So obviously Unbound is a wee bit longer than BWR, so you should probably adjust your target power / IF down a bit. I would probably shoot for an IF ~67-68 and, if feeling strong at the end, up it a bit.
Routes are released: Routes & Course Maps - UNBOUND Gravel
An actual, literal mile of climbing on the 100 
44% paved for the 200?
Yeeshā¦ā¦is that right?
No. In the IG live, they said that the paved/unpaved estimates wouldnāt be accurate and that the only pavement youāll see is coming in/out of towns. I think they said 98% of the time, itās unpaved.
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Less climbing than I anticipated!
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Indeed. About 1,000 less than last year. 1 mile shorter too! Easy?!?!? 
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No chance thatās correct. Iāve yet to see an accurate RideWithGPS estimate of gravel for pavement for my gravel rides. I just ignore their estimates as theyāre comically off
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RWGPS is wrong on the paved portion. Look on Google Earth or Maps and the only paved I see is going into and out of Madison and of course in Emporia. I imported the GPX file into Strava and Strava Routes had the same error. All dirt except in towns!
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I can almost guarantee that Iām not beating the sunset, so Iām planning on riding in the dark. Iāll pick-up my bigger night light at the 2nd Checkpoint.
What front night light is everyone planning to use?
Are you planning on bringing a backup light in case your primary dies?
Strava is saying 38% ānot specifiedā which I read as not paved. After hitting multiple greasy, thick, shoe sucking Dagobahs (mud holes with standing water thatās how deep?) on the Sherwood Hopper Sunday, I feel a bit more ready for this to be a complete mud fest as well as have tempered my desire to bomb through things like that.
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RWGPS defaults to paved it seems if it doesnāt know. That said, It is easy to change and if people do it enough, we will eventually have a great mapset that will let us know how much pavement we actually have on a course.
I figured since itās a somewhat new feature that itāll just take time to get routes accurate. Itāll be nice when itās closer to accurate so itāll be easier to find more gravel routes. I know currently a few gravel races Iāve done the race directors mention RWGPS was not accurate showing how much unpaved.
Yea, thing is, they can change thatā¦
Iām assuming they donāt know that. I didnāt know that but I mostly use the mobile app
Whatās everyone running for their easiest gear? I ran a 40t front and 44 big cassette last year. Still had to walk a few portions of Little Egypt! Trying to decide if I should grab a 38T front and throw it on. One thing Iāve never heard from from a DK/UG rider is āI didnāt need that extra/easier gearā!
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Iām running a 40t front and 11-50t cassette. I was debating on a 42t front, but I think Iāll stick with the 40t and risk spinning out on the descents (heck, I probably wonāt be powering down descents anyhow).
Note: My goal is finishing, not racing.
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My rule of thumb when I do long gravel events is to let gravity do its thing on descentsā¦.no need to waste watts on a long day.
Iām gonna employ a similar strategy for SBT GRVL later this year.
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Same for me and even more sore on gravel. As much as I enjoy going fast, going fast on a gravel descent definitely makes me nervous at times.
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for people just wanting to finish itās rare to hear complaints about having too many easy gears.
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40x11-50 for me as well. My experience last year was that pedaling on the downhills was the last thing on my mind for both fatigue and fear of flat reasons.
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