Trans Iowa reminds me of the Barkley Marathons…which is a completely different vibe and type of race than Unbound is supposed to be. If they go down the road of making DNF the expected result their sign ups will dwindle, guaranteed.
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This to me is far far worse than the mud. This is the type of things that can shut down events. I have no idea why these gas stations would continue to stay open for the race if this is how they get treated.
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This might sound ridiculous, but it might be worth testing snow shoes in mud for this race in the future. Imagine everyone lined up on the side of the road and you are able to just walk nice and easy down the middle.
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Yeah, it’s not the mud. Mud happens. It happened last year after the last support stop on the course.
The organizers were criticized for putting on event that made it pretty clear that the they don’t have to care about their customers. And the Mohns’ responses were completely unprofessional.
Outside of this race, I can’t think of a situation that I’d be okay with giving my money to a company that I know wouldn’t own up to bad service/product. Our little NedGravel race emailed right after the race last year apologizing because they heard from a couple of people that one of the turns on the course was confusing.
Shop/Race local, man 
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In hindsight, I suspect Race Director regrets saying anything at the Rider Meeting about taking the mud section out. It likely would have been better just to say it was going to be in there so that everyone showed up in the morning with the mindset that it was in and just have to deal with it. It’s probably a lesson learned in communication, but I think that might have made a difference in some of the fallout after.
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They may have not rerouted because it was not a safety concern, but looking back if someone would have hurt themselves on that first section. There was no way a response vehicle was getting to them or they would be able to limp back against to the flood of 1000-2000 riders coming through such a long section. Just my opinion.
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That’s kinda my main point. Everyone makes mistakes. IMO, a sign of good character is owning them and then doing your best to learn from that so you can do better the next time.
This all seems like them ignoring what they dangled, insulting riders for not being tough enough, and acting like they did no wrong. Crap attitude.
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The biggest safety concern I had was the barb wire fence, but that was done at my own risk and certainly wasn’t required. If you wanted to ride, there were many places you could ride in the tall grass (not the path already beaten down), but that often meant squeezing between the fence and the walkers (who were unpredictable). I was riding for a good bit literally inches from the fence. Had to grab the fence a couple times to avoid unclipping when forced to stop/slow for walkers. One of the elite women had an injury from the fence that contributed to her DNF, I can’t remember who.
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I was really surprised by KMohn’s snarky response, especially as she co- hosts a podcast called Girls Gone Gravel that was specifically created to give women a voice in this space. I guess it’s different when a strong female speaks out on your own event…
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I believe it was Lauren De Crescenzo who abandoned due to something related to hitting the fence.
I don’t know what they would have done if somebody was in serious jeopardy on that section. Like a heart attack or something as no regular emergency vehicle could get out there. I know some races in remote areas do have emergency teams that use ATVs to get out to somebody. So maybe they had something like that around.
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Agree. Given what little communication has come from lifetime it’s pretty clear they don’t feel the need to explain anything.
And agree dangling that re-route option and then insulting riders who complain the re-route option wasn’t used is really insulting. As far as I know lifetime hasn’t attempted to explain the reason they didn’t use the re-route or even what their criteria to make that determination is
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The only ATV that was around was a local farmer, and it would have only added to the chaos of having a ATV mudding down the road spraying all the hike-a-bike people.
The race director’s comments about potential reroute for miles 11-15 (the walking mud) are in the FB live at 10:30 and then to a question at 26:20 asked about criteria for rerouting
He says I don’t expect to reroute it but its super easy to do.
Then in response to the question he says, they will reroute if its unrideable or if they will destroy the road.
Sadly they did not re-route and they haven’t publicly acknowledged their decision.
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When I was walking through the second mud section that was late on in the course, one of the Crew for Hire Jeeps came right down the muddy rode. They were looking for a rider who called them. At least on that section they had no issues travelling through the mud but it was a big Jeep with big tires.
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You make some good points that should be considered. Why do they, stations, stay open is it just to support the race or do the local population have a need? I would also ask what is the upside to the profits for each gas station?..
I told a friend who is an RD of several big local events I was looking at doing an ultra unsupported race. His first question was why would you pay all that entry fee for absolutly nothing no support a finisher medal, water bottle and a cycling hat…??? The challenge was my reply…but after reading your post. I’m rethinking the whole unsupported madness for cash we are just helping pay pros or the organization pay the bills as they do NOTHING for the participants in these ultra self supported races.
Directors should only charge the cost of a post race meal less then $20 …As I continue to think about it is kinda BS 
…Or is that part of the Spirit of Gravel 
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Just to offer a counterpoint, I have zero facts behind this…what if they are making a huge profit off the “throw the money” system? Granted, it hoses inventory, creates a filthy mess, etc., but if people are grabbing 2 waters a candy bar and a banana and throwing a $20 at the register, there might be profit there. Just thinking out loud.
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My recollection is the XL was “only” ~$150 last year and went to $250 (+40 in fees +$55 for the tracker so over $350 ). I was already committed to the idea so the price didn’t necessarily matter but it’s fairly ridiculous. Demand is there though…
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When I went through that section, I was with one other rider (hiker) and nobody else in sight in either direction. There was, however, a very nice gravel bike leaned up against the barbed wire fence. I hope it eventually found its way home.
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Someone said f*** it and just walked off into a field lmao
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