Alexandera Houchin and her Chumba Yaupon: Tour Divide 2023

Alexandera Houchin lined up for her 5th attempt (4th finish) of the 2700+ mile Tour Divide Mountain bike race on her Chumba Yaupon singlespeed bicycle. She had her eyes set on setting a new women’s singlespeed record and managed to pull it off lowering the record she previously set in 2019 by two hours.

The trip was an emotional roller coaster. She self-filmed this video on her iPhone 12. Nothing went according to plan, and the video was edited to reveal the emotional roller coaster one rides while chasing the Divide. The edit is not chronological, rather representative of what her memory of the effort felt like. She chose the wrong gearing for her body and the 34×17 (2:1 ratio) required her to completely change her race strategy.

This is what setting a women’s singlespeed record looks like.