I damaged a chain and had a trashed bottom bracket. Basically $100 worth of damage, so not nothing but not crazy. The chain wasn’t a surprise, but the bottom bracket was a weird one. It was brand new going into Unbound and ended up with water/slurry into the bearings from the inside. There was a bunch of slurry inside the little sealed tube that the spindle goes through. I’ve never seen anything like it and can’t figure out how it got in there. My BB might have been briefly dunked at a crossing or 2, but I carried my bike through the deep/long tunnel. I’ve done much worse without issues in the past. Just weird, maybe I screwed up the install or had a bad seal on that little plastic tube. The o-rings that seal the crank were totally intact.
Best recap I have seen. Man, you 200 guys were lucky no hike a bike. 
Good video. Seems like he had a good plan that worked well. I watched some of his other videos. I guess he got a coach this year.
He had older videos where his training was pretty unstructured. He would just ride as much as he could fit in and would have some harder rides when he felt like it. It still seemed to work for him so he obviously was riding enough.
Same. That’s a good one. How did he keep his lens (relatively) clean??
Joe
Oh and ps does anybody know what kind of pressure washer they used at the finish? They looked pretty handy, I’m interested in getting one. Maybe not for my bike though lol
I had my bike pressure washed at the end last year. The kid that washed it told me I had the coolest bike he had seen all day. One of the highest forms of flattery a cyclist can receive. Maybe he tells everyone that
I know at Leadville they used the muc-off pressure washers. I thought I remembered reading it was the same at unbound.
Is there anything special with the muc off pressure washer over just a regular small electric one that can be bought at a hardware store?
depending upon what site I read, the biggest difference is how powerful it is. My electric pressure washer is 2000psi (or thereabouts) whereby the Muc-Off one is beween 650-1000 (depending on the review). I think it also does better foaming than a normal pressure washer where you have to buy a specific adapter to do that.
Some versions also come with their own water reservoir, which would be helpful if you are at the finish line of a race without a hose.
My cheap one comes with a bottle attachment for soap.
The reservoir would be nice at a finish line.
I just use a garden hose with a nice head with various nozzle settings. I sort of feel that if ‘that’ hard of pressure is needed to clean something on the bike, maybe a wiped down with a wet rag would be the best bet anyways.
That’s what I do as well, but something with a reservoir is nice.
I have a Ryobi 18V ONE+ HP Brushless EZClean 600, which allows you to put a hose into a bucket of water (or anything else) and use that as the water source. Sort of a mixture between a real pressure washer and something with a reservoir.
I really want one of those for cyclocross. Would be really nice for races out of town that don’t always have a bike wash.
The bike specific Muc-Offs pressure washer have a special nozzle just for bikes that results in a little less pressure to protect bearings/seals. I got one on sale a few years ago and have found it really useful. Muc-Off tends to have some really good blow out sales near the end of the season.
I have the 40v version of this and love it. You can use a bucket, a hose, or even a 2L bottle as a water source and have found it to be incredibly helpful for washing bikes when you’re not at an easily usable wash station.
that seems pretty helpful.
After tearing everything down:
- Didn’t bother trying to save the chain. It wasn’t new or anything so not worth the effort.
- BB seemed a bit sus. I think the non-drive side was kind of rough and might be compromised. Probably ok, but I have a spare so I will probably replace it. No issue with the frame around the bottom bracket.
- Pulley wheels (Red XPLR), these seem trashed. They spin but looks/feels like someone took sandpaper to the teeth. Anybody else notice this? I ordered a new set so will probably replace.
- Some rub through the paint on the left chain stay. Just paint without any carbon wear. Will put some helicopter tape on it,
- Chainring/cranks ok.
- Wheel/brakes seem ok. I will probably replace the brake pads in the future before BS.
All in all maybe $200 total to replace 3 things. I already have a rotation of chains and BB so really only $84 for the pulleys from Amazon (got to love UDH XPLR for how easy it is to service).
I have done a few IM events around Europe in my younger days, which I travelled to without any additional support. it was easy peasy due to the on course support provided.
Travelling from abroad for Unbound as an amateur seems to be a logistical nightmare, which is a shame as I would love to do the race.
Lifetime should look to BCB, Cape Epic etc.
I have had the Muc Off for a number of years - not sure if there is an update. I think the main difference when I bought it was that it came with bike specific lances, which managed the pressure to avoid the risk of you washing out your bearings.
So: Unbound 2027 is official June 3 – 6, 2027 | Emporia, KS who is in?
I really would like to race it in a year where mud isn’t an issue, but after spending this week getting my bike back in riding condition I will probably skip it. There is a lot of non-destructive “wear” that I just don’t want to deal with again.