My 2025 UNBOUND Gravel 200 Experience
by: Jason Flowerday
When I first learned about UNBOUND Gravel, I had just finished Haute Route Pyrenees (5-days) with my brother in July 2024, and I wanted something new to set my sights on and train for through the winter and into 2025. In reality though, I probably had the bug a little earlier when I saw Laughlin Morton absolutely crush Tour Divide (2023) in under 13 days and I thought maybe I should give that a try! I remember an exchange with the founder and manufacturer, Frank Gairdner, of my new Surveyor (Bridge Bike Works) and he suggested I try something gentler than Tour Divide for my first gravel experience – maybe something more like 1-2 days on a gravel bike before I bite off 20-30 days……and so UNBOUND was it.
My race registration came with a coaching package from the 2024 UNBOUND 350XL female winner, Kristen Legan (Rambleur Coaching) – and so I felt like I was in good hands with a plan to show up in decent form. As is the case for everyone, life gets hectic, family and work obligations get prioritized over training and you do your best to stick to the plan, which for me meant getting about 85% of the training completed per plan, including my first ever gravel race (Paris to Ancaster) as a bit of a primer. P2A gave me first 100kms of gravel racing, a full over the bars wipeout but a solid finish time of 3:25. At that point, I couldn’t imagine adding another 225kms of racing, no way. Kristen suggested that I aim to ‘race the sun’ and try to finish UNBOUND in under 14 hours and 15 minutes (an 8:45PM cut-off time given the 6:30AM start time), as this meant something to people who were true enthusiasts of UNBOUND. I had no idea really what to expect but it seemed like a better idea than being out there until midnight or breakfast the next day.
Through incredibly good fortune and generosity, I finished in 12:57 (7:27PM) and enjoyed the most magical day of racing. I say good fortune because I didn’t have a single mechanical, flat, or spill, and generosity because the race volunteers and landowners through the Flint Hills of Kansas where essential to my day. I consumed 20 bottles of various electrolyte concoctions, 40 GUs, 3 Red Bulls, 1 Coke and 1 tangerine, and several buckets of cold water poured over my head. Temperatures reached over 90F during the afternoon heat, which is also where I ran dry for 60 minutes and had to slow down. Early in the race, another rider told me ‘never pass water’ and so I took it literally and stopped at every station and gravel driveway with locals kind enough to be cheering and fuelling us on – including the guys passing out grilled bacon somewhere in the first 70 miles!
A big shout out to Blacksmith Cycle for the bike set-up, including tubeless tires and chain waxing (love it), as well and my friends at Bridge Bike Works for the Ferrari Red Surveyor (Go Canada!) that turned a lot of heads and got tons of compliments.
- Jason
