Badlands tour 2026

20 hours of riding. End of day 2, in a small village in the south of Spain on the edge of the Sierra Nevada National park. I hear two male voices and the distinct sound of back pedalling a bike chain. As I peer out of my second floor hotel room I freeze for a moment. It’s Heff and Henri, two of the guys on this 800km cycling tour following the infamous Badlands Route. They have known each other for less than 48 hours. 50% of that time has been spent next to each other, pedalling their gravel bikes.

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My mind is blown as I look on at the way they work together to clean their bikes and be ready for day 3. The longest stage of this 7 day tour. 186km with 3,000m of climbing on some of the most unreal gravel roads I have ever seen. This moment sits with me for the rest of the tour and to this day. It will no doubt be an image I will hold in my mind for a number of years to come. It’s so many things in one moment.

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All good tours start in similar ways. People throwing around ideas, thoughts, dreams, life long goals. It’s what I love about endurance challenges. Badlands was never a dream or a goal for me. I had watched a number of documentaries about the single stage race. Its scenery appealed as did the difficulty of the route. I got stuck on the ‘single stage’ component. When you see the magnitude of the route and the landscapes on offer, every time I watched something on it a part of me felt sad that the riders would pass huge sections in the dark, or in states of hallucination.

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If you have read some of my stuff before, it is no secret that I like endurance challenges. I have done many things in the dark. Had more than my fair share of hallucinations and been in various states of altered consciousness that I genuinely feel have benefitted my life. Contradictory you may say that the original Badlands self supported single stage race did not appeal to me. Never say never but for now I was on a different vibe.

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That was a vibe I had a feeling a few others would share. Rewind just under 12 months and on the back of a few chats, of course I start a WhatsApp group. “Badlands 2026”. I naturally add a bunch of people whose boat I think the idea may float. A 7 day gravel bike tour on the Badlands race route. Once the group is set up I immediately ask anyone who is not interested to leave. Savage you may think but the key ingredient of these trips is commitment. Commitment to self first and then to the group and what the tour will do for both. No one leaves. We sit at around a dozen and I get to work on the logistics of the trip.

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Whilst the route is well known, it changes annually based on a few different factors, mainly weather. Europes only desert can serve up both extremes throughout the seasons making the same route very different from year to year. After a number of emails back and forth with tour operators we have a final itinerary. 7 day tour. 1 warm up day in Granada then 6 days riding the badlands route taking in 750km and 14,000m of elevation. Accommodation would be simple 2 star places along the route.

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Bang, PDF into the group and another invitation for anyone unable to make it or not excited in some way by its contents to leave. A few do. We are getting down to a tour party. In my mind 6-8 would be perfect. Too many and it’s a mess. There is no minimum. By this point I am going with 1 or 6 others, even with 0, I am still going. That’s the way my mind works. Once I am excited about a challenge I need to do it. Of course sharing it is always epic but if that privilege is removed it does not stop the show.  As the months go by and people finalise their schedules and commitments we get down to 6. Perfect.

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Gravel riding is at an interesting point. There are a few categories of riders as far as I can see. There are the die hards who have been riding on uneven surface for years. They wild camp anytime they can, have generation 1 of Exposure lights and look at tours in weeks rather than days. An insanely impressive bunch who are constantly proving that you can go anywhere on a bike as they cross continents for fun. Do they even work?

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Another category are riding gravel at high speeds. Insanely impressive as they average speeds in the various races across uneven surfaces which most people would be happy with on the roads.

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Then you have the “influencer” crowd who love the latest gear and are living on a dream that they will get enough YouTube clicks to be able to buy their own flat white one day. They spend more time “shooting content” than actually riding and enjoying bikes.

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Ah yes then we have the commonly talked about middle age male who finds the sense of adventure in a challenging environment appealing. There is a fair bit written about these guys. Maybe I am one, who knows.

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I have ridden bikes since I was a kid. I love mountain bikes. I love road bikes. I love travel. I love nature. I love speed. I love climbs. I love remote places. I love doing hard things. I have many loves and many of them are satisfied on my gravel bike. It’s funny I was with a school friend recently and he referred to me as an addict. “Look at everything you have done you have been addicted to it” he explained as he listed my sporting pursuits and my addiction to them as they have featured in my life. He is not wrong. For now my drug of choice is riding. It serves me and I feel I serve it well too. It makes me happy. It’s on a gravel bike. When the happiness runs out I will make a change. My gravel journey started in 2017, had an interesting twist in 2018 which led to a small pause. But yes my friend is right, now I give a lot to it. Maybe I am an addict.

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4 weeks before we are due to start our Badlands tour Ed calls me. I could tell in his voice what was coming but I supported him 100%. He had decided to withdraw to spend more time with his family. I could not be happier for him. I told him the trail will still be there when he is ready and I will go and ride it with him with pleasure. We are down to 5. Henri, Heff, Phil and his son Charlie. Holly will come to support us by driving between hotels daily with our bags. Luxury you may say. I would agree.

