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| Karolina Migon wins the Women's Elite 200 (Image courtesy of Life Time) |
Well, Unbound is over for another year with record-setting results. I went back and read my reactions to last year's Unbound and you know what? I could almost copy and paste the entire article again.
So, instead of rehashing the same ol' stuff again, I decided to look at a few other resources for my take on the event, since the Elite/Pro story is not really all that different. Yes, there were some differences. There was no big sprint finish in the Women's field as Karolina Migon rode everyone off her wheel with around 50 miles to go. There were 20 more women and a few more men in the Elites this time, but the percentages of Elites to "regular folks" was still really lopsided toward the amateurs and the coverage was all about the Elites.
Now, what was interesting was the reaction to what cannot be described as anything but a media blitz on Friday before the event. Folks online were posting a lot of "I'm getting tired of this" sentiments, and while this might be seen as "negative" I read as "fatigue" when it comes to how the cycling media covers this stuff. As one poster opined: "If I see another 'bike check' so help me...." They weren't wrong either as the tech side was hammered on pre-Unbound while true, engaging story lines were largely missing.
The other thing I saw which I found interesting was a post from an Emporia resident who opined concerning how the event had changed since the DK200 days. There was mention of the finish line chute, as they run it now with segregated chutes for Pro/Elite and everyone else, as being something which lessened the experience for this person.
The DK200 used to have a tagline which went something like "Everyone is a Rock Star" which spoke to the experience the early organizers tried to give each and every rider. The common finish line chute, with cheering fans which were there for first place through till the bitter ends of the field, are now more focused on where Unbound places the spotlight. Obviously, a huge focus shift to Elites has taken the shine off the ordinary rider, and it would appear some people are noticing this.
As stated earlier, I am choosing the Gryphon Mk3 for the Tree In The Road Ride coming up later this month. I've been doing a few minor tweaks to the bike. Things like de-racking it and streamlining the set up for this 70 mile group ride. One thing I decided to do was to try the Redshift Sports Cruise Control system on this bike.
This system is already on my Gen I Fargo, so I already know what to expect, and it was one of the reasons the Gen I Fargo was one of the two bikes I considered taking on this ride. Since I had a spare kit sitting on the shelf, I decided to throw it on the Gryphon which has Luxy Bars on it and see what I thought.
The Luxy Bar is an odd-duck of a flared drop bar, but it has a couple characteristics which are being picked up on by cutting-edge flared drop bar makers. The Luxy was never considered as an "aero-advantage" handle bar, but recent developments have shown the Luxy could have been a contender in this category today. I wrote a post about this which you can check out HERE.
With the Gevenalle shifters, I now have a pseudo-aero bar position I can use utilizing the Cruise Control upper portion as a place to rest my forearms.It will be just one more place I can go to and relieve tension and pressure during a longer ride. The lower grips I already know will be a boon to avoiding numb hands.
6 comments:
I watched the live stream (on YouTube) for the pros and the finish line camera afterwards. The coverage was accessible for normal people (no paywall) and fairly well done (if I was a Pro rider, I'd be pretty annoyed with having the dust in my face all day from the side-by-sides).
It was surprising how few people appeared to be at the finish line compared to what I remember from 2014-2019. I realize they draw a lot more folks from across the country (and world) than they did back then, but the event doesn't look like the street party it was pre-Lifetime. The pro riders and current crop of amateur domestic and international riders don't appear to come back and hang out at the finish line like the normal folks used to with their support crews and entourages.
Gravel Guru on YouTube seems like the only channel covering normal folks who were riding in Unbound.
@Stud Beefpile - Thank you for your observations. Having hung out in person at several DK200 finishlines, I can say that the feeling was the townspeople were really what added to the vibe. They used to have all kinds of food trucks, beer, and things for kids to do behind the finish line on Commercial Street.
When the finish line chute was extended this all kind of disappeared. Now with the segregated finish line chutes and the added restrictions to access the downtown area, I think the unintended consequence was the average Emporian deciding not to deal with all the barriers to getting down there.
I'm sure the Euros attending have tight schedules for getting in and out of Emporia, (I understand most fly out of Kansas City?), so this may play into it. But I think the restrictions to free movement are really what is hampering what could be a raucous, fun atmosphere.
And thank you for mentioning Gravel Guru. I agree this channel is doing great work showing the stories behind the stories the Elite/Pro media is blasting out, which is all we would see otherwise.
I'm going to keep most of my opinions to myself here, but suffice to say I don't see anything about the current iteration of Unbound that makes me want to go down to Emporia and participate. I didn't pay attention and I didn't miss it at all.
Still wish I could actually find a Luxy bar to try. I'm still playing with various swept bars, Ritchey, GroundUp, Origin8 etc...
I have not ridden the race under either banner, but I do miss following it in the early days. It had so much romance surrounding it. As a Kansan it felt like we had something special that the rest of the world didn't know about. All the locals, as well as the other midwesterners (seemingly centered around Lincoln), became underground legends for many of us in Kansas. I liked that it existed in a world separate from both the European road scene and the more traditional American cycling scene. It felt fresh, and a bit counter-culture. I always wanted to ride it, but I moved away from Kansas for a number of years, and by the time I got back I lacked the fitness and any interest in the new "product." I'm aware that many people scoff at this sort of nostalgia, and the young kids would call me Boomer or Unc, but certain periods are special for a reason. DK was special in a way that Unbound could never be.
@Anon - Thank you for this amazing comment! You just succinctly described the feelings I think many of us have felt about the differences between gravel events then and now. I really appreciate your thoughts.
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