No edition of the Unbound Gravel 200 is easy. This 200-mile (205.5 miles this year) specialty event is consistently run over the rugged terrain of the Flint Hills of Kansas, with the winner earning the title of King and Queen of Unbound.

Still, the first hour of the race is covered in "peanut butter mud," derailing the plans of even the best riders. From debutant riders to seasoned veterans, there was no shortage of mechanical problems, position losses, long chases, and DNFs (and probably a few WTFs).

Of the 57 elite women who started on Saturday, one-third failed to finish. In the elite men's race, a quarter of the 116 riders dropped out before the finish in Emporia. Compared to the rain and muddy 2022 event, this number was double the dropout rate.

Many riders who were expected to be among the top all day, including defending elite men's champion Ivar Slik and 2021 elite women's champion and 2022 runner-up Lauren De Crescenzo, faced the disappointment of abandoning a race that they had carefully prepared for months. faced the disappointment of abandoning a race for which they had prepared carefully for months.

"One thing I have learned in my cycling career is that no matter how hard you try, no matter how well prepared you are, no matter how hard you try, things can go wrong. This race reminded me that it's okay to fail," de Crescenzo posted on Instagram after the race. [Frankly, it's a privilege to give it all on the big stage and fail. I will sleep well knowing that my team and I put in the hard work for this race."

Still, it is inevitable that things will go wrong in a gravel race, and the thick, sticky mud that the riders encountered in the first hour forced them to either ride cyclocross-style or find passable lines on the side of rough roads in the long grass, and equipment over wire mesh Some destroyed their equipment.

"My race was practically over in the first hour," said DeCrescenzo, who retired with just over 40 miles to go after running for more than nine hours.

"I went over some barbed wire early on and it shredded my tires. That made for a long day of stop-and-go and ultimately forced me out of the race. There was an hour-long section of mud in the first 12 miles of the race, and I feel for all the racers affected by that."

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That muddy section in the first hour of the race was the "D Hill," which had not been used since 2015, when it became a mud pit due to heavy rain. This year's Friday night rain repeated this situation.

At a mandatory media briefing at noon on Friday, Unbound Race Director Ben Sachs outlined the XL350, 200, and 100 long routes to the 50+ media members in attendance. He highlighted D Hill as a notable section that was added back into this year's feature 200-mile race, noting that the mud could be severe if it rained overnight. He also noted that last year, the course traveled west on Route 140, past Route D, onto Route YY, and under the turnpike. Despite the overnight rain, no changes were made to the course.

"If the course is unsafe or inaccessible, we will reroute. Otherwise, the course will remain the same," Michelle Duffy, Lifetime's director of events, brand, and content strategy, said in a statement after the event.

"Completing a race in the Flint Hills is no easy feat. The event experiences intense conditions every year, and that is what makes this event unique and why every participant leaves with an inspiring story of their own. The athletes who take on the Flint Hills know that they need to do their homework, be prepared, know the course conditions, and understand what is in store for them. This is not an event that everyone can finish. This is what has turned UNBOUND Gravel into the event it is today. "

After rushing on his planned route, 2022 men's winner Slik felt the effects of the mud and eventually finished 36th.

"After 20km my rear derailleur cable broke. I jumped into a sticky mud bath, everyone had to run and I tried to keep the bike as clean as possible," Sulik said on Instagram. 'After this section we realized the cable was broken and we could only ride in 11. 310 km to go."

"I could have shifted on the front derailleur, so I had two options. I had to fight with myself, but in the end I am happy to have made it back to Emporia after 11.5 hours of racing in hard conditions."

These stories were repeated throughout the field, as riders from the most experienced to first-timers in the 200, as well as in other race categories, from near and far, had to battle the Unbound, where three times as many riders failed to make it to the finish line. More than a quarter of the elite riders in the Unbound 200 retired before returning to the finish line in Emporia.

Amity Rockwell, the 2019 winner, said, "Kansas gives and Kansas takes."

Marisa Boaz, last year's 100-mile winner, retired after running 9 hours 38 minutes.

"The sticky mud in the first four miles (miles 10-14) proved to be an interesting move by the race promoter, wreaking havoc on the bike and the spirit. I was pleased with how well I handled the mud, but I was many minutes behind in that section. I just started riding and was able to catch up to and pass many groups of riders until I finally settled into a big group of men and women," she said on social media, noting that she crashed at mile 88 and then caused enough pain to stop at mile 142.

Boaz was in a chase group with 2022 Lifetime Grand Prix champion Haley Smith and Sarah Sturm. Sturm finished third, while Smith had a miserable experience, finishing seventh.

"For me, that wasn't a race to place, it was a race to survive," Smith wrote in a social post on Sunday, adding that she was "too traumatized to think straight."

Adam Blazevic, winner of last year's Australian Gravel World Series in Nanup and Beechworth, struggled to catch up to the top 20 on the road to make up the places he lost due to a mud delay, but ultimately had to call it a day.

"For Unbound Gravel, the gravel road was a tough day. Like the others, he got stuck in the mud early on, chased for 150 km, and passed many riders back. I haven't cracked that bad on a bike in a long time. Maybe I'll be back next year.

Many of the riders who were expected to finish high in the results, but were either dropped by disaster or disappeared from the race altogether, ended up with the following results.

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