Balutia

Balutia follows the frontier of Fahs al-Ballut, an old Arab province whose lands are now split between Córdoba, Ciudad Real and Badajoz, and turns that half-forgotten border into one long self-supported gravel loop. There is no prize and no podium: riders carry their own food and kit, find their own beds or bivvy in the open, and the only reward for making it back inside the time limit is a finisher medal. Some push through the night, others stop to look around, and the rules are the same for everyone.

The loop crosses three regions and a remarkable range of country. It starts in the holm-oak dehesa of Los Pedroches, follows old railway lines and tunnels into the Valle de Alcudia beneath Sierra Madrona, then reaches the reservoirs and castles of La Siberia extremeña, where a short, savage ramp climbs to the castle of Puebla de Alcocer. Further on come the open steppe of La Serena and a cobbled ascent to the old church of Santa Ana at Magacela, the mining chimneys of the Cerco Minero in the Guadiato valley, the monastery of San Calixto in the Hornachuelos natural park, and the olive groves of Sierra Morena on the way home.

Balutia is the project of David Molina, who came to bikepacking after riding the Camino de Santiago from Málaga to Finisterre and went on to ride events such as Badlands, Montañas Vacías and Transiberica. In 2022 he co-founded Al-Ballut, an association and bikepacking route created to make the Los Pedroches area better known, and Balutia grew out of it as a longer, wilder line. The days before the start are for a social ride through the dehesa and a welcome at La Costanilla, a Pozoblanco tavern the organisers call home, and the first edition in 2026 was filmed for a documentary, Ride the Land.