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I’m a Yes person. When given the opportunity to do something new, I try and always say yes (unless it involves olives - then it’s a hard no.) Life is way too short and fleeting to not experience every single thing I can. Which is how I found myself in Kansas last week riding 50 miles of gravel at the Garmin Unbound Gravel event with absolutely zero idea how big of a deal it was.
Unbound Gravel is the world’s largest gravel race and event, taking place in tiny Emporia, Kansas and drawing over 4,000 cyclists from across the globe. After a name change, skipping the event for obvious reasons in 2020, and making a few logistical changes for COVID, this year’s event was good to go for June 4-6.
For most, Unbound Gravel is either a 100 or 200 mile race. Some super endurance athletes (like Lael Wilcox) challenge themselves with Unbound XL, nearly 357 miles of gravel all at one go. Y’all know me though- I don’t race and I don’t think I’ve ever ridden 100 miles at one time. (The closest I’ve ever gotten is 97 on bike tour and that was by accident.) Hell, I don’t even like to drive that far in one go.
Thankfully for us ‘everyday folk’, Unbound also has two shorter distance options- 25 miles and 50 miles. Both of these are also “fun rides”, so no podiums and no racing. SIGN ME UP.
This is part 1 of my report, covering my prep, training & travel & my ride. Part 2 will be coming soon which will cover the rest of the event including the 100 & 200 Mile, the XL ride, and my time in Kansas City!
Preparation, Training & Travel
To be fair, I didn’t prep much…. I didn’t intentionally not prepare a ton for Unbound. Life is just really super busy right now and I (accurately) assumed all the riding I’ve been doing this year would be adequate prep for the ride.
The little that I did read about Unbound Gravel warned of sharp gravel in the Flint Hills, unrelenting hills, and wind. The only variable of those that I could really prep for was the sharp gravel. To do so, I outfitted my bike with new tires - the SimWorks SuperYummy tires with reinforced sidewalls which performed beautifully. I also carried 3 spare tubes and a patch kit which I didn’t need for my bike (but did get lots of use on other bikes. More on that later.)
As for training, by the time I found out I got an entry to the event, it was a little late to train. To be fair, I’ve been riding more this winter and spring than most years, so I felt pretty confident that 50 miles was easily doable, especially since I wouldn’t be racing.
My biggest anxiety was travel. I hadn’t flown since November 2019 - way before COVID. I’d also never flown with my own bike before, so there was a big learning curve there too! Thankfully, I have a hard shell Serfas bike case that a friend found at Goodwill for $19.99. Deal of the year, as these are typically hundreds of dollars.
I watched many YouTube videos on how to pack a bike for travel and sure enough it was actually quite simple. Here’s my quick write-up on how to travel with your bike.
The Event Itself
Thursday - Pre-Ride & Getting my Bearings
I arrived in Emporia on Thursday morning about an hour before the pre-ride I was scheduled to lead took off. My first stop was Gravel City Roasters, where I got my first taste of what the the rest of the weekend would be like.
Hanging in front casually drinking coffee next to some very fancy bikes were a bunch of very fit (and cool) looking cyclists and an equal number of photographers. (This was a common theme throughout the weekend. Nearly anytime there was a pro or pro-team, there were accompanying photographers or camera people. On me too.)
I was recognized almost immediately and any nerves I had melted away, as we all introduced ourselves and folks told me how stoked they were for the inclusion efforts we were doing!
At 10, I met up with Crystal Kovacs, a fellow Shimano ambassador, who helped me lead a Shimano All Bodies on Bikes Pre-Ride. I’m so grateful to the Unbound organizers for creating this intentional space for inclusivity and community building. It was honestly so cool - 80ish people showed up, including the TIBCO Race team, a former winner of the race, and two people who had never done a group ride before! (There was definitely some mutual fan-girling going on…)
Crystal led the ride for the first 8 miles while I was sweeper, staying in the back of the pack to make sure everyone stayed with the group. (This is one of my recommended best practices for group rides.) Midway through, we swapped and I had the opportunity to move to the front and lead the group for the rest of the ride. This felt surreal, as I’ve never gotten to ride with elite athletes and feel included - but that’s exactly what happened. I set the pace (about 14 mph - which felt fast to me) and we cruised through 17 miles of gorgeous Kansas farm roads in a nice preview of the upcoming rides.
