BADLANDS 2023: THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF AN ULTRA DISTANCE BIKEPACKING RACE

Badlands is an almost 800 kilometre gravel race with more than 15,000 meters of climbing through the remote wilderness of southern Spain, over mountains and across Europe’s only desert. This is my third successive edition of this race, each year facing very different challenges. This documentary is what happened in the 2023 edition of Badlands

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Badlands is an ultra-distance gravel bikepacking race with both professional and amateur cyclists from around the world attending. The race involves huge amounts of bike preparation, understanding of bikepacking equipment, resupply, gear, nutrition, fitness and training, survival and resilience. The race starts in Granada, southern Spain, and heads into the Gorafe Desert and Tabernas Desert, to Almeria on the coast, and finishes halfway up the Pico del Veleta, the highest paved road in all of Europe. This year the race was won by Canadian professional cyclist, Rob Britton, with first female finisher Cynthia Frazier coming in just a few hours later. The race had over 300 riders start and over 250 finish. A big thank you to the organisers of Badlands for putting on the event, and the hospitality of the Spanish restaurant and shop owners who stayed open outside the regular hours to accomodate riders’ needs.