Ride HQ’s founder, Patria Vandermark, participated in the 200-mile edition of the Unbound Gravel race on June 4, 2022 in Emporia, Kansas. She shares her very special experience of the event and weekend with us.

Moments after finishing Unbound, there’s a person and bike under all of that mud.

Unbound started for me back in January of 2020, when I entered the lottery for the 2020 version of the race. Covid hit in the spring so Unbound was cancelled that year. I chose to defer my registration to this year when I hoped Covid would be in the rear view mirror.

Ride Headquarters filled the spring with Gravel Training rides and the Gravel Panel Session (still available to watch) to help make the training happen for me and everyone who was doing early season gravel events and to share as much knowledge as possible.

The second Ride HQ gravel training ride was a 100km adventure ride starting in Lincoln, MA.

The big, red Ride HQ van, my husband, Rob, and I road tripped from Boston to Emporia, Kansas, driving ~25 hours, arriving Thursday evening, with just enough time to set up camp before the gorgeous Kansas sunset.

The Lyon Fairgrounds in Emporia was home for the weekend, it’s run by a nice man named Ken. Reservations worked like this: call Ken a few months ago, tell him we’re coming. An electrical hookup would be helpful. Pay in person when we arrive, no deposit necessary. He’s not worried, he knows we’ll be there. At the end of the weekend he tried to convince us to stay, it wouldn’t have taken much arm twisting!

Lyon County Fairgrounds was more than comfortable for the weekend.

Friday morning was casual, we cooked a huge pancake breakfast at camp.

Rob came to support my ride and that involved being chef, mechanic, photographer, driver, and alarm clock!

We can’t travel without a tasty coffee experience whether we’re bikepacking or van camping.

After breakfast and doing dishes - there was both electricity and running water at the fairgrounds - we rode our bikes 2 miles into downtown Emporia to get checked in for the race, and see the XL racers start their event. XL riders had a 350-mile course and were required to keep at least a 10mph average including stops, completely self-supported.

There was a throng of people cheering for the XL racers.

I was excited to see many Ride HQ riders in Emporia in addition to our supplier partners who we haven’t seen in over 2 years due to the pandemic.

For all of the festivities happening, I felt fortunate to be able to see these people all at the same time:

Group photo — Riders from left: me, Michael, Derrick, Andrew, and Elliott. Everyone shown here finished the 200 mile race.

Shimano was proudly displaying a Seven Cycles Evergreen built up with Shimano’s limited edition 1x GRX components. There were a good number of Seven Cycles’ bikes out there, quite a few under our riders, but also a number of Sevens under riders who had worked with other shops. Unbound is the perfect ride for an Evergreen in so many ways. I’ll write more about my bike setup and why Evergreens are ideal for Unbound; it’s a long article by itself.

Shimano’s GRX tent displayed this Seven Cycles Evergreen s with limited edition cockpit, along with 1 x GRX components.

Naturally, I missed people I was anxious to see. If I were to do it again, I’d arrive Wednesday night so as to have two full days to shake out travel legs and have time more time with people.

I snuck in a quick pre-ride of the first few miles of the route. It was just long enough to see the starting stretch and feel the first few turns which would be taken with hundreds of other people, likely at high speeds. Stay right. The line is smooth and the road is cambered safely for those on the right.

The night before I wasn’t feeling nervous or really even thinking about the race much. My mind was more concerned with making sure everything was ready for the morning, the Garmins were loaded with the route, yes, plural, I think I brought at least 2 of everything. At this point I’d over-thought everything a few too many times. Not having nerves seemed like maybe I’d be in for quality sleep. Ha no. Of course not.

Whoop told me I’d gotten one of the best sleeps of my life when I woke up Friday morning. I didn’t look at my Whoop data the morning of the race. Glad I didn’t look: it thought the 3 hours of sleep I got wasn’t enough and I was in the red.

Race Day Begins Early

The alarm went off at 2:45am. Rob was already up making coffee and breakfast. He barely slept. I took a few moments to dig myself out of bed. First order of business: eat a massive bowl of oatmeal filled with nuts and berries. Having had an early dinner the night before likely made this undertaking easier than usual.

