Random Places

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.