Lowest point → highest summit
BADWATER
TO WHITNEY.
The expanded field archive
THE DESERT,
THE EXCHANGE,
THE SUMMIT.
Roughly 132 bicycle miles climb out of Death Valley to Whitney Portal before the route continues up the Mountaineer’s Route to the 14,505-foot summit. This page keeps the recovered clocks beside the early trials, shared miles, support history, photographs and films that explain how the modern line took shape.
2012 → 2019
THE RECOVERED
CLOCK.
Don Bowie
Bowie’s preliminary reported time · support vehicle
Source ↗Sep 201317:21Don Bowie
The Ultra Hurt outing · support classification and original track still needed
Source ↗201414:42Ryan Tetz
Got sick high on Whitney, kept moving and completed the line
Source note ↓Nov 9, 201414:09:01Don Bowie
Took the record back · supported three-bike strategy
Source ↗201713:56:16Ryan Tetz
Supported · GPS documented
Source ↗201723:27:21Tina Lewis
First listed women’s completion · supported
Source ↗201913:16:07Ryan Tetz
Current listed men’s supported mark
Source ↗201921:36:00Rylee Sweeney
Current listed women’s supported mark
Source ↗Badwater to Whitney
THE ROUTE
ON FILM.
ULTRA HURT.
17h 21mThe long desert bicycle leg, Whitney Portal transition and Mountaineer’s Route finish before the later Tetz–Bowie exchange.
CURRENT MEN’S MARK.
13:16:0732-second PJAMM Cycling edit from the current listed men’s supported effort.
The 2014 exchange
“BEST FRIENDS
OR TRULY EPIC
RIVALS?!”
Ryan reached 14:42 after becoming sick high on Whitney and continuing to the summit. Don answered with 14:09:01 on November 9 using a supported three-bike strategy. The photograph was posted eighteen days later.
Before and around the records
THE CLOCK
WAS NEVER
ALONE.
Brent Obinger joined an early trial from Badwater Basin, with Jason Lakey escorting the mountain leg. April Mayhew joined Ryan on his first successful effort. On another finish, Sean O’Rourke escorted the summit push.
Desert road → Whitney granite · field archive supplied by Ryan Tetz · exact effort dates and photographer credits to recover
Women’s progression
TWO CLOCKS
ON THE LINE.
2017 / First listed women’s completionTina Lewis · 23:27:21
2019 / Current listed women’s markRylee Sweeney · 21:36:00Archive note
Mammoth Hospital’s January 2020 Heartbeats profile, “Setting Records With PACU Nurse, Ryan Tetz,” documents Ryan’s 14:42 record and his later improvement to 13:16. Bowie’s 2012 report gives a preliminary 19:35:16 and names Jason Crockett and Bowie’s father in the support vehicle; a 2014 Adidas announcement gives the earlier mark as 19:41. Ryan later described the 2019 performance as the seventh serious lowering in five years.