No one looked to be awake anywhere around our campsite. Did we get the date wrong? One of my fears of staying at the fairgrounds was that it was going to be a loud party all night. Wrong. Everyone went to bed early and the noise that threatened sleep was only distant trains blowing their horns for the entire night. Ear plugs made those noises go away completely.

While digesting breakfast, I did my hair and got dressed and ready to ride. Time before an event moves faster than regular time. 1 hr 45 minutes of time felt more like 15 minutes. Regardless, Rob and I were ready and rolling to town before 5am.

We met up with RHQ rider Elliott, and his wife, Leanna, at the coffee shop so we could collect ourselves. It was chilly out there!

While Elliott, center, and I stood around trying to stay warm, 100-mile racer, Alan from Marblehead, happened to find us! Alan had joined in on the RHQ Gravel Training rides and here we all were now in Kansas, ready to do the thing we’d all been training for!
Alan captured super video footage on his ride - check it out!

Elliott and I decided to start together and the plan was to stay together if it was possible. We have similar strengths on training rides, but add 1,200 other riders and neither of us knew how the dynamic would shake out.

I visited the portajohn - no line, nice! Upon leaving the toilet seconds later, there was already a long line waiting. Pete Steina was in line. The pros use these facilities too. We are all, essentially, treated the same.

While there are plenty of facilities, people were literally pouring into town and this line formed in a matter of 2 minutes. It must have grown quite long as the start drew nearer.

Elliott and I chose to start with the 14 hour pace group - everyone can start wherever feels appropriate, given one’s expected finish time. There are cheerleaders holding up signs to make it obvious where to go. I was expecting somewhere around 16 hours, but wanted to start a bit ahead of this time just to have stronger wheels to follow, hopefully stronger=safer, too.

Elliott and Leanna have a moment together prior to the start. From where we stood, we could barely see the start clock.

A train came through, the start got pushed out by 6 minutes as organizers waited for it to pass. 6:06am official start time.

Race Starts!

Once the race began, it didn’t really begin back where I stood. It was a casual rollout, a long, straight, paved road. It was more like being part of a parade with people cheering on both sides of the road. It felt great. There was no one moving up or falling back, everyone seemed perfectly content with their position - there was plenty of room to move up so it was an option. I know the race ahead of me was likely chaotic, but where I was, it was chill.

Riders stretched for blocks after the start. It got light quickly.

I was gleeful to be there. It finally happened and I was there. I kept expecting something to derail my plans to attend. I know too many people who have recently come down with Covid and that would make racing impossible so I’ve been paranoid about indoor meetings, have been masking up for everything for weeks. It was a relief to be here in the first mile.

Rolling out just after dawn was calm and peaceful, not full of the sketchy behavior I was expecting, though was likely happening ahead on the road.

I stayed to the right, seeing the road I’d pre-ridden, taking the lines I wanted. Feeling good. My legs felt great. This was an easy rollout, but even then, you never know when tired legs start by complaining. I’ve often had good rides that started with angry legs. Not today. My legs were happy to be here.

There was a tiny puddle on the dirt road which I’d pre-ridden and knew it was easy to blast right through, but riders nearly came to a stop. Dear me, did I start too far back? Fortunately, it was one of only a couple of weird stops that weren’t necessary and simply due to too many riders. At least no one was being sketchy around me.

Very early on in the ride, we were headed toward serious storm clouds. We got spat on some but otherwise didn’t get soaked like many of the riders up the road.

I did everything I could to follow wheels and take clean lines. I would mark those who looked like good riders who were smooth and seemed to be selecting the best lines, then I would take possession of that person’s wheel, sticking close enough to get their pebbles in my face. Some tires are nicer to the rider following than others! I pulled out my road racing experience which has been lying dormant for many years. Being in a tight pack and jockeying for position is an element of road and crit racing I secretly enjoy. The stuff I don’t like about road racing is non-existent in the gravel scene.

My gleefulness of being here continued mile after mile. I was so happy to be doing this and having this shared experience with ALL of these people.

Water Crossings!

