Congrats! Did you follow a TR plan?
Ouch! That’s a serious wheel ding. Hope you had a great ride up to that point.
Congratulations to the wife!
Yes, loosely followed Sustained build LV. Did them mostly outside as I had a perfect hill.
As an aside: I was so incredibly glad to have run inserts. I squared off more rocks than I could count in the dark overnight and my wheels are flawless still. Could have easily destroyed them I think without inserts. Vittorias, for the curious, under 40c Ramblers around 30psi.
Exact same setup as me, I just ran a bit higher PSI. Honestly most flats (in daylight at least) are down to rider error. I watched people absolutely fly into creeks and explode tires right away. There were several creeks and gullies where there’d be 5-10 people right on the other side fixing flatz.
This is definitely something I’ve heard from more than one person and noticed the pattern last year at Unbound. Still some unlucky ones who just catch a rock just wrong and get a puncture
Luck matters, but it’s also skill/experience and a balancing act of risk vs. reward. To get the full benefits of drafting closely in large groups, you reduce your ability to watch your line. To get a little more visibility on chunky sections, I’ll often let a bit of a gap form in front of me. Yes, you burn more energy, but you can better avoid trouble. However, you’ll always have a higher risk of flats racing gravel in a group. If it’s a rough section and the group is going fast, you can minimize your risk of flats by slowing down, but the group will be gone if you do that.
Yup….when I did Rapha 10,000 last week, a few miles into the ride we were coming down a descent to a creek bed. Having done Unbound in the past, I knew what was coming…let a gap open a bit before we reached the bottom.
Sure enough…total carnage. Riders everywhere as they hit babyhead gravel. I got through unscathed because I had room to maneuver and easily got to the front guys after making it through.
So many people are so intent on holding the wheel in front of them that they put themselves in more danger.
agree. I’m risk averse so I definitely hang back a bit and also chill a bit on those descents.
Good 28min video of the 100m from the view of a tandom team 
Got passed and passed this crew a couple of times during the heavy SUUUUUCK!! Great video!
Went out with a group I shouldn’t have been in and backed off so I could recover on the back side of rollers, Also realized I was going to run out of food by mile 50 and rolled back a tad more to prevent the bonk. Did NOT bonk and had real food waiting for me at Madison. top 50% in all 100 mile finishers, all men and all men 50-59. so considering the errors, I’m happy with the result. Held low range of threshold HR for almost the whole race. Garmin didn’t capture all 7 hours of the ride from a power/HR standpoint 
Next stops Tahoe Trail 100 (relay) and Rebecca’s Private Idaho - Queen’s Stage Race. (and lottery for the 200 next year.
I didn’t get muddy like the pros, but I did pick up some crud.
Big thanks to everyone in this thread. Your inputs helped me prepare and complete the 200.
Thanks to:
- awesome TR training plans
- great tips from the forum and podcast
- lots of luck
- way more oxygen down at 1,000 ft
- never giving up
- very few outdoor rides (I tried to make them count when I actually got out)
- 4-7 hours per week going cross-eyed on LV intervals
…I managed to somehow pull off a 7th in the 100. It was easily my best performance ever on a bike, and I am still completely shocked at the result. Huge props to those who went or attempted 200. There was NO WAY I would have/could have gone 200. I actually resolved to never do the 200 around mile 85.
Yeah…I said the same thing about a full Ironman when I crossed the line in my first 70.3…next year I was toeing the line in Madison for IMWI.
You’ll do the 200 soon…trust me. 
Nice job on the finish!!
First ever gravel race, happy to finish under 14. I was happy to finish, I was riding through a cold (not covid, many negative tests!) and was about 6/10 on the start line. First ever gravel race, happy to finish under 14. In some ways it was good, I just let go of any time goals and resolved to focus on just finishing. And I had to dig very, very deep to do that. Things that worked for me:
- Best bike split was absolutely bang on, highly recommend using this for planning
- Be a follower as much as possible, especially the first 50 miles where there are big, fast groups
- Set yourself a watts cap for first 50, and let groups go that are exceeding that. There’s always more people to latch onto, even in the last 20 miles
- Have a good food plan, and stick to it. This can be hard in some sections where its too rough to drink. I really screwed myself over by eating too much on the easy sections and got very nauseous.
- Protect your tires, 90% of flats are preventable out there.
- Carry your bike through the mud, don’t push it if its gumming up your tires.
- TR plans were the key, my legs/fitness were never the problem
Where I went wrong:
- deviating from nutrition plan. Stick to what works in training!
- Riding alone way too much in first 50 miles. Be a follower!
- Bringing way too much food, tools, etc (although I had no mechanicals, so this wasn’t tested)
- Stayed an hour drive from the start (limited options when we booked), which added more stress and took from sleep.
Biggest advice to anyone out there: don’t do Unbound 200 as your first gravel race, that was hands down the worst decision I made. The real key to the race is knowing when to ride with groups and when to let them go. I feel like I rode at a way higher power than some folks that finished way before me, just because they were smarter and more experienced.
Hope this little debrief helps someone in the future, its a fantastic event and I am beyond stoked that I finished!
Good advice. But some people can do it. Yourself included. But it can be tough.
nutrition is always a challenge on those ultra endurance events. I definitely struggle with it.
Congrats on the strong finish.
Way to go! Were you in the first chase group? Ya’ll FLEW by me (XL) around your mile 65ish giving chase to that kid off the front.
Congratulations. For the rest of your life you can say you beat Peter Sagan in a bike race 
Had a good ride in the 100 with room for improvement.
Things That Went Well
- Nutrition plan based on podcast advice and experience.
- Wheel set up - Gravel Ling 43” SK+, Cushcore inserts, 35 psi. This was a perfect set up.
- Wax chain (Silca Super Secret) until the mud walk.
- Allowing small gaps to open for better visibility.
before creek crossings and other technical sections. - Pacing. There was only one section where I latched on to a group I should have let go.
Things That Didn’t Go Well
- Forgot to re apply wax to the chain at the SAG and didn’t carry it to use after the mud walk section. I had every conceivable solution for flats but none for a noisy inefficient drivetrain.
- Had a choice of rain jackets. Did not bring either.
- Our group tried to wait out the worst of the weather under a tent in Madison. This just made the last 35 miles harder than they needed to be as the course deteriorated.
- Fitness. Had some mainly work life stress in the weeks leading up to the event and didn’t have enough of cushion in my preparation to overcome it. I knew it would take a toll and was very happy I was not in the 200. Basically imploded in the last 25 miles.
Congratulations to every one who rode this year.
Hey James. At mile 65, I was in a group of 3 about 45 seconds behind the first chase group. We wouldn’t catch back on (for the second time) until mile 74.
We kept catching very strong looking riders that were clearly not in the 200 or 100 fields. It had me confused. I am just now realizing that it was XL riders. Nice work! I cannot even fathom doing that.