Gotta do that for the 200, also….
I’m Trying to get a new bike I can run aero bars on.
I believe the what tire questions runs year round on their fb group. 
I’ll just say there are plenty of good tire options that do fine at unbound. And sometimes you just have bad luck.
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Chapeau. A tire and aero bar comment in one post. 
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I’ll be racing (or at least riding) the 200 in 2023. I spent most of race week in KS this year and did a bunch of riding. It was a great time, even without racing (and cheaper without the race fees).
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Pathfinder 42’s, aero bars, and a bunch of sugar and caffeine is the plan
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Riding smart >>>> than tire choice. Everyone I saw flat did it through poor line choice.
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This is the way
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Can you elaborate a little more?
My understanding of why there are so many flats in Unbound was because of the sharp flint rocks that slice tires - and it’s just a question of bad luck.
Line choice, and when to weight/unweight the bike are undoubtedly important, but is line choice more important in Unbound than in other gravel races, where you don’t hear as much about flats?
I would say that vast vast majority of flats I saw people dealing with were on the other side of ditches, water crossings or other features where a pound of prevention (slowing down or even dismounting and walking) is worth a pound of cure.
I feel like you hear about it more at Unbound because there are a lot of people in the race, the race is much longer than most races and “the gavel is sharp and everyone is going to flat” has become a part of the “marketing” for the race that is not completely backed up by reality.
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So maybe there are more of these at Unbound than in other races?
I know the SBT GRVL course pretty well, and other then the “singletrack” sections they add and some rocky double track, there are no features like these that would cause an excessive compression of the tires resulting in pinch flats.
That is true. By comparison the SBT course is pretty tame.
I think the main part of Unbound is that you know these danger points are out there and you have to do what you can to minimize the risk or otherwise hope that you have good luck (or more realistically, a combination of both). A lot can happen over 200 miles!
I don’t think there is any comparison between the gravel at Unbound to SBT…just different beasts entirely.
There is no doubt the flint rock is sharper than most gravel…but as noted, a lot of the issues come while descending into the water crossings, streams or getting caught in tire tracks, etc.
The question comes down to whether you risk losing the wheels in front of you by riding safe / smart or do you roll the dice so you can stay close?
Dhaluagiri basically summed it up. I saw one person people flat just riding along. The problem areas are creek and ditch crossings. The biggest issue is that people are in following closely as much as possible, and ride into these crossing full tilt without having space to scope out lines or anticipate. This is particularly noticeable in the first 30-40 miles, where the groups are huge and fast.
I rode EXO Ramblers with inserts and was totally fine. I just slowed down before every ditch, even if I lost a couple bike lengths on the person in front. Also just assume that there will be some crossings at the base of every hill, because there usually is).
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Almost every flat that I actually saw happen I said to myself “that person is going to flat.” You can watch people make poor decisions. You choose your own destiny when you bomb every downhill in the saddle and rip through every water crossing and gully.
Of course there are those “unavoidable” flats but a lot of them are bad choices. Bleeding a few seconds on a rough part of the course to pick a good line and save your tires is a non-issue.
Also…put new ones on. I saw a ton of people with pretty rough looking tires at the start line.
I didn’t find that the gravel on the southern route was significantly worse that other gravel I have ridden. I did the 100 and was there to finish. I was usually able to take a good line and follow someone into the creek crossings (or deviate if they had trouble). I was also not hitting gravel at high speeds other than on descents. 
I think if it’s the same as in prior years, we can expect a southern route again this year. I have heard that the northern route is a little more gnarly.
I had everything work out fine except the ability to have wax on my chain last all day.
My one observation is that I have no idea how people do the 200 in a hot year.
I get about 10 hrs max from a fresh waxed chain on my gravel bike. Half that on my MTB. This is riding sustained climbs in Colorado where I spend a lot of time in bigger cassette cogs. I’ve posted before that I don’t think wax does well at higher chain angles (the shearing motion of the plates on the pins scrapes the wax away, and it doesn’t flow back like wet lube).
At Unbound, I’d expect a fresh wax to last longer due to less sustained time at higher chain angles.
But if it’s wet, IME, this significantly reduces the lifespan of wax on a gravel course.
It’s possible to apply Squirt mid-ride to relube, but mid ride relubes with wax are not as effective as with wet lubes, as wax-based lubes ideally need time to dry.
If I get into Unbound, I’ll likely run a wet lube - especially if rain is in the forecast.
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Agreed with 10+ hours for normal gravel. Some
combination of creek crossings, a thunderstorm, walking a mile in the mud and washing my bike off in a ditch did in my chain (shocker).
If I get in again, I probably run wet lube as well in wet conditions or just put lube on the chain once’s TD pretty much stripped.
I threw wet wax on at the stops and it seemed to do ok.
My waxed chain made it to the first checkpoint. Then lubed with whatever the mechanics had after that.
I loved waxed chains but it was definitely the wrong choice for the race this year.
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