The very first water crossing was a slow walk very early on when there were too many people together. People were trying to keep their feet dry and it was funny to see the calculations in people’s minds. Do I have to get my feet wet? Pause. GO. I was glad to get it out of the way early so it wasn’t something to dread, but to welcome.

First water crossing of the day happened very early in the ride.

The next water crossing was about 2 feet deep 18 miles in. I watched someone in front of me ride through so I went for it and I laughed out loud as I rode through splashing out the other side. It felt great to get through that and stay upright. That was the first of many. Most were rideable - I was careful to ride the exact lines of people who rode ahead of me so as to not get surprised by a hiding rock. Water crossings are dangerous since the bottom can’t be seen on most.

Mechanicals

After every single water crossing and nearly every section of rougher road (it is all gravel so I’m talking about rougher-than-usual road), there was at least one rider fixing a flat or dealing with a mechanical. There were hundreds of mechanicals that I saw people dealing with throughout the day. It seemed thousands of water bottles were donated to the volunteer clean-up crew that had flown out of bottle cages.

The closest thing to a mechanical I had is that one of my cameras broke off of the handlebar because its mount broke. They say not to do anything new on race day. This was the only “new” thing I incorporated into my setup on race day. “They” are right. The camera went flying on a fast downhill so I got to do that hill twice to go back to collect the camera.

Water Oasis #1 - Texaco Hill, Mile 41

The first water oasis hit at mile 41. I was really hoping the fastest 100 mile riders would pass us before then since they were doing the same first 41 miles we did, they started an hour later than us. Peter Sagan did the 100 mile race so I was assuming he would be passing me in this first section. Alas, he wasn’t riding world-tour speeds and I was keeping a relatively high pace. Darn!

Rob captured this photo of Peter Sagan at the start of the 100-mile race. Looks like Peter is hammin’ for Rob’s camera! Peter’s world-tour teammate, Daniel Oss, is riding just to Peter’s right (so left of him in this photo) - Peter is riding on the yellow line.

People on Texaco Hill, getting water and many people seemed to be spending lots of time rearranging the things on their bikes.

I filled a water bottle, the volunteers were super helpful doing the filling while I was wiping down with the cold, wet bandana volunteers handed out. Clouds still blocked the sun so it hadn’t gotten warm yet. It rained a tad here and there, but it never got rainy, never stormed on us, and the cooler temps meant a much more pleasant day! If you read other people’s accounts of their Unbound, you’ll hear a variety of stories. There was a lot of weather out there and everyone ended up with something different. I felt lucky.

Groups

The group of people I rode into at the oasis broke up there because everyone took more or less time. I found some people I liked riding with, but who knows where everyone was at this point. I didn’t waste time getting back on the bike.

Groups came and went. I met all kinds of people out there throughout the day. I can’t emphasize enough how nice everyone was. I was riding with many guys who looked much stronger than me, but they were happy to have me ride with them, many spoke and said hello. We often exchanged where we were from. I met a man from the Philippines, a first timer. He came the furthest of those I met.

This is Kayde from Denver, she is showing off her pretty nails. The conversation and general chit-chat started when I complimented the mud splatter on the back of her jersey. She was super friendly, and crazy strong. She went on to Beat the Sun. Four days later, I’m still digging mud out of my not-so-nicely manicured nails!

In one group I was riding with, after a lot of quiet on a long, gradual hill, one guy said: “Someone say something, please!” So I replied, “What a fun hill, let’s hope we get more of these!” I think he regretted that request.

My strategy was to ride easy, eat, and do things that are harder to deal with when people are around when I was alone. I’d get ready and be head’s up enough to jump on any group who was passing who wasn’t passing at break-neck speeds. This way, I saved my energy and was with people for probably all but ~3 hours of the day.

The group I enjoyed the most was one that was comprised of teammates from Ontario, around mile ~90-100. They were wearing the same clothes so I knew they would be trying to stay together. I jumped on.

The Ontario team and a few others working together. I wanted to tell them just how thankful I was for the lift.

We rode through a lot of technical sections together and they offered easy wheels to follow, taking fast, good lines. They were trying to Beat the Sun (so finish before the sunset). This is a fast pace. One of their guys started cramping. I convinced him it was in his head. He started feeling better moments later. After awhile, I remembered I had Untapped maple shots in my bag so I passed him one figuring he was probably low on calories too. His chain was squeaking. A squeaking chain is a slower bike, but it is also enough to usher someone to a dark place.

