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  • It has to get better over that hill – Unbound XL part 6

    It has to get better over that hill – Unbound XL part 6

    While the morning light boosted my mood the rain was less welcome. Through the night we had ridding through a lot of areas that had very recently seen rain and saw a lot of lightning in the distance. Early in the morning I caught up with that weather. The occasional heavy downpours certainly added to the adventure and I was fortunate enough to be in a low lying creek valley the only time I heard thunder that was a little too close for comfort.

    By this point I was starting to feel the impact of the miles. I was way beyond the farthest I had ever ridden (previous to this my longest ride was 128 miles, and there was no rain or mud in that one). Mentally however, I was loving it. Something about just how absurd what I was doing kept me laughing to myself the whole way. I was pretty sure at this point (around mile 180 or so) that I wasn’t likely to be able to finish the full 350 miles but either way I was loving it.

    I was guessing that at this point I was likely at the very back of the field. Out of curiosity I did pull out my phone and check the live tracker. All riders are require to carry a GPS tracker and there was a web page showing where everyone was. I was a little shocked to see I was in 119th position out of the 250 that started. While some had certainly dropped out by this point it looked like there were still several riders behind me still moving and I wasn’t anywhere near the tail of the field.

    While I hadn’t seen much real mud in many miles what I was riding through was wet soft gravel. It was taking a toll on both me and the bike. The soft wet gravel takes a lot more effort to ride through sacking my energy but also it was constantly splashing up onto the bike and getting into the chain, sprockets and into the bearings. There were some concerning grinding noises coming from the bike at times so I had to use up some of my gatorade to wash some of it off. After the race I heard a lot of stories of people peeing on their bike chains to wash them off. Honestly, I really wish I had thought of that! I knew I was going to need to do some serious work on the bike after this race but the advantage of doing all that work myself is it would just cost me new parts so I kept pushing on at least to the next town.

    Right at mile 200 there was a intersection where we turned right and I stopped and took a long look at the road. There was no gravel here, only dirt which due to the rain was really sloppy mud. I was getting close to the next town of Florence KS where I had pondered quitting at anyway so I zoomed out on my GPS screen to see if there was another easy route into town. I didn’t see anything obvious but then decided “I bet it gets better just over that hill” and took the muddy road.

    The important thing to note here is the lack of bike tracks. NOBODY was able to ride or even roll there bikes here. Nothing but footprints which is unexpected in a bike race!

    Within just a few feet I realized that riding this road wasn’t an option. The only way through this one was to carry the bike through the mud. This was by far the stickiest mud I have encountered. You often hear people talk about “peanut butter mud”, this was certainly it. The bike can’t roll because the mud sticks to the tire and wedges between the tire and frame. Your shoes stick to it and weigh an extra 5 pounds each. Walking uphill is challenging with the lack of any grip. You move forward, but with a lot of effort and slowly.

    But, “just get over that hill, it has to get better there” I told myself again. It’s just 1/4 mile or so. 30 minutes later I get to the top of the hill, the road does not improve.

    “Just make it to that next intersection 1/2 mile down the road, it has to get better”. Another 30 minutes, I finally get there and, well it sort of got better.

    The road was just as bad as it had been, there was certainly no possibility of riding but at least here there was enough solid grassy land in the ditch to the side of the road that walking was easier. The ditch was pretty wet so I was walking in about 6 inches of water but that kept the mud from sticking to my shoes and to the bike wheels so I was making more progress walking and while I still couldn’t ride the bike the wheels would roll now so I could push it along and not carry it.

    This was the “good” road. A few people were able to ride this but I found my only real option was to walk in the water in the ditch.

    In the middle of all this I realized that I was done and sent a message to Gene, my friend who was my emergency bailout support guy. I sent him my location and expected to meet up with him at the end of the mud section. Then, in the distance I see his white Dodge Ram 4wd truck coming down the road. While I was really concerned he was going to get stuck and we were both going to be stranded out there I was certainly happy to see him.

