Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Logan Kasper’s Record-Setting Eastern Divide Trail Ride and Rig
Logan Kasper just set a new fastest known time on the Eastern Divide Trail, finishing the 6,000-mile route in about 41 days and averaging nearly 150 miles per day as he pedaled from Newfoundland to Key West, Florida. Learn more about his ride, find details on his bike, and see a list of components and gear he packed for the journey here…
PUBLISHED Oct 3, 2024
Toward the end of August, I found myself glued to the Eastern Divide Trail Trackleaders map. I was trying to wrap my head around how Logan Kasper’s dot had made it nearly halfway down the Eastern Seaboard in a short period of time—a number of days I could count on my fingers. Although his name sounded familiar, I wasn’t exactly sure who he was or what he was up to. Logan Kasper has appeared on the site before—he holds the record for the Vermont Super-8 and has several podium finishes in various other races—however, he tends to fly under the radar in the ultra-endurance bikepacking scene. And flying he was. Hailing from Baldwinville, Massachusetts, he started pedaling the Eastern Divide Trail on August 18th, making his way southbound from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, averaging some 170 miles per day over the first couple of weeks on the route. I was determined to intercept him when he passed by my home in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina.
I checked Trackleaders sporadically every few days after that. Then, one afternoon, I got a text from Eddie O’Dea, the previous EDT record holder: “Not sure if you’ve been watching this guy, but he’s been absolutely flying, averaging around 160 miles a day. He’s passing through Asheville right now.” I had forgotten to check the map and almost missed him. Luckily, I had just enough time to head into the forest the next morning and wait for Logan to roll through. But first, I stopped by the local bakery to grab a couple of bagel sandwiches and pastries, figuring he’d be hungry.
Sure enough, I heard the crackle of gravel before I saw Logan round the corner. I had to be quick on the draw to grab that shot above. He was clearly on a mission. And despite having broken his rear rack the night before, Logan was in good spirits and hungry. I snapped a few frames of his bike as he scarfed down the egg and cheese bagel sandwich I brought him. He told me about some construction workers he met before making camp the night prior who lent him a power drill to repair his rack.
I asked Logan why he decided to go for an FKT on the EDT in the first place, to which he explained, “It’s uncharted versus the more popular big routes that riders have dialed in over the years. The Tour Divide, for example, is super calculated.” He mentioned that being an East Coaster, it was special to him, “If you can ride the East Coast, you can ride anywhere in the world, but not everyone in the world can ride the East Coast.”
When I asked how he was enjoying the route, he said he appreciated the diversity of surfaces and terrain and was loving every minute of it, with a positive tone common among successful ultra-endurance riders. “The route was much more difficult than I expected, but that’s okay,” he explained, “More or less every state had its challenges and difficulties. Some of the trails I would have loved a fat bike on, some a full enduro bike, and some a gravel bike. But, then again, maybe the difficulty of the trails was raised because I was riding them at that speed on a fully loaded bikepacking rig.” Still, he admitted he wouldn’t change anything about the bike and gear he used other than beefing up the rack.
Logan’s Record-Setting EDT Rig
Logan rode the same size XL 2019 Santa Cruz Highball that he’s pedaled in several other big events over the last few years, including a winning run on the Unbound XL in 2023, a second-place sprint finish at this year’s Unbound XL, and several other races, both XC and endurance. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. You don’t need the newest bike to go fast,” Logan explained. Find the detailed components list below with his notes on each, followed by his pack list.
Cockpit components
Ergon SM Carbon Pro Team Edition saddle, GS3 grips, GXR grips on the inner bar ends and aero bars, Ergon road bar tape to fill the voids between. The seat was paired to the ergon CF Allroad flex post. I love that thing.
Handlebar
Enve M5 bar, cut down to 760mm; the bar ends make it more like 780mm. I’ve used these bars on all my bikes. They’re great all-around bars and they just work with a nice amount of stiffness balanced with damping on the harsh stuff.
Aerobar
Enve no-rise aero bars; I’ve had them for years. Paired to a Fred bar so I could move them back toward me a bit and not be limited by the longer reach of where I had my handlebars. It allowed me to be more modular with positioning.
Stem
I have no clue on the brand, but it’s a 100mm 20 degree drop that I ran slammed. It wasn’t the lightest or fanciest thing but simple is better.
Fork
120mm Fox 34 Stepcast, 51 offset. I got this fork from Fox when they had their big sale. It’s Kashima coat with a standard damper. I ran it with the factory volume spacers but with more sag to help it be a bit more floaty feeling when in the aero bars. I wanted something a bit more robust than a 32 but was on a budget. The fork worked great, but it’s due for a service.