We had a bit of conversation about coming from cold climates and not being heat acclimated.

At this point in the day, the sun was coming out and it was heating up quite a bit. I did some heat acclimatization at home via a sauna blanket and I’m convinced it helped.

The Darkness

Everyone goes into a dark place on rides at some point. I’ve been there, I know what it feels like. A lot of riders visit one or more dark places during Unbound. I really, really wanted to enjoy the ride and was hoping not to have any pain - physical or mental, to put a damper on the day, not that going to a dark place is anything that leaves a bad taste or anything. But still…

This soundtrack “Hello Darkness My Old Friend” started playing in my head about 2 hours into the day. Listen to it if you really want to get into my head while I was drinking in the beautiful green rolling hills of Kansas and pushing on the pedals all the while moving closer to the finish line.

Kansas is deep green, only interrupted with these neat dirt roads that roll for miles.

One of my goals of the ride was to not get into a dark place, however impossible it might be to avoid. Around every corner, I was looking for it. Where are you? Are you coming to visit me today? Watching for the darkness was like watching for Peter Sagan. I missed them both.

My legs felt great all day. My brain was in this game - after 50 miles in, I had 150 miles left and I had confidence doing 150 miles since I’d done the 150-mile RHQ Training Ride. I also had the confidence from people I’ve been riding with in the back of my head. Others believe I can do this and I really want to do this. I counted down the miles in terms I know, comparing with rides I’ve done of the distance remaining. I have done rides of all of these remaining miles and I have often felt more tired at the start of rides I help organize than I was feeling 8 hours into Unbound. 100 miles in, only another 100 to go. No problem. I can do this.

Eating and Drinking

Using a hydration pack with 2 liters of water was a life saver. I drank a lot and nearly constantly. It takes so much less energy to drink out of the hydration bladder than reach down for a bottle. The little things matter during such a big day.

I was properly hydrated all day. For the first time in my cycling life, I think I have figured it out. I also have come to realize how much I have ridden dehydrated in the past and have had harder/slower rides as a result.

Eating was more of a challenge. I started with a Clif Bar at the beginning when I wasn’t working too hard and figured solid calories would be fine. It took me hours to get that one bar down. Giving up on that, I enjoyed a few pieces of Maple Hardtack (our homemade more enjoyable-to-eat maple syrup version of peanut butter brittle). These are easy to eat and are instant leg-saving calories. After awhile, I could taste too much of the butter (taste buds change weirdly during a long day) and my teeth got super sensitive (felt like getting an electrical shock in my molars when I bit down…no idea where that came from!) so that made it not enough fun to eat. I switched to leaning extensively on SIS gels and Skratch Superfuel water bottles. Each bottle had 400 calories so if I kept this up, I’d be properly fueled. The SIS gels went down easily ALL day, along with the Skratch water bottles.

The water in my hydration always had electrolytes with a few calories in it so I didn’t drink plain water all day.

CheckPoint #1 - Eureka, Mile 77

This is the first time I got to see Rob and the HQ van. The van was easy to spot and being greeted by Leanna who told me where to find the van was so pleasant! It was a quick stop, I felt good so just needed to get new water bottles since the ones I had were covered with plenty of mud. I finished that darned Clif Bar, used the portable toilet we brought in the van, and just took a moment to be sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. In the meantime, Rob lubed the chain and changed the battery - all preventative to be sure the next leg would be smooth. Indeed, it was.

Oasis #2 - Hamilton, Mile 115

I got a fresh bottle of water for safety but didn’t need it. They had a hose and I asked them to spray down my arm screens. Ooooh nice. My stomach was starting to get grumpy with me and I couldn’t let it turn over. Once that happens, it’s really hard to get it to work again and at mile 115, there is too far to go.