    The mud kind of caught him off guard. It wasn’t that bad when he started down the road but by the time he realized how bad it was he was committed and could only go forward. He didn’t want to turn around but I informed him that absolutely no 4wd truck could ever make it going the way I came. We were going to have to back out until we could find a place to turn around.

    Before we left that spot however I had one important task I needed to do.

    A big part my reason for doing events like this is it is my way of coping with the loss of my wife Jane who lost her battle with cancer nearly 5 years ago. She had her own sense of adventure and always supported me when I wanted to do something a little crazy. Over the past couple of years I have been spreading a small amount of her ashes in special places. I told her “we gave it a good try, you were with me the whole way” and spread her to the wind.

  • Never quit in the dark – Unbound XL part 5

    “Never quit in the dark” I told another rider as she mentioned giving up at the Matfield Green aid station. “Is that your personal rule?” she asked. “It is THE golden rule of any ultra endurance event” was my response.

    It was around 4am and we had all just been battling several miles of muddy wet gravel. Typically in races like this you need to rely on convenience stores along the route to resupply but since there were no other options in this area the organizers set up their own aid station. It couldn’t have come at a better time as I was at a low point. They key is I expected this and was mentally prepared. I had spent a lot of time pondering the entire race and trying to imagine how I would feel. I also knew that if I could get through until sunrise it would get better. Never quit in the dark, the dawn will bring a new day.

    The previous stop was at a Casey’s General Store about 50 miles earlier. At that point all I wanted was a cold Coke and a salty snack. Sadly many of the 100+ riders who got there before me must have also wanted a Coke and they were sold out. A Mountain Dew would have to do (not bad but not what I was craving). I was able to find a nice bag of potato chips however.

    The aid station was not just set up for the 250 riders of the 350 mile race but was also going to be for the 1500 or so riders in the 200 mile race starting Saturday morning. This meant it was very well stocked and I was able to get that cold Coke. They also had some lawn chairs set up. I knew it might be somewhat risky to get into a comfortable chair, I might not want to get back up and moving, but I needed the rest for a bit.

    A rest, suggar and caffeine from the Coke and some more salty snacks did wonders. More importantly the sky was starting to brighten up, it wasn’t sunrise yet but the pre-dawn light bosted my mental state just as expected and I was off and riding again.

    Up until this point those of us not at the leading edge of the race had seen a lot of wet roads but hadn’t actually seen any significant rain. That luck wasn’t going to last.

  • Lightning without the thunder – Unbound XL part 4

    One of the most interesting aspects of these ultra distance cycling races is that they involve riding through the night. Most of these races start in the late afternoon or early evening so even the top riders have to ride from sundown to sunrise.

    I few weeks earlier I spent a week camping out near Madison KS pre-riding portions of Unbound XL courses from previous years. That had given me the opportunity to ride some of these same roads in the dark. I hadn’t ridden a bike in the dark in many years, and in fact I had never ridding out on unfamiliar remote gravel roads in the dark. That pre-riding gave me the opportunity to test out my lights and just get comfortable with riding in the dark.

    Ii did more than get comfortable, I found I absolutely loved it. Being out in the middle of nowhere, far away from any city lights, under the starts is just magical.

    On this night we had an extra bit of magic. In the far distance all around we had an amazing lightning show. On a long uphill section I struck up a conversation with another rider. I asked “how’s your ride going so far?”. In a very French accent his response was “Ze lightning, is it dangerous?” sounding a little concerned about our light show. “Only if it gets closer, since we can’t hear any thunder we know it is a long way off.” Hopefully this put him at ease a bit so he could enjoy the show.

    Gladly the thunderstorms did stay at a far distance through the night, at least for those of us mid-pack and farther down. The faster riders did catch up with some of it during the night. For me, the first 150 miles or so of the race were dry with good roads. In fact I would say it was actually much easier than I expected based on all the stories I had heard. Then, I noticed the bike felt a bit sluggish suddenly. Was it a soft tire? Nope, I quickly realized it was wet gravel. At first just a little wet and still rideable but the wet gravel soon turned into wet slightly muddy gravel, then just to mud. Not horrific mud but enough to make me have to stop riding and scrape some mud off occasionally. For the next few miles there were several of us dealing with the mucky mess.

