He said on Payson’s podcast that the power numbers were nothing special for him and that he’s done more power for similar number of hours. He did end up doing a little more carbs per hour than he expected though because they finished faster than he planned for, but he still ate everything he had.
I may be confusing him with another pro, I listened to on a podcast, but I believe he mentioned taking in 195g carbs per hour during the race.
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Anyone know how tall he is?
He uses a 4iiii PM. I don’t know much about this PM but the Bonk Bros talk crap about it being unreliable for numbers on their podcast
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Ugh. I wouldn’t take much advice from Bonk Bros. Last time I tried to listen to that, it was so bad I had to turn it off. So many interruptions, bad internet. Hope they can improve it and come in with a game plan in the future.
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You can tell Cam definitely has some upper body muscles too. Apparently he was big into ‘multisport’ in New Zealand which is a combo of running, kayaking, cycling, and potentially other sports. Seems like he’s a very good all arounder.
As someone who is 77kg, it’s nice to see someone heavier do so well. I’m 6ft2 and get tired of people acting like Matt Beers is huge at 80kg. That’s really not big at all! I guess compared to cyclists maybe, but damn. It’s not like he appears overweight by any stretch of the imagination.
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That was him, 195g per hour
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lol I’m 6’ 2” 79kg and my non-cycling friends laugh when I tell them I’m considered large for a cyclist.
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That’s just their schtick. Agree, it’s basically impossible to listen to, but they have a decent following so I guess the format works for some. A couple of those guys also do a podcast called “The matchbook”, which is a much easier listen and has some good info sometimes.
I have heard some negative things about 4iii PM’s in the past, but the latest stuff has pretty good reviews by DC Rainmaker from what I remember (who I trust more than the bonk bros).
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Beers is just a lot bigger than a lot of the other lifetime Grand Prix riders. Alexy is around 140 lbs and Keegan at 145 lbs. I’d imagine most of them are in the 150-160ish range. I’ve never heard of his size mentioned negatively, just as being an outlier, which he certainly is (in the lifetime Grand Prix). It’s usually mentioned in context with how brutally powerful he is. Pretty much every interview with people and Beers comes up, they always compliment the size of his motor.
Brennan Wertz is another one often mentioned for just being big - I had heard it mentioned that he put down 500 watts for a full hour, which is pretty impressive.
I had thought that Payson was pretty tall (6’1+?) but don’t hear his size mentioned as often as Beers or Wertz.
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Agreed. They aren’t talking bad about Beers and their comments almost always end with how big his engine is or what not. I’m just glad to see taller / heavier people still doing well overall. Just feels a bit like they’re putting pressure on cyclists to get as skinny as possible when they always mention his weight like that.
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I love reading the stories from everyone on Unbound! I did LT100 last year and doing it again this year but I personally have a hard time wrapping my head around 200 miles and training for it.
Payson’s podcat on Cam is great if you haven’t listened and was shocked that he took 200 grams per hour. Sounded like it was all from bottles with a hydration pack with water. The strategy and working together with Simon was also interesting.
I can relate to “bigger” guy syndrome as I have to work at it to stay under 80kg. Weight has been hovering around 175-176 lately but was up around 180 over winter.
Big congrats to everyone who did Unbound!
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From my perspective (at ~170lbs and not much of a climber), the Unbound 200 is easier than the LT100 in many ways. Unbound is a longer day and actually has a little more climbing, but it’s got nothing like columbine and powerline inbound to contend with. ~3 more hours of riding for me at Unbound, but lots of steady state stuff which I enjoy. Except for a couple spots this year where I started to wilt in the heat, I never really suffered and felt pretty good most of the day. I always suffer at Leadville.
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Interesting theory from the bonk bros podcast and listening to Paysons podcast with Cam but sounds like the breakaway may be getting a significant draft from the side by side Lifetime uses for filming. Would explain how the long break the last two years has stuck in the men’s field, and also stuck for the women this year.
I’m glad Cam was honest about that and I imagine some hate will come in later about it. I’ve also wondered about the drafting of vehicles. On the flipside, they were definitely getting a lot more dust thrown in their face from the close proximity of the vehicles filming. Many times during the live stream you could see a big cloud of dust in the lead group’s faces. With so many rolling hills like that, I’m not sure what the solution would be to this issue.
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They got a bit of draft help, it wasn’t the difference. The main issue the last two years seemed like it was the fact that the group can’t work together. Having numbers isn’t helpful unless you can use them effectively. When everyone has different agendas, it can be way better to be off the front just rolling steady vs attacking and then sitting up then going hard then spreading out across the road yelling at each other. Cam won the race legitimately and Karo won traka, locos, and unbound so it def wasn’t the draft from the camera vehicle.
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The draft might have contributed a bit, but they don’t just sit in front of the break and film for extended periods. Those guys in the side by side are moving around and covering different parts of the races. And both of the last 2 years have been favorable winds, which takes a big advantage away from the pack. This year, the last ~50 miles after the last aid station were almost all a nice tailwind with a couple minor climbs and there was very little wind early in the day. If there had been a headwind heading home, there’s a lot higher chance they would have been caught. I was solo on tired legs and averaged over 20mph for the last hour+ with the wind mostly at my back.
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Well my Unbound 200 didn’t go to plan. I just wanted to beat the sun and had a stretch goal of less than 13-hours. Going in tires were a big concern, but I tried the Race Kings on local gravel and just didn’t like them. They felt slow and I didn’t like the feel, so I went with the Tufo Thundero 700x48 front and rear on my Lauf Seigla with a rigid fork and the Redshift ShockStop stem.
We got to Emporia on Wednesday and did some riding on Wednesday and Thursday and I felt great about my tire choice and bike setup. We lined up about mid pack in the 12-hour starting corral. The pace to the first water stop was blistering fast (20mph average) but seemed easy since we were in a big group. Divide road was known to be an issue ahead of time so we just decided to get through and not try to make any time there. We made it through without any issues, but a lot of people ended their day there.
We continued to the first aid station at mile 70 and still had an average speed just under 18mph. But after Alma we hit the open plains, rolling hills, and full on headwind. The pace started coming way off and the groups started to fall apart.
Somewhere around mile 80 my friend started coming apart and suggested we separate. I carried on in the headwind solo, but we turned south around mile 86 and the wind was no longer an issue and I started picking up the pace and passing people at a very measured effort. I was passing enough people that it made me assess my riding, but all was good and the power looked good so I just kept the flow going until mile 93 where I came into a right hand turn on Drovers Trail Rd and had a high speed crash where I assume both tires slide out and I landed head and shoulder first into the ground. Came to with memory loss and no memory of the crash. Got put in an ambulance and sent to Council Groove hospital where I spent the next 4 days and 3 nights. I had 4 broken ribs, concussion, very sore but not broken collarbone (thankfully because it is currently plated from a previous crash last year), sore but not broken hip, and a mild pneumothorax. Luckily once they inserted the chest tube for the pneumothorax it just expressed blood and not air so I didn’t puncture my long. My wife had to fly out and use the rental car to drive us back to Georgia as I wasn’t medically allowed to fly.
So my experience prior to the crash was pretty good and I had high hopes of beating my target time. Post crash I am pretty dissapointed. Just another bad day on the bike.
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Wishing you a quick recovery, thankful it wasn’t worse.
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Coming from the running world, there is definitely a body type that is advantageous at the elite level (though there are a few elite runners that buck the trend). I’m mostly a mountain biker these days and appreciate the diversity of sport backgrounds… volleyball, American football, soccer, baseball, running, basketball. Then the moto sports and skateboarders and everything in between.
The bike truly is the great equalizer!
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