There was a cute little general store with old fashioned soda fountain at this oasis. I hadn’t planned on visiting the store, but sure am glad I did. I asked for a root beer float. They only had chocolate ice cream left. Fine! You said the magic words: ice cream. And they had some pretzels with southwest seasoning that I would never touch on a normal day. Had a nice conversation with them, thanked them profusely, then went outside to enjoy the chocolate ice cream float.

Traveled back in time at the General Store and this was the best chocolate ice cream float I’ve ever had. It’s also the only one I’ve ever had!

The cyclist standing beside me didn’t have money, but needed a sandwich. The local guy standing there who happened to be at the store offered to pay, didn’t hesitate to offer.

All of this food hit the spot, it was just what my stomach needed. I set up the pretzels so they were easy to access in my jersey pocket. Note that I had to use fingers to get at pretzels. This means that if I ended up getting dirty hands, I’m eating these pretzels with whatever is on my hands.

Wrath of the Kansas Mud

At this point, I’d already written most of this blog post in my head while riding. It was an easy Unbound, no stories to tell, not sure what the fuss is all about blah blah blah…

Time to rewrite the story…

There was a mile of DEEP muddy bog (can’t call that thing a road), it was impassible, and here we are now in the heat of the sun and a slippery road with mud that clings with the jaws of death to every surface of my bike that it can find.

I forgot the camera was running. While capturing images of the day was a high priority, survival mode took over and photographing the carnage was the last thing on my mind once I got stuck in the mud.

Naturally, I felt like I was the only one with a muddy bike that I couldn’t figure out how to move. I’d brought a brush and hard plastic tool meant for cleaning bikes. It just got so muddy too. I resorted to using my fingers to getting the mud off. This was the worst and heaviest mud I have ever seen in my life. It was hard to manage especially because of all of the extra weight; I’d already put a substantial amount of stuff in my saddle bag and had three full water bottles going into this section. Add 20+ pounds of mud to a bike for a tired cyclist with weak arms and that’s a new sport that I didn’t train for!

This mud was 20-30 pounds of solid muck. I was so glad to not have a painted bike or breakable derailleur hanger.

It wasn’t just me. It was everyone. There was a woman on a fat bike trying to get through it, her bike had to weigh 60 pounds with the mud on it, she was staying cheery and offering me encouraging words. We all cracked a lot of jokes.

“Remember we paid for this!”

“It really would have been a boring day without this.”

And the the best: “I just found a worm on my bike…No! Make that TWO!”

One guy was laughing/bemoaning just purchasing some super light cycling shoes that felt like lead weights on his feet with the mud refusing to let go.

At the top of this road where we were all glad to have clawed our way to reach and there are a bunch of locals basically laughing at us (it was totally friendly), meanwhile the race was sponsoring some sort of disc golf challenge. What?! How about a hose to wash off our bikes? Oh - right, disc golf might be a better sport than cycling. It is a big deal in Emporia.

I didn’t hear anyone get upset. Even the guy who fell over off of his bike getting completely covered as we rode into the section, no prob - he was apologizing to me for whatever reason I can’t comprehend. He didn’t come close to taking me down, maybe he splattered me with mud? I assured him all was well. I’ve since read so many IG/FB stories of people saying they loved that section. It killed my time by over an hour. Alas, it hurt everyone’s time by a lot.

Unbound brings out the best in people and brings out people who like to get dirty. It’s so darn cool.

Then there was the bike wash party in the river which was basically the best thing I’d seen and experienced all day. The water felt great and the bike worked well after this washing.

I was glad I brought a brush for bike cleaning, it came in handy at the bike wash!

Impressively, the bike made no noises after all of that. I’d used the plain water in my 3rd bottle to wash out the brake pads and rotors.

There were a lot of bikes out there that hadn’t weathered the mud as well with screeching chains and loudly knocking bottom brackets.

With the mud, my stomach had had plenty of time to recover with the chocolate ice cream working well in my system and I felt great to keep going. There weren’t any groups around so this next stretch was where I ended up riding alone for longer periods of time. Time seemed to tick by properly quickly and I enjoyed some of the terrain in this section. It’s a bit of a blur now, but there were trees and I love trees. There were also some fun climbs.