Around mile 13 I stopped the group at the top of a short climb to regroup and take a group photo and took the opportunity to explain All Bodies on Bikes. I also noticed at this point that my back wheel was about to come out of the dropouts!! This is why we do shakedown rides!!
The rest of Thursday was spent getting mentally and physically ready for my big ride the next day. I checked into the dorms at Emporia State University and spent some time at the Expo, picking up my rider packet, chatting with all sorts of vendors, and meeting fans (which might be the strangest thing I’ve ever written.) The wonderful mechanics on-site from Shimano also gave my bike a once-over, and it’s a good thing they did as apparently my derailleur was loose!
I closed out Thursday night with dinner with the entire team from Shimano, who invited me to join them at their team dinner. It was so lovely to meet Nick and Meredith and Ryan - all the folks I’ve been working with for nearly a year on All Bodies on Bikes, but haven’t actually met in person! I’m so grateful to have them as a sponsor and getting to know the team casually over dinner was the perfect introduction.
Friday - 52 Miles of Sun Baked Gravel
I slept surprisingly well considering how over-stimulated I was and woke up feeling excited to ride. Our lodging at Emporia State University included food, so I headed to the dorm cafeteria with my new bestie, Rachel, who I met on my pre-ride. I tried to keep my food intake consistent to what I eat while I’m at home before a big ride, so yogurt with granola, some scrambled eggs and a banana.
The 25 and 50 mile rides didn’t start until 10:30am, so I had plenty of time to get ready. I stopped by the donut shop and picked up a dozen donuts for the Shimano tent (to say thanks), grabbed coffee (the aforementioned 4 shot iced latte - oops), and filled all my water bottles. I then waited for the start under the shade of the Shimano tent, as the temps were already in the high 80s.
Around 10:15, I lined up at the start line and was surprised to see no less than 5 cameras on me. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by this now, but I still feel like a regular old person. Oh, I was also doing a takeover for the Pearl Izumi Instagram, so lots of things going on in my head besides just riding my bike.
At 10:30, we started, led by a neutral support vehicle for the first 2 miles. This meant that I was in the very front of the pack with the strongest riders, going nearly 18mph for the start of the ride. While exhilarating, this pace was way too fast for me and totally unsustainable, so as soon as we left town and hit the gravel, I was able to slow down and start riding at my own pace.
Thanks to a combination of nerves, way too much caffeine, and starting out too fast, my heart rate was at 180 and I was struggling by mile 8. I’ve been riding with the Wahoo Tickr heart rate monitor since October and I’ve found it’s a really good way to keep an eye on my efforts and exertion level. I find that for long rides, I try and keep my heart rate around 130-140 which is comfortable for a long period time.
I battled through mentally and rode until mile 10, where I found the first spot of shade on the side of the road. My plan was to turn on my headphones (one ear bud only), eat a quick snack, and get back on the road. Well, the universe had other plans for me, as the first flat tire of the day found its way to me.
As I’m getting ready to get back on my bike, I see a young teenager walking towards me, looking upset. As a serious empath, I can immediately sense something is wrong and sure enough, he has a flat back tire with no means to fix it. He was on the route with his uncle, who had gotten ahead of him with all the repair supplies. Pro-tip: carry your own supplies! If you get separated from your friend with the flat fix supplies and you flat, you’re screwed! We patched up his tire and got him back on the road. By this time, I was feeling fully rested and ready to ride, but had also stopped for nearly 20. minutes. Ugghhhhh…….
The first rest stop was at mile 15, in a tiny little town called Americus. It felt like an oasis in the desert. Cold drinks, pickles, snacks, cold water. I could’ve stayed there all day. But after a quick snack, wetting down of all my gear to try and stay cool, and live update for Pearl Izumi, I was back on my bike. At this point I also met up with the filmmaker again, who would ride along side me getting footage for the next 15 miles or so.
From here, the ride got a bit more challenging physically, as we started entering the rolling hills of the Flint Hills. To my surprise, my legs felt super strong and I didn’t walk any of the hills. I don’t think that has ever happened to me on a ride, ever. I found myself passing people left and right while climbing - seriously something that has never happened. They all ended up passing again, as I continued to check on people I passed and often ended up offering aid (either water, food, or three more flat fixes.)
Sidenote: I don’t know if it was the weather or what, but there were a lot of people who were truly underprepared on the 50 mile route. There were a few where I was actually concerned for their health and safety and felt bad leaving them on the side of the road to wait for a car rescue while I continued to ride. I don’t know what can be done in the future to prevent this, but so many people were not prepared to be self-sufficient.
