Random Places

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!