idk, they were putting in 40 hr weeks in leading up to this race.
What a journey & outcome! I did 200 mi in an audax over tarmac on a road bike with aero bars & that was hard enough to do in 14h. To do it on the dirt… amazing! 
Such a different race compared to last year. Course was fast and not surprised pros set a record. Minimal wind. It did get warm in the afternoon but morning had cloud cover keeping it cooler.
Starline seemed different. One big giant shoot. I came late but it seemed you couldn’t really slot yourself in on the sode, so wnded up lining up really far back.
Goal was to beat the sun this year as i missed it by about an hour last year. Made it easily, finishing around 12:44. Super happy with that.
Ran the Pathfinder Pro 47s with inserts and about 5 ounces of Silca Sealant in each. No flats. A decent number of riders on the side woth flats but much less compared to what i saw at Big Sugar.
There were a couple of Dylan Johnson “clones” out there in the amateur field with Lauf’s and Race Kings. One of them i saw was fixing a flat.
Great day overall. I dont think you could have a better weather and conditions day.
I really don’t know how to feel about yesterday. Finished in 11:56, 17th in my age group. On the one hand, the my number 1 goal was to make it to the damn start line after getting destroyed by a car 3 weeks before the race last year. On the other, I really wanted to be top 10 in my AG. I cruised through to Divide Road nearish the front. Took it easy through Divide and Rockton. Then at mile 65 I slid out on an easy turn and that set off a whole bunch of challenges. My saddle got messed up and was nearly pointing to the sky and I got a puncture that thankfully sealed. Limped to Alma, we thought we had the saddle fixed, but just a couple miles outside of town it loosened and I had to take it apart on the side of the road. Got that fixed up and got going again but found I was leaking air and had to stop twice to air up. At this point, the groups I was with were loooong gone and the groups I’d catch on to weren’t going the pace I wanted. So, I did a lot of solo riding. Got rejuvenated by a bag of chips in Council Grove and got my tire pressure officially sorted out. My gut quit on me at 10 hours and at that point I could only choke down mix.
P13
Congrats on a great race… also nice to hear that you and your buddy hung together throughout the race.
Congrats
Seems you like should feel pretty damn good….you had a lot of adversity, persevered and still had an excellent time.
Well done!!!
The guy in the Indigo jersey? He was freaking amazing….he could push the watts and climbed really well for a guy that big!!!
Congrats on your race and beating the sun!
As I’ve been watching some DJ tire setup video with Roadman and recently on bonk bros and his own podcast mentioned bike setup for UB.
He mentioned PF 47s what pressure did you run in them?
Again Congrates!
What color is your kit
I ran the Pathfinder Pro 47s on ENVE G23 wheels at 26psi f/r. I had Tubolight inserts, 5 ounces Silca sealant in each. I weight around 158lb at the moment. Carried 3L of fluid at the start and then went with 4L at the subsequent two aid stations, so a bit of extra weight.
Might have. There was a green jersey that crashed on a left turn prior to first water stop, thought maybe that was you. I tail gunned the lead group
Yup, that was me. Scrubbed most of speed but couldn’t stay on the road.
Only option is to sign up for 2025
Some additional thoughts….
The Course - I thought it was excellent and nowhere near as bad as some were making it out to be….ecen the chunkier sections (Divide Road, Little Egypt, etc) were manageable and not overly challenging. I was dreading Divide based on reports / podcasts and we got through it and I didn’t think twice about it. Actually enjoyed it, TBH. Now had it rained or been wet….
. But it was fast and dry (obviously) and I really enjoyed it. I was pretty critical last year of the organizers and was a little apprehensive that they were gonna try and make the course overly-epic, but I thought it was excellent.
Weather - couldn’t have asked for a better day. Cool and cloud cover with light winds the whole morning and even when the sun came out, it got warm but not intolerable (low 80’s). About the only thing that was “bad” about the weather was that the winds were out of the north for the morning and then switched to the south around 3:00, so we had a headwind for most of the day. But the winds were so light, it really wasn’t an issue.
3 Feet Cycling Crew For Hire - excellent support. Plenty of volunteers to get you what you wanted / needed. Cold water, ice, cokes food and moral support were in abundance. You pulled in and they grabbed your bike, asked what needed servicing and knocked it out. If you do Unbound and need to hire support, I highly recommend them.
Pro races - the deepest fields and results stacked with surprising results. Bummed we didn’t get a rainbow / Stars & Stripes showdown, but damn what a win for Lachlan. The women’s field coming down to a huge field sprint was epic.
I’ve only done the 100 (last year) and besides the hike a bike and one or two other short sections, I thought the gravel/route was generally pretty nice. The final 30mi last year was practically tarmac.
It’s funny but I though the “quality” of the gravel roads was worse at Gravel Locos than Unbound.
Congrats to everyone! Looked like amazing course and weather. Not going to lie I’m a bit jealous of the weather y’all had. I did the 200 last year and I think I walked at least 4 miles in mud but managed to finish albeit nowhere near my goal time. Sounds like I gotta sign up again and pray to the weather gods as I would love to see what I can do on a weather day that cooperates. Last year was just about finishing after that first mud section tbh
Second this
It really was lucky how it worked out. We were staying in Ottawa, which is east of Emporia. When we left Emporia in the early afternoon on Friday it rained almost the whole drive from just outside Emporia to Ottawa. I was thinking “Oh boy, it’s going to be getting real muddy…”. However when I check the radar map back at the hotel the entire system, which was really big, was just east of Emporia. It was like there was a dome over the course.
I’m pretty sure I saw you out there a few times. I was in the Enve kit with green camo sleeves on the brightly colored Trek Checkpoint with orange handlebar tape.