No Guts, No Glory on the Unbound Gravel XL 350

Well, some days you have it and some days you don’t.  I went back to Emporia, Kansas, to try the 350XL, but I ended up scratching.  My gut tends to be my weak point in endurance events, and this time was no different.  I’ve researched this ad nauseam (pun intended!).  More fluids, more electrolytes, more real food, eating earlier and on a schedule, drinking my calories. You name it, I’ve tried it.  Usually, I can manage the issue and gut it out (again pun intended!) and get enough nutrition in to continue even if I feel nauseated, but sometimes I just have to rest to recover.  And during multi-day bikepacking races it always takes a couple of days for my appetite to return to normal.  

I felt as good as I could going into the XL350.  Of course, I wished I had more miles on the bike, but I had enough, and I tapered for 3 weeks to be sure my legs were fresh for the race.  The weather forecast looked to be pretty good for Kansas in early June.  Warm and breezy, but not as hot or windy as it can be, and no rain, thunderstorms, or tornados in the forecast.  

My flights were all on time and my son Riley picked me up in Kansas City late Wednesday night.  We stayed overnight then drove the next morning to Emporia. We met up with Kirsten, who Riley had agreed to “crew” for.  It’s an unsupported race, but you need somebody who can extricate you from the race if you can’t finish. Several racers needed a crew person, so Riley offered to help another person besides me. I love meeting the other people who like to do these endurance events.  I’ve made some long-lasting friendships this way.  Endurance bikers are good people – even if we are a bit crazy by normal standards. It was fun to meet Kirsten as we got our bibs and had lunch.  

Lunch with Kirsten

I got a good night’s sleep before race day. The race didn’t start until 3 PM which meant I had plenty of time Friday morning to get nervous while waiting. I’ve done plenty of long-distance races.  I’m not trying to beat anybody. My only goal is to finish.  But anytime I line up for any sort of race, I get a bit nervous.  And soon as I start, I’m totally fine.  Such was the case this time, too. The streets were lined with fans cheering us on as we rolled out of town.  I thought this is what it feels like to be a rock star!

The first 40 miles were fast and fun, averaging about 14.5 mph.  I had to keep up a 10 mph pace to finish in the allotted time of 36 hours.  I knew that I would need to stop more and that I would get slower as time went on, so I needed that buffer. We had a tail wind, the gravel was good, with some fun double track areas, and I was riding with a lot of different people, getting a chance to meet and chat with them.  It was pretty hot out there –mid 80’s – but I was good about hydrating.  I also did well with my nutrition, taking in about 200 cal/hour (which is a lot for me).

We came to the first resupply at 40 miles.  Plenty of racers were already there and the small store was packed.  I decided I didn’t need any food (I probably was carrying enough for the entire race), so I just refilled my water bladder and took off.  The next resupply place wouldn’t be until mile 118. 

The miles until sunset went quickly and thankfully the temperature cooled off, maybe down to 65 degrees. The course started turning off onto very rough B roads.  Many were rocky and rutted.  They would be hard to navigate during the day but were even worse after dark.  I was very glad to have my mountain bike.  I just wished I had a brighter light.  I thought about using the high beam on my helmet light but that only lasts a couple of hours.  I needed it for 8-9 hours.  I did have a light on my handlebars, so I turned that on for the downhills.   I would breathe a sigh of relief as we exited a B road onto better gravel but within minutes we would turn down another B road.  I started dreading the signs that said, “Minimal Maintenance, Drive at Your Own Risk”.  Afterwards, someone said there were 30 or so miles of these rough roads that many of us had to ride in the dark.  I thought I would spend the night listening to podcasts or a book or music.  But I had to really concentrate on the road surface and felt like I couldn’t be distracted.  I never got sleepy since I really had to pay attention.  Suffice it to say that my pace really slowed down.  

Kansas sunset

Around 11 PM I started feeling slightly nauseated and had no desire to eat.  I had burritos, homemade rice cakes, Stroop waffles, candy, donuts, crackers, shock blocks and GU’s.  Nothing sounded good.   I ate a couple of crackers, but it was hard getting them to go down. I knew I would be getting to the convenience store in Alma soon and thought a coke might help as it usually does.  With the slow going I rolled in about 2 AM.  Several bikers were there, resting and regrouping.  Some had already decided to scratch.  I scoured the store looking for anything that sounded appetizing.  Nope, nothing looked good.  I spent about 30 minutes drinking a coke and an iced tea, trying to get down some salty Cheetos, and commiserating with the other riders.  I called Riley and woke him up to tell him I thought I might need to scratch and asked if he wanted to just pick me up there in Alma.  He wisely told me I should try to go a little further and see what happened.  He thought I should at least just bike through the night.  Maybe I would recover? Or maybe he just didn’t want to get out of bed at 2 AM and drive.  

