The boundaries of Unbound Gravel go well beyond the Flint Hills of Kansas this year. You don’t even have to be in the US to take part in the ‘Super Bowl of Gravel’ or to follow the progress of the world’s top elite riders as they pound across the open prairie, punchy climbs and unforgiving elements.
Thanks to Laurens ten Dam of Live Slow Ride Fast and JOIN Cycling, cyclists anywhere in the world can be part of Rebound Gravel on the same day as Unbound Gravel and win a ton of cool prizes, including a free entry to the event in 2025.
As for live streaming, it is not making a repeat performance from two years ago, but Life Time, which owns and operates Unbound Gravel and the Grand Prix series, is serious about bringing it back, and until then, will provide real-time updates on social media feeds, as well as live tracking from the results page and a post-race highlights show in 2024.
There will be intermittent live streaming of the race on the race's Instagram, as network coverage allows.
Here is a summary of how any cyclist can get close to the action on Saturday without buying an airline ticket to fly to Kansas.
Rebound Gravel
On June 1, nearly 5,000 riders depart from Emporia, Kansas on four of the popular ride routes - 25 miles to 200 miles - at Unbound Gravel. What would it look like if more than 200,000 cyclists jumped in to ride? Since that expansive number is for a Rebound Strava Challenge for people around the world, using their own gravel roads, singletrack, cobbles and pavement close to home, it becomes a day “about the adventure, not results”.
Pro cyclist Laurens ten Dam, who has finished either second or fourth in the last three Unbound Gravel 200 races, founded the alternative mass-start event in 2020 with his Live Slow Ride Fast podcast after two months of the COVID-19 global pandemic left people stranded indoors and when many people, including himself, had big events cancelled, including that year’s rebranded Unbound Gravel.
The challenge event was an instant hit for amateurs and pros, and was held for two years. After taking off 2023, Ten Dam partnered with JOIN Cycling and got support from Strava and Shimano to refresh Rebound.
“And people started moaning like, ‘Hey, you did it already two years. We did it on the same day as Unbound and we want to do that again. Oh, we want our event. We want rebound. We want prizes’,” Ten Dam recounted to Cyclingnews about bringing the do-it-yourself challenge back, but in a big way.
He said 290,000 people have registered since 2020, and in terms of miles ridden by participants, it has become the biggest event by a group worldwide on Strava.
“The cool thing about this is that you can really make it into an event from home. You go to places you'll never see on the bike, normally from home. Then do it with a bunch of friends, and have a nice after-party. It's almost like an event, you know. And that's what we show people, that you can also do things from home, and it can be really fun. It’s about the adventure, not the results. And so I'm really pretty proud of how it turned out.”
Riding is among the rewards, and all riders receive a digital badge to use for bragging rights. There are lots of other prizes, including one guaranteed entry into Unbound Gravel in 2025. Other prizes include a prize package from Skoda that includes two grandstand tickets for the Tour de France finish in Nice, a Live Slow Ride Fast cycling kit, Shimano RX6 cycling shoes and socks, and JOIN Cycling training plan for life. Entry is free, and there are no time limits to emphasize the joy of cycling. Details are available at www.rebound.cc.
'Life' broadcast for elite races
In 2022, the first season of the Life Time Grand Prix, organisers attempted live streaming at the first three events in the series, including Unbound Gravel 200. Aerial coverage from a dozen roaming cameras, including drones and 4x4s on the 200-mile route, were combined with cameras at the finish line, broadcast by FloSports. The effort was made, but the product suffered.
The technical limitations and the remote locations for both Unbound, and later Crusher in the Tushar, “proved insurmountable” and a joint decision between Life Time and FloBikes suspended the broadcasts for the final three events that year. But Life Time is not giving up.
“So how we're approaching content this year is going to be different than how we have in years past. One of our goals is to create more fandom of the sport. We're shifting our content format to be more in the moment,” Michell Duffy, Senior Marketing Director, Events and Retail Marketing for Life Time, told Cyclingnews.
“Trying to live stream in year one [of the Life Time Grand Prix] was aggressive. But we don't want to get there in 10 years, we want to try and get there in three years or five years. So we're continually testing different things. We've been dabbling in different markets to figure out what connectivity is like. And an example of that was last year on social media, we went live for the last 15 miles of the RAD.
“Our focus for this year is not going down the live stream rabbit hole just yet, mostly because if it failed, then we didn't deliver a good experience. But instead, growing the model that we tested at Leadville and then Big Sugar, which is a ‘Life’ broadcast, so a race highlights video that comes out 24 to 48 hours following the race.”
Life Time said it would only provide live streaming if high-production quality could be provided, however, the remoteness of the majority of the gravel races continues to plague the process. However, more live updates will be provided on social media this year.
Instagram and Facebook will be the main social channels during both the 200-mile and 100-mile races for intermittent live progress reports as well as stories - @lifetimegrandprix to focus on pro men and @UnboundGravel to focus on pro women. The Unbound Gravel 'X' account will provide written race updates on Saturday for pro men and women.
In 2024, cycling fans will be able to view, for free, a long-form recap video of how the race unfolded. The video will be around 40 minutes in length and will be made available within 24 to 48 hours on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube Channel.
For updates as athletes post split times at various check points on the routes, the Athlinks, the timing information will again be provided by Athlinks.
Fantasy League
The Life Time Grand Prix Fantasy League is underway. No, you can’t win prize money like the top athletes in the 60-rider field, but it’s supposed to be fun, and as the saying goes, ‘if it’s free, it’s for me’.
Starting with the first round of the Life Time Grand Prix at Sea Otter Classic Fuego XL, fans can pick their top 10 favourites (five men and five women) in each of the seven races and compete for recognition as a top prognosticator.
“So the fantasy league is just a fun initiative that we put out. There's been some comments like, ‘just pick Keegan, every race’. But we've created the fantasy league in a way that forces you to care about the whole Grand Prix, because you can only pick each athlete two times. That means that you have to tap into the broader field, and actually be strategic,” Duffy said.
Sofia Gomez Villafañe was the most common pick in the opening round, selected by 80% of participants. Keegan Swenson was selected by 77% of fantasy leaguers, while Alexis Skarda and Haley Smith were added by 68% and 67%, respectively.
Players may join the game at any point in the season, so if individuals did not select riders for Fuego XL there is time remaining for Unbound Gravel 200. Selections close at 11:59pm MT the evening before race day.