The heat continued to build and became my true struggle as the day wore on. At mile 30ish, I went past a private lake - a PRIVATE LAKE?!?! Can someone please explain to me how you privatize a lake? As I rode by it, I kept seeing signs that said “No Swimming, No Fishing, No Trespassing” and man was that demoralizing. As I rounded the corner, however, and faced a wall of a hill, I saw a few folks sitting by the side of the road cheering on riders…turned out they lived on the private lake and gave me permission to jump in!! Hallelujah!!
Turns out the Pearl Izumi PRO Bibs and Quest Jersey make a decent swimsuit too :) For reference, I wear a 2XL in both of these pieces.
The dip in the lake cooled me down and I felt ready to take on the last half of the race. My body was still feeling good (although I definitely was not consuming enough calories) and I was able to get through some punchy little hills on my way back to Emporia.
I rolled back through the checkpoint at Americus (mile 43 on the way back) and mentally was ready for the ride to be over. While there, we were told that the timing point would be turned off at 4pm, which was a bit of a surprise to those of us who were out there. Getting the hint that I needed to get my butt in gear, I got back on my bike and ground out the last 10 miles.
With 5 miles to go, my new friend Rachael appeared out of nowhere and was just the mental boost I needed to get back. She was doing a final pre-ride before her 100 mile race the next day and was the perfect cheerleader to get me those few miles back into town. She also met me at the finish line with my sandals and pickles -and took me to ice cream after the ride. True friendship right there. :)
My new friend Rachel to the rescue. She rode with me the last 5 miles into town as I was struggling!!
After seemingly forever, I rolled back into Emporia, where most of the festivities for the day were over. I was greeted kindly by some local high school kids volunteering at the finish line with an ice cold towel, cold water and a finishers medal. I was overwhelmed with pride, emotion and exhaustion and promptly laid down in ice that had been dumped on the grass.
Once my body cooled down, I did some post-ride interviews and hitched a ride back to the dorms to clean up. I don’t know if I’ve ever taken a more welcome shower.
Overall, my body still felt great. No hot spots, no super sore areas - just really really warm and nauseous (which I’d been battling all day.) I had a bit of pasta for dinner to try and recoup the calories lost, but found that I had zero appetite. I’m still perplexed by this, as I’m typically super hungry after a hard ride. I’m guessing it was the heat but who knows.
In true Marley fashion, instead of being responsible and going to bed early, I took advantage of being vaccinated and had some excellent, consenting fun - thanks Tinder. Definitely looking forward to a good summer of making up for COVID ;)
You’d totally swipe right, don’t lie.
Reflections - What I learned and Will do Differently Next Time
The Good:
My bike set up was 100. The tires, gearing and overall setup were excellent. I might consider wearing different shoes next time, as I did have some numbness.
Clothing choice - With practically zero experience riding in hot conditions, I didn’t know what kit to wear. I chose the Pearl Izumi PRO Bib Short and Quest Jersey - turned out to be a perfect combo. I rode with the jersey unzipped most of the day which gave lots of air flow and was able to take it off quickly to dunk in water whenever I could.
On-Bike Food & Water - Even though I didn’t eat most of what I had on my bike, I had more than enough for me and the couple of folks I ran into who needed it. I carried 2 liters of water on my back plus 3 bottles, which turned out to be the perfect amount for a hot day. I also refilled twice throughout the day.
Mechanical Prep - I carried 3 tubes, a flat kit, tubeless repair, multi-tool, frame pump and zip ties. I didn’t need any of it for my own bike but ended up using nearly everything for other people. It feels good to be self-sufficient, but also a good example for other people and to be able to help out.
Things I’ll Change Next Time
Travel. I’ll use Bike Flights- the bike case was great, but lugging it through the airport was a pain in the butt. I’ll spring for shipping it next time to not have to deal with transporting it.
Caffeine - Keep it consistent to what I normally drink. When the barista accidentally gives you a 4 shot latte, its ok to politely say “I only need 2 shots. Thank you.” Your heart rate during the ride will thank you.
Nutrition - less real food if its blazing hot, more gels and shot blocks. And pickles.
OK!!! That’s all she wrote for now. Part 2 with my experience as a support person for Rachael in the 100 Mile Race, a Recap of our All Bodies on Bikes Ride in Kansas City, and the KC Fun Ride Coming Soon!!
