The Year Unbound XL Changed

The Natural Progression and Professionalization of Gravel

It’s no secret I’ve wanted to win Unbound XL since I first lined up at the XL in 2022 during my third-ever gravel race. Back then, the XL was an afterthought. It was a race for the outcasts not fast enough for the 200-mile elite race, and not smart enough to think reasonably and do the 100-mile. The start was a simple scene. Away from the main start line on Merchant Street, we rolled out from the expo and were, in essence, told, “We look forward to seeing you at some point tomorrow.” Need a rescue in the middle of the night? That’s your problem. 2023 brought a deeper field, but mud foiled fast times. Last year, the race was fast, but still a minor event in the grand scheme of Unbound.

This year, things changed. The pro-ification of gravel reached the XL. Whatever you want to say, whether you hate the world of marginal gains or embrace it like your best friend, Unbound XL has changed forever.

This year, we lined up on Friday at 3 PM under the din of a low-flying helicopter typically used to film the Life Time Grand Prix events. Fans lined the sides of the road like at no other race. Throughout the course, camera crews buzzed around gas station parking lots, camped out on street corners, and appeared from bushes on unmaintained roads at 2 AM (literally… I almost jumped, it scared me so much). In my mind, there’s one reason for this: Lachlan Morton.

The defending 200-mile champion had decided to forgo his title defence in favor of taking on the XL, the undisputed king of ultra-endurance cycling in the eyes of the mainstream media and non-cycling public, was doing this dinky offshoot event. With several other ex-WorldTour cyclists joining him on the men’s side, along with ultra-cycling queen Lael Wilcox and several other top pros, there seemed to be a sudden realization that this strange, longer version of Unbound was a thing. Each of these top riders brought camera crews, and the cycling media fawned over Lachlan and dug into every facet of his ride: his decision to race the event, his bike, his mentality going into it, and, crucially, how his participation was the signal for a shift in this distance. In the same way every other gravel race has been professionalized, the XL, once an escape from this intensity, has faced the same fate or stratosphere, depending on how you look at it.

What this meant was a pace far higher than anything seen at the race before. The record was broken by well over 2 hours. The pace of the lead group of seven, for the brief period I was in it, was infernal for a race of this length. It never relented. I found out many hours later that the average speed has stayed about constant the whole time. It was humbling, to say the least.

Does this change my thoughts about Unbound XL? Well, it certainly makes me realize that my assuredness that the win was within physical reach after my first two attempts has been shattered. I will keep working toward eventually standing on that top step, but my task just got a lot harder. I can honestly say right now that I cannot possibly put in that time with where I currently am at as a rider. The good thing is I’m 10-15 years younger than the top few riders. There is time. I’ve learned a lot, and as longer gravel events become more and more stacked, I can become stronger.