for comfortable temperatures with variable winds. There are a number of fires in SW Montana however none are threatening to compromise the route and the riders will be threading the needle between them. The air quality will be in the fair to moderate range. For all you dot watchers, we are using a different tracking platform. It's a little different so if you're not familiar with Follow My Challenge play around with it to see how it operates and what it has to offer. Here is the link. https://www.followmychallenge.com/live/bigskyspectaculaire/

07/22/2025

This year we're teaming up with Follow My Challenge tracking platform. They've been around for a number of years and they offer a really nice way to follow all the participants, complete with analytics and ride efficiency. This link, https://www.followmychallenge.com/live/bigskyspectaculaire/?iframe once the event starts, will take you directly to the Spectaculaire site. We hope you enjoy this "new" way to look at everyone's performance.

07/08/2025

We are 7 weeks away from the 2025 Grand Depart. There's still time to put the finishing touches on prepping for the mixed surface riding adventure through SW and Central Montana. We've done our best to find a pleasurable route which will take you on some quiet paved roads, rolling gravel and a few challenging climbs. Amongst all the riding you will have chances to collect time bonuses (30 hours, max.) by documenting stops at select locations including eating pie and/or desserts. Submit an Inquiry from the event website (www.bigskyspectaculaire.com) and receive documents to help you plan your ride. If you don't want to go at it alone, grab your riding buddy and compete as a pair.

05/15/2025

Taking an intensive look into the gravel segment where formation of the Spectaculaire started, and starts. Within the first 25 miles, the North Valley gravel is a series of segments pasted together by short portions of pavement. It's a great chance to get warmed up and take in the scenery. While some may take this opportunity to get that hole shot, others will find it a chance to get adjusted for the many miles (910) ahead. The next 17 gravel segments (~460 miles) will come in many forms.

04/05/2025

We've got flyers that are going into bike shops, outdoor stores and breweries in the state. To help get the Spectaculaire more exposure tell us if you're interested and we'll send you some flyers to put in your town. This year the pie time bonus option has been expanded, for those who want something other than pie (what?), to include stopping at designated bakeries along the route. We've also added a wild card missile silo time bonus as it may be a tad challenging to access. We are fortunate to have the support of some landowners who will allow the Spectaculaire to cross their property near the Crazy Mtns. The route has been extended along the flanks this year before turning for the final stretch to the finish in Bozeman.

01/20/2025

Inquiry is now open. The website has been updated with the 2025 route (same distance, more gravel), updated photos and a new start date. This year the grand depart is on August 25, 2025.

09/23/2024

The results for 2024 have been posted on the website. As the saying goes, "there's a first for everything", the best overall time did not come from the first to finish.

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