The year so far... (pt.1)
Reflecting on the first half of my 2024 season. Part 1 of 2
Hello and welcome to my Substack!
I’m not quite sure how this will develop but I hope to use it to provide updates on my racing, travel, adventuring and training.
I’m about halfway through my season so I think a good place to start is by recapping what’s happened so far. I’ve done a lot of racing so I think this will be a two-parter.
Unbound 200
It’s not often that racing 200 miles (320km) feels like the least challenging part of a race but that was my Unbound experience. Traveling from San Francisco to Emporia took longer than from Adelaide to San Francisco, finally arriving at Emporia at 4 am on Friday. With limited time I got to work preparing for the race and did my best to put the two days of stress, poor sleep and airport food behind me. After a quick activation ride to blow the cobwebs out, it was time to get the bike sorted. Between Easton, Schwalbe and Shimano my trusty little Terra was equipped with new wheels, tyres tough enough to take on the flint and running like a dream.
The start of Unbound is unlike any other race I’ve done. The energy and nerves are palpable and continue into the neutral rollout. I’ve never been more worried about my dental health in a bike race with rocks pinging off my glasses and helmet as the bunch thundered down the early gravel sections, despite the arduous run in I was feeling good and well positioned in the bunch. Unfortunately, this lasted for about two hours and before I knew it, I was standing on the roadside with sealant spraying all over the shop. I went into the first rough sector well-positioned but still managed to find a huge rock to ride through. I chased back from this issue only to have two more mechanicals that required stopping, after the third I was out of Co2, sealant and fight.
It still bugs me that my Unbound ended with me crying in the van at the first feed zone. Bike racing is brutal and this race is unusual in that it seems to require a good dose of good luck as well as no bad luck. I was far from the only person to suffer issues on the road. Watching the race from the second feed zone I saw broken bikes, smashed wheels, tyres that were more plugs than casing and some of the most broken riders I’ve ever seen. After two rough years on the trot unbound remains a mystery that I’m yet to crack.
Lost and Found
After driving up to Bend, Oregon and getting settled into my home base for the next few months Becca and I made the trip down to Portola for Lost and Found. Thankfully this was a much less eventful weekend than Unbound and we made it to race day in good shape with minimal dramas. The day started with the biggest climb of the race straight out of the blocks, 400NP for 20 minutes got me over the top in the front group only for us to all stop for a nature break at the bottom of the following descent and allow a group of fifteen or so to come back. Included in this group was Carl Decker who proceeded to light the race up on the dustiest descent I’ve ever raced down, reducing the group down to eight.
After this, it became apparent that what I thought looked like nice buffed gravel roads online were actually rough and rutted gravel roads covered in about 3cm of loose dust and my 40mm tyres were a poorly judged choice. A lesson for next year is that 45mm should be the minimum for this race. I used all the cyclocross experience I had to keep the bike upright before getting dagged on a rough descent with about an hour of racing to go. The last section of the race was more akin to some of the downhill tracks I’ve raced than what you normally see in a gravel race. I had no option but to manage the pace and get the bike to the finish from here which saw me roll across the line in a very sore 11th place.
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder probably deserves a whole newsletter to itself but to keep the length of this post under control I’ll do a short stage-by-stage recap.
Stage 1 - 107km 3:21:01
So much for a flat sprint stage! Three and a half hours of wind, sand, corrugations and high-speed racing. P9 after one of the craziest races I've ever done
Stage 2 - 158km 4:56:22
After a long neutral section, the stage kicked off almost immediately with a fast dragging climb. I tried to jump in the breakaway but left my run a little too late and had to settle into the GC group for the day. Annoyingly I got distanced by the GC favourites over the crest of the last climb but rode strong to the finish to take another 9th place.
Stage 3 - 64km 2:34:29
Time trial day! A fun day of three parts.
A fast road section into a technical singletrack
A 25 minute climb (this bit was less fun)
A fast and flowing downhill
Shockingly another P9 from this day but happily a P3 in the downhill earning me a trip to the podium.
Stage 4 - 134km 4:52:41
On a day that started up a 30 minute climb, I committed to riding my tempo and settled in with the big Kiwi Cameron Jones. We formed a group with Corey Wallace and eventually Diederik and rode hard and committed all-day doing our best to minimise our losses against the pure climbers in the race. This strategy worked well with us getting to the top of the last climb within striking distance of the lead group but unfortunately, my daredevil descending caused a mechanical issue that I had to stop and fix. P12 in the end.
Stage 5 - 115km 5:29:53
Stage 5 started with a plan, to attack early and try to get up the road. Joe and I took turns trying to open the gap but with a fast tarmac descent to start the stage getting time was a challenge. We hit the first off-road section and immediately I had my first mechanical of the day, this left me chasing through the pack in deep sand and getting caught up in a lot of other people's crashes. After clearing the traffic I was riding as hard as I could through the rough descent and ended up having a fairly major mechanical that took me well and truly out of contention.
Oregon Trail remains one of the best events I’ve ever done and i hope to be back next year.
Bend Criterium Series
After Oregon Trail I was looking for a fun way to keep some intensity in the legs, luckily Bend has a weekly criterium series. I won the first race after lapping the field with young Zane Strait and took second in the third round. After a cancellation of the final round, this was enough to seal the overall series win. Local racing is the lifeblood of the sport and I love every chance I have to participate in it.
This feels like a good place to wrap up this first half of my season recap before the mountain bike portion of my season begins. Stay tuned for more on that!