Badlands 2022 : Unsupported Ultracycling gravel on the edge of Europe
The wildest bikepacking off-road challenge in Europe: 800km + 16,000m across the only official desert in Europe, the wild coast of Cabo de Gata and Pico Valeta at 3,396m.
Badlands 2022 kinda just dropped into my lap. The idea came from the bike brand Cinelli who at first thought I might want to "Race Race" the 780km ride around southern Spain. They quickly found out that I wasn't the racer they thought I was, and in fact, they were happy to embrace whatever form I wanted to embody at the event. The challenge sounded pretty astronomical to me at first but I'm good at saying yes to things that I don't understand, so I figured I'd wing it.
Badlands is a bike packing event with over 300 participants, with a maximum time cut of six and a half days. The best riders do the course in around 44 hours with as little as 20 minutes of stoppage time.
My initial approach was simply to bike pack the route and take those maximum six days, however as soon as I showed up in Granada I quickly recognized that the vibe of this event was more "racey" than I anticipated with most people packing "as light as possible", many of whom planning not to sleep at all or to only bring an emergency bivvy. My first question was, have you ever tried to sleep in an emergency bivvy??? It's a metal bag, commonly referred to as a space blanket. I tried sleeping in one on one of my first self supported bike packing trips and I can confirm that they are the worst - there is no breathability, you start sweating, then you wake up soaking and then you're SOL. Emergency bivvies should be reserved for what they're made for... emergencies.
Tangent aside, I decided to bring a footprint, a sleeping pad, a lightweight sleeping bag and a weatherproof bivouac sac that zips open to act as more of a rain blanket (just in case). On top of that I had the MW Acre Series Vest, MW Altosphere Jacket, MW Tech Tee shirts (both long sleeve and short), Mission Workshop cycling shorts - plus of course my trusty Ripton jean shorts. Undies, tooth brush, floss... lights, devices, chargables... tools, tubes, plugs, some para cord, straps... wallet + passport and of course WATER (4.5L of total capacity), FOOD and a first aid kit. My plan was to be comfortable in the night hours - heavy in the day with all the weight in the bags on the bike but comfortable with no straps of a backpack or camelbak or fanny on my shoulders or waist. We glorify discomfort but I felt like what could have been 6 days of riding was going to be enough discomfort so I prioritized my physical comfort in all other areas - even down to the bike and fit for the ride. Cinelli and I designed a custom Nemo Gravel frame specifically for this event which featured a 66.6cm top tube (!!) and a long enough head tube to allow for the flat bar handlebars to be the same height as the seat. This build was radically different from any bike I've ever ridden and definitely fit the bill as Ultra Comfort Cruiser.
