I guess not. Tough day and scary stuff out in the middle nowhere. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
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I assumed that was the case but I’ve never been close enough to the front to see them. lol It’s sort of weird to hear it get mentioned without any context of how long the side by side was out in front of the leaders
I must have been out there right with you, but I was 5:53 I think in the end. Stomach got messed up, stopped eating as much as I should and fell apart. Took in about 1700 cal, 175lbs. Ended up in a 3000 cal deficit 
Still not terrible day on nutrition, averaging close to 300 cal/hr.
What were you consuming/what was your fueling plan and how did it shake out?
I hit all my fueling/hydration targets, but I guess my planning was off, or I didn’t drink enough the first half. The second half of the race I consumed 3.5L of hydration (2L water, 1.5L water with tail wind). I’ve never drank more than 1L/hr in any kind of training or race, so I think that running out near-ish the end really hampered my last 30-45 mins.
This was my first 200, had a blast though, but went way slower than expected. Goal was basically just to complete but see how realistic it would be to race the sun…
My fun lessons
- Get to the start earlier, I thought id just pass people, but with 1000 other strong riders, that did not happen
- I focused too much on worrying if my knee pain would show up, it did but then went away which I dont understand. But that caused me to not notice how hot it got and I got a wee bit dehydrated. This caused my power to tank around mile 90 and i took 45 mins at the oasis after to rehydrate and felt much better.
- Variety of food is nice. I had a massive bag of nerd clusters, a few gus, a few maple syrups, pb m&ms, 3x mix gatorade, and some cokes throughout.
- Too much coke too fast lead to extra air and i wouldn’t trust a fart after mile 100, so that was a gamble I got lucky with.
- Im still not as comfortable as id like on some loose turns and descents. Lost some speed there.
- Need to work on my fit. Had a bike fit years ago, in the last year i feel like i have more pain in one sit bone. 200 miles for 14 hours of riding is a long time though for any ass. And no issues crop up til hour 4-5.
- I really like riding at night, if I feel like its a safe route from cars
- Seeing garmin say climb 1/32 at mile 20 was painful though.
Fun time overall, first time riding in the dark with a light. Would definitely do the 200 again.
Now im tempted to shoot for the 300 at gravel worlds in Nebraska but want to fix my fit first.
Had left lateral knee pain for a while. Thought IT band but doesnt seem the case, hamstring maybe, hard to tell. It hit a 3 on the pain scale, just annoying, then disappeared which was never the case.
The sit bone pain, that sucked. Pretty sure i peeled off a layer of skin on the left side a week later. Really gotta fix that one.
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Sorry to hear about your crash. Hope your recovery goes well.
I am 6’4" (193cm) tall and I’m always surprised when I stand next to some of these pro athletes at how tall they are in “real life”. They are all so thin that it makes them look smaller on the screen. Payson definitely has to be around 6’1" (185cm). Ted King is about 6’2" (188cm) tall. King Iz (Isabella King) is a taller woman (she was at my hotel and appeared to be 5’8"-5’9" (172.7-175cm) tall.
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I’m not a great descender but I’m just out there surviving in a race like unbound.
I had similar issues with my fit a few years ago training for unbound. I would be okay until like 4-5 hours and then issues would crop up. I had to deal with hotspots in my feet but resolved that with a bike shoe switch.
Then I would get a sore back and sore neck. I got a new bike fit and they did some minor tweaks but nothing major. I’ve resolved things with more stretching/yoga and more strength training.
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Yeah its an odd one for me, had no pain, then bam at mile 80 on road bike my left sit bone starts to hurt. Hit me last summer and I dont recall changing my seat height/position at all. Nothing physically wrong with me that i can tell.
I do plan to get another bike fit next spring if I cant fix this on my own. But also plan to add some strength training, maybe I should try yoga.
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Always enjoy listening to Alex’s take on things. He provides pretty good insight here on the racing dynamics of unbound (pack vs. break, technical sections, etc.).
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Ever since someone mentioned that Rodman sounds like a pirate when he talks, I can’t stop thinking about it (still listen to his videos, tho).
Will give this a listen. Just wrapped up Payson McElveen’s podcasts with each of the winners. Worth a listen.
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It would make more sense to explain to other people if cycling had weight categories. High 60 kg to high 70 kg is like 3 to 4 weight classes in boxing (not that I’m an expert on boxing).
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Alex is a great interview. He just seems to give very thorough and thoughtful responses.
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He’s my absolute favorite AaCC guest. I don’t even have to care that much about what they’re talking about.
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Agreed. He also seems to be a genuinely nice guy. Gives straight answers and avoids any drama. Sounds like someone in front of him caused his wreck, but he wasn’t mad about it at all. That’s just how racing is sometimes. It’s crazy to me hearing about so many pros having flat issues when Cam was apparently riding slicks. I was on 40mm ramblers and had no issues. Then again, they’re probably going WAY faster than I was into those descents.
I thought cam was running Schwalbe g one rx up front and g one rs out back?
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Ok, fair enough. In his podcast with Pace, Pace mentioned he was on ‘slicks’. I looked it up. The front is definitely more of a semi-slick type of tire. Less aggresive than what most of the pros were using anyways.
for sure that’s part of it. they’re bombing through descents slamming through some of those rocky washout sections and riding in close groups where they can’t often choose they’re lines.
Unbound 200 is a race I’m just surviving so, although flatting is always a concern there, you’re luck is far better when you’re better able to choose your line and you can be more cautious going through some of those rocky descents. Obviously not a guarantee you won’t flat but it helps.
When I’ve ridden Unbound, I’ve ran Pathfinder Pros (42s one year then 47s last year). Although I have continental race king 2.2s on my bike right now so who knows. I go for durable, comfortable, and then fast for something like unbound.
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yes, very good experience with 4iii going on 3 years.
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WRT tires, same.
I’ve run the Panaracer X1+ in a 45 last two years. It’s definitely not fast but it’s held up incredibly well. Zero flats so far, knock on wood.
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