Middle of the night at Alma - photo by Jim Farmer

Whatever, I kept going and the gravel conditions did improve.  Riding at night was really cool.  In Alaska, it’s never dark and warm (since it doesn’t get dark in the summer) so that was novel. I could hear frogs and insects.  I heard an owl hoot.  A bat almost flew into me and scared me.  When I turned off my lights, I could see the Milky Way.  And I got to see fireflies which I haven’t seen since I was a kid living in Michigan. And riding all night meant I got to see the sunrise.  It was beautiful.  Most of the night, I had riders around me as we leapfrogged with one another so I never really felt all alone.  It wasn’t until near dawn that I was finally riding by myself.

Kansas sunrise

I took a Zantac and a Zofran (anti-nausea medication) but my stomach never recovered. I took a quick break at around 7 AM and called Riley to let him know I was definitely going to scratch but would try to make it to Alta Vista (mile 188 of the course), which was still almost 40 miles away. I was only able to get down 2 cheese crackers and 2 mini donuts and some sweet iced tea during 10 hours of riding.

Hot and tired and nauseated.  Ready to concede I wasn't going to make it

I continued south into a 15-mph headwind with temperatures rising with the sun.  I passed a turtle and then a skunk that was wandering all over the road.  Even if I didn’t feel great, I was still happy to be riding my bike. The Kansas countryside is quite pretty with varying terrain.  

No turtles in Alaska so fun to see one

I was still 17 miles away from Alta Vista when Riley texted me that he was there.  I had just stopped to slowly eat a Stroop waffle. Unfortunately, I gagged which then led to me vomiting.  After a couple minutes of dry heaving, which caused my abdominal muscles to cramp (adding insult to injury), I got back on my bike and started riding again. 

After vomiting, I felt slightly better.  I was still in good spirits as I arrived at Little Egypt, a really rutted, rocky steep down-and-up part of the course.  There were people out waiting for the 200 mile racers.  This is considered to be the gnarliest part of the route, but I don’t know, it didn’t seem that bad compared to what I had ridden in the dark. I was able to cleanly ride it except for a small section when an ATV drove by.  Once again, glad to have a mountain bike!  I passed another XL racer here who was walking and said he was done.  After Little Egypt there was another steep down-and-up with a water crossing.  There were some media guys waiting for the 200 mile racers and I teased them for not getting video of my awesome water crossing and my cranking all the way up the rocky hill right after it.  They laughed and then did a video sound bite with me. That was fun. The media guys said the lead 200 mile racers would be by fairly soon.

Happy I was able to ride up Little Egypt

It seemed like it was all uphill to Alta Vista and it was definitely into a headwind that seemed to be getting stronger.  I kept looking over my shoulder as I didn’t want to be in the way of the fast racers as they flew past me, but I managed to finish before they came through. I thought about riding another 12 miles past Alta Vista to make it an even 200 miles for the day but decided I was done.  It took me so long to do the last 17 miles that Riley had time to rescue another 350XL rider and take her back to Emporia while I was still riding. Riley and I got to watch the lead groups of the 200 mile racers come through after I finished.  It was fun to see them. 

Thumbs up that I made it to Alta Vista

Lead pack for the 200 mile racers 

I still didn’t feel like eating, but ice cream sounded good so we stopped at a Dairy Queen to get a soft serve cone, which helped my stomach.  By the time we got back to our hotel 1.5 hours later and I had a shower I felt much better and was hungry.  Kirsten called and was scratching so we grabbed a burger and fries and drove all the way back to pick her up. By the time we got home again, I was ready for dinner number 2!  I was glad my gut recovered so quickly.

Our hero, Riley, who drove to pick up Laura, Kirsten and me when we scratched!

I ended up biking 188 miles in 20.5 hours with 11,234 feet elevation gain.   When I did the DK 200, I rode 200 miles in 19 hours so it was definitely slower going this year.  I was happy that I had no melt downs and stayed mostly upbeat the entire time, even with my stomach issues and the heat and the headwinds. 

Am I sorry I scratched?  Yes and no. I would have liked to complete the race but there really wasn’t any way I could have ridden another 170 miles on no nutrition into a headwind in hot temperatures.  And I was glad I didn’t have to stay up for 2 nights.  I got a good night’s sleep and felt recovered enough Sunday to go for a 20 mile fun bike ride with Riley.  So, no regrets.  And I did feel better that more than half the racers scratched this year.  According to some return riders it was a much harder course than other years.

Will I be back?  I don’t think so.  There are so many other places to see and races to try. And I’m wondering if my ability to suffer is lessening as I’m aging!  But I’m glad I tried the 350XL.  It’s good to push your boundaries.  And the Unbound Gravel race is so much fun.  Riding bikes on Kansas gravel is well worth the trip.