Kansas Ain't Flat: Unbound Gravel Race Report
I’ve raced a lot of endurance races in the past, it’s my comfort zone. I came from Ironman distance, so 104 miles was no stranger to me, but I knew it would be a challenge. Not because of the distance, or the relentless rolling flint hills, but because of the elements. If there’s one thing you need to know about Unbound Gravel, it’s that you cannot predict this race. The elements will make or break you. Rather than tell you about a course that will change dramatically dependent on the weather mother nature serves you, I thought I’d share my real experience. Read on for an unedited version of my race report shared with my coach.
Hardest race of my life. Not because of fitness or nutrition or mechanicals, in fact I was over the moon with all of those… it was the elements!
Started fast, sat in a front group for an hour, struggled to keep them on the climbs but managed to bridge back. I need to work on my climbing, but thankfully I’m great at TT. Temps were perfect, overcast and cool. Around mile 50 it started raining, the course already had a lot of river/puddles because of the rainfall from the last few days and the rain added to it, a lot of riding through crank deep water. Descents we’re fast and a lot of oh fuck moments with how technical they got (loose gravel, big boulders) but seriously fun. Shifted my weight back and hit them all with good lines.
By the time I got to the SAG checkpoint (65) it was torrential. I sat in the car for 40 mins waiting for a weather break, it eased slightly and I went. It was fucking freezing. Immediately hit a flooded road and my shoes were sloshing with water… but it was about to get worse.
Mile 70-72 was impassable mud. Everyone had to carry their bikes and a storm hit directly above us. Lightning legit to the left of us and I was carrying my heavy as hell steel bike made twice as heavy because of the amount of mud on it above my head. Terrifying. 2 miles of walking through mud, a fast river formed down the mud because of all the rain which was a god send because we could clean out our components and forks and ride again. That was mentally so rough, you had no idea how long it would be like that so just had to go with it and the roads were non accessible so you had no option but to move forward. From there it was rolling but faster. The hills were completely doable but slow — fatigued from the hard walk. Formed a group of strong girls and TT’d back. I pulled the majority because I could push more than them, but they were def better climbers.
Slower than I would have liked but it was because of the stops. And I don’t regret those. If I left in the torrential rain and I punctured I would’ve become hypothermic so I’m glad to have waited. Not mad at my average pace given how hard the conditions made it.
Mentally such a challenging race, so proud to have finished it. And really happy with my fitness, nutrition execution (couldn’t have been better), and no punctures or crashes!!!
For reference, check out Sofia Gomez tackling the mud section post peak storm that I had the pleasure of riding.
The first row of photos are from the race. The second are from recce rides.
