The Long Ride: "Badlands: Riding Through the Bones of the Earth

Words by James Ion Photography provided by Badlands

You check the water bottle again. Even though you know it’s full, it’s still a relief to find it’s still true. You followed the guide, remembered to fill up at every opportunity, but still you check. It’s like a ritual now—you reach down, give the bottle a shake, and hear that reassuring slosh of liquid. The knowing sound of security. And in the Badlands, you need to hear that.

It sounds like a western—The Badlands—apt really, as this scorched Andalusian region once served as the backdrop for countless Sergio Leone films about the Wild West. But this is no gunslinging epic. This is another sort of adventure—one that pits rider against the elements, against the odds, against themselves. This is Badlands 2025.

A Ride Born of Obsession

Badlands was born in 2020 from the minds of Azahara Morales and David  Rodríguez. The two set out to design a route that would challenge even the most seasoned ultra-riders while telling a story about a region too often forgotten. They weren’t just mapping terrain—they were weaving together the contrasts of Andalusia: from snow-capped peaks to scorched desert floor, from lunar valleys to volcanic coastlines

What emerged was a vision that sits somewhere between expedition and endurance event. “It’s not a race,” co-founder David reiterates. “It’s a question. Can you cross this landscape, alone, with everything you need strapped to your frame? Can you do it respectfully, leaving nothing behind but a tyre track and taking only memories?”

A Landscape Like Nowhere Else

The course begins and ends in the ancient city of Granada, winding northeast into the forested folds of the Sierra de Huétor before descending into the sun-split amphitheatre of the Gorafe Desert—a Martian tableau of sedimentary stone and slot canyons carved by wind and time.

From there, the route threads through Europe’s only true desert—Tabernas—home to the aforementioned Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. Then it’s up—way up—to the Calar Alto observatory, perched at over 2,100 metres, before dropping again to the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, a protected coastal biosphere where volcanic cliffs fall into the blue of the Mediterranean.

From sea level, the course pitches back north, traversing La Alpujarra and the high mountain villages that cling to the southern flanks of the Sierra Nevada. By the time riders reach the finish in Granada, they’ve climbed over 16,000 metres—more than the height of Everest. All of it self-supported. All of it under their own steam.

“Badlands feels like you’re riding on the moon,” Mattia De Marchi

“Badlands feels like you’re riding on the moon,” said 2021 winner Mattia De Marchi. “There are long stretches where you see nothing—no people, no cars, just silence. It’s beautiful. And it’s brutal.”

The Legends of Badlands

Despite its anti-race ethos, Badlands attracts some of the best ultra-endurance athletes in the world. The inaugural edition was won by EF Pro Lachlan Morton in 2020—just as the pandemic turned the cycling world upside down. He finished in 43 and a half hours, exhausted and elated. “One of the toughest things I’ve ever done,” he later admitted.

Since then, the event has grown in legend. In 2023, Rob Britton set a new course record of 1 day, 14 hours and 20 minutes, while Cynthia Carson claimed the women’s title. In 2024, Spanish rider Alex Martínez and the UK’s Cara Dixon took top honours, with Dixon’s calm consistency through the heatwaves earning wide respect.

Olympian Alistair Brownlee also tackled the course, calling it, “some of the toughest terrain imaginable… but also some of the most incredible.” For riders like Janosch Wintermantel, Badlands is more than an athletic endeavour: “It’s the most beautiful unsupported bikepacking event in Europe… absolutely mind-blowing.”

Badlands 2025: No Easier Roads

The 2025 edition—set for August 31 to September 5—follows a now-familiar structure: a fixed route, a GPX file, and one chance to cross the mountains, deserts, and sea under your own power. Organisers have once again tweaked the course slightly, but the fundamentals remain: 800km, 16,000m of elevation, scorching heat by day, freezing drops by night.

There will be more international riders than ever—over 300 participants from nearly 40 countries took part in 2024, and that number is expected to rise (in fact, at the time of writing, it had sold out!).

The rider cap remains low to minimise environmental impact, but the scale of attention continues to grow. And with the likes of Britton, Dixon, and possibly Lachlan Morton watching from the wings, the race within the ride may be more compelling than ever.

Riding Badlands: What You Need

Preparation for Badlands is less about watts and more about resilience. Riders need to train for back-to-back 10+ hour days, carrying everything they need: food, tools, clothing, lights, and often bivy gear.

With little resupply between rural towns, water management is critical—riders are advised to fill up whenever they can, and heat training is essential.

A typical setup includes:

• Gravel bike with 40–45mm tyres

• Low gearing (sub-1:1 ratios)

• Frame, seatpost, and handlebar bags

• Two or more water bottle cages or a hydration vest

• Front/rear lights + battery banks

• Lightweight thermal layers (desert by day, mountains by night)

Badlands is not a place for marginal gains. It’s a place for knowing when to push, when to pause, and how to keep moving when everything else tells you to stop.

A Ride With a Mission

More than anything, Badlands is a story about land. About how we travel through it. About what we owe it.

The event’s #BadlandsRewild initiative supports local environmental regeneration projects in collaboration with farmers and conservation groups. Trees are planted, soils are rehabilitated, and carbon emissions are measured and offset. Local businesses are engaged as hosts and resupply points, giving economic lifeblood to villages many would otherwise never visit.

“We are responsible for our actions,” the organisers write. “Organising or riding cycling routes is not an exception.”

Andalusia is a land of erosion and extremes. Badlands, in a quiet way, is a movement to protect it—one pedal stroke, one route, one shared effort at a time.

Conclusion: The Empty Places Call

Many gravel events test the legs. Fewer that test the soul. Badlands does both.

It is a place where riders become pilgrims, tracing ancient paths across scarred land. Where solitude is not feared but welcomed. Where every summit, every sweltering valley, every dry riverbed reminds you that this is not a race—it’s a reckoning.

Not everyone who rides it will finish. But everyone who finishes it will be changed.

And maybe, that’s the point.