Svein Tuft is a former professional road cyclist who had a long and storied career in the UCI World Tour. He won the men’s Canadian National Time Trial championship 11 times and competed in grand tours such as the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia. He even wore the prestigious pink leader’s jersey, or maglia rosa, after the first stage of the Giro in 2014. Following his retirement from professional cycling in 2019, Tuft settled at Hall Siding, south of Nelson, with his wife and young children. In addition to his focus on ultra-endurance gravel cycling, he also works as a coach and leads cycling training camps.
Local Journalism Reporter Jaime Frederick caught up with Tuft for an interview about his recent win in the BC Epic 1,000, a backcountry cycling race from Merritt to Fernie, which Tuft completed in just over two days.
Here’s the full interview that was excerpted on Kootenay Morning on July 20, 2026:
Jaime Frederick: I’m joined today by Svein Tuft, who is a legendary Canadian cyclist, former professional road cyclist. Svein won the Canadian Time Trial Championships 11 times, rode in the Tour de France, and wore the pink leader’s jersey, or maglia rosa, at the Giro d’Italia for a day in 2014. He is also recently the winner of the BC Epic. He’s won it before, in 2024, and set a new record of two days, two hours, 11 minutes for the 1,050 kilometre race back at the end of June. Svein, welcome to Kootenay Morning.
Svein Tuft: Oh, thanks for having me.
It’s great to have you here. Tell us about your most recent achievement. It’s a couple of weeks on now. The last time I chatted with you, you were still in recovery mode. What’s your takeaway from the BC Epic at this point?
Well, you know, it’s always different when compared to when you’ve just completed it until you had some time to kind of think about it. And I think when you’ve just finished, you’re like, “ah, never again. I’m good.” But then, you know, you think about things. And, you know, I had bigger ambitions for that ride this year. And for me, it’s really a personal thing. I love the kind of challenge of it, the logistical side, as well as the physiological side.
I believed I could shave off a lot more time than what I did in 2024. So for me, that’s really the fun part of the challenge. With that comes a lot of just different things to learn and experience and all that. Things didn’t go perfect. When you take on a 1,050-kilometre ride, something’s going to happen. It’s just inevitable, right?
The body can only take so much. We’re on gravel roads, big chunks of the rail trail, and you climb the mighty Great Creek Pass. And then, you know, once you hit Cranbrook, the course is actually the hardest. The final 150 km of the BC Epic, you almost come to a standstill. You’re on singletrack, you’re on some of the roughest roads of the entire course. You do this section behind Fernie before you arrive in Fernie that just cracks you completely, you know? So the real skill, I think, or the real challenge, or the thing that I’ve learned through experience with that course, is to really pace yourself so that you have gas for the final. And it seems so short, but yet I know in 2024 I was broken there and I would take these big… It’s so funny. In the beginning, you’re doing everything, you’re running into the gas station to do everything so fast, right?
Like to stop and get a bite to eat or something?
Exactly. For your hydration, your nutrition, all that stuff. You’re just in this kind of like, “Oh, I can’t be stopped,” right? And then it’s incredible because when you crack towards the end, you’ll just have these moments where you’re sitting on the side of the trail, it could be half an hour where you just like try to put yourself together again to just finish it up, right?
And you know, for me, probably the biggest challenge was I had this kind of problem with my leg where you just… The vibration and all that kind of stuff, pounding on the gravel roads, you just get this inflammation. And it gets pretty bad, it gets pretty painful. And the hardest part for me is I ride right by my house at the 720-km mark, and my family’s out there, and you’re just going, “Why do I choose to do this with my life? Like, I could just stop right now,” you know?
Why do I want to ride for another 250km? Well, that would be like 10 or 12 hours for you at the pace you’re riding.
Yeah, you’re just kind of like, “I’m good, I’m done, you know, this will be all right.” But then, you know, it always comes back to that commitment. You’ve put in this work and you’ve made the commitment to yourself. And so I find that those really hard moments, those are kind of the important parts to get through. Because in life it’s always easy to stop or not do things because they’re too hard. Right? And a big part of my goal going forward as just an older guy is just to keep those elements in my life. Right? And so I think no matter for anyone, no matter what the objective is, it’s important to have objectives because they just kind of keep you on point and keep you focused on just kind of that constant movement, which I think as humans we’re supposed to do.
Yeah, for sure. And you had mentioned apart from sort of like the personal challenge of completing the course, which is an extremely difficult course from Merritt to Fernie, as you mentioned, but we should just outline that for the listeners. This is over gravel roads. You’re riding over mountain passes on gravel, as well. You mentioned Gray Creek Pass. You also go over the section from Christina Lake to Castlegar.
This is like the old, like part of the old KVR rail system. You go through like the Bulldog Tunnel there. So it’s like, it’s a lesser pass than the Paulson Summit. So it’s like what the train used to do. It’s a beautiful part of the route as well. You’re way up there and going through those old tunnels. The Bulldog, I think it’s almost a kilometre long. It’s pretty cool.
