When Justinas Leveika last joined Bikes or Death, he had just set a new Fastest Known Time for the Bikepacking Triple Crown. He wasn’t done.
In the 21 months since, Justinas has lined up for nine ultra-endurance races across an astonishing range of formats and conditions: The Accursed Race, Trans Balkan Race, Transcontinental Race, Arkansas High Country Race, GranGuanche Audax Trail, Tour Te Waipounamu, Iditarod Trail Invitational 350, Highland Trail 550 and Silk Road Mountain Race. That résumé stretches from road racing and free-route navigation at the Transcontinental to technical singletrack in New Zealand and Scotland, extreme winter riding on the Iditarod Trail, and remote, high-altitude racing through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The results include six victories, a second-place finish, three additional FKTs and, most recently, a commanding win at Silk Road.
The longest and most demanding Silk Road course to date covered 2,052 kilometers through Kyrgyzstan, with more than 35,000 meters of climbing and a non-finisher rate of roughly 65 percent. Justinas entered the race claiming his expectations were “lower than the floor.” He finished in 7 days, 16 hours and 56 minutes – more than 21 hours ahead of second place.
In this episode, we catch up on everything Justinas has done since our last conversation, including his victory at the Iditarod Trail Invitational 350 – an experience he describes as the hardest thing he has ever done. We also dig into Silk Road: how he erased an early 4.5 hour deficit, the enormous push that broke the race open, and the illness, river crossings and general chaos he encountered along the way.
But the larger question is how Justinas continues to race so consistently across so many disciplines while remaining one of the most feared and successful ultra-endurance cyclists in the world. We discuss recovery, motivation, balancing life with cycling, and what continues to drive him toward such wildly different challenges.
After everything he has accomplished, one question remains: Why is Justinas Leveika so damn good at this? Maybe you’ll get some clues in today’s episode…
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