Now that we are into race week, what did everyone land on for tires? If dry, I’m running a 47mm Pathfinder Pro rear and 50mm Schwalbe G-one RX up front. If wet, I have a second wheel set with a 40mm thundero gravel HD on the rear and a 42mm pathfinder pro up front.
I ran the 47/50 setup on a 85 mile gravel ride last weekend with a few spots of chunk and was very pleased with the G-one RX up front. Only has a little less volume than the thunder burt but the traction in corners was 1000x better than both the pathfinder and the TB. I had a couple corners where it barely slid then just gripped hard that I’m confident on the other choices I would have slid a lot more. Not went down necessarily, but it would have been a lot more sketchy.
Bringing 2.2 Race Kings, Pathfinder pro 47’s, and Pathfinder pro 42’s.
Minimal mud - 2.2/2.2
Expected significant muddy stretches - 2.2/47
Apocalyptic mud - 47/42
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45mm Panaracer X1+ Front & 40mm R.
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They just called me to confirm my reservation. They mentioned they have been having some phone issues. I said that was a coincidence because a guy on a forum had been trying to call recently with no luck.
She said to call her at 620-794-0050. She said they are booked but have a few driveway type options if needed, as long as you didn’t need a shower. Not sure if there’s any hookups with that, if your fresh tank is full you probably only need electric for AC then could dump your grey/black water after the weekend. If it’s just you, I doubt you’d fill them up.
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Multi Page Race Notes data field on Garmin Edge 1040.
This is the Race the Sun stem sticker.
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Good stuff. I’ve never really wanted a bigger head unit, but this is a good reason for it. There’s only so much info I can fit on my bars and top tube…
Is that just manually entered info or part of the course file? I recognize a lot of those spots, not so much on others. What’s the source of this? Thanks.
You manually enter each line and use a delimiter “/” as a line brake. It will also support up to 5 pages, that it will cycle through. You can set that cycle for between 10-240 seconds.
I originally had three pages, but it all fit on one, so bonus.
It’s from Garmin Connect IQ and the name of the data field is literally Multi Page Race Notes.
I used the Race the Sun times from Absolute Fitness.
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Dang, that makes me feel like I should plan my goals/strategy a bit better lol.
I’m targeting for sub 6 hrs in the 100 (108 technically), which puts me at 18 mph. Basically I’ll just target to be at 18+ average all day.
I study the route a bit and have it on my garmin, but will probably have enough people around as well to largely lead the way.
I only plan to stop at the 54 mile aid station.
None of the hills seem big enough to really pay attention to or be notified of. I don’t have any of my climb profile alerts/screens on. I feel like I’ll probably be able to see the top of any hill, so not like I’ll probably have some big surprising unknown switchback.
I obsess about a ton of details, but in this race to hit my target I think that just sticking with a fast group and hopefully no major setbacks will get me close to where I want to be.
Are any of the things above something I should be adjusting/planning differently?
My fueling/hydration/sodium is dialed meticulously.
I think the Absolute Fitness guide for the 200 was worth it for the info on typical conditions, sharp turns and notable crossings.
Like you not terribly concerned about climb pro showing up. Just keep spinning, and try ro keep on the average speed in Tempo at highest. Not realistic but still will keep telling myself to keep it chill. Even beating the sun is a really long day on the bike.
Keep eating, keep drinking, keep spinning.
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The only thing I’d consider is that being near the front of the group at selective/challenging spots can save a bunch of chasing. That’s the value of knowing when selective spots are coming up. Not an issue if you are in a group of 5, but the groups can be really big early in the day (with a wide range of fitness and bike handling skills). Ending up on the wrong side of a split can be like missing the break in a road race. The difference is that the break seldom comes back in gravel. At least that’s my experience in the 200 (and other big mass start gravel races in general).
Bike is set up with 47 Pathfinders Pros - dry
Bringing a wheel set with 45 G-One RS mounted - mud
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45mm Panaracer X1+ if dry or damp
40mm Pirelli Gravel M and a plastic putty knife if muddy.
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Running 40mm Maxxis Ramblers on front and rear. Bringing a backup pair. My grail is almost maxed out on this size, so not much can be done about it. After testing these tires, I do feel much better about them vs my WTB ventures I had on previously.
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It’s a solid tire for Unbound. Not the fastest rolling, but durable. Has been ridden to the win/podium by many.
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That’s a good point and something I need to consciously think about in my group placement. Far too many times I’ve been in a large group that splits off and I’m usually the one chasing to get back and towing a few others with me. While only once have I just had to let go and see a group pull away, there’s countless times I’ve wasted a ton of energy chasing to get back on when someone in front of me fell off.
I prefer to let the guilty party suffer to chase back on with me in tow, but that often doesn’t happen and the longer you wait, the harder it will get.
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Unbound Week is here! Excited for all of you in Emporia!
We did a quick interview late last week with Keegan and Sofía discussing their final prep and some other hot topics.
We’ll be discussing the course and conditions in more detail during this week’s podcast, and we’ve used Best Bike Split to make some time split sheets (for 200 and 100) that you can print and tape on your top tube as well. You can find those here.
Disclaimer on the time sheets: We used BBS with a reverse engineered aero/rolling resistance/drivetrain bike setup that we’ve validated in the past, but conditions vary SO much in that area and pack dynamics will likely be at play for most, so YMMV certainly applies here.
Good ballparks are as follows:
200 Mile Course
13hrs: 2.1w/kg
12hrs: 2.5w/kg
11hrs: 3.0w/kg
10hrs: 3.7w/kg
100 Mile Course
7hrs: 2.1w/kg
6.5hrs: 2.5w/kg
6hrs: 2.9w/kg
5.5hrs: 3.6w/kg
5hrs: 4.6w/kg
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Eat, drink, stick to my pacing an and even with course features I should be able to beat the sun.
Just hoping I don’t have to adjust too much based on course and mechanical issues. No bombing downhills required.
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