RAD HQ

august 1st 2026

About the Race

The PEI Mussel Tear is a self-supported gravel cycling event that spans the beautiful province of Prince Edward Island from one end to the other. While many maritime cycling enthusiasts have conquered the famous Confederation Trail, this race minimizes time spent on the modern railbed and highlights some of PEI’s lesser-known red dirt roads. The 2025 edition featured just over 430km of PEI gravel riding, and for 2026 we’re tweaking the route to be even better!

The event takes riders through tourist hotspots such as Summerside, Cavendish, Victoria by the Sea, and Charlottetown. Enjoy these re-supply points while you can as the majority of the ride will be nothing but red dirt, farmland and the sound of your freewheel.

Are you up for the challenge?

The PEI Mussel Tear is a Cycling PEI-sanction event. This means that members of Cycling PEI participating in the event will enjoy the sport accident and liability insurance coverage that comes with their membership.

Race Registration
Tracker Registration

Race Rules

This is a self-supported event which means no outside support is allowed. Any supplies, accommodation or assistance required on route must be available to all riders. Riders registered as a team may draft off of each other, but solo riders must ride on their own.

Riders will be provided with the official racecourse GPX file one week prior to the start date. It should be uploaded to your GPS device (Garmin, Wahoo, etc) and followed from tip to tip. If riders must deviate from course for any reason, they must re-enter the course at the point they exited. A draft of the 2025 course is available at the following link* but will be changed before race day. Riders must finish the race in the category in which they entered (i.e. solo or pairs).

The following list is required at the start line to participate: headlight, tail light, GPS device, cell phone and a portable charger to support the listed items. All riders will also require a tracking device (available to rent from Follow My Challenge USA) if unable to provide your own.

Tracker Information

All tracking and mapping is organized by Follow My Challenge, a third party organization that provides tracker rentals and mapping services for events of this nature. A tracker is required to participate. If you are supplying your own tracking device (SPOT, Garmin InReach) there is mapping fee of $30 USD. If you require a rental tracking device, there is a fee of $80 USD which includes both the device and mapping fee.

Prices are determined by Follow My Challenge and they are happy to answer any questions you may have regarding their services. Payment is made directly through the company at this link. Please note, this is separate from the registration fee.

Anyone requiring a rental tracking device will be able to simply pick it up at the start line and leave it at the finish line – we’ll take care the rest.

Race Registration
Tracker Registration

Want more information? Check out our FAQs here!