    Progress was starting to slow considerably, and my energy was certainly fading.

  • Long training ride for the Long Voyage

    9 am and ready to ride.

    While I still have not yet completed telling my Unbound XL story I have been actively training for my next big adventure. In just 2 weeks from now I will be doing the Gravel Worlds Long Voyage 300 mile race in Lincoln Nebraska. My hope is to be much better prepared for this one.

    Most of my rides in my area of New Hampshire have quite a few steep climbs. While this certainly is one good form of training I also need to get in some long duration but low intensity rides. Keeping the intensity low isn’t really compatible when climbing up a 15% grade. I do however have one excellent resource for long easy rides.

    The Northern Rail Trail is a 58 mile former railway running from Boscawen to Lebanon NH. For the month of August they are doing a fund raising challenge. The challenge is to cover the entire route throughout the month. A couple weeks ago I did a 100 mile ride where did 50 miles out and back. I figured this was the perfect time to ride the entire trail, end to end and back again in one day!

    In total I rode the 116 miles in just under 9 hours, this included a quick break for a coke and a bag of chips just after the halfway point. It was a hot day so that should help me get ready for the Nebraska heat!

    Enjoy the views.

    Merrimack River
    Playing with my new camera and getting an in motion selfie.
    Covered bridge in Andover
    Potter place railway depot
    In a few places the trail gets narrow with vegetation but in general is in really great condition.
    The halfway point at the Lebanon end of the trail.
    In several places the old railway cuts through the solid granite.
    I ran out of water on the way back. Glad I knew about this water spigot.
    The spigot at the Proctor Academy soccer fields saved my day in the heat.
    Not a lot of corn fields like this here in New Hampshire. I expect to see a lot more in Nebraska.
    116 miles!
    9 hours and 116 miles later back where I started but much more tired now!

  • Preparation pays off – Unbound XL part 3

    Going into the evening the temperature started to cool a bit, the headwind let off and the views were absolutely spectacular. The wide open prairie land south of Emporia really can be breathtaking. From the higher points it feels like you can see for 50 miles in any direction. People underestimate Kansas, you really need to get out in the middle of nowhere to really experience it. I was feeling good and enjoying the ride into the first resupply location in Maddison KS.

    Part of what makes ultra endurance events like Unbound XL a challenge is the fact they are self supported. You are not allowed a support crew to help you other than to pick you up if you abandon the race. You either bring what you need with you or stop at a store along the route to buy it as you go. They plan the route with this in mind and make sure they route you through a town with a store every 50-60 miles. The first stop listed on the route was a Casey’s General Store in Madision at mile 60.

    I had heard from people who have done this race before they the fist stop can be a bit of a madhouse. There were 250 riders at the start and this early into the race while the field was starting to get spread out there would still be a lot of people hitting this store all at the same time. Many years a lot of the experienced guys say they often skip the first stop and carry enough water to get to the second. In this years route skipping Maddison would mean going 110 miles. On a hot day there is certainly no way I would be able to carry enough water to go that far.

    But, this is where doing my research paid off. I had a plan.

    Sure enough, as I rode past Casey’s there were probably 50 bikes all over the parking lot. I however, rode right past as I had done a little digging and found there was a Dollar General just a mile farther down the road. You are allowed to stop anywhere you like, the only rule is if you leave the course you have to rejoin the course where you left it. In this case I didn’t even have to leave the course. As i went past Casey’s another rider was just leaving, he said it was pretty crazy in there, only one guy at the register and he was not expecting an extra 250 customers over the span of an hour or two. The race organizers had said they gave a heads up to the stores that they listed as being on the route but the message must have been lost here.

    I pulled into Dollar General, nearly empty parking lot, no other bikes there at all. I went in, bought a gallon of drinking water which is all I needed for this first stop and was out in minutes. I asked the woman at the register if others had been there. She said she was familiar with the race and only one other rider had been in there.

    I felt like a genius and probably made up 40 to 50 places right there however that wasn’t my real concern. The concern was saving time and energy. Complete success there. I dumped in my packets of my custom mix of Gatorade (more on that later), filled the bottles with water and I was back on the road.

