I am not a smart man. I ride road bikes and mountain bikes, gravel is just the average, right??
This discussion about start and finish time sent me down a rabbit hole of goals and such, which seems to be putting the cart before the horse. My off the cuff thought before that diversion was that under 12 hours would be reasonable and nice number. I’m at 4.7-4.8 W/kg right now (360 W at 76-77 kg)–won’t get to 5 W/kg before the race unless I cut down to a weight I haven’t been since I was 16 (or had a rip-roaring GI bug or been on a mountaineering expedition…you get the point, it ain’t happening). My strengths are that I can eat and I’m too stupid to slow down–I bet having the pros start early will be a net benefit for me.
I’ve got a lot to learn about all the gear. Ultimately, my goal is to have fun and not be miserable–specific tire choice, waxed chain or not, etc. is a fun way to geek out, but my baseline is to figure out which choices will be most reliable. Marginal gains after that…well, I’m all ears. I’m a pretty handy mechanic, though it seems like I should get better with spokes and speed of repairs. I’m open to suggestions on how to optimize from the ground up!
Got a single occupancy dorm room. I’m guessing it’s a twin bed; can I squeeze my SO/support crew in anyway?
Nice picture, fat biking is the right thing to do in winter! I have found out that dehydration because of frozen bottles will do the same thing as focused heat adaptation training
I grabbed it from the results from 2022 under ‘elite/pro’. Could have been all the finishers, not those dnf’ing and it was for the 200. I didn’t look up the 100.
Yes there is a delta between registered, started & finished. I don’t recall where to get the first one, nor the start list, but you can see a drop in number of people at the splits for the 100 & 200.
I got in to the 200! Crap. Wasn’t expecting to get in on my first lottery attempt. Gonna give it my all!
I’m having trouble figuring out what training plan to go with. Anyone have experience from years past with plans that worked out well?
Currently I have my plan set to SSB, GB, Century Speciality. I’ve been riding about 8-10hr a week and doing some 60mi gravel races this last month. My base has been slowly rebuilt last year from a knee surgery in October '21. Completed the Festive 500 easily just recently in December '22.
My take on training for Unbound is to just log as many miles as you can….you aren’t going to be testing VO2 Max or even SweetSpot.
Get out and log as many miles as possible….including some really long weekend rides. And base those rides on hours, not miles. You are gonna be out there 12+ hours, so don’t do a road century on a Saturday and think “yup….I got this”.
I did a crap ton of Z2 rides last year before SBT and I was in some of the best shape of my life….had a crap day on race day, but I think it was altitude related. Doing FNLD and SBT this year and will augment those Z2 rides with a little more tempo / SS work during them.
Can we add a few topics and see if we can get this thread to 1k posts?
Tire pressure
Chain lube
Frame bags
I’ll be running 42mm pathfinder pros. Assuming I can find them. I’ve been riding 38mm pathfinders for the past two seasons. Really like them. No flats. Good rolling resistance. No problems with confidence on descents and turns, despite the slick center tread.
My 42cc pathfinder pros I had great results with in 2021. I was thinking of switching to terra speeds. I also feel like going away from
Something that works is asking for trouble.
Last time I ran top tube bag, down tube bag and saddle bag. I want to just run top tube and saddle bag this year.
I don’t want to run a hydration pack as it causes me to run hot. But I don’t really know another way to get enough water.
Last year I think they had the stops spaced evenly apart
43mm GK SK+ no issues. put them on in early May to make sure the set was good to go.
Chain lube. Silca hot wax with super secret drip (that I forgot to do prior to start last year) and extra fresh chains in check point drop bag. Doing the 100, mud was after, so nothing to do about that.
I ran a bento, front corner frame bag for food, rain vest, things I knew I’d need, saddle bag has levers, boots, 2 tubletto tubes, patch kit for same. Going to run the FAAR Aero Bolt on with a Redshift Kitchen Sink handlebar bag so I can stash MORE FOOD on the bike with me and have more hand positions.
Everything else, zip ties, gorilla tape, mud tools, etc. was in an Osprey Syncro 12 which has a super light frame to it that keeps it off your back a bit.
I’m planning on 4 bottles - 2 in cages, 2 in frame bag. About 2.5L total, depending on what I can fit with the frame bag. Same as you, I don’t want to wear a pack. But will bring one to KS in case it’s very hot so I can carry more.
