Our first big gravel race as a team was a success. Jules, McGovern, Charlie, and I took on the beast known as Unbound. For the first time in a while Chris was not on janitor duty, he pinned a number on and the three of us raced, while Charlie took care of us.
On Wednesday Chris flew to Denver and we started the 8 hour drive to Kansas. Jules flew in on Thursday and arrived shortly before us. We decided to stay in Lawrence, Kansas vs Emporia where the race starts. Doing this allowed us to be just down the street from where mechanic Charlie lives, and we were able to stay out of the chaos that 5,000 riders bring to Emporia. Thursday night after settling into our cute apartment we went out to dinner with Charlie and his girlfriend Z, grabbing a team favorite meal.
Friday morning Wolf Tooth put on a shake out ride for us, around 40 riders showing up to ride with the four of us was pretty cool to see. We rode with the crew for about 40 minutes before hitting a super muddy section of gravel, which made us nervous for the actual race because of the history with mud on that course. We turned around and headed back into town before meeting with a few of sponsors to say hi, grabbing lunch and our numbers. We headed back to Lawrence for the night, packed all of our gear including a long discussion of what we should put in our Seeker Saddle Bags. We decided on two WTB race tubes, one normal tube, a couple co2s, tire levers, Wolf Tooth tire plug kit, and a multi tool.
Saturday morning I woke up at 3:50am to do my pre race activations, and at 4:00am Jules and Chris woke up, we ate our pancakes and hopped in the car. Arriving at the venue around 6:00am. We put our numbers on, got all of our gear on, and headed to the start line.
The countdown went to 0 and almost immediately 1,428 riders were into the gravel roads. Jules, Chirs and I tried to stick together while being pelted with rocks and covered in dirt.
We rode like this for about 15 miles before Jules pulled off to the side with a front flat. 10 miles later the pace upped and I dropped out of the front group, as i wouldnt be able to hold that pace for much longer and wanted to avoid cracking. I found a smaller group that worked really well together until mile 54 where aid station 1 was. I found Charlie and restocked the First Endurance drink mix and food. Chris came through about 5 minutes before me and around mile 60 Jules came flying by me. From mile 60-80 I was just floating from group to group, not really sure what happened. The last 2 hours of the race my stomach felt super sick and I was really dehydrated, you know you're tired when you start doing the math wrong on how many miles you have left until the finish. I rode it in, finishing in 5 hours and 50 minutes, 7th in the Elite women, 8th out of 288 total 100 miler females, and 97th/1428 overall riders. Jules had a huge comeback after chasing all day long, from an early flat, and throwing up at around mile 85, finishing in 5 hours 42 minutes, 24th in the Elite men, 60th male rider and 65th overall. And just behind him Chris had a solid day on the bike, with a few minor body issues but cruising to the finish in 5 hours and 47 minutes, 27th in the Elite men, 72nd male rider, and 78th overall rider.
A long, tough, and exhausting 108 miles for the weekend, but we are happy. I thought I paced this race really well and had a lot of fun. I definitely have so much to learn but I'm excited for more. What made this weekend even better was to see Chris out of the pit zone for once and ripping on two wheels. A good start to this whole gravel thing, and we will be back at it in two weeks in Portola, CA for Lost and Found!
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