I’m just curious what the race is like. Is it the same route every year? What’s the vibe at the event? It doesn’t get mentioned much here so I’m just wondering if it’s worth doing.
i did it in 2019 (my in laws live in Lincoln, so it was easy to do while there that year). like any gravel event, there are serious up front and less serious just out for a good time. It’s a different route every year. While Nebraska is viewed as flat, those gravel roads are really rolling and in 150miles there was 11k ft of elevation. Um, not sure what else. Honestly, I wouldn’t pay to do it again, they’ve doubled the entry fee from 80ish to 160ish for the 150.
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I grew up in Omaha, so it’s a good prompt to go back and visit relatives. Race promoters do a terrific job cultivating a very inclusive, friendly atmosphere all around. It attracts a pretty big crowd, but maintains a certain small town vibe to it.
As far as the racing goes, there’s nothing too technical on course, and it’s a surprising amount of elevation across all the various distances. This is due to the fact that the course area features non-stop rolling hills, which is why they keep referring to the ‘gravel seas’. There’s not a single climb on course more than 100 feet, but the 150 mile course has 10k of elevation.
It’s not the same course every year, but the 75 and 150 stay in the same general region (similar to Unbound). This year the Long Voyage (300 miles) goes all the way to Iowa and back. Last year, I think they made it all the way to Kansas if I remember correctly.
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Yeah. I’m not up front but usually try to put up my own personal best effort.
I’m definitely not up for 300 miles. Unbound is a fun experience. So I’m just looking at Gravel Worlds as something I might be interested in next year. I’m in Georgia but I love the long endless miles of gravel in the Midwest.
Anyone else heading to Lincoln this week?
I’ll be there for the 150!
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Curious how the day on the bike was for others who went? I’ve come across a couple people who did both suggest that the GW150 was tougher than the Unbound200 this year. Wrote up a couple notes about the 75 in the other thread.
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