Brakes
Shimano XTR 2-piston, both front and rear where. Usually, I run Shimano levers with Magura calipers, but not all shops carry Magura pads or parts, and I wanted a bulletproof setup. XTR fit that bill. Front rotor was 180mm; rear was 160.
Shifter
A tried and true Shimano XTR mechanical 12-speed, same as the rear derailleur until I ripped it off in Georgia. I was able to get my hands on a replacement XT derailleur, which was a workhorse for the rest of the trip. If you couldn’t tell, I’m a big fan of Shimano’s simplicity and performance; you can ride it hard, put it away wet, and it will still perform.
Cassette
XT 10-45 12-speed paired to a 42/34 front ring set up on a custom 104 BCD spider that a local vocational school machine shop custom made for me. That spider allowed me to run the cranks I had as a 2x front setup. The cassette had to be a 10-45, not 10-51, because of the B-tension on this funky setup, even with the long-cage derailleur. Huge shout-out to the kids who prototyped the spider for me; it was the same spider and chainring I ran at Unbound XL this year, which was the proving ground. The front rings were Amazon cheapies; it’s hard to screw up a 1x 104 bcd ring nowadays. I swapped the cassette and chainrings at 3,000 miles just to keep it fresh.
Shimano chains
I think mid-range ones that I pre-waxed and mailed to myself. I used a whole 500ml bottle of squirt lube for this trip, topping the chains off every time I stopped. I replaced the chains every 1,000 miles and always had a spare on me.
Crankset
SRAM Force 175mm. It was just laying around my shop so I figured I’d put it to use. It worked fine the whole time. I swapped out the Dub bottom bracket at 3,000 miles. I didn’t need to, but a bit of preventative maintenance doesn’t hurt.
Front Wheel
An old Reserve 28-hole, 27mm rim that I had kicking around the shop from a long time ago. It’s bombproof, so it made sense. I paired it with a dynamo hub that I destroyed the bearings in and had to replace in Florida; shout-out to Truly Spoken bike shop for re-lacing my wheel. So I used two dynamos for this ride. I ran that hub with unbelievably bad bearings for over 1,000 miles before I was able to replace it.
Rear Wheel
We Are One Faction rim laced to a sickkkkk KOM Xeno rear hub. If you haven’t heard of KOM hubs, check them out. This same wheel I used most of the year for racing, and it’s still spinning like a top. The bearings feel as good as new, and you’d never know I put over 6,000 miles on this wheel.
Tires
I’m running 2.25″ Maxxis Rekon Race, both front and rear. Max speed, tubeless, EXO. They are super predictable, very good on all terrain, light, fast, and just great tires for what I was doing. I ended up swapping them out every 2,000 miles as preventative maintenance.
Frame Bag
An Oveja Negra bag I’ve had for years. I got it from a local bike shop called Ranch Camp in Vermont, so it’s got their logo on it too.
Rear Bag
I prefer a rack over a seatpack any day. I ran the Salsa Alternator rack paired with Old Man Mountain pucks to get it on my frame. Attached to that were Revelate Designs Nano Panniers. In the middle of the rack was my sleeping pad with a Revelate Designs Pitchfork Harness holding it together and providing more storage. It’s not its intended purpose, but I’d say it works pretty darn well how I ran it.
Lights
Dynamo kLite, which worked great. I had a Black Diamond Sprint headlamp as my additional light. Love those headlights; they’re super small and work well for biking.
Accessory Bags
Aside from an Oveja Negra Jerry Can for my bike lock and a Restrap top tube bag, I didn’t really have many accessories. I ran a small seatpack bag on my aero bars that I kept spare tubes in and a Nalgene bottle on the bottom of my frame as my toolbox. It kept all my tools and repair stuff super dry and the weight low. The new WTB straps that come with their fat bike tires are how I secured everything. Those are the best straps around, and they’re free with the purchase of a tire.
Navigation
Navigation was taken care of by a Garmin 530. The screen actually started delaminating about halfway through, so I superglued the screen back down to keep moisture out. I stopped at the Hub in Brevard and bought a Garmin 540 just in case the 530 went belly up, but I didn’t actually need it.
Wearable gear
Being an East Coaster, I took pride in running a lot of East Coast equipment. It felt right.