    I could tell I had made up some time based on the speed of some of the riders who passed me again over the next couple of hours. I rode with some of them and chatted for a bit but they realized as I was doing that I was pushing a little harder than I should have trying to keep their pace. I knew I still had a long way left to ride and if I was going to make it I needed to ease off. I would wish them well, ease off and watch each one slowly disappear into the distance and the sun set and the adventure of riding through the night began.

  • Training for the Heat – Unbound XL part 2

    Training for the Heat – Unbound XL part 2

    Training through the winter and spring in New Hampshire for an early summer race in Kansas has been a challenge. The snowy roads prevent getting in any real outdoor miles but more importantly preparing for a long day in the heat is challenging living in a cold climate.

    Over the past couple of years since I began my athletic journey I have spent a lot of time digging into physiology research. One of the big areas I have dug into is heat training. Of course, as a retired software engineer I have a compulsion to quantifiably measure everything so I invested in a Core heat sensor. This is a handy device that attaches to a heart rate chest strap that can estimate your core body temperature. It does this externally without the need for a probe in an uncomfortable place. The sensor calculates a “heat stress” level so you can train at an optimal level, hot enough to lead to meaningful adaptation but not so hot that it leads to heat stroke! No, I am not in any way affiliated or sponsored by Core, of course I would gladly accept sponsorship if they offered!

    Through the winter I spent many hours on the indoor bike wearing multiple layers of clothing, covered by a full body painters suit, then on top of all that my old heavy winter coat. Yes, this is somewhat miserable and certainly leads to doing lots of laundry. This also led to feeing good through the first several hours of the Unbound XL.

    The Core temp sensor simplifies the data by calculating a heat zone from 1 to 4. Optimal heat training should be done in zone 3 but for an endurance event you should try to stay in zone 2 or below. Unbound XL starts at 3:00 in the afternoon and it was a hot day. Within 30 minutes I was in zone 3 and stayed there for the next 3 hours. This was far from ideal but somehow while it didn’t exactly feel comfortable, the heat didn’t seem to bother me like it used to. All those uncomfortable hours on the indoor bike drenched in sweat paid off.

    This should prove even more useful for my next big adventure at the Gravel Worlds Long Voyage 300 mile race in August.

  • Am I ready for this? Unbound XL part 1

    Am I ready for this? Unbound XL part 1

    Just 5 weeks earlier I was completely spent at the end of a 128 mile race. This was one of my warm up races to get ready for Unbound but more than a just a warmup it was also a test to see if I was ready. At the end, while I really enjoyed the adventure, I was barely able to keep moving forward for the last 20 miles from the pain in my left knee and just general exhaustion. I determined that I was in no way ready to ride nearly 3 times the distance at the 350 mile Unbound XL race.

    But, here I was anyway. Lined up in the hot Kansas sun with around 250 other riders with more ambition than common sense. I had changed my mind a couple weeks earlier while watching coverage of the Cocodona 250 ultra marathon on YouTube. The Cocodona is a 250 mile foot race through rough terrain in Arizona. Something about ultra endurance events has always fascinated me. I think it is the fact that while the people who win these are elite athletes, they are still achievable by ordinary people.

    Not to say they are easy, far from it, but achievable.

    There is a tradition known as the Misogi challenge, based loosely on a Shinto ritual where you do something very difficult once a year where you have roughly a 50% chance of success. On a good year about 50% of the entrants of Unbound XL make it the full 350 miles so I figured this event fit that nicely. Also, I really wanted to do something bit in the month of May. In May of 2024 I ran my first 5k race (I had never been a runner before then). In May of 2025 I ran my first marathon. So, May of 2026 would be my first ultra distance gravel bike race.

    Late May at 3 in the afternoon can get hot in Kansas. I was happy to find a nice spot in front of the church in the shade to relax for a bit along with several other riders. With full sun and temps in the upper 80’s we were all ready to just get moving. At 3:00 on the dot we were off, time to do this!

