Chris Melmän finished third at Badlands 600, one of the world's toughest ultra-endurance races, riding non-stop for nearly 60 hours across remote Spanish desert. In this conversation, he breaks down the exact strategies that kept him competitive at the front—from his surprisingly minimalist kit setup and calculated fueling approach to his power-capped pacing philosophy and the mental tactics needed to stay sharp when your body is screaming to stop.
Key Takeaways
- Cap your power output in the first day—even at 300 watts feels easy early on, but matching bigger riders' pace will destroy you later. Every watt burned over threshold multiplies in cost across an 800km effort.
- Carry an electric pump over CO2: unlimited charging via battery pack beats dealing with frozen hands, lost cartridges, and the cognitive load of rationing gas canisters over 60 hours.
- Separate fueling from hydration completely—gels, bars, and solid food for calories; plain water and electrolyte separately for hydration. This prevents flavor fatigue and makes tracking intake much simpler.
- Map every potential food and water stop before the race, color-code your route by expected nightfall, and accept that Spanish shops close during siesta and don't open 24/7 like US gas stations—you must carry enough buffer food.
- Descending while exhausted is genuinely dangerous: your reaction time vanishes, technique collapses, and hitting a rut with 20kg of gear at night almost guarantees a broken collarbone. Light setup becomes a safety tool, not just convenience.
- The mentality that wins these races is 'keep moving forward'—not fast, just forward. Everyone is suffering equally; the person who accepts the slow pace and maintains consistency wins.
Expert Quotes
"At some point in these races, fat's almost better. Getting high-fat stuff in is important because it decreases the caloric deficit you're in—there's nine calories per gram of fat and only four per gram of carbs. – Chris Melmän"
"Every match you burn over threshold is something you'll pay for, but it is infinitely magnified in a long race. – Chris Melmän"
"My whole mentality in this race was keep moving forward. That's it. Because like at the end of the day, no matter how slowly you're moving forward, you're still moving forward. – Chris Melmän"