43 Hills of Motivation

I had labeled every single hill on the route for people who helped me get to Unbound via RideWithGPS and Garmin prompted me at the bottom of hills, reminding me who the hill was named for. Each of these prompts sent cold chills and literally gave my legs more energy. It’s crazy how effective the brain is in terms of affecting performance. Unbound showed this to me again and again. I dedicated the last hill of the day to my late friend, Stephanie Hill. Yes, that’s her last name, appropriate, eh? She and her husband got me out on my first real bike ride. She was a beautiful person inside and out, and her love of cycling, both road and mountain biking, directly brought me into the sport.

Route profile shows quite a few little hills and a few biggies.

The Judge

While we’re talking about hills, the organizers named the biggest hills of the day and there was a banner leading into these. I enjoyed seeing that so I would know how to talk about that particular hill with people.

The Judge is the name of a steep climb with a narrow track and a lot of loose rock on both sides. Having very low gearing, I could ride right up this hill without getting off and walking. A lot of people were walking and falling off of their bikes. I rode a 40t chainring and 10-50 cassette. It was ideal for me.

The route didn’t feel that hilly despite all of the promises of hills that just never end. Death by a thousand cuts they say. It’s hillier in New England and grades are steeper. I also think that after hearing countless stories about how awful the hills are, one gets ready for this psychologically, then when there are fewer than expected hills, it doesn’t feel as bad.

The northern Unbound route is hillier than the south route (this year and next year are the south route). So it could be worse in future years, just probably not by much next year. There was a big climb that was removed at the last minute due to a river overflowing causing a dangerous crossing, so maybe I’d be singing a different tune with another 1,000 ft of climbing.

Descents and Technical Roads

More in the first half of the day rather than the second, many of the times that we turned into a road, it would be rough, class 4, loose and technical in nature. These were so much fun! It became obvious that many people who ride gravel have dirt roads, but not the more technical terrain like we have in New England. Practicing fast descents and techie sections via the Gravel Training rides paid off on numerous occasions during the day. I was able to hang on good wheels and often catch up to people on these trickier descents. My bike gives me so much confidence with how it keeps its wheels on the ground and I ran tires that rolled fast and gripped well.

The best techie sections I didn’t get on camera. This offers a bit of a view into some of the rougher roads.

There were probably a grand total of no more than 10 miles of pavement the entire day. It was nearly all dirt (er, or cow pie) of some kind!

Checkpoint #2 - Madison, Mile 160

This was the second and last time to see support crews before the finish line. I had heard the last 40 miles were a cake walk so I was feeling very good about finishing at this point in the day. It was probably around 8pm. I let this stop take longer. I knew I’d finish, it was a question of how comfortable I’d be doing it. I’d heard how nice it is to change shoes and socks. I was mostly into it due to getting out the gravel that were starting to cause blisters in my shoes so I changed both, ate vanilla ice cream directly out of the quart-size container, Leanna had bought pizza (what a great surprise!) and that looked pretty tasty so I had a slice, and topped it all off with a pickle. My stomach was loving it all! I wasn’t in a deficit, but not having to rely on more calories in the water and gels was a bit of insurance.

Multi-tasking: eating pizza, changing out of the shoes and socks, relaxing. Photo by Leanna.

It was fun to hang out, talk about the race so far, enjoy the evening air… Now looking back, had I kept my check points and oasis stops to the same time as the pros spent at these, I would have been close to making it to the finish by sunset! While I wanted to do my best/fastest on the bike, rushing time here seemed like it would be missing some of the experience. I knew I had plenty of time to make it by the cut off so it was okay to doddle a bit.

I’d be remiss not to mention just how long of a day support people have. They didn’t sleep either but don’t get the adrenaline of riding a bike. They get to see their riders for too little time for the hours they stand around waiting and prepping for those few precious moments. And they are left with a total mess to clean up once the rider rolls out!

Clear glasses on for the evening, happy feet, glad to ride into the Kansas night as I rolled out of the second checkpoint.

The Last 40 Miles

The next 10-15 miles after the checkpoint were a lot solo, some seeing and riding with people here and there. There was another muddy section, but I had learned better and that went quickly since I picked the bike up and walked it, not risking what might get caught in it. I think the front wheel got gummed up a little so I just took it off, bailed the mud, and continued.

