Choosing Equipment for Badlands Can Make or Break Your Race

Words and Photography by Chris Mehlman

Imagine leaving for a trip for 3 days. The catch is that you have a backpack with an airline weight limit of three kilograms; there are no hotels to lend you a toothbrush if you forget one, and there are no friends to borrow a rain jacket from if yours was left on the kitchen counter at home. Ultra races are a bit like this. In an absolute pinch, you might be able to find something, but outside of food and water, you'd better have what you need for the race. Badlands isn’t like Silk Road Mountain Race, where you probably won’t see a normal store for days, but it’s still remote, and you have to be ready. At 800-kilometers, this event also occupies an awkward middle ground. It’s short enough that weight really does matter, and it’s not a bike-packing event, but it’s long enough that taking shortcuts with what gear to carry can lead to disaster. This is my first time doing Badlands, but based on my previous ultra experiences, talking to riders like Rob Britton and Danni Shrosbree (both Badlands winners), and looking at previous setups, I’ve landed on a setup I feel comfortable with.  

Badlands Frame Choice: Gravel Bike or Hardtail Mountain Bike

Arguably, what bike you use is the most important choice. I say “arguably” because how much water and food to carry is probably more impactful than whether you choose a gravel or mountain bike, assuming you’re not straying too far into minimalist territory with very narrow tires.

I’ve raced ultras on my Pivot Vault gravel bike and on my Pivot Les SL hardtail set up with drop bars. At Unbound XL, the Les SL was the perfect choice because it could handle the terrain well and, crucially, cope with any potential mud by offering ample tire clearance. The Vault was the perfect choice for the Traka, which included longer road sections.

For Badlands, I’m choosing the Vault. It’s suspension-corrected, so it allows me to run a 40mm RockShox Rudy fork to help smooth out the rough terrain and keep my hands in good condition, but it’s fast, agile, and has plenty of space on board for attaching bags and storing gear inside the down tube. Will it be the correct choice? There’s no way to know until I’m 23 hours deep into the race and encountering unforeseen challenges, but I also don’t believe there’s one correct frame choice. When looking back at past Badlands setups, you’ll see everything from the most race-oriented gravel bike setups to adventure-ready full suspension mountain bikes. What’s key is that you’re comfortable with your setup and, more importantly, confident in it.

Gearing: Too Easy > Too Hard

Gearing is perhaps one of those topics where riders’ egos come out. I find it funny that people (especially men) like to mention how they are running a 52t single chainring in a gravel race with a 10-44t in the rear, as if that is as important as the end result and how comfortable you are in the race. 

For a race of this distance, choosing a gear you are comfortable with might be the difference between coping with the terrain and being miserable for 48 hours. I have one rule when it comes to gearing. That is that easier is always better. Badlands is not a Tour de France sprint stage, where you might need to pedal at 90 kilometers per hour, or a time trial, where a straight chain line can be the efficiency difference between winning your first WorldTour race or losing out by two seconds. 

Spain loves steep climbs. I often joke that the best indicator of a climb’s brutality is its surface. If it’s pavement, it’ll be ok. If it’s gravel, if can go either way. If it’s concrete, then it’s time to hope and pray.

By the end of a race this long, what was once a manageable gear will be very hard to push. Couple this with the amount of equipment you have to carry, and choosing even four teeth extra can make your life extremely hard. 

I usually run a 46t chainring with a 10-52t SRAM Transmission cassette, but for this race, I’m running a 40t ring. This will allow me to ride at 6.3 km/hour at 60 rpm and 70.8 km/hour at 130 rpm. If I’m going that fast, I’ll probably be resting anyway. 

The moral of the story is “check your ego.” Big chainrings look cool until you’re riding up a wall at 2 AM.

Tires: Speed + Durability

Tires may be the most discussed topic in normal gravel racing, but I’ve tried to shy away from this and stick with my hierarchy of importance:

1. Durability

2. Grip

3. Speed

4. Weight

2 and 3 are quite close, and sometimes, speed will be placed above grip, but durability is always most important to me. The small amount of time you’ll gain with a fast tire is greatly outweighed by the minutes spent fixing flats and the frustration this brings. “The fastest tire is what gets you from point A to B the fastest, not always what rolls the fastest.” (full credit to Vittoria tire designed Ken Avery for this quote).

I ran the Vittoria Terreno T50 tires in 50c at the Traka, and I’m doing the same here. They hit the sweet spot for me. They’re fast, but grippy, and also durable. I prefer wide tires to give more volume for comfort and puncture protection, and my frame can accommodate 50c, so these are perfect. I also run Vittoria Air Liner Light inserts inside as extra protection, since a tired mind combined with the added weight of gear on my bike can lead to hitting rocks quite hard. I’ll run 25 PSI up front and 29 in the rear.

Bags: Minimal or Maximal?

Some people will ride Badlands like a bikepacking race, but the reality is that you have to take a minimalist approach to bags if you want to get a top result. My favorite combo is the Tailfin 2.2-liter top tube bag and 3.8-liter half frame bag. I can run two full-size bottles in my frame while still having enough room for what I need in my bags. I typically use my top tube bag for food and my frame bag mainly for spare parts, clothes, and my battery pack. I am also lucky to have downtube storage in my bike where I can stash a few extra CO2 cartridges. I’ll also bring some spare parts in my USWE pack and a small saddle bag.