Yeah, very cool. You had targeted, for yourself, you had said you hoped to come in under 48 hours. And so what would you say were the challenges or the setbacks that prevented you from doing that this time?
I’d say the big one is just being governed by that inflamed leg. So you hit a certain point where you’re not able to put out the [same] kind of power, right? And I run a power meter, so it becomes pretty apparent like, “Oh, yeah, there’s been a significant drop off here, and I actually can’t push anymore.”
The other thing that gets very interesting is riding through the night. Some really interesting things happen. And I was joking with a buddy just the other day, and I was like, you know, people go on all these spiritual quests and these like medicinal journeys, you know. And I’m like, well, you know, all you need to do is go ride for two days, don’t sleep, and just ride through the night. And you’ll have some very mystical journeys, you know?
It’s true for sure. Yeah, something happens when the sun sets and you’ve been out there all day already. It is definitely a trippy business. I’ve only ever done that once, but it was, you know, psychologically, I think one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,
Yeah, I think what really happens first off is you’re kind of outside of your normal circadian rhythm of operating physically. So your whole system kind of slows down. And obviously you just want to go to bed. And there’s these highs and lows that you experience. There’s moments at like two in the morning where you’re just like, “oh man, this is the best thing ever,” you know? You got your lights. You’re ripping down some trail. Everything seems quicker, right? So, your perception of speed is totally different. And then the hallucinations start to happen. I know for me, when things are starting to get rough, is everything on the side of the trail is kind of moving.
So, you know, and it really happens in this time of the year. We have such long days. And so, like, the dawn and dusk periods are quite long, and things are just moving. And I think, “Oh, I see a moose way up the road.” And as I get closer, I’m like, “How the hell did I think that was a moose?” And it’s so weird because it’s not like a scary feeling, it’s just like, “Oh, geez, what’s that monkey doing over there?” You just see so much stuff moving. Your brain is creating all of these things.
And I would say that’s kind of the, for me, the… Well, actually, no, the epitome for me is this “third man” kind of experience, where you are seeing yourself as… it’s so hard to explain, but you basically are… [it’s like] you have someone else there and you’re kind of looking at yourself and you’re talking to yourself a bit.
Like an out of body experience almost?
Yeah, and it’s like a positive talk, though,, which is really interesting. “Oh, yeah, we got this. We just got to keep moving. All you got to do is keep moving.” This kind of talk. It’s wild. And for me, the moving, all that stuff I’ve gotten used to. But you don’t know it at the time. That’s the strangest thing. It’s not like “oh wow, this is happening.” It’s just this this kind of talk with this third person. It’s weird because it… I can’t even put it into words yet. But I’ve experienced it multiple times on previous types of rides like this, riding through nights.
And it’s really kind of the second night that things get interesting, I find. And so that’s why that little nap on the ferry kind of becomes crucial. And that’s an element of this ride that actually becomes important in timing as well. It’s just the Kootenay Ferry, right? The Kootenay Lake Ferry. So, yeah, you get a bit of amoment there before yo u load up, and then you sleep a bit on the ferry, and then boom, you’re heading up Grey Creek Pass.
Yeah, it’s not too far from the ferry landing on the Kootenai Bay side to the base of Grey Creek. You’ve done a lot of this kind of riding all your life, right? Even when you were in the World Tour, you would train this way a little bit. How does a race like this compare to your days in the grand tours? The Tour de France is on right now, so that might be a reference point for people.
Yeah, they are kind of polar opposites. And I’d say that the biggest thing is, they both have their difficulties. They’re both very, you know, endurance-bike-based, but the intensity of a grand tour like the Tour de France is just… it’s next level.
Like, it’s just insane. But the difference is you’ll finish that very hard stage that’s five or six hours in the mountains, and you’re totally tapped. You’ve spent everything, but you’re straight into a bus. You have all the food. You have all the recovery protocols. You’re back to a hotel. You’re getting a massage. You have a chef making dinner. You sleep in a normal bed. You sleep at a normal time. You get up, have a great breakfast. You kind of have a slow morning and you start the stage again. And yes, it’s very hard.
This is the opposite, where it’s really just about moving and you have no one taking care of you. No one cares at the start, no one cares at the finish.
No crowds along the way.
Yeah. You’re just a guy out there and you’re looking after yourself. It’s really this kind of personal experience. I think I love that because I came from that world of everything being so intense, everything being so controlled and quantified.
For me, I’m an introvert, naturally, so I didn’t thrive in those environments. It was quite energy-sucking to be racing in the World Tour in a lot of ways. Just too many crowds and people and yelling. All that kind of stuff. And I love that solitary movement through the mountains and having that end goal and trying to see how can I get there as quick as possible. For me, that’s just a dream.
And it’s hard in its own way for sure because, you know, it’s all up to you. How much do you want to push and how much do you want to keep going? And I think that’s what’s interesting about it for me. It’s no longer controlled or dictated by someone else. It’s really just up to me.
