Badlands

this looks and sounds amazing.

I've signed up for this.

Pondering whether the ~35c clearance on my Whyte will be enough, or if I need to invest in something a bit more gravelly. Either way, I'm stoked to ride in that part of Spain.

Never done an event like this but this one is very tempting... Would require an equipment overhaul which is a good enough a reason as any :D

@CarlosBI Looking at your Badlands routes on RWGPS - are these speculative, or do they represent the official route? Cheers.

are you able to link to the route you mentioned?? trying to scope out the ride to see its / my suitability.

thank you.

No idea how closely this reflects the event, (hence the question above) but the rough route looks good. Found via a search for Badlands on RWGPS

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31226466

cool. thanks for this.
i found a lot of badlands but mostly in the states!

Pro tip: add "starts within 50km of Granada, Spain" to your search ;)

that might narrow the search somewhat.
tip noted.

Yes, that's not official yet, but it could seen at guideline
I need to confirm some of sections, but the main route could be similar to this.

Treat this like confidential information... you shouldn't have it yet! haha.

So, everyone's favourite fat mess is down for this.

How are you lot planning to get over there? I have a hard deadline the weekend after so sorry #nofly peeps I'll be speeding up the Earth's destruction just a little for my own fun. There's some Iberia flights from Heathrow that might work but they go via Madrid. There's easyjet direct flights from Gatwick which are cheaper but will take as much time as going via Madrid plus the bike box pushing, train tickets, etc.

I need to get out on the gravel bike with TL tyres and see what they're actually like (and how to fix all the inevitable issues). I guess there might be some canal paths and farm slop in my future.

Looking forward to seeing the route and making a call on bivvy vs. hotel stops. Bit hard to estimate speed on gravel never having ridden this kind of thing before so I'll probably end up carrying sleep kit anyway and seeing what unfolds. #grravel

I return from Canada on the 24th :o(

G-r-a-nada not C-a-nada

I return from Canada on the 24th :o(

IME experience jet lag isn't that much of a disadvantage in ultra-races

It starts on the 24th so assuming he's landing in London, it's going to be more than jetlag putting him off the pace :P

This a, finished after the party burn...?

That does sound like a more fundamental problem...

I'm considering this since I didn't get into TCR8. But I'm definitely not going to buy a new bike so it would be on my Strael. I ran it over the summer with Gravelking SKs 32mm back and 35mm front and enjoyed going offroad, but will I be able to ride this with such small tyres?

Do you have any thoughts @CarlosBI ? Any chance you could comment or maybe share the 'worst' section of gravel so I can do some research myself. could possibly squeeze on 35/38mm but there wouldn't be much mud clearance (hopefully not an issue in Spain in May).

Eh? I can barely remember when I finished let alone anyone else. It's a, I'm assuming you're flying 'back' to London. So how are you going to get to the start on the same day? comment. ie. jetlag is hardly an issue if you're not at the start when everyone else leaves...

They suggest 40mm but surely that depends on handling skills. You can walk anything you can't ride. I found lots of gravel roads on Transiberica and they were fine (if annoying) on my 28mm/34mm combo with skinny bars. You still probably going to be walking at the top of Pico (and if you're me, you'll be walking from the bottom this time too).

I'm flying out to Madrid from Bristol. Me and a mate will be driving back up to Madrid for a flight on the Sunday if that is any good for you @hippy - can easily bung another bike in the back.

Also in for this.

Are people planning to ride through the night?

Personally no. Maybe an hour or two at either end of the day, but (a) I'll need the sleep and (b) it's gonna be such an incredible landscape I want to see as much of it as possible.

What did you decide?

The Whyte is staying home. I'm going with wide tyres and flat bars plus aeros on an Orange RX9, which I recently picked up in ebay. What about you?