My first year at the event…what W/kg is typical for the front group? I’m pushing 4.7-4.8. It’s a tough spot–on the one hand, you can make a lot of hay early by sticking around. On the other, you risk blowing up bigly.
I’ve only done the race once (last year) and it was an odd year with the mud section blowing the field apart in the first 20 minutes. In prior years, it was a mass start including the pros (driving the pace of the lead group), so I hesitate to read too much into how the start went previously.
My guess is that it will be similar to most gravel races (without strong pros) where I find it takes me ~280-310w NP to hang until things settle down. Lots of surging, not a steady output. I find that pace usually holds for about 30-45 minutes for “flatish” 100 mile gravel races until some groups start sorting out, so I’m hoping it wouldn’t go much longer than that. At some point, people have to realize it’s a long day and settle down. But people are dumb at the beginning of races (myself included) and I guess it could push hard until the first technical choke point (which I believe is around 27 miles in). If you are at 4.7 w/kg, you should be pretty comfortable staying near the front unless you are a smaller person. Raw watts will matter a lot more than w/kg for that first stretch, it will likely be tail wind the hills aren’t long/steep enough to hurt the big wattage guys.
You are way stronger then me. Just stay towards the front and you will do great. Choke point at 27 miles and I think the 2nd choke point is at 42 miles.
Personally I got in trouble after the 1st choke point where I chased back on with a pro. Then after the 2nd chase point after my chain fell off I chased till the first check point. I kept chasing and never settled into a sustainable pace, which caused me to blow up the final 80 miles. You have to approach this race with conservative view point on power. Power you throw down in the first half wont be there the 2nd half and you will have even less power the final half.
So I ordered my next batch of Flow Formula Endurance Drink Mix from The Feed on May 10…this is what I have been primarily training with all year on my longer rides (both indoor and outdoor). WHen I ordered it, they said it would ship on May 18…since I was going to be out of the country in between, that was fine and I would still have it in plenty of time.
No shipmnet notification by MOnday the 20th so I contacted them. They said it would ship on the 21st. Still no shipment notification…check with them today “Sorry, we don’t know when we can ship it.”
So I just placed an expedited order directly with Flow, but they said it can take 1-2 days to process a shipment…I leave for Emporia next Wednesday.
I could be supremely screwed…I sent Flow a message asking them to make sure it ships out today. FIngers crossed.
The Feed said they could ship me the Apple Cider flavor instead…after I told them that I had been training with the Lemon Lime all year and this was for my A race. So they want me to gamble of a flavor I have never tried for a 200 mile race where fueling is arguably the most critical element of the race!!! Seriously?
I suppose worst case scenario is I use Infinit, which is close to the grams of carbs, but a little bit less. I have used that a decent bit this year so I know I can tolerate it…just a touch lower on carbs.
OK…rant over.
I’m planning to run a 46t chainring with a 10-52 in the back. I will be bringing a 44t chainring however in case I decide I need it after previewing some of the climbs on Wednesday or if the forecast is exceedingly hot for race day.
My experience in this race is that I can close gaps to groups in front pretty easily on the descents as long as I have enough gearing to push them. I did the South course in 2022 on a 42t/10-44 and had no issue at all on any of the climbs including Judge Hill, but I felt a bit under geared at times on some of the descents.
I have 2 bags of skratch if that helps.
read an article about using tums, not sure I want to test that day of. Article should have been published a few months ago if the intent was to help people at unbound.
Appreciate the offer, but I haven’t ever used skratch, so I’ll just stick with the Infinit, if I need to.
I did try a bag of Tailwind recently and that seemed to work pretty well, too…but like Infinit, is a touch lower in carbs.
Grossly underprepared for this with a wild last couple months in my life. Still plan on racing the sun but going to try to be smart about not putting myself in a hole
Horse is in the barn, just get your stuff ready is all you can do
Update - Flow Formulas got my shipment out today, so I should be good to go.
back to just my general stress re: the race. 
Obsessive Weather Watch Update…looks like we should plan on getting wet at some point.
Sat 01 | Day
80°
58%
S14 mph
Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High near 80F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
According to a site which shall not be named Mateo Mahoric will be in Emporia
42x17 2.76ftp @80ctl. 
40x10-50 248W 3.3W/Kg.
2nd crit podium and first win, not sure if this is good or bad for unbound
Most certainly good. Congrats.
Yeah, winning races is always a bad sign. 
Congrats!
38x10-44, 240 ftp 3.4 W/kg. Rode the 100 south last year with 42t chainring. 38t will spin out on downhill. But I am coming to try to survive and finish, not worried about placing.
Looks like Mohoric will be flying the rainbow stripes in Kansas next week.
I’m expecting a bit more chaos at the pointy end this year. From what I experienced pre-riding the north course, I think it’s a bit more selective and there are a lot more of risk/reward spots where flats/mechanicals are likely.
given the delayed start this year, flats/mechanicals will be the only way I’ll see any pros racing this year. I’ll never forget coming across Kiel Reijnen running in his socks a few years ago with his combusted wheel.
That’s a little lower than what I’ve been running, especially if not using inserts.
Sunday I did a 67 mile gravel loop with a little over 7k of climbing and ran 27 psi F/R. Enve G23s with 47mm Pathfinder Pros, Tubolight inserts. I was 158lb on Sunday, riding a 1x Trek Checkpoint SLR with 2L in USWE and another 1L bottle and 500mL bottle on the bike. Majority of fluid was consumed by the end. The route was rougher than much of the Unbound 200 South course from last year, but not as rough as Big Sugar. 27psi felt pretty much perfect…