CSB+SJU assistant professor is sole inductee into exclusive order

CSB+SJU assistant professor Kyhl Lyndgaard was named the sole inductee to the Order of the Hrimthurs for the 2025/2026 season. Lyndgaard was selected following his completion of three endurance bike races in one winter season: The Arrowhead 135, the Tuscobia 160 Winter Ultra and the Actif Epica.

Lyndgaard’s biking journey began when he was in graduate school at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). After finishing his master’s degree, he embarked on his first long distance bike ride, biking from Minnesota to Sacramento.

“I was planning to move to Taiwan and teach English for a while… and I was trying to get my car and my belongings back to Minnesota and then get to Taiwan. Well, I needed my bike,” Lyndgaard said. “I drove home to Minnesota from California then I took my bike and rode from Minnesota to Sacramento before I got on a plane to Taiwan… It was not a race; it was just me being stubborn.”

Lyndgaard said he wasn’t always consistent in keeping up with biking, and that when he started his family, he biked less. But when he led a study abroad trip to South Africa in the spring of 2023, he had an opportunity to get back into it.

“I brought my bike with to South Africa and I found a group to ride with. It had been the first time in over 10 years that I started riding consistently and in a group to kind of hold each other accountable,” Lyndgaard said. “You go there [to South Africa] in January, but it’s summer because it’s in the southern hemisphere. So, I had two consecutive summers in a row and I got in pretty good shape in 2023.”

Over the next two years Lyndgaard continued his bike training, venturing out onto gravel roads and competing in a few 100-mile races. Eventually he decided he wanted to bike year-round, and he traded in his skis for a four-inch, fat-tire bike to be able to train in the winter.

“I found the longer and the more rugged the course, the better I tended to do so I just kind of kept going with it, finding the next challenge,” Lyndgaard said.

Lyndgaard’s exposure to the Order of the Hrimthurs began with the Tuscobia 80-mile race, the shorter version of the Tuscobia Winter Ultra, that he says a friend first invited him to compete in. After winning the 80-mile race, Lyndgaard said he had the motivation to come back the next year and compete in the full 160-mile race. He also applied for entry into the Arrowhead 135, held annually in Minnesota, and was accepted, despite thinking that he would not get in.

“I applied to enter Arrowhead, thinking I wouldn’t get in. But then I got in, and I was already signed up for Tuscobia because you have to sign up so far in advance. So I decided I’d do Tuscobia, sort of a proof of concept that I would be able to survive Arrowhead which is more remote and much colder,” Lyndgaard said.

The Arrowhead 135 stretches from International Falls to Tower, Minnesota, and began on Jan. 26 at 7 a.m. in temperatures below negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Lyndgaard finished the race at 1:34 a.m. on Jan. 27, for a total time of 18 hours and 34 minutes, placing fifth overall. Lyndgaard talked about the circumstances surrounding the race this year.

“The race was two days after Alex Pretti was killed, and he was a member of the cycling community in Minnesota. There was a lot of kind of presence of that at that race. I know a few people ended up not doing the race because they just didn’t feel it was appropriate,” Lyndgaard said. “I ended up doing it, but [the events in Minneapolis] was on my mind. I was like, well how lucky am I to be able to have the privilege to spend, you know, 20 hours outside. I don’t have to worry about my kids, I don’t have to worry about work, I have my cell phone off, I’m disconnected… We all need those outlets”

The third race of the Order of the Hrimthur series is the Actif Epica, held in Manitoba, Canada, which took place this year on Feb. 13-15. Lyndgaard finished the 115-kilometer race in 7 hours and 52 minutes to complete the series and become this year’s sole inductee into the Order of the Hrimthurs.

“I think my preparation as a literature and environmental studies professor actually is super helpful because I’ve written three books and I’ve learned to break things down into smaller chunks… You just need to have a long-term plan, and you need to be able to stay focused,” Lyndgaard said.

As an environmental studies professor, Lyndgaard says he has a deep respect for the trails and locations that he gets to experience while competing in, and training for, his races. He says he feels that he is breaking norms because he does not listen to music while he bikes, choosing to listen to his thoughts instead.

“I prefer to just try to take in my surroundings. I draw in a lot of strength from the natural world, so these bike races are pretty awesome because you’re out in the woods or amongst farm fields, you’re not in cities. There’s no car traffic and you can really get connected to the place that you’re at,” Lyndgaard said.

After completing the three-race series and being selected to the Order of the Hrimthurs, Lyndgaard said he was taking some time off from competing in races, and that he is focusing on making sure he recovers properly. Despite not being signed up for any races yet or having anything schedule, Lyndgaard is excited for what the future of his bike riding holds for him.

“There’ll be something, but maybe the next one will be a multi-day bike-packing trip in the summer. There’s some pretty cool races out there that are mostly on trails and require you to camp,” Lyndgaard said. “I grew up doing a lot of wilderness travel to the Boundary Waters and I was in grad school for seven years in the west, so I did a lot of backpacking in the mountains. Being able to combine those interests with cycling is attractive.”