Unbound Gravel 2026

Unbound Gravel brands itself as the “World’s Premier Gravel Event”, and I think you’d be hard pushed to argue against that. This year it celebrates it’s 20th anniversary and Mitch was there to give it a go.

2026 was my third tilt at Unbound Gravel 200, arguably one of the largest, most feared and most desired gravel events in the world. After having a mechanical in 2024 and missing the ‘beat the sun’ time by around 2 mins and then having a heavy crash in 2025, that meant just a finish was a good result, I was hopeful of a good result.

During a bit of a turbulent lead into the event I was pleased to feel like I had the endurance building well until a fall skiing resulted in some minor MCL damage. 6 weeks in a brace from early April was needed and left me knowing that I would need to maximise all I could in terms of training. Initially I was told I had to keep the brace on but could train in it. A 3 hour ride in a brace is no fun and I then spoke with the Physical Therapists about alternatives. Roll forward to a heavily taped knee and 5-6 hour rides and I was back on track, albeit without being able to do the high power efforts. Happy that it would be ok as long as the endurance was there I felt good as I headed to Kansas.

Then the weather decided it wanted to enter the chat…. Unseasonably wet and prolonged cooler weather hit the Emporia area and there was a constant buzz as riders all tried to predict the weather, and importantly if there would be long sections of the course that would become unrideable. A storm the night before meant I knew the course would cut up and so it meant my strategy would need to involve moving up the group as much as possible in the neutralised start and the first 10 miles.

Around 1250 people lined up ready to take on the 200 course and out we rolled in dry but cool weather. Having been trapped in the rear 1/4 of the start pen I knew moving up was a must and used the neutral section to move forward as much as I could without burning matches. Then we hit the gravel all trying to get to the first section that was likely to be muddy. I hit that around 1/3 of the way back in the whole field and found that through good tyre selection and some luck I was able to ride the whole section without too much trouble. Listening later it seems that only a few riders behind me was where the trouble and the walking of bikes started. Hurdle 1 cleared; time to make some time.

Energy or effort management is a critical part of Unbound. Sit in the wheels but take your turn on the front, try to minimize wasted efforts, learn to take the more efficient if not the shortest routes and pick your lines. All seemed to be good and I was averaging a good speed. And then the rain came….. It rained and then stopped, then the mud came and we were all covered. Glasses became blindfolds and sitting in the wheels meant no vision. So glasses on the back of my head and trying to see became the challenge. The field spread out and when I was so covered in mud that I couldn’t get muddier the rain came again washing things clean.  This repeated a couple of times and the normally smooth, champagne, gravel roads got a layer of sticky mud. Not so much that it was spraying badly but enough to sap the legs and drop your speed by around 2-3kph.

Then the sun came out. After being soaked, muddied, cleaned and repeating came the risk of sunburn…. And the head winds arrived. One of the most brutal headwind’s I’d seen in a long time and it was being faced alone by all. But on we all went, losing time and knowing it would be dark when we finished and I’ll come to the finish later. The weather made this the hardest day I’ve ever had on a bike.

I couldn’t honestly tell you a lot about all of the course. I remember that the parts people were worried would be hard I didn’t seem to mind. I remember that I made a bad choice going left instead of right and took a fall. I remember that my tyres were really good at shedding mud. I recall my front mech stopping working as the cables all clogged and then the mud dried (thank you neutral service at checkpoint 3 for fixing this) and I remember trying to ride one muddy section and taking a tumble before walking around a mile.

And then we get to the final 90 mins. Its dark and I’ve got a riding buddy now, a Kansas legend who has racked up 11 finishes. The rain has stopped and the wind finally dropped and clarity returns. The run in is the same as the previous 2 years and familiarity is good. Knowing that the finish is almost assured the miles tick down nicely. Hitting the final hill, a real sting in the tail, put in one final dig and its there. The crest and onto the flat.  Made it….maybe 1km left and just a right then left and the run in. And the storm hits. Rain starts and it’s like being in a rainforest shower. We struggle through the wind, rain and dark along the finish straight. Brave souls in cars and under doorways shouting us on before getting out of the rain. It may be my favourite finish line video, crossing the line in such a storm but the sense of relief at not being stuck on course with that weather was a big factor.

I’d got my 3rd finish. 2 more to get into the 1000 mile club. There was no doubt in my mind I was coming back, even if I didn’t touch my bike for 4 weeks after getting home. The lottery opens again on 1 Nov and I will be in it.

Do I want another top 1/3 finish, yes. Do I want to ‘Beat the Sun’ by finishing before 8:45pm, yes. Did that matter this year, in the end no. I will be back as I still have unfinished business in Kansas and people here who I value coming back to see and stay with each year.

I ended up finishing 700th of the 1019 finishers out of the 1249 starters. But this year position didn’t matter the finish on a hard day was the key.