My complaint letter to the race organizers:
To Leaders of Unbound and Associated Organizations,
I am writing to express my concerns as a 6-time 200 mile participant that the decision to not reroute around the mud at mile 10 significantly hurt the event and the experiences of many who participated and will have significant negative effects on Unbound and the associated organization.
I have had a love affair with DK and now Unbound since late 2016. While riding an early gravel event in Massachusetts I met a man who had ridden DK, so I signed up for a motel room in late 2016 and convinced my riding partner #$% to register in 2017. We first came in 2017 and have been back every year since. I completed my 5th 200 last year and received the 1000 mile chalice. For 6 years we have stayed in town, supported local businesses, donated after the tornado struck Eureka, and spread word of the event throughout New England and encouraged at least 20 other people to do the event. I returned this year to support #$% in his quest for 1000 miles, because we convinced two other friends from Massachusetts to ride and because I love the event, Emporia, and the people. I turned down the Oregon gravel grinder to do unbound.
First, it was clearly evident that the mud at mile 10-13/14 presented a significant risk of requiring a long hike-a-bike and causing mechanical damage to bikes. When I first came to emporia in 2017, on our first day we did a shakedown ride including the start of the course. Here are two photos from Thursday, June 1, 2017. This is our first ride in Emporia ever, and at the exact spot where the mud started this Saturday. Road 120. It is known to locals as an area that develops peanut butter mud. We learned in 2017. Note it was a sunny hot day (it had rained the night before). We tried hiking our biked that day, and did so on and off for 1-2 miles before turning around.
Second, it was possible to reroute the course. The race organizers had previously re-routed around this section for fear of unrideable mud. In 2018, after a start line thunderstorm, the course was re-routed. It was still a long hard day, and I doubt a single person complained that they did not get to do that section. You mentioned possibly doing this at the race meeting Friday, and it rained after this meeting.
Third, the early mud section caused significant negative effects on the ride and amateur riders that were avoidable. These are the Issues:
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Hiking 3+ miles of avoidable mud is not what people signed up for. People signed up for an epic gravel CYCLING event. We all know the Flint Hills are wild and unpredictable, and some mud and hiking may be unavoidable. Last year, for example, the mud was not fun, but it happened mid day, and in the course of that event did not have a significant effect on peopleâs outcomes.
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Early hike-a-bike had many cascading negative effects on the rest of the day that were predictable
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The added work of hike-a-bike likely led many people who could finish to drop out. This hurt their experience and stresses the systems that rescues riders. While the Unbound should and always is hard, this section added unneeded stress to many. I imagine this particularly affected the exact communities that you are doing so much good work to try to grow in gravel.
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The early slow down and effort made everyone late through the rest of the course. This meant later arrivals at checkpoints and later finishes. Keeping crew teams in Madison late meant these people did not go to Emporia to enjoy and spend at the downtown event. Pushing people to finish very late means they get back after bike washing, food and drink. Their experience is much less positive. My unscientific assessment is that the downtown area was much less bust from 9: 30-12pm than it has been historically, and I think this is because of the delays on course and drop outs. I would bet that spending downtown Saturday night was lower than past years.
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Mechanical damage to bikes. I witnessed many people try to ride through the mud and break derailleurs, wheels etc. I spoke with many people who had over $1000 of bike damage from this section and had to abandon. You can tell people not to ride the mud, but you know human nature and if it is your first experience with peanut butter mud, you donât believe it until itâs too late. Completely avoidable.
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Potential damage to the prairie. In 2017-2019, Jim Cummins and team always stressed that if we had to hike, it was important to stay on the road because hiking up by the barbed wire killed grass and led to erosion and would put future access to these roads at risk. While I donât know if this is still true, I assume he wasnât warning us for no reason. 1400+ people who hiked beside the road (not in the road) certainly damaged the vegetation.
Personally, the decision did not affect me that much. I did fine in the hike-a-bike (except for a heel blister), because I have experienced it before. I felt as expected throughout the day, and was typically tired, but riding fine heading into Madison. I dropped out at mile 167. I think I could have finished but, as I neared Madison, I said to myself, âI can ride (and likely walk) 3 more hours in wet and dark and get in at 1130-1145 in dark and after last call, or I can abandon and get dinner and beers at Mulreadyâs.â Since I already have my 1000 mile chalice, and I was not having much fun at that point, I made a rational decision for one of the first times in my long distance cycling career. I have no bitterness about not finishing. I had a great end of the night and got to cheer on riders and watch my 2 friends cross the line at 11:35 and #$% got his chalice.
This single decision resulted in many participants not finishing, not enjoying their day as much as they would have, and will hurt the reputation of Unbound. Ultimately, this decision meant that for many you did not achieve your mission: âUNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching CYCLING experiences for our event participants.â On my ride home from Madison, there were three other riders in the truck:
- A woman in her late 50âs from Florida, doing the 100, and had to abandon because the early mud slowed her down so much.
- A man from Portland, OR in his late 40âs with significant gravel experience, who broke his derailleur hanger at mile 12, and replaced it (came prepared) but ultimately dropped out because he was running late and bike not working.
- A man in 50s from Cambridge England who has completed many difficult long distance events including Paris-Roubaix gran fondo in the mud year. He suffered some mechanical damage in the early mud and dropped out because he was slower than expected and bike wasnt working.
All three said the early mud led to them dropping out and that they will not be returning.
I am writing this because I have had such a positive experience with DK and Unbound over the previous 5 years. I think this single decision did great harm and I feel bad for the many volunteers and riders affected.
I hope the organization will publicly acknowledge its mistake.
Thanks to Emporia and all of the volunteers and staff who have made my 6 DKs and Unbounds happen.
Sincerely,
JS
