WITH two weeks left of the AFL off-season, players would be forgiven for choosing to use their time to relax and soak up their last bit of freedom before the fast-paced life of AFL started back up again.

But Melbourne’s Ed Langdon and Max Gawn decided to do the complete opposite.

They instead opted to embark on a gruelling 350km bike ride through the Saudi Arabian desert.

“Max and I managed to get away and do a mountain bike race through the desert in Saudi Arabia,” Langdon told Melbourne Media.

In classic Langdon fashion, ‘quite a challenge’ was definitely an understatement.

From canyons to sand valleys to dune passes, the unique terrain and arid conditions set the scene for an arduous four-day journey.

“You’re riding around six to eight hours a day, so, they're pretty big days,” Langdon said.

“A lot of sand as well, as you can imagine being in the desert, so pretty tough terrain to ride, we were certainly not riding very quickly.

“It was more walking up the dunes than riding, so it was brutal but also amazingly beautiful at the same time.” 

As they were travelling through a desert, there were times when the two were often on their own, left to find their way using a GPS, a task that Langdon found particularly rewarding.  

“An appealing aspect of it was the orienteering side of it,” Langdon said.

“That was a really fun and challenging part of it.”

Hot, high altitude long days didn’t stop the pair from enjoying the experience, with Langdon and Gawn having spent plenty of time together on biking journeys, including a 2022 bike ride up Mont Ventoux.

“I try and get away with Max and go for a ride whenever I can,” Langdon said.

“It was pretty brutal on the body, but ultimately, it was an amazing experience.”

While it was a journey they took together, technically it was still a bike race, so the final question to Langdon…who won out of the pair of Demons?

“I think I just got Max at the end,” Langdon laughed.

“I'll say I just pipped him.”