Just drafting off the guy with matching hubs. I don’t remember this at all! Turns out, hours later, long after losing him for who knows what reason, I finished with this same guy.

There were free range cows on these roads, where we had to yell while approaching to get them to move off the middle of the road. They were small-ish, nothing bothersome, cool to see for sure.

During some of these solo miles was what I had been most looking forward to: the sunset on the Flint Hills. It was beautiful. Peaceful. Calm. I really love night riding and this was special time.

The People of Kansas

Throughout the entire day, people were standing in the rain/sun/dark cheering for us! They’d been out there ALL day! And they weren’t just clapping or saying “yay go” - they were jumping up and down, yelling, making a lot of noise, kids were out there in on it. SO MANY PEOPLE. Yes, this cheering also goes straight to the legs propelling the bike forward and with less effort. The people everywhere were really big-hearted, happy to have us there, totally into it. Special. For the miles I was alone in the dark, there was always a light of a rider behind me or a cheer squad so there wasn’t actual alone time. Had I been completely alone, I wouldn’t have been afraid, nothing and no one is out there. I must have seen a total of 2 cars not associated with the race all day long.

At some point I think it was approx 25 miles to go, a faster guy passed me. I looked down at my computer and with it telling me I was close to the end, I burned a match to catch back up to him and lock onto his rear wheel. I stayed there. There were two other guys who we connected with who were going quickly and the four of us stayed together. We flew. We hit holes in the road hard - easy to miss in the dark, getting a little careless. I worked harder than I felt like I had since much earlier in the day. I could now spend the energy I was saving because no matter what happens at this point, I’m finishing.

Final Miles

The evening air was comfortable. I stopped eating at some point because it wasn’t necessary and was fine without anything more. It was also flat and aside from many turns, it was a welcome change to turn off my brain and only think about what it was going to be like to cross the finish line. Not long before the end, there was a freight train that took at least 5 minutes to pass. That was a short train for Kansas. We passed a single speed fat bike rider who was going to finish just a few minutes after us. How amazing is that?!

The Finish

I finished feeling complete satisfaction. I did something new, rode the biggest day on the bike I’ve ever had in my life, feeling a whole lot of relief that everything had come together, nothing had managed to get in the way. This big, scary thing ended up being such a remarkable day on the bike and simply a great day to be a human sharing a human experience with fellow riders and the good people of Kansas.

Kansas gained my utmost respect in every way.

Finishing felt really good, hearing the loud cheering, and getting showered with lots of stuff from the Unbound volunteers was a lovely way to end the day.

After-Ride Food

I drank an IPA - thanks Leanna! I wasn’t hungry for anything else. Somehow the time slipped away to 1am, we returned to camp to sleep until 11am the next day. We enjoyed breakfast at the Commercial Street diner in the center of town, and we let that meal last forever.

In Summary

I met so many people through training for the ride and by incorporating the 43 Hills of Motivation, it also brought back great memories of people and rides that were meaningful, all that helped me get to the finish.

Yes, that is one tough day on the bike. Physically, that was the toughest. I have had harder days on the bike though. I could have made it harder on myself by pushing harder, digging deeper, carrying less and risking more to do better. I could have been empty at the end. Proper preparation both mental and physical paid off in so many ways for my Unbound ride to achieve the goals I set for myself this year. This is the race I wanted and I executed on a well-formed plan.

Elliott and Leanna moments after Elliott crossed the line with both very satisfied with the day, and ready for more.

I’m convinced the coulda-wouldas are why people return. Had I done this or that differently, how much time could I have shaved off? For reference: I came in after a total time of 16 hrs and 45 minutes for an 11.7 mph average. Moving time was 14 hours 37 minutes (stopped times were spent at rest stops and that mud!) Moving average speed was 13.7 mph.

I learned so much before going to Kansas, and I learned the intangibles by being there, feeling it, breathing it, touching the mud, and ingesting it.

Would I do it again? In a heart beat. I said this at the finish Saturday night.

Not sure if I will right away due to so many other events in the world that I would like to experience, but yes, I highly recommend the Unbound experience to everyone, no matter who you are.