Not the hardest thing I’ve done on the bike. The hardest thing I’ve done, period. It’s been a week since I finished the @atlasmountainrace in Morocco, and the dust has only just begun to settle on what I can safely say is the most physically and mentally draining event of my life. 89 hours riding through the desert in 5 days: more than riders do in a three week Grand Tour. But on a couple hours sleep a night. Outside. I have genuinely never suffered that hard, questioned myself that much, or wanted to reach the finish line that f**king badly - ever. These photos were taken on the morning of day three, 670 kilometres in with over 500 k’s left to ride. The afternoon before my wrist had begun to swell up and my thumb was sending crazy pains through my arm as a result of shifting gears for the previous two days straight. I rode until 1am the next morning with my emotions playing crazy games on me, then lay on the ground to nap when every rock I saw began to look like a person hunched over, waiting as my headlight approached. What was most interesting crossing the finish line of AMR is that it wasn’t relief I felt. Nor was it distress. I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t sad, excited, proud. I’m not sure I felt much at all, thinking back on it. Taking myself to a limit (and maybe a little beyond) seemed to empty me in ways I hadn’t faced before. Whether that means I can refill myself differently now, or whether i’m a little broken as a result, I don’t know. I can only say it was an experience. And I guess that’s all I signed up for. 📸: @nils_laengner . #AMR2022 #atlasmountainrace2022 #morocco #fatigue #bikes