  • Just go for it

    I am long overdue for an update. The last race was the 128 mile Open Range Gravel race. I still need to write up a full story on that but I will just say it was absolutely spectacular. I will also say it was hard, likely the hardest long effort I have ever done. I finished the 128 miles in just over 10 hours. When I was done I said I wasn’t ready to ride nearly 3x the distance at Unbound.

    A nervous smile as I ponder the route ahead.

    Here I am just a month later and I have decided JUST GO FOR IT!!!!

    Tomorrow at 3pm I will be on the starting line for the Unbound XL. This will be 356 of rough Kansas back roads, weather looks a bit dismal and this race even on a good year typically sees only around 50% of the entrants make it to the finish.

    Am I ready for this? Probably not.

    Am I in a bit over my head? Certainly.

    Am I excited for the challenge? Absolutely!!!!

    Live tracking of the race is available at https://www.followmychallenge.com/live/unbound-xl-2026/

  • Finding my form in the Flint Hills

    Finding my form in the Flint Hills

    The great thing about competition is the opportunity to find what you are capable of. Yes, you can go out on your own and in theory push your limits but in reality, for me at least, that only happens in a competitive setting. Sometimes, such as last Saturday in the Flint Hills of Kansas I truly surprise myself.

    Race day, ready to go 75 miles of Flint Hills Gravel fun.

    The previous week’s race in Nebraska didn’t really go well. I wasn’t prepared for the wind but it was the same conditions for everyone and I still managed to finish second to last in my age group. There was some satisfaction in completing my first bike race in 35 years and it was technically my longest ride ever (by about a mile). I had a goal of finishing in 5 hours and it took me a full 6 and I felt truly destroyed at the end of the day.

    Very remote area on a 50 mile training ride somewhere near Bazzar KS.

    Spending the week riding the roads south of Emporia I gained a little more rough road riding experience but I found I really wasn’t able to carry the speed over longer distances that I expected. On long rides, including occasional but very brief stops I would only average somewhere between 11 and 12 miles per hour. Based on that info and the fact that I was far from being rested going into the Flint Hills Gravel race on Saturday I set a target goal of 6.5 hours to complete the 75 mile route.

    They gave out paint sticks to used as mud scrapers at registration. This did have me a little concerned about what was in store.

    One thing I wanted to accomplish was to stay in touch with other groups of riders for at least the first portion of the race so I would have some help fighting the winds. The previous week in Nebraska I fell behind early and rode most of the distance on my own with no help.

    I felt like I was moving fairly well early on but I didn’t really get an idea of where I was until 16 miles in where there was a few miles of out and back on the same road going to the first water stop. First, it was pretty amazing seeing the fast riders coming back toward us when we were about 1.5 miles to the water stop, meaning they were already 3 miles ahead. What really surprised me is after I stopped at the water stop (very quickly refilling a bottle and getting back on the road) was how many riders I saw still behind me. I certainly didn’t count them but I felt like I was still solidly mid pack which felt good after being nearly dead last a week before.

    Much of the next 20 or so miles was heading straight north with a decent tailwind. I realized I had pushed a little harder on the first section so I eased back for these miles and didn’t worry about keeping in touch with any riders hoping that once we did turn into the wind again groups of riders would form behind me and catch up which I could then latch on to.

    It was around half way where I did get a little concerned about what the course had in store for us. They had modified the route to avoid what they said was the worst of the mud due to some heavy rains in the couple of days leading on to the race. The organizer was very clear that this did NOT mean we would avoid mud all together but we would avoid the worst of the mud. We turned on to a road with very sticky mud with large chunks of gravel. The kind of mud that can destroy a nice new carbon bike frame by getting mud and gravel rubbing between the tire and the frame. I most certainly did NOT want to destroy my nice new carbon bike frame! The riding through this section wasn’t especially hard (traction was good enough to keep moving) but I did loose some time stopping to scrape out the mud. In the end this secion was only about a mile long and there wasn’t really any significant mud the rest of the route.

