Natalie's story: Unbound Gravel

BaseCamp athlete Natalie Barron shared her experience at the 2025 Unbound Gravel bike race in Kansas.

This was my 1st time at Unbound and I traveled alone. I stayed in the Emporia State university dorms and used 3 Foot Sag as my support. Both were great. The dorms are decent and close and meals which were cyclist friendly meals were included and I was able to meet lots of other cyclists staying there.

The north course was used this year and conditions were almost completely dry and in great condition. The only really technical sections were 1 steep rocky climb with mud after a water crossing and a 3-5 mile minimal maintenance road but nothing scary.

Used the BaseCamp guide and I used a recon from another online source which were both really helpful.

Thanks to Jill Gass for guiding my training for this event, which came 6 days after a Tuscany bike trip which involved as much wine tasting and eating as biking. Also, big thanks to Menachem Brodie for the assessment and the 12 week plan I'm in the middle of which has 90% improved the severe left arm and right lumbar pain I’ve had on long gravel events.

I made progress in starting a mass start with more confidence, maintaining some time at tempo pace and finishing strong. Opportunities for me are to get more time drafting and to be a little more efficient at the sag stop.

My goals were to:

1. finish happy and pain free✅

2. Draft during the first 23 miles✅

3. Stretch goals - finish in under 8 hours gun time and 7:45 ride time - ride time was 7:42✅, gun time 8:08 - so close.

On to the next bike adventure.