As road trips go, if you’re into gravel races, Unbound is THE race to go to. Deep in the heart of America, in the tiny but incredibly welcoming town of Emporia, Ribble Outliers step out of our RVs into the sunlight to walk a short distance to sign on. 5000 riders make the journey, many from all around the planet and all climb the 3 flights of stairs to the top of the local museum to do begin the weekend.
We are amongst the first to get our numbers, before setting off on the planned Weds Reccy ride.
The town is still quite quiet, the calm before the storm on Saturday when we pray for fine weather. It rained quite a bit on our journey southwest from Illinois, Insta stories are full of bikes covered in peanut butter mud.
This local dirt delicacy is what this race is (in)famous for. In a wet race, it can make the terrain incredibly difficult, for it sticks to every surface, and it loves bikes.
48 hours before we stepped into the sunlight in Kansas, our road trip began with an 8-hour flight. Then once we settled into our 2 tourist cruisers, think wide white 30ft long gas guzzling caravans on wheels, the flat lands slowly gave way to rolling hills in Missouri and finally the rolling flint hills of Kansas. 9 hours driving and one high speed tyre blow out later, we arrived.
So, with the first Reccy in the bag, the team begin recording content for our trip, showing off the great new bikes that have been prepared specially for launch at this race.
Friday dawns and we wake in Ottawa town, 50 minutes outside Emporia. We make the trip into town, the team riding a lot of the journey as their 2nd Reccy. Harry and I go into town, buy fuel, and then park up so he can do his own prep, then we all meet up at the fairgrounds campsite where we’ll spend the night prior to the race.
Having spent 4 days in the RVs, we are tired of the confinement, nobody really likes them, and the race day prep starts at 4am in darkness, shuffling around trying to prepare and get off to the start without getting in each other’s way.
With ice in coolers, bottles and hydration packs labelled up and stowed for feeds 1 and 2, Kyle and I head off with Harry electing not to ride with the others to the start and come with us.
Tension builds when we can’t get the RV door open and Harry is stuck inside unable to get out. It would be comical at any other time, but we frantically play with the locks. Finally, a well-aimed knee to the door releases the latch and Harry is off and gets to the start with 5 minutes to spare.
It’s then business as usual. The elite riders set off, the Outliers at the front of each race, while Kyle and I sprint off in a convoy aboard our RVs to the first feed zone 70 miles into the race near Alma.
Kyle is an accomplished mechanic, decent bike rider, reliable driver, and a great friend to all in our team. He sets up his kit with me next to Precision who are assisting us at the feeds; they will also be there for the other riders they support.
We wait with the other pit crews, chatting about the race, trying to get timings on our underperforming phones, and staring at the bend 100 meters away as the helicopter gets nearer.
In a flash the leading riders pass through in ones and twos, and it’s not long before Jenson and Ben emerge from the mellé to grab bottles and swap packs. Kyle is in his element as the riders relax trusting him to lube chains, swap wheels and tyres. This he does quickly and efficiently, and for other riders and teams too if they are in need and without support.
Metheven arrives soon after and as he departs, a crest fallen Harry rides in and steps off, disappointed having crashed and punctured. He’s exhausted having been at the front of the race for the first 2 hours before his misfortune.
Sophie is next at the feeds; I swap bottles while Kyle deals with the hydro pack and bike. She’s in and out fast and maintains her position in the front group with the best riders in the world. She looks easy but there’s still 140 miles to go.. 140 miles..
Here’s Sophie’s account of her race..
Came 3rd in the bunch sprint, was pipped at the line for 20th. Came 21st in the end.
Was really proud to have dug so deep in the first half in order to bridge over to the front select group of the best riders in the world. Was riding with them until km 140, then cross winds hit and I think PAS had a plan to split it as suddenly they hit the gas and I missed the split.
But up until km140 I was feeling good and really pleased to have had the mental and physical strength to bridge across when the front riders attacked, and then stay with them for so long 🙂
Bike was great, looked after it, avoided the crashes.
It was crazy. Like my HR and power was high for the first half when the race was really kicking off, then towards the end like 140bpm and not particularly high power yet I was just feeling exhausted, with the heat as well but that's the same for everyone.
Got to 200km (same as Traka my longest ever ride), and was like, omg, I've got another 125km to go!! 🥴😅
It's just a different level of endurance. Normally for 4-5hours it's very tough, but for over double the time it's a different type of fatigue.
I feel like it's more of an endurance race, rather than a bike race in a way!! And lots of things can go wrong, lots of uncertainties, food and drink will make or break your race, and as with any race, it's not over until you cross the line.
I can't say these hugely long races are my favourite, but equally compared to what I was doing last year with 4hour road races, Unbound for me yesterday was 10hrs 51, and 120km further than I've ever ridden!
So perhaps if I was more used to this style of endurance racing, I would've been further up in the results. One of the main issues for me was stomaching all the food, in the last 3hours I didn't want to eat anything it made me feel squeezing just thinking about having food!
I've learnt a lot from this race, and if I do one of these distances again I'll be more knowledgeable about how best to prepare for it.
But to be honest, I'm very much looking forward to the next full gas SHORTER race 😅
By Feed zone 2 the temperature has risen to around 90*, and when Ben and Jenson appear just outside the top 30, they look exhausted.
However the ice packs cool them, and the drinks kick in and once they get riding, they are back challenging. Metheven is next a few minutes behind, looking battle weary but determined.
I race to the finish line in my RV while Kyle and Harry stay at Feed 2. Just after I leave, Sophie rides by in the pack, dipping in and out of the top 20 as she picks up her final feed.
Parking a camper is difficult at the best of times, and with cars everywhere in town it’s a real game, but I arrive in time to see the first elite riders' finish.
Completing the course with unbelievable times, and despite the intense sun. I don’t wait long before Jenson and Ben appear and they out-sprint road legend Greg Van Avermaet and 2 other riders to clinch top 30 finishes..
Finishing 28th and 29th, the boys had a tough but triumphant day. The bikes ran well with no issues only chains needed re-lubing due to the mud.
Next to appear was Meth, finishing 53rd, slightly shell shocked but completing his ride in a little over 9 hours 30 mins, good enough for top 30 in 2024. Ben and Jenson both rode quickly enough to win last year's event.
Gravel riding is gathering pace.
Now I wait for Sophie. She battles hard in the last kilometres and comes 3rd in the bunch sprint at the end.. an amazing result, considering she just blitzed her longest race distance by 125 kms!
She finished 21st overall. Her star rises higher in the sky, and we wait with bated breath for her first UCI win that will inevitably come.
Sophie dutifully chats with the Precision team about her nutrition and how she felt, then we go to the bike wash area, and she waits to reclaim her clean machine. We agree, she really is rather good at riding a bike!
This team came to Unbound as late entrants, lived out of RVs without complaint, worked hard for every second they gained, and left with stronger bonds and memories of the battle. They also gained more kudos and the rewards of great finish times against the best in the world.
As we leave having devoured a much-deserved team meal at Wendy’s, thoughts of the race fade.
The hours pass in the RVs, and rest and recovery days are now upon us. They will soon give way to training rides to maintain form before the next time we hit the trails at the UCI race in Singen, Germany at the beginning of July.
Hayley missed the race due to illness, gutted because she was there with us, but she’ll be back soon as she rides in the British Nationals TT race at the end of June.
Until then, keep riding, keep fighting and as I remind everyone.. we ride the bikes we build, and the bikes we build win races.
Richard Woolgar
Pro Sports Manager, Ribble Cycles