    Beyond the mud mile the middle section of the route was fairly uneventful. The field was pretty spread out at this point but I could always see riders up ahead and behind me. Occasionally I would come up on someone slower, occasionally faster riders would come past me but in general I felt like I was holding pace about the same as the riders I could see.

    It was at the final water stop with about 20 miles to go that I really started to feel like “I got this”. Leaving the water stop I saw a rider probably 1/4 mile ahead, over time I realized I was starting to catch him so I decided to push a little harder since I knew the course would turn south again into the wind and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t fighting the wind alone. I ended up riding along with him and we started chatting a bit and eded up working together.

    This is where I was really shocked at how hard I was still able to push. Somehow, we were catching and passing riders, not just a few but several. I would catch up to small groups, work together with them for a bit with different riders taking turns at the front. Each time after a few turns I would look back and realize most of that group had dropped back again and it was just Dustin (the guy I had met up with earlier) and I left. So, we would keep pushing and catching the next group of riders.

    With about a mile left to go we turned on to the paved road that led back into town. I could see 2 more riders between me and the finish. My quads were starting to cramp as I had been giving it all I had for the last few miles once I knew I was going to make the finish. In the end Dustin got past me as my legs had just given out but he was a younger guy and certainly not in my 50+ age category so I wasn’t too concerned about that.

    My goal was to finish in 6.5 hours. I shocked myself by finishing in 5 hours averaging over 15 MPH for the day. 34th out of 79 in the men 50+ group, 105th of 214 overall, almost exactly middle of the pack. I will take it for a guy just getting back into bike racing after 35 years!

    Some days you surprise yourself.

  • Kamikaze bunnies in the dark

    Kamikaze bunnies in the dark

    When I tell people I am planning on doing a 350 mile bike race typically the first question I get is “how many days is that?”. I usually get funny looks when I respond with “one” or actually “one and a half” (since it is a 36 hour time limit). Since the race begins at 3PM obviously this means even the pros will be riding through the night and for us mere mortals it means through the night and likely well into the next.

    The Fenix BC26R is a popular headlight. Fairly inexpensive and puts out good light.

    I have a rule about never being on 2 wheels in the dark without more than 1 light. I really don’t want my one and only light to fail me on a downhill corner (because you know that is exactly when it would fail). So, I have 2 lights. One mounted to the handlebars which is good for general illumination and a second one on my helmet.

    Fenix HM71R headlight, uses the same type of battery as the bike light.

    Both of these lights have batteries that can be easily swapped and I made sure to buy a helmet light that used the same type of battery as the bike light so I don’t have to carry 2 different types of spares. Both lights can also be charged via a USB cable from a USB battery pack so hopefully I will have enough battery capacity to get me to the finish.

    It has been several years since I have been on a bike after dark and in the past it had always been on familiar roads. I figured while I am on my training trip to Kansas I should get in some applicable training miles in.

    For the last few days I have been camping just south of Emporia KS right along the route where the 2022 and 2023 races went. I planned out a 37 mile route and headed out on the bike just past sunset on a dark moonless night.

    I forgot how wonderful it can be out in the middle of nowhere in the dark. So peaceful, nothing but the sound of my tires on the gravel and the stars above. It was all peaceful except for…. the Kamikaze bunnies! A couple of times I had rabbits jump out into the road ahead of me just barely avoiding running right under my front wheel. I don’t know if it was luck of extreme rider skill (ok, yeah probably luck) but I survived them.

    The other thing I really enjoyed is it is pasture burning season here in Kansas. No, these are not uncontrolled wildfires but prescribed burns to rejuvinate the grassland and improve it for grazing. It is absolutely spectacular to see at night. The downside is there is a lot of smoke in the air that probably didn’t do my lungs any good.

    I was happy to see how well the lights worked. I could run them both on medium power most of the time and just bumped one or occasionally both up to high when going a little faster on the downhill sections. Now the only real question is will I have enough batteries to get me through the race.

    When I finished up the ride around 11:30 PM I was pretty pumped and had trouble sleeping which is unusual for me (I am typically in bed around 9 these days). The sense of accomplishment and satisfaction for how well the ride went kept me up for a while. But, I certainly did sleep late the next morning.