I had a few long 100+ mile days on gravel, but also backed some of those up across a weekend. I really focused on big volume weeks….but I wish I had done some longer rides.
But honestly it is hard for me to evaluate hiw my ride went since I got really sick on Memorial Day weekend (one week before the race). Couldn’t get out of bed, aches, throwing up, horrible cough that led to strained chest muscles, etc. In the end, my body was not recovered enough for Unbound (then DK) and the brutal heat in 2019….DNF’d at mile 75 with full leg cramps.
Befor SBT last year, my longest ride was 120 miles (but very little elevation) and a LOT of 100 miles…all on gravel to focus more on time vs mileage.
My longest ride beforehand was about 9.5 hours about 6 weeks pre race. I did a local 100 mile gravel race at my expected intensity level for Unbound. Most of that kept me comfortably in groups most of the day. At the finish line I refilled my fluids and then rode home solo for another 65ish miles (20 gravel and 45 road).
I’ll do something similar this time around but also throw in a 280 mile ultra in mid March.
I will def wax my chain and at each stop at liquid wax based lube. That worked fine last time.
Longest ride prior, in 2021 I did 160 miles about a month out. This year I might stick to around 100 miles. I want to go somewhere prior to kansas where it will be really hot and get a long weekend in. Last time I only had like 2 rides outside with out knee warmers on and the heat really zapped me.
I know they’ve discussed on the TR podcast before that one route is just to double up rides on the weekend rather than one long ride.
Prepping for 2021 Unbound, I built up to a weekend with back to back 6 hour days.
Also early in the year i did Unbound I did a long 177 mile gravel race. It was entirely flat course and not hot so much easier but it was the first time I’d been on the saddle that long.
Most of my training rides were on gravel but I did some long training rides on the road when my body just wants in the mood for grinding on gravel.
Tires: I ran Pirelli Cinturato H 40. No compaints. No concerns. Don’t overthink tires. Just make sure they are pretty new but have a few rides on them to make sure your setup is good.
Longest ride: I did 95% of my training inside. Longest ride was two hours inside. By the time the weather and roads were good outside it was almost mid-May. 130km was my longest ride outside. I had a week of riding about three weeks before Unbound where I did a few long days though. Two days of long rides back to back, one day of rest. Three sets like that. Worked really well for me. Stacking volume is better than doing a few random long-volume days.
The super long rides, in my opinion, are mainly to get your mind and your nutrition right. If you feel you have that dialed then you don’t need a ton of long rides.
Nutrition: I just did calculations based on carb and calorie needs and took that much plus a little more. In my rest stop bags I had two smaller bags. One had everything I was 100% taking with me and the other had bonus snacks. I ended up only taking the 100% stuff. I did eat some chips at each stop out of the bonus snacks bag.
I had Tailwind in my bottles, water in my pack. Snacks in my jersey pocket and in the front pockets of my Chase Vest. I had cargo bibs on too. Stroopwafels are perfect to slip in those pockets. I had a bar bag but it only had my battery pack and some extra food. Never opened it.
I was around 4w/kg and finished just sub-13. Was happy with that time but felt I could have gone a little faster but who really knows over such a long distance.
I rode without a power meter. I used an HR strap but it was on the second page of my Garmin. Never once looked at it. Just rode on feel. I think this is the best way for me. I use a PM for training but have never looked at power during a race.
I am debating between pathfinder pro, gk sk+ or gk ss +. I am leaning more to a center file tread, but I haven’t tried out any of these yet. Will need to work with hookless since I will be running zipp 303 firecrests.
After following the race for a few years it seems like most people agree that getting flats is down to luck and not bombing down hills, so I am looking for the fastest option. Will skip the tire insert as it doesn’t seem to matter flat wise.
Since I am only doing the 100, was debating how many water bottles to take. I can generally push 4 hours on 3 24oz bottles in the texas summer heat without a refill. With 2 water stops on the 100 I might just go for 2 frame bottles.
I would run inserts, personally…no, they won’t protect you from sidewall slashes, but with the chunky gravel and getting forced off the preferred line on some of the descents, I’d want the extra protection against slamming into rocks and ruts.
The one potential downside is what to do with the inserts if you do get a slashed tire…you’ll need to put in a tube and then find a way to carry the insert to the next aid station.