- Two pairs Darn Tough socks
- Pineburry wool jersey (went through two)
- Eastern Mountain Sports down jacket and pants
- Two pairs Smartwool boxers
- Troy Lee airline shorts
- The Black Bibs leg and arm warmers
- Eastern Mountain Sports wool buff
- Ergon gloves
- Shimano GE9 shoes
- Random cheap wool light sweatshirt
- Garmin Fenix watch
- Ride 4 Claire bracelet for my friend (please look it up and check what that’s about)
- Kask Protone helmet
- Eastern Mountain Sports rain coat
- Osprey hip pack
- USWE 2-liter hydration pack
Camping gear
- Big Agnes Copper Spur 1 tent. I broke one of the hubs on the poles, so I got a whole new tent because I couldn’t just get a set of poles. Tent all day over a bivvy.
- Therm-a-Rest folding foam sleeping pad
- Sea to Summit inflatable pillow
- Ear plugs, eye mask toothbrush
- Squeeze style water filter
- First aid kit
Tools
- Leatherman
- Tire plugs
- Tape
- Zip ties
- Spare cables
- Spare brake pad
- Spare bolt
- Spare pawls
- Chain lube
- Rags
- Tire levers
- Valve stem
- Superglue
- 3 spare tubes at all times
A New EDT FKT
Early last Saturday morning on September 28th, Logan completed the monumental Eastern Divide Trail, the longest off-road-centric bikepacking route in the world, setting a new fastest known time (FKT) with a mind-boggling time of 41 days, 1 hour, and 30 minutes (41d:01h:30m). On the final day, he pedaled 320 miles to cap off this colossal effort. This shattered the previous record set by Eddie O’Dea, which we documented in 2022. Eddie was the first person to ride the entirety of the route in one go, self-supported in 78 days, 10 hours, and 59 minutes (78d:10h:59m).
No doubt, Logan got lucky when it came to timing his ride. If he was just a few days slower or started a week later, he may have been stopped in his tracks by Hurricane Helene, which caused major devastation throughout the southeast, especially around my home in western North Carolina. Logan added, “I think I chose the perfect time of year to start this. It wasn’t too cold up north, and it wasn’t “too” hot down south. Yes, I dodged hurricanes, but that’s the reality here, and there’s no perfect time…” No one can predict six weeks of weather or conditions over that amount of distance any time of year. Still, his advice for anyone interested in riding the EDT is, “Do it slow and see the sights. If you do it fast, know what you signed up for. Give me a call, and I’ll give you any advice you need.”
When I asked Logan why he decided to go for an FKT on this route in the first place, he expressed that this is a “last hoorah” for his racing career before he enters a new chapter of life, “I’m done racing this year, so I’m excited to pour more time into family and friends. This was kind of a go out with a bang ride.” He also mentioned that he was particularly interested in putting in a massive effort on this route because it’s fresh, and he thought he might have a chance to set a time that could stand for a while. It’s an unfathomable time, so we expect that to be the case.
Congrats on an incredible accomplishment, Logan! We wish you a pleasant ride into the next chapter.
Lastly, I asked Logan who he’d like to thank, and here’s what he had to say: “Huge thanks to everyone who helped me along the way. There were a lot, so I guess I’ll start with the amazing random good souls who paid for some of my meals, gave me rides into town when I was broken down on the side of the road, gave me water or a snack, and let me hang out inside the gas station and eat even though I was a mess. To the Tuesday night crew that helped me fix my rack in Asheville. Ben from Dialed Bicycle Repair. The whole gang from Truly Spoken bike shop. The Sugarloaf bike shop. Monty Tech for that custom chainring. Jeff from Ergon. Steve from Kom hubs. There are countless people like that along this whole trip for whom I am super grateful, but the real MVPs who made the whole thing possible are the folks at my local shop, TomTen Biketown. Nate and Dustin went above and beyond setting up my bike and helping source the parts I needed. They’re not only a great shop but great friends. One of my best friends, Matt. I think the person I owe the most to for this whole trip is my now fiancé, Hannah, who was the glue that kept it together. To all of them, I owe a lot.”
The roughly 5,950-mile Eastern Divide Trail (EDT) is the longest contiguous off-road-centric bikepacking route in the world. It runs from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, the easternmost point in North America, to Key West, Florida, the end of the road going south. The EDT follows as much of the St. Lawrence and Eastern Continental Divides as possible without compromising a focus on quality off-pavement riding and connecting the most incredible sights, landmarks, and landscapes in the eastern mountains. The route winds its way through dozens of national and state forests, numerous ecozones, and countless places of Indigenous, geographical, and historical significance. Find details here.
Further Reading
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