Which parts seem like a nightmare? You can get the various levels of support you need, from nutrition to pick up in the event of injury or mechanical.
My wife and kids come to all my races, but here in Washington they oddly don’t allow outside support at aid stations (different than what I’m used to). While I haven’t done a 10-12 hr Unbound, bringing my nutrition for a 6 hour race is plenty doable with nothing more than my jersey pockets and top tube bag. A frame bag would make 12 hrs of nutrition seem ok. Our aid stations are actually stocked very very full here, but I prefer unflavored tailwind vs their flavors, amongst other things.
As a whole, traveling to Emporia Kansas adds challenges. To me, even flying to a race seems hard, but I’m pretty OCD about packing the whole kitchen sink when I travel for races. Self imposed challenges.
I plan to try again next year. It took me about 2 days to start doing the deep dive on how to get across the line faster. This year was my 4th in a row and I still feel like I’m throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks. While every year plays out different, there are definite patterns I’m picking up on that I think I can better take advantage of.
If I could lock in the weather from last weekend (minus the lightning) for every year, I’d probably take it. A little chaos makes the race interesting and dynamic and not just a pure fitness competition. And as challenging as the weather was last weekend (visibility in particular), I find it much better than a 90+ degree sunny day that becomes 10+ hour death march for everyone. I do relatively well in the heat compared to most, but I just don’t enjoy racing in it. But I kind of enjoy playing in the mud and pushing watts in the cool weather all day.
So are you saying that the aid stations are sufficient. I was under the impression that they recommend you to have a crew. Or am I confusing this with Leadville?
I mentioned “you can get various levels of support” dependent on your needs. Many posts on here explained what the crews for hire can support both at aid stations or for mechanical/injury pickup.
The crew for hire ($80) can manage your drop bags. Not sure what else you could need or want, than being able to provide the exact nutrition you want at the aid stations and having someone there with it ready for you.
In fact, I’d rather have drop bag services than some level of miscellaneous gels/powders/fuels. Unless they have exactly what I want, down to flavor, caffeine, and sodium levels, I can’t imagine training hundreds of hours and paying thousands of Dollars to leave my race day nutrition to any sort of chance..
I don’t think that’s what most people using crew for hire are doing. They will have their own nutrition in drop bags then are using crew for hire for supplementing with “real” food like uncrustables, chips, pickles, bananas etc.
That’s an option if you know they’re available. Those are also all easy things to put in a drop bag… If they aren’t available for open grabs at the aid station, I’d hardly consider that a deterrent to traveling to a race that may otherwise be on someone’s bucket list.
Most US races don’t even offer a “crew for hire” both in the sense to pick you up for a mechanical, nor to offer drop bags. They can be hit or miss for stocked aid stations as well. Yes, they’re obviously smaller than unbound. It just seems to me that Unbound actually offers pretty solid levels of varying support, aside from a wide array of free food at aids, which easy workarounds are readily available.
Just got home, so heres my interesting unbound 100 story. (although I have posted it to the unbound fb page and was on the payson podcast so you might have already heard it)
I had a good ride for most of it. my bike was shedding mud well so even though I had to join the conga line at the 2nd mud section, it really wasnt bad and i was moving up in the atart list and was hoping for a podium spot. Until mile 79. I rode mud right up to the guy with the pressure washer, and just as i passed him that pb mud/rock combo ripped my entire derailer off. I started pushing it and when I got to the blue tent on the corner i knocked the mud from inside my shoes. But it was cold after riding (210 np for the day when i finally got home and uploaded) and i wasnt ready to quit. So i kept going. I strider biked/walked it in from mile 79. My time for the last 25 miles was almost the same as for the previous 79.
The people were so kind, everyone passing asked if i needed help, and one resident met me 6 miles up the road to ask if i had changed my mind about wanting rescue.
NOT the day I had planned but you can’t have epic stories without going on epic adventures! I will return again next year. Haven’t decided between the 100 again or 200.
My XXSL pulley wheels end up looking like this after a bit of use. Not just Unbound / Unbound conditions that do it. I think it’s normal wear for them.
This is new vs old. I even cleaned the old ones with a soft tooth brush. When compared with the new ones, the old ones spun like crap so I just replaced them. I guess the lesson is put on an on Rival derailleur before Unbound.
How they spin is a different issue from the condition of the teeth (tooth condition like that is normal after a little use IMO) - but those wheels are pretty easy to service before replacing them in the future. If you still have the old ones, keep them as spares.
Basically - the cover pops off pretty easily, blast out with brake cleaner, flush with alcohol, let dry (a little compressed air helps) then pack with new grease, put the covers back on and reinstall. 10 minutes tops if you have everything on hand.
Why can’t Lifetime provide this? They do it at Little Sugar. Forcing even more cost onto people paying $400 already to ride open roads is absolutely bananas. I have no idea how you can mentally justify that.
I have no idea how someone could justify spending $400 on a race but feel pretty put off in spending another $80 if they need more extensive support. If that was a dealbreaker, I wouldn’t be spending $400/traveling in the first place.
My family comes to all my races, so I’m thrilled to not have to pay for extra aid that I’ll never use. My last local race ($165) was 6 hrs and didn’t allow outside support. Fully stocked aid stations and I used none of it, aside from a few pickle juice shots since I gave my personal stash to a cramping rider.
Worst of both worlds. Paid for fully stocked aid stations but still carried all my own
Nobody is being forced to buy “crew for hire”, you have the option of doing your own thing with your own support. This year seemed to be a step toward neutral support and it sounds like they are going all in on that next year. I assume the registration price will jump next year sine the stocked aid stations were a new thing they added after registration this year. They also added nice finisher’s jackets for the 200 this year. I bet they will push the price of the 200 up closer to leadville (but hopefully not too close). And it’s still a race I’ll do even if the price goes up a bit. Right or wrong, I feel that I get a lot more for my $ at a race like Unbound than I do paying $70 for a local event that doesn’t have the level of competition or excitement around it.
And most races happen on courses/roads that can be ridden solo for free or cheap. That’s not what you are paying for when you sign up to race. And while Unbound doesn’t close all roads, they had traffic control at every real intersection (over an area of thousands of square miles) and had roads closed at any place where there could be traffic conflicts (the stretches into and out of emporia).
100% on this, probably the best traffic management I’ve seen.
2 years ago at big sugar when my group returned to town there were several completely unmanned intersections. Bad…and dangerous…bike riding ensued. That was sketchy!
Think of the 85$ part of the entry…unless you have a couple of people and a seriously capable vehicle.