Lights: If You Can’t See, Will it Even Happen?

Artificial light is perhaps one of the most important pieces of technology humans have, and ultra races are the perfect reminders of why this is the case. If you can’t see well, you won’t be able to ride at night. For my first ultra race in 2022, I looked at what the previous year’s winner used: Exposure Lights. I bought a SixPack front light and Diablo helmet light. This is the same setup I’m using for Badlands. The battery life is incredible, so I don’t have to worry about charging the lights, and I can set custom high and low modes for each based on how long I want the light to last at each. I typically set both of mine for 10 and 24 hours, respectively, for high and low, and run them most of the time on low. I’d always rather run them at a lower setting and have extra battery life to spare. Given the maximum lumen output of the SixPack is 4100, even a low setting provides great visibility. 

Navigation: Knowledge is Power

Beyond lighting, navigation is the most important piece of tech I have. The route is, like all ultra races and most gravel races, unmarked. Having accurate, easy-to-follow navigation is crucial to success. I use a Hammerhead Karoo computer, which has a good user interface and allows me to mark points of interest on the route. I typically use Ride With GPS to mark down stores where I can stop for food and fountains where I can refill water, then import the route to my Hammerhead so I can see these points on the map. I also like that the Hammerhead base map already has fountains, cafés, and other key points marked natively. Finding a fountain in the middle of a Spanish village can be surprisingly hard, so having these tools helps a lot. I run a battery pack with my Karoo to allow it to last the full duration of the 800 kilometers.

Clothing:

Do you bring the kitchen sink, or skimp and hope it’s dry and warm? Clothing is one aspect of gear that can make the difference between a fun race and one that is dangerous. If you carry too much, you’ll be weighed down and need extra bags. If you carry too little, you might end up quite cold at night (as I was during the Traka) or, even worse, in a dangerous situation high in the mountains with rain. I try to balance weight and safety. I wear a basic summer kit with cargo pockets on the shorts and bring arm warmers, knee warmers, a light rain jacket, rain gloves, and a buff as layers. The rain jacket also makes a great wind breaker, the buff acts as a great hat, arm and knee warmers can take the edge off if it’s cold at night, and the rain gloves are especially important because having warm hands is key to being able to control your bike. As a final safety net, I will bring an emergency blanket. If I’m hurt or want to stop for rest, this is a great lightweight fallback. I’ll be wearing the Julbo Intensity glasses with 0-3 photochromic lenses. These go completely clear at night so I can see in any conditions

Water: How to Keep the Heat at Bay

During Badlands, we’ll be venturing across Europe’s only true desert. If you’ve ever seen movie clips featuring desert adventures, or read The Adventures of Tintin, where, in The Crab with the Golden Claws, Tintin and Haddock end up hallucinating while trying to find water in the desert, you’ll know that water is the most important resource when it comes to human life. Water does weigh a lot (1 liter is the same as 1 kilogram, for you Americans out there), but shortcutting in this area to save weight is not a risk you want to take. I’ll be carrying a two-liter pack and two 750-milliliter bottles, for a total of 3.5 liters. That should be enough for 4 hours when it’s very hot, and 6 hours when it’s cooler. I also have a LifeStraw water filter to use in a pinch. For electrolytes, I’ll be using Carbs Fuel’s salted gels and electrolyte capsules.

Food: An 8-Year-Old’s Junk Food Dream

The classic saying about ultra races is that they are as much eating competitions as they are challenges of physical strength. Luckily, eating on the bike is a strength of mine (see the photo of all of my wrappers from Unbound XL below. I’ll be relying on Carbs Fuel gels and various energy bars I carry to start, and will resupply with candy (especially Haribo) and cookies, Oreos, and energy bars I buy along the way. I plan to start with about 15 hours' worth of food, or about 1500 grams of carbs. This means 20 Carbs gels and 15 bars. I may lessen this a bit depending on space. During the day, there will be plenty of places to stop for food. However, Spain does not have 24-hour convenience stores like the US, so restocking each evening before stores close will be key. For caffeine, I am using Viter Mints. Each tin has 20 mints with 40mg of caffeine each. Two tins should be plenty, but I’m bringing three just in case.

General Gear and Spares: Everything You Need, and Nothing You Don’t

I tend to pack too much. My mentality has always been “I might need that.” As I’ve gotten more experienced, I’ve refined what I need to bring and ditched what I don’t. My main focus has always been carrying enough spare parts, basic clothes, and emergency supplies, and then filling the rest of the space with food.

For Badlands, I’m taking the following gear:

• 2 spare tubes

• Dynaplug + 2 refill packs

• 4 CO2 cartridges

• 1 Silca electric pump

• 2 sets of master links

• Tire boots

• Pedros multi-tool

• 4 spare AXS batteries (this may seem like a lot, but they weigh nothing and you won’t be finding spare batteries out in the desert).

• 1 mini-pump

• LifeStraw water filter

• Arm warmers

• Knee warmers

• Light jacket

• Buff

• Rain gloves

• Emergency blanket

• GPS tracker

• 10,000 mAh battery pack

• USB-C charger

• Exposure Lights charger