And you’re not a young guy anymore either. I mean, you’re not an old guy either, but you’re pushing 50, and the people who came in behind you, in second and third, were much younger athletes. I think the second place guy was less than half your age. I’ve been listening to your Long Game Project podcast. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that and how that plays a role in terms of keeping moving as you’re aging?
Yeah, well, thanks for bringing that up. Because yeah, that is a big goal of mine, to continue moving until I can’t. And I think as humans, that’s what we’re kind of equipped and meant to do. I think this notion of retirement, or taking ‘er easy as we get older… Yeah, obviously, it’s never going to be the same as when you’re 24, of course. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a great quality of life until we’re done. And so, for me, a big part of that is kind of pushing out the norm. You know, because you hear that a lot, the narrative is “ah, you got to take it easy” and “you shouldn’t be” you know, “you’ve done all that, you can just kind of relax now.”
And for me that’s not acceptable because I think for a long healthy life you just need to keep moving. And, with that being said, I also believe that’s what is the correct movement for you. But it has to be consistent, daily, and something that you really love. For me, it just so happens that I really love this kind of stuff, but it’s different for everyone.
I want people find what that is for them and really kind of hone in on that and understand that you need to keep doing this through a lifetime. So it has to be something that you love and are passionate about. And when you find that, then staying healthy, staying fit becomes very easy because it’s not this, you know, this, “ah I gotta go and…”
You know, for a lot of people, they go in and out of this cycle of going to the gym or running or something like that. And it’s always this cycle of up and down because it’s not something they’re truly passionate about. But you know, for example, maybe you found hiking, and you love it, and we live in the Kootenays, like one of the raddest places on the planet. And you make that a part of just your everyday life. It’s so much easier to stay fit.
And so that’s kind of my goal through the Long Game Project, talking to people who are older and have found the way to keep moving and staying healthy through a lifetime. Because look, we can all be very fit and fast at the ages of 20 and 30. But I find it very interesting after that point, into our 40s, into our 50s, into our 60s, 70s, 80s. You know, you see people running marathons or doing some of these ultras at these ages and it’s just like, wow, it’s so cool and fascinating for me.
It is maybe kind of a selfish thing because I’m trying to learn from these people what they did in a lifetime to get there, right? And I just want to expose those conversations and share with people what these people have done in a lifetime.
Yeah, for sure. And you also are doing a little bit of coaching. And one of your athletes that you coach was Alec Janssens [who also lives in the Nelson area], who came in third place in the BC Epic, several hours behind you. But tell us a little bit about the coaching and the camps that you’re running.
Yeah, so Alec is actually a great story because he beat his previous time by almost 13 hours. Alec also has a background. He was a speed skater. And so he was really fun to work with for me because he has that kind of–he understands that training side of things.
But it’s one thing to understand that stuff, [and] it’s another to have the discipline. He was very focused for this event. And I swear to you, he just nailed everything. Like, just ticked it off perfectly coming in. And then he had this great performance. And for me, that’s what I love about coaching. I love being part of someone’s journey like that. So that’s why I’m still very much involved in that as far as what I do and a passion of mine. So yeah, I work with all kinds of people, just road racing or at any level. For me, it’s about the energy that people are willing to put in these things and being part of their growth and that journey is what really attracts me and kind of interests me and motivates me. So yeah, that’s a fun part of life.
And then as well, I work with White Grizzly up in Meadow Creek, north of us here. We have a bunch of gravel (cycling) camps based out of their backcountry lodge there, coming up in September. We have a bunch of availabilities there in September. And then, as well, we have a cabin on our property here that we host groups that come and ride around the Kootenays. And really, there’s no prescribed plan. It’s really what your group wants to do. So it’s just contacting me and figuring out how we can work best together.
And how do people find you?
Yeah, so probably an easy way is on Instagram (@svein.tuft), and then tuftcamps@gmailcom is a way you can reach me through email. And then tuftcamps.com is the website. And there’s a lot of information there as well. So yeah, that’s kind of the probably the three easiest ways.
Well, thanks a lot for taking some time to talk to me today, Svein. I really appreciate it. And best of luck. What’s next for you?
Oh, we have the Jumbo Wild coming up. I’m putting on a bikepacking event here in Nelson. It’s an unsupported, unorganized route over the mighty Jumbo Wild Pass coming back over the Grey Creek Pass. The [Kootenay Lake] Ferry is involved. It’s 670 km, I believe 12,000 metres of climbing. So it’s a pretty grippy little course.
That’s one way to put it.
Yeah, and that’s July 25th. And I would remind people who are going, you sign up on the Trackleaders page to share your satellite tracker information. That’s for the real crazies that are getting after it. So, yeah.
All right. Well, thanks a lot, Svein. I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Accompanying photo of Svein Tuft riding the BC Epic 1,000 by Mike Coulter.
