It's been almost ten years since I first heard about the Unbound Gravel race in Emporia, Kansas. These are the facts that I knew about the race formerly called the Dirty Kanza: the race was all on hilly dirt roads, it was 200 miles, and my most accomplished cyclist friend Jenny had just completed it, during which she had a crash that resulted in her stapling her thigh back together with an actual stapler. Jenny and I had just finished our first full distance triathlon at Ironman Texas, and when asked which event was more difficult, Jenny did not hesitate to say it was the 200 mile bike race, no question. Holy cow. Also, hell no.
Flash forward ten years and I've got a gravel bike that I love riding and I'm living in Kansas City, Missouri, only an hour or so away from Emporia. Of course I needed to check this event out. With other big goals on the calendar and still harboring an unhealthy amount of fear of the 200 mile route, I opted for the 50 miler. I convinced Orissa to drive up from Texas to ride as well.
In early January we learned that both of our applications for the race had been accepted. In February, Trent and I moved to Little Rock. Kansas City would have been pretty far away to make a comfortable home base for the race, and places in Emporia had been booked since before the lottery for the event even opened. Orissa and I got a cute little Airbnb in Wichita.
Because packet pickup for the 50 mile race was on the same day as the event itself, we drove to Wichita on Friday, settled in, and drove over to Emporia in the morning for packet pickup and our 9 am race start. We got there early enough to grab a donut and take our time getting to the start line. The 100 and 200 mile races had started a couple of hours earlier. There was even a 350 mile event that started the day before.
As we lined up in downtown Emporia for the start, Orissa and I shared that we were both feeling quite nervous. I wasn't sure why, because we had decided ahead of time that this would be a bit of a joyride with no goals except to stay upright and enjoy the day. We rolled out with 500+ other riders and slowly made our way out of town and onto the gravel.
Oh, did I mention it was raining? It was sprinkling before the start and we'd decided to start the race with our rain jackets on. I think I can confidently say that there was some type of rain falling from the sky for the entire duration of our race, but it was light and lovely enough for the first 20 miles that I eventually took off my coat. It was difficult for the first little bit of the race to get into a rhythm because of all the people around us. We passed politely, staying in the doubletrack lanes. I felt surprised every time someone went outside the lane to pass, but eventually Orissa and I started to do the same thing.
I had an idea that we would follow the same pattern that I've been using on my training rides - stop to take a gel every hour and use that opportunity to stretch. It became clear after a while that neither of us wanted to stop because that would require making our way back through the packs of people that we'd just passed. It felt like the course would just stay crowded for the entire event, but eventually the crowds thinned and we mostly were by ourselves. Just us and the cows. That was probably about the same time that it started to actually rain.
We shrieked when we heard a loud clap of thunder and I hustled to get my raincoat back on. From that moment on (I think we were around mile 25) it was nothing but pouring rain. We decided to bypass aid stations to avoid getting tangled up in other riders. We had backpacks filled with sports drink so it wasn't necessary to stop anyway. The water began to pool on the roads, making it difficult to see ruts and pot holes. Our bikes became noisier as they picked up grit from the road. We stopped at one point to check Orissa's front rotor, but there was nothing either of us could think of to do to fix it. As we passed other riders, some of their bikes sounded insane. One man laughed that his bike was about to fall apart under him, and I worried that he might not actually be joking.
They hadn't published the routes for the race until a couple of weeks before the event. Orissa and I had speculated about how much time it might take for us to complete the 50 miler. For my Leadville training, I've been riding a very hilly 50 mile route on my mountain bike that takes about five hours each time, so we surmised that a five hour finish might be reasonable. We were thrilled to find ourselves heading back towards town much earlier than that, and we ended up coming down the chute at 3:48:02. What a fun day!
It was really fun to race and it was really fun to feel SO GOOD racing. The hours of training around Lake Sylvia that I've put in have helped so much. Learning some skills from my new MTB hero friend Ari and racing on single track at the Ugly Gnome mountain bike race last month has helped to sharpen my skills and my confidence as well. I felt like I was flying up every hill with no effort on my gravel bike. The shocking part is that I felt myself flying down the other side of each one with confidence - confident in my handling skills and my ability to choose a line. It was great to practice riding with other people in a race on rocky double track and I feel so much more confident about the upcoming bike races in Leadville this summer.
At the finish, Orissa and I were soaked and freezing but we chose to take the time to take our bikes to the complimentary bike wash sponsored by Muc-Off. What an amazing feature at a gravel race. We rushed back to the car to change into warm clothes and watch the other racers come in. At some point the sun came out and it felt hot as we stood along the chute watching the mud-splattered pros and other heroes of the 100- and 200-mile races coming in. We even claim that we saw Peter Sagan cross the finish and coast around the side of a building on his bike, away from the crowds.
The event was inspiring and exciting and I can say for sure that I'd come back and do the 100. I'd even do the 200 if I can find a way between now and then of being less fearful of riding on dirt roads in the dark. In the meantime, I've got one week until my first race of the Lead Challenge next weekend - the Leadville Marathon. The Summer of Leadville is about to start...here we go!!!
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| It wouldn't be a race without donuts. |
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| Another cyclist told me "you look like a magical fish." I love these beautiful kits! |
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