Badlands - Why I'm Racing

Words by Chris Mehlman - Photography by Badlands

Badlands: a word that, depending on where you’re from, is either a National Park or an ultra-distance cycling race that strikes an equal amount of fear and excitement into riders. In 2025, I’m racing the Badlands gravel race in Granada, Spain. This is a 507-mile epic with almost 50,000 feet of elevation gain. I’ve done long events before, but never anything like this.

Why am I doing it? To me, ultra racing is fascinating. Rather than the fine margins of a road race bunch sprint or the hours spent painstakingly perfecting lines on an XCO course, ultra races are stories painted in broad brush strokes. Races are largely ridden blind, meaning the exact ins and outs of the route and terrain are unknown. Even if you can pre-ride a section, precise memories of it will be lost in the blur of the hundreds of miles of terrain your mind has to process. There is no better way to experience a new area, rather than the distance that the glass walls of a tour bus place between a human and an exciting new locale. Ultra racing provides an intimate connection with the region, its geography, geology, weather, architecture, food, and people. Entering into the unknown of what is ahead is both terrifying and thrilling. 

Ultra racing is equal parts mental and physical battle. Physically, you must be able to wear your body down far past the point when physiology asks you to stop. Sometimes, you reach the point where that request becomes an order. You must be able to handle pumping fuel into your body for the duration of the event while still pedalling. 

The mental side of ultra racing is where the real battle occurs. Many of the physical challenges faced by riders are conquerable by the mind. A strong mindset can take you far. A weak one can dash the chances of even the most physically talented rider. In a race like Badlands, there will be many highs and many lows, and the key to success is managing both effectively. You must take energy from the high moments, but not get carried away, and know in the low moments that you can dig your way back out of the hole. 

There is no “right” way to approach an event like this. Rather than tactical moves in crosswinds or key climbs, the tactics in a non-drafting race like this come through pacing, equipment choices, decisions about how much to carry, whether to rest or to push on, and so much more.

Badlands takes the challenges that I have undergone at the Traka 560, Unbound XL, and Gravel Worlds Long Voyage, and amplifies them. It’s the logical next race for me.

When I say Badlands is the next step in my ultra career, it’s not because there is a clear path. One does not simply move from the primary school of ultra to the secondary school. Even the definition of “ultra” is unclear. Some people might think 100 miles is an “ultra-long” race. In the community that takes on Badlands, the race sits in an awkward middle ground. It’s too short to be a bike packing race, but too long to be a (relatively) full-gas, draft-legal race like Unbound XL.

That’s part of what makes it exciting. The length presents many questions, the first of which, for many, likely is: “Do I sleep or not?” Others that come up revolve around bike choice, tire choice, gearing, food, water, and, in southern Spain in August, heat management. 

It’s difficult to articulate how excited I am for this event. I have finished each of these ultras mentally empty and physically wrecked. Still, it’s remarkable how fast my mind shifts from hating every minute of the events to only recalling the good parts and glossing over the bad. 

I know Badlands will be hard. I know I might not even finish it. However, I also know that ultra races like these provide the space for developing some of my most important memories and learning some of my most crucial life lessons. Races like these are not for everyone, but for me, they are, as I’ve learned, my calling in the sport of cycling.

I’ll be on the ground in Granada and providing a few more pieces about my prep and my experience! Stay tuned!