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Training for something like this is not super complex but it takes time. You are essentially training to be able to deliver output on your bike in a hard environment for 6 days straight. I have had the honour of coaching Charlie in some capacity since he was 8 years old. He is now 21. His progress and commitment on the bike over the last few years have been phenomenal. That progress led to him qualifying for the gravel world championships just a week before we were due to start Badlands. He was in good shape.

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Heff had called me 8 months earlier and asked me to help him prepare for the tour. 3 kids at home and a job that spans across times zones from the east coast of the US to the Middle East and occasionally beyond, this was the type of case I enjoy working on. There are a lot of moving parts and a huge global stress score to manage. Manage is a key word as it is all manageable if the client is willing. Heff was willing and it was his willingness and compliance that not only got him to, but also through Badlands. Inspiring in many ways.

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Henri has been a client of InnerFight endurance for some years, I knew he would be ready and was not surprised about the time he put into training. Badlands was a dream of his, he knew what it was going to take.

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Phil had been the reason I went on my first road bike tour in 2015. He loved riding and as his son Charlie had got more into it he had dreamed that they would tour together. They did that in 2025 in Italy on road. This year they wanted to do the same on gravel. Sadly Phil was our final withdrawal from the tour party leaving us with four. I gave him the same message I had given to Ed, the mountains will still be there when he is ready……but please start to get ready.

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We split the route based on accommodation logistics which led to 7 stages. A warm up ride around the start town Granada, a big city which served its purpose and thats about it. Day 1 we would ride to Gor 152km. Day 2 to Alhamra De Almeria, 93km. Day 3 would be 183km to Retamar. Fondon would be our destination on day 4 109km away. Day 5 was our shortest stage of 83km to Trevelez. The final day bringing us back to our start in Granada totalling 94km. With around 14,000m of elevation to cover there would certainly be some good days on the bike, some longer than others but good ones all of them. I was sure.

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Day 1 set the tone nicely for what we would be in for. 75% of the day (and of the week) we were on gravel trails. ‘Gravel trails’ is quite a loose word I have learnt over the years. I am not sure who decides the definition but it can mean anything from a smooth and wide road to single track through forests. River crossings are fair game. Perhaps most peoples least liked gravel trails are dry river beds. We saw plenty of those in Spain. The beauty about most gravel courses and as is the case in Spain is that you are rarely on the same type of surface for too long. It is always changing. A double-edged sword for some as there are really no free miles. In road riding you can spend an hour doing a climb and you can be sure that the reward will be free-wheeling down the other side. On gravel the descents can be as hard and sometimes slower than the climbs, especially in places with rain damage. All of this leads to reduced average speeds. Based on my research of Badlands I thought if we could average 20-23KMPH for the stages then we were in good shape.

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A beautiful first 100km of day 1 led us into the Gorafe desert with 50km to go. I spent the rest of the week and really until now trying to find words to describe this desert. It’s very hard. As I said to Holly, you have to go there. She did. She understands. I hope that at some stage of your life you can to. It was mind blowing and gave me one of the best days ever on the bike. What was even better is that Charlie and I made it to a restaurant in time to have lunch with Holly. Sounds simple but on a Sunday in Spain it is not that simple. In fact most days in Spain are a challenge when it comes to places being open in the rural areas we were in. Fortunately we managed to find a bar that packed us some food for take away that we took back to our guest house for Heff and Henri who spent more time taking pictures in the desert.

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7 hours riding on day 1 gave way to a shorter day 2 with some equally awesome scenery. A lot of endurance events are a fine balancing act of going hard enough but not too hard. You often feel like you are playing with fire. You feel good and want to push but then start to worry what price you are going to pay later or in multi-stage events in the days to come. This used to worry me a lot in my earlier days of these sorts of events but I think I have learnt. I hope so by now. With riding if I get my fuel and recovery right I know what output I can deliver each day. I sat just where I knew I would have the most fun on day 2. I knew we would be at the finish by lunch and I would have plenty of time to recover for the long stage on day 3.

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Monday in rural Spain is similar to a Sunday in many other parts of the world we learnt. Most things are shut. One thing that wasn’t was a very decent supermarket which provided us lunch and dinner. The adventure was real as we prepared for our daybreak start the next morning. This is where these trips get really fun. How do you refuel properly and somehow enjoy it by shopping in a supermarket knowing you have no cooking or storage facilities for the food? And of course how does that play on your mind? Or how do you let it? As I sat in my rather basic hotel room stuffing my face with my purchases I smiled. I was exactly where I wanted to be.

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Day break, Tuesday morning we took our mandatory daily selfie outside the hotel. Wished each other a nice day and started turning the pedals. 4km downhill into 16km at 4% up a tar road was how our first 20km would look. The following 80km was a beautiful adventure. Hike a bike. River beds. Winds. Railway crossings. In some places no trail at all. It was truly epic. We got a proper tour of the Spanish countryside and a nice view of perhaps some of the lesser desirable acts of mankind. The disposal of building materials in some of the most naturally beautiful places on earth. Such a shame. And then the landfills next door to vegetable farms. Chaos. It really makes you think what sort of a race we are as humans and our often total lack of regard for our time on planet earth. It’s hard not to get fired up even though I know anger does little.

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The Sierra Nevada National Park opened up to ocean views as we did a lap of the coast through the Cabo De Gata National Park. Something they both shared were a large amount of ancient buildings which clearly served a purposed a few centuries ago but now sit abandoned and slowly falling down. Another site that is easy to feel angry or sad about. A mindset that works better for me is seeing them as a part of time and history. They served and were important but no longer have a role. Existential thought after existential thought as I kept the chain tight.

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3 days done and 3 to go. The daily process. The energy expenditure. The refill. The sleep. They had all started to click. As had the legs. Who knew that if you ride 20 hours a week for months on end then these sorts of tours are like a normal week somehow. Ha ha. The coming 2 days were big climbing days. I like climbing on my bike. I like it more these days that I am lighter. I also liked it on the gravel round here as the length of climbs varied so much. Road alpine climbs are epic but have a common feel to them. Here the terrain varies. Some climbs can be very bumpy. Others have sections of +20% gradient. It keeps it fun, no sleeping. One thing for sure on these climbs, there was never a fan fare at the top, no restaurants and if we saw more than half a dozen people every day that would be a lot. It was a remote and often barren type of paradise. I liked it a lot.

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I think day 4 delivered one of the most incredible descents I have ever done on a bike. It was not one thing but everything all at once. The work we had done to earn the right to ride on it. The views all down it. The changing terrain. The flowers and landscape. The noises. As I said everything. Every sense is getting a workout. My happiness is off the scale. I am grateful all days but today it is more. I think about Mum and Dad and give them thanks for making me. I mean I was a long shot as we all are but I am there riding my bike in this mental land. I share my photos, videos and updates with Dad everyday. He has always been a huge support of my sports. Since I was a kid he encouraged and made it possible for me to play as many sports as possible. I always had a bike to ride and somewhere to ride it and that was his doing. He not only gave me life but he gave me cycling. The least I can do is live it and ride it.

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Day 5 took us back into the Sierra Nevada National park. We could feel we were changing territories as the rare villages we passed through had a different feel to them. Like the others we had ridden through, 90% of the houses looked like no one lived there. We were never sure we would get water and I can not remember once finding a convenience store. We resupplied at random bars or street stalls. It was surreal. But these villages had some character. It made me think more about life and how life existed here. I have a few findings to share but lots more thinking to do and perhaps more visits to make to satisfy my curiosity.

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One constant was the person who met us at the end of our ride each day. Holly. As we rode she would transfer to our new home for the night and try and figure out our eating situation. Not always easy. I was happy that she got to see some of the beautiful parts of the landscapes that we had seen on our bikes. I was also happy that she was part of our tour. That she was there to share our experiences in some ways. Whilst we spend a lot of time together, we are not normally together during my endurance challenges. Probably better for her mental health. But this was special and I am super happy we could share it the way we did. She has listened to more talk about bike set ups than anyone who doesn’t ride should be subjected to. I am confident it will serve her well at some stage of life.

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Our hotel on the penultimate day had the best restaurant of the week. Add to this that less than 100KM stood between us and the completion of our tour and the mood at dinner was one level up from it’s normal very good. Heff and Henri had formed an incredible friendship and had ridden together everyday. It still blows my mind what I saw that day that I described in the opening of this piece. They shared something during this tour that is truly special. They were both sensational all week.

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For Heff this was his first real gravel experience. A baptism of fire would be an understatement. I will never forget the look on his face at the end of the first day. It was clear he was processing what he was in for. Not quite what he had envisaged that’s for sure. But he processed it and at the end of every stage he had a sense of energy and achievement that I wish could have been bottled up. It was very powerful. Henri similar as no matter the length or difficulty of the stage he was always upbeat and had genuinely loved the day. Even the harder parts. Charlie had been solid all week. He had naturally had some more challenging moments. That’s why we were there. At times I tried to help him but I believe that sometimes you need to be left alone to figure things out. Rob Jones and I have been talking about solitary confinement in endurance sports for years now. There is a time to hold someone’s hand and there is a time to leave them to hold their own for long periods of time. When I felt the time was right I gave Charlie my wheel to sit on. When I felt he needed to be alone I rode off. I also needed to be alone at times. I had things to test, curiosity to sit with and as you have probably gathered questions of my own to ponder.

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93km day 6, just over 3 hours, our fastest of the week. The mind is a great tool isn’t it? How? It is a great question and I will not attempt to answer it here. Yes we had more tar in day 6 but we also all had good legs. The gift of endurance. When you think you are beat, when you start to doubt, you are probably just about to have what could be a life changing moment. Yes endurance and yes these tours do change your life. They make you better at life. That’s why Henri, Charlie, Heff and I were there. We are better versions of ourselves today than we were on day 1. It is natural. It is not always obvious and the learnings are not always simple to see. Patience is the key. The experiences will play out in different areas of our lives as time goes on. Maybe in endurance situations, maybe in others.

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Henri, Heff, Charlie and Holly. Thank you for coming on the Badlands Tour 2026. Dad thanks for making me, giving me cycling and supporting from afar. To those who could not make it this time, that’s cool, now was not the time, when it’s time, we go again.